Transmission S tronic ®
Introduction
The automat ic transm iss ion is controlled elec
tronically. The transmiss ion ups hifts or down
shifts automatically depend ing on which drive
program is se lected.
When a
modera te driving sty le is used, the
tra nsmission se lec ts the most econom ica l
driving mode.
It w ill then change up early and
de lay the downshifts to g ive better f uel econ
omy .
The transmis sion swit ches to a sporty mode
after a k ick-down o r when the driver uses a
s porty dri ving sty le characterized by quick ac
celerator peda l movements, heavy accelera
tion, frequent changes in speed and traveling
at the maximum speed.
I f desired, the drive r can a lso se lect the gears
manually ( tiptronic mode ) ~ page 89.
The S tronic ® is a dual-clutch transmission.
P owe r is transfe rred using two clutches that
work independently from one anothe r. They
rep lace the torq ue converter used in conven
tional automatic transmiss ions and allow the
vehicle to accelerate without a noticeable in
terruption in traction.
Selector lever positions
F ig. 96 Display in the instrument cluster: se lector lever
in pos itio n P
The selector lever position engaged appears
n ext to the selector leve r as well as in the in
strument cluster display.
Tran sm iss ion 85
P -Park
In this se lector lever posi tion the transm is
s ion is mechanica lly locked. Engage P on ly
when the vehicle is
completely stopped~&.
in Driving the automatic transmission on
page 87.
T o shift in or out of pos it ion P, yo u must first
press and ho ld the brake pedal and then press
the re lease button in the selector leve r hand le
whi le moving the selector lever to or from P.
You can shift out of this position only with the ignition o n.
R - Reverse
Se lect R on ly when the veh icle is at a full stop
and t he engine is running at idle speed~.&. in
Driving the automatic transmission on
page 87.
Before you move the se lector lever to R, press
both the re lease button in the hand le o f the
selector lever
and the brake pedal at the same
time.
When the ignition is on, the backup lights illu
minate when the selecto r lever is moved into
R.
N -Neutral
The transmiss ion is in neu tral in this pos ition .
S hift to t his position fo r standing with the
brakes app lied
~ .&. in Driving the automatic
transmission on page 87.
When the vehicle is stat iona ry or a t speeds
below 1 mph (2 km/h), yo u must always app ly
the footbrake before and whi le mov ing the
l ever o ut of
N.
D/S - Normal posit ion for driving forward
In the D/S pos it ion, t he tr ansmission c an be
operated either in the norma l mode D or in
the sport mode S . To select the sport mode S,
pull the selector lever back briefly. P ulling the
l ever back again will se lect the norma l mode
D. The instr ument cluster disp lay shows the
selected driving mode. ..,_
86 Transmis sion
In the norm al mode D, the transmission auto
matically selects the suitable gear ratio. It de
pends on engine load, vehicle speed and driv
ing style.
Select the
sport mode S for sporty driving.
The vehicle makes full use of the eng ine 's
power. Shifting may become noticeable when
accelerating.
When the vehicle is stationary or at speeds
below 1 mph (2 km/h), you must always apply
the foot brake before and while moving the lever to D/S out of N.
A WARNING
Read and follow all WARNINGS c> .&. in
Driving the automatic transmission on
page 87.
(D Note
-
Coasting downhill with the transmission in
N and the engine not running will result in
damage to the automatic transmission
and possibly the catalytic converter .
(D Tips
-On vehicles with drive select*, you can
adjust the sporty shift characteristics in
the
Dynamic driving mode.Swill appear
in the instrument cluster display instead
ofD.
- If you accidentally select N while driving,
take your foot off the accelerator pedal immediately and wait for the engine to
slow down to idle before selecting D/S.
-If there is a power failure, the selector
lever will not move out of the P position.
The emergency release can be used if
this happensc>poge
91.
Automatic Shift Lock {ASL)
The Automatic Shift Lock safeguards you
against accidentally shifting into a forward or
the reverse gear and causing the vehicle to
move unintentionally.
Fig. 97 Shift ga te : selecto r le ver lock positio ns and re
lease bu tto n highlighted
The selector lever lock is released as follows:
.. Turn the ignition on .
.,. Step on the brake pedal.
At the same time
press and hold the release button on the
side of the gear selector knob <=>
fig. 97 with
your thumb until you have moved the selec
tor lever to the desired position.
Automatic selector lever lock
The selector lever is locked in the P and N po
sitions when the ignition is turned on . You
must press the brake pedal and the release
button to select another position . As a re
minder to the driver , the following warning
appears in the instrument cluster display
when the selector is in P and N:
When stationary apply brake pedal while se
lecting gear
The Automatic Shift Lock only functions when
the veh icle is stationary or at speeds below
1 mph (2 km/h) .
At speeds above about 1 mph (2 km/h) the
Automatic Shift Lock is automatically deacti
vated in the N position .
A time delay element prevents the selector lever from locking when it is moved through
the N position (going from R to D/S) . The lock
ing element w ill lock the selector lever if the
Ill>
lever is left in N (Neutral) for more than ap
prox imately 2 seconds, without the brake ped
a l being pressed .
Release button
The release button on the selector lever pre
ve nts the leve r from being accide ntally s hifted
into certain positions. Depending on the direc
tion of the shift, the se lector lever locks at d if
ferent positions. The positions are h ighlighted
in the ill ustration
c!> fig . 97.
Ignition key safety interlock
The key cannot be removed from the ignition
un less the se lector lever is in the P park posi
tion . When the ignition key is removed, the
se lector lever wi ll be locked in the P pos ition.
Driving the automatic transmission
Fi g. 98 Shift gate on t he cente r conso le: selector lever
wit h release butto n
Starting the engine
.. The selector lever must be in P or N.
Starting off
.. Press and ho ld the brake pedal.
.. Press and ho ld the release button in these
lector lever handle, se lect the desi red se lec
tor lever pos ition such as D/S and release
the b utton.
.. Wait br iefly until the transmission has shift
ed (you will feel a slight movement).
.. Remove your foot from the brake pedal and
acce le rate.
Stopping temporarily
.. Keep the vehicle stationary us ing the brak
ing pedal, for examp le at traffic lights.
Transm ission 87
.. Do not press the accelerator peda l when do
ing this .
.. To prevent the vehicle from ro lling when yo u
start driv ing, set the parking brake when
stopping on steep inclines
c!> _&. .
.. The parking brake will release automat ica lly
and the vehicle will start mov ing once you
p ress the acce lerator pedal.
Stopping /parking
If the selector lever is not in the P position
when you open the driver's door , the veh icle
could roll . The message
Transmis sion: Car
may roll! Shift to park! appears .
.. Press and hold the brake peda l until the ve-
hicle has come to a complete stop .
.. App ly the parking brake co
page 80 .
.. Select the P selector lever posit ion co_&. .
Stopping on an incline
.. Always press the brake pedal to ho ld the ve
hicle in place and prevent it from "rolling
back" co_&. . Do
not try to prevent the vehi
cle from "rolling back" when a gear is en
gaged by increas ing the engine speed co(!).
Starting on an incline
.. Activate the parking brake .
.. With the driving gear selected, press the ac
celerato r pedal carefully . The parking brake
w ill release automatically if your seat belt is
fastened .
U nder certa in circumstances, such as driving
in the mounta ins, it may be usefu l to sw itch
temporarily to the manual sh ift p rogram in or
d er to ad just the gears to the driv ing cond i
ti ons by hand co
page 89.
On slopes, activate the parking brake first and
then move the selector leve r to the P position .
T his prevents too much st ress from being
placed on the locking me chanism .
&_ WARNING
- T he vehicle can also roll when the engine
is s topped.
~
88 Transmission
-Unintended vehicle movement can cause
serious injury .
- Never leave your vehicle with the engine
running while in gear. If you must leave
your vehicle when the engine is running,
activate the parking brake and move the
selector lever to P .
- Power is still transmitted to the wheels
when the engine is running at idle. To
prevent the vehicle from "creeping", you
must keep your foot on the brake when
the engine is running and the selector
lever is in D/S or R or "tiptronic" mode is
selected.
- Do not press the accelerator pedal when
changing the selector lever position
while the vehicle is stationary and the
engine is running.
- Never shift into
R or P while driving.
- Before driving down a steep slope, re-
duce your speed and shift into a lower
gear with "tiptronic".
- Do not ride the brakes or press the brake
pedal too often or too long when driving
down a hill. Constant braking causes the
brakes to overheat and substantially re
duces braking performance, increases
braking distance or causes complete fail
ure of the brake system.
- To prevent the vehicle from rolling back
when stopping on inclines, always hold it
in place with the brake pedal or parking
brake .
- Never hold the vehicle on an incline with
a slipping clutch . The clutch opens auto
matically when it becomes too hot from
the overload . An indicator lamp
[O] illu
minates and a driver message appears
Q page 90 when the clutch is overload
ed.
- If the engine must remain running, never
have any driving position engaged when
checking under the hood. Make sure the
selector lever has securely engaged and
is locked in P with the parking brake set
Q page 200, Engine compartment . Oth
erwise, any increase in engine speed may set the vehicle in motion, even with the
parking brake applied.
@ Note
- When stopping on an incline, do not try
to hold the vehicle in place by pressing
the accelerator pedal while a driving gear is selected. This can cause the transmis
sion to overheat and can damage it. Acti
vate the parking brake or press the brake
pedal to prevent the vehicle from rolling .
- Allowing the vehicle to roll when the en
gine is stopped and the selector lever is
in N will damage the transmission be
cause it is not lubricated under those cir
cumstances.
(D Tips
For safety reasons, the parking brake is re
leased automatically only when the driv
er's safety belt is engaged in the buckle.
Hill descent control
The hill descent control system assists the
driver when driving down declines.
Hill descent control is activated when these
lector lever is in D/S and you press the brake
pedal. The transmission automatically selects
a gear that is suitable for the incline. Hill de
scent control tries to maintain the speed ach
ieved at the time of braking, within physical
and technical limitations. It may st ill be nec
essary to adjust the speed with the brakes.
Hill descent control switches off once the de
cline levels out or you press the accelerator
pedal.
On vehicles with the cruise control system*
Q page 82 , hill descent control is also activat
ed when the speed is set.
A WARNING -
Hill descent control cannot overcome
physical limitations, so it may not be able
to maintain a constant speed under all
conditions. Always be ready to apply the
brakes.
Manual shift program
Using the manual shift program you can
manually select gears.
Fig. 99 Ce nter console: shift ing t he gea rs manually
Fig. 100 Stee ring wheel: S hift b uttons
Gear selection with selector lever
The tiptronic mode can be selected either with
the vehicle stationary or on the move.
.. Push the selector lever to the right from 0/
5. An M appears in the instrument cluster
display as soon as the transmission has
shifted.
.. To upshift, push the selector lever forward
to the plus position
0 c:> fig. 99 .
.. To downshift, push the lever to the minus
position
0 -
Gear selection with paddle levers*
The shift buttons are activated when these
lector lever is in 0/5 or the t iptronic manual
shift program .
.. To upshift, touch the button on the right
0
c> fig . 100. Transmission 89
.. To downshift, touch the button on the left
0.
.. If you do not press a sh ift button within a
short time while in the 0/5 position, the
transmission will return to automatic mode.
To keep shifting using the shift buttons,
move the selector lever to the r ight out of
the 0/5 position .
When accelerating, the transmission does
not
automatically shift to the next gear shortly
before the maximum permitted engine RPM is
reached.
If you have selected a lower gear than the cur
rent one, the automatic transmission will shift
down only when the engine will not be over
revved.
With kick-down, the transmission shifts into a lower gear depend ing on speed and engine
RPM .
(D Tips
Tiptronic is inoperative when the transmis
sion is in the fail-safe mode .
, Kick-down
Kick-down enables maximum acceleration.
When you depress the accelerator pedal be
yond the resistance point, the automatic
transmission downshifts into a lower gear, de
pending on vehicle speed and engine speed .
The upshift into the next higher gear takes
place once the maximum specified engine
speed is reached .
.&_ WARNING
Please note that the whee ls can spin if
kick-down is used on a smooth s lippery
road -there is a risk of skidding.
-
90 Transmi ssion
Launch Control Program
Th e Launch Cont rol Program provides the
best accel eration possible when starting from
a st op .
R equirement : The engine must be at operat
i n g t emp eratur e and the steering wheel must
not be turned .
.,. Press the
I~ O FFI button c:> page 178 while
the engine is running. The
I) indicator light
i lluminates in the instrument cluster and
Stabilization contro l (ESC ): Sport . Warn
ing! Re stricted stability
appea rs in the dr iv
er information system d isplay.
.,. Move the selec tor lever to the D/S pos ition
to select sport mode (S) or select the
dy
nami c
driving mode in drive select*
c:> page 105.
... Press the brake peda l strongly with your left
foot and hold it down for at least 1 second.
.,. At the same t ime, press the accelerator ped
al down complete ly w ith your r ight foot un
t il t he engine reaches and maintains a h igh
RPM .
• Remove you r foot from the brake pedal
withi n S seconds
c:> &, .
&_ WARNING
-Always adapt you r driving to the traffic
flow .
- O nly use the Launch Control Program
when road and traffic con dit ions allow it
and other dr ivers will not be endangered
o r annoyed by yo ur dr iv ing and t he vehi
cle's acce lerat ion.
- Please note that the driving wheels can spin and the vehicle can break away
w hen ASR and ESC are in sport mode, es
p ecially when the road is slippe ry.
- Once yo u have accelerated, yo u should
switch the ESC back on by pressing the
1.$ O FF I button .
(D Tips
- The transm ission temperat ure may in
crease significantly after using the Launch Control Program . If that hap- pens, the p
rog ram may not be availab le
for a few minutes . It will be available
again after a cool-down period .
- When accelerating using the La unch
Cont ro l program, a ll vehicle parts are
subject to heavy loads. Th is can result in
increased wear.
Transmission malfunction
[O] Transmission: Press brake pedal and se
lect gear again .
Press the brake peda l and select the desired
selector lever position again. You ca n then
co nti nue driving .
[O] Transmission overheating: Please drive
conservatively.
T he transmiss ion temperat ure has inc reased
significantly due to the sporty d riving manner .
Drive in a less sporty manner until the tem
perature returns to the normal range and the
indicator light switches of.
[O] Transmission malfunction: You can con
tinue driving
T he re is a system mal func tion in the transm is
sion . You may cont inue driving .
Drive to yo ur
autho rize d Aud i dea le r or qualified repair fa
c ili ty soon to have the ma lfunction corrected.
[O] Transmis sion malfunction : Limited driv
ing functionality
T he re is a system malfunction in the t ransm is
s io n. The transm ission is swi tching to emer
gency mode. This mo de on ly shifts in to cer
tain gears or will no longer shift at all. The en
gine may sta ll. Drive to your authorized Audi
dealer or qualif ied repair facility immediately
to have the malfunction corrected.
[O] Ii] T ran smission malfunction : No re verse
You can continue driving
T he re is a sys tem mal func tion in the transm is
s io n. The transm iss ion is swi tch ing to eme r
gency mode. This mode on ly shifts into cer -
tain gears o r will no longer shift at all . The en
gine may sta ll. You cannot engage the
reverse liJJ,
104 Audi drive select
Audi drive select
Driving settings
Introduction
App lies to vehicles: w it h Au di dr ive select
Drive select provides the possibility to experi
ence diffe rent types of vehicle settings in one
vehicle. For instance, us ing the three
Com
fort, Auto
and Dynamic modes, the driver can
switch from a sporty to a comfortab le driving
mode with the press of a button.
Addit ionally, in vehicles with MM I*, the vehi
cle setup for
Individual* mode can be cus
tomized by you. This makes it possib le to
combine settings such as a sporty engine tun
ing with comfortable steering.
A WARNING
Improper use of the Audi drive select can
cause collisions, other acc idents and seri
ous personal injury.
Description
App lies to vehicles: with Audi drive select
The vehicle setup in each mode depends on
the veh icle's features . However, the engine,
automatic transmission and steering are a l
ways involved.
-
Engine and automatic transmission
Depending on the mode, the engine and the
automatic transmission respond quicker or in
a more ba lanced manner to acce lerator pedal
movements. In the sporty dynamic mode, the
automatic transmission shifts at higher RPMs .
The engine sound is adjusted by opening or
closing the exhaust doors for the respective
mode.
Steering
The steering adapts in terms of steering effort
and steer ing ratios. Indirect steer ing that
moves easi ly, like the steering in comfort
mode, is best suited to long dr ives on a high
way. In contrast, dynamic mode provides
sporty, direct steering. The
following applies to vehicles with dynamic
steering*: the steering ratio changes based on
vehicle speed in order to ma inta in optimum
steering effort for the driver at all times. This
sets the steering to be less sensitive at higher
speeds in order to provide improved vehicle
control. At reduced speeds, however, steering
is more d irect in order to keep the steering ef
fort as minimal as poss ible when the driver is
maneuvering the veh icle. At low and average
speeds, dynamic steering additionally pro
vides more responsive steering performance.
Sport differential*
As a component of the all wheel dr ive system
(quattro ®)
~ page 181, the sport different ial*
distributes the driving power to the rear axle
depending on the situation . The distribution
of power varies depending on the mode se
l ected. The goal is a high level of agility and
ability to accelerate on curves. The vehicle is
very responsive to steering.
Audi adaptive cruise control*
The behavior when accelerating can be adjust
ed from comfortab le to sporty, depending on
the drive select mode . Adaptive cruise control
also responds to the driving behavior of the
vehicle ahead in a more conservative or sporty manner .
(D Tips
- In some models, the maximum vehicle
speed can only be reached in the
Auto
and Dynamic modes.
- Selecting the
Dynamic mode resu lts in
sporty shifting characteristics. The S
gear position engages automatically.
- In vehicles that have dynamic steering*,
operating noise is heard when start ing or
stopping the engine. This does not indi
cate a problem.
Selecting the driving mode
Applies to vehicles: with Audi drive select
You can choose between Comfort , Auto , Dy
namic
and Indi vidu al* modes .
drive I I a,. selact ~
Fig. 1 19 Ce nter co nsole: Con tro l for Aud i d ri ve se lect
F ig . 120 MM I* : A udi drive se lect
,.. To set the mode, press the 1:i.l'.1 button
9 fig. 119 multiple times until the desired
mode is displayed in the instrument cluster.
Or
Adjusting the Individual mode
Appl ies to vehicles: wit h MMI and Audi drive select
Audi dri ve sele ct 105
,.. In the MMI*, select : ICARlfunction button>
C o mfort , Au to , D ynamic or Indi vidual *.
In vehicles without the MMI*, the r:i.r.~ button
is found underneat h the selector lever .
You can c hange the driving mode whe n the ve
hicle is stationary or whi le driving. If traffic
permits, after changing modes, briefly take
you r foot off the acce le rator pedal so that the
recently selected mode is a lso activated for
the engine and transm ission.
C omf ort -prov ides a comfort-oriented veh icle
setup and is suited for long drives on high
ways .
Auto -provides an overall comfortable ye t dy
nam ic dr iving feel and is suited for every day
u se.
Dynamic -gives the vehicle a sporty driving
feel and is suited to a spo rty dr iv ing style.
I n d iv idual * -¢ page 105.
A WARNING
Pay attention to traffic when operating
drive select to prevent potential risk of an
accide nt.
-
You can personally specify the vehicle setup in the MMI".
,.. Select the ICAR I function button > S et indi
v idu al
control button . Once you select the
menu, you will automatically drive in the
i n
di vidual
mode .
System s Comfort
Engine /Transmi ssi on
balanced
Steering comfortable
Dynamic ste ering * comfortable/ind ire ct
Sport differential* balanced
Adaptiv e cruise control * comfortable The equipment in your vehicle will determine
which sett
ings you can adjust. The following
table prov ides an overview of the characteris
t ics of each driving mode.
Auto Dynamic
balanced sporty
balanced sporty
balanced/direct sporty/direct agile sporty
balanced sporty