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Today's dumb question - driving an auto :p


Milo
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The S5 is the first car I've ever had with an auto box (7 speed s-tronic thingy). Personally, I would have had a manual but it only comes with s-tronic so it wasn't an option.

Anyway, I've settled very quickly into using it, it makes for a very lazy drive when required. The car also has stop/start which I sometimes turn off however sitting in stationary traffic, watching the mpg drop before my eyes, often encourages me to leave it on.

I've got no issues with the 'box but what is the accepted way of using N or P and the electronic handbrake?

Say I'm stuck in traffic, stopped on the footbrake with the engine idling......is it acceptable just to hold it like that until you move off or is there a point whereby you should slip it into N? And what about P? Or using the electronic handbrake for anything other than when you've come to a halt and are turning the engine off? And what, if any, difference does the stop/start facility make?

I appreciate it probably sounds like a load of stupid questions to most folk but I'm curious. I don't particularly want to be placing extra load on the gearbox/clutches etc because of my ignorance.

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The first time I had an auto box, I read that you should knock it into N while waiting at traffic lights (for example) in order to reduce the load on the torque converter.

Many years, many miles, and several not-broken torque converters later, I can't honestly say I bother. Footbrakes work.

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I should have added, at the moment if I pull up at a junction and I'm stopped on the footbrake, I've been slipping it into N after a few seconds. Then when it's time to move off, back into D and away. Hill starts have been fine like this too. I just didn't know if I'm being too cautious - if I'm stopped on the footbrake and I'm in D, is it slipping a clutch or does the electrickery disengage the drive?

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I've just found this on the interweb (Audi TT forum):

I asked my dealer that question (and he knows his stuff) and he said it was no need for the S-tronic to be put in neutral when it's some stand stills. As soon as the car comes to a halt and you have the brakes engaged, it will disengage the clutch.

You can notice that if you stand in a little upwards hillside. When in stand still you release the footbrake, the car will go a little backwards before the clutch engages and it starts moving forwards.

While I appreciate a lot of what you read on the internet posted by experts should be taken with a pinch of salt, that does make sense.

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Isn't S-Tronic the Audi name for what VW calls DSG? So its not a real 'auto' but a twin clutch that has an auto mode?

Yup, it was my lazy choice of words +++

Use paddles and drive the nuts of it properly! +++

I still need to stop at junctions sometimes :roflmao:

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As Booster says, leave it in D, then when you park, stick it in P, and don't bother with the handbrake is normal procedure with auto's.

I've always understood that the gearbox will disengage drive when stopped on the footbrake, but that doesn't tally at all with auto 'creep' and that you can still creep forward even with your foot on the brakes lightly.

Even still, I don't know anyone that ever takes an auto or dsg type box out of D, except for using manual mode.

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I always left mine in D most of the time unless I knew I was going to be stopped for a good while but certainly not at junctions.

What I can say though is there is nothing worse than being behind someone that constantly has their foot on the brake when its dark and raining and your retina is burning. I don't like it so if I'm stopped for a while I take it out of D and take my foot of the brake. +++

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Stop start works well with the S tropic box.

Takes some time to get used to but you can figure out how to keep the engine running with light brake pressure or stop it with more former foot on the brake...

That would negate the need to shift to N at all.

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Thanks for all the feedback +++

It would seem that when stationary on the foot brake, the drive is disengaged, so not slipping a clutch, which was my concern.

And I had never given any thought to the person behind if I'm sitting there, standing on the foot brake with led brake lights burning their retinas. Good point and worth bearing in mind +++

Dan - I discovered that feature of the stop/start yesterday. I was wondering why sometimes it didn't work, then realised it is to do with the pressure you apply to the foot brake. I would agree, it works very well with this 'box.

I will get around to reading the manual at some point :P

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Does the car 'creep' at all when in D and being held on the footbrake?

I.e. do you have to hold it on the brake on level ground or it moves forward by itself? If so, then the drive isn't disengaging.

On a dsg / s tronic, when stationary, it is the foot brake that disengages the clutch. This is why on a car with a conventional hand brake you cannot leave it in drive with the hand brake engaged, like you can in a torque converter auto. Releasing the foot brake starts the clutch engagement process and simulates the creep of a torque converter auto.

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Re stop start, this is my first car with it and it is now second nature. It is also very clever in the BMW and doesn't do it if the steering wheel is off-centre as it assumes (quite rightly in most cases) that you will need to get away quickly i.e. waiting to turn right.

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And I had never given any thought to the person behind if I'm sitting there, standing on the foot brake with led brake lights burning their retinas. Good point and worth bearing in mind

I was always taught to sit with your foot on the brake if there's no-one behind you so they can see that you're stopped. Once you have someone behind you, take your foot off the brake so you don't tick them off.

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Re stop start, this is my first car with it and it is now second nature. It is also very clever in the BMW and doesn't do it if the steering wheel is off-centre as it assumes (quite rightly in most cases) that you will need to get away quickly i.e. waiting to turn right.

My first car with stop start too but it's a manual and I can't get the fecking thing to work. Read the manual as it won't engage if any of conditions x,y or z are met. But damned if I know which I'm falling foul of. Given up now as its a great idea on autos but not sure it suits manual cars as well.

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Efa.

:grin:

Nah. The bank robbers choice of car is RS4 and 6 these days. As witnessed by a recent case involving a police helicopter, numerous police vehicles and the contents of a cash machine that had been emptied with a JCB that my mrs had to deal with the aftermath of. Some poor bugger from Sheffield was minus one RS4.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi folks. This thread is timely... I´ve just (today) made the commitment to go from manual to S-tronic (order in this afternoon for Daytona Grey 3.0 TDI S-line cab, trading in my 2006 A4 3.0 TDI cab which is *so* old that the A4 and A5 forums were actually alive when I bought it and you could still discuss cars in them... TSN has obviously moved on since then :zzzz:). Nice to see some familiar faces here at least.

Anyway, my current car was in for a bit of work and I had an S-tronic loaner for a weekend which convinced me it was time to move... responsive when playing around, but also (with, dare I say it, the adaptive cruise control) very relaxing for the long glide to the Lakes that we do at least once a month from the big smoke.

So now it´s the long wait till late June/early July (week 22 build). FWIW from my 72 hours loan car experience, as an auto newbie I didn´t bother going from D to N, lights or no lights, and the start/stop worked fine; but the paddles got some use :-)

Edited by GCab
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