S5 S tronic drivers: pause on acceleration?
 

2014 S5 with S tronic here. When I accelerate hard from a full stop (in Drive, either Comfort or Auto), I feel a very slight pause before there's any movement/engagement, like a fraction of a second. Is this normal with S tronic in D mode? Does this tranny ever start out in 2nd gear under light throttle conditions (no visual way of knowing, really, because only "D" shows in the display)? Thanks for any experience/insight!

I've got the same issue with my A5 3.0 supercharged, try to change the drive select to dynamic worked better for me ;) , btw how come you can only see D? My car shows D and the gear number next to it!

The S-tronic tends to not shift down to first if you come to a brief or rolling stop, but if you then get on the throttle hard it shifts down to first before taking off, so that's probably the delay you are noticing. You can always force it down to first using the paddles if you know that you gonna take off full throttle. You can observe how it downshifts by putting it in M and let it downshift automatically as you come to a stop. You'll see that it will often be in M2 when you accelerate from a stop instead of M1. I know it's a bit annoying that Audi decided to no longer show the current gear in D/S as of 2013.

The 2012 A7 doesn't show the gear either... Until vagged.

It sounds like the delay while the clutch is engaged. When the car is stopped, the gearbox will "select" neutral I believe. When you press the gas pedal, the clutch has to be re-engaged for 1st gear.

I don't think that's it. The clutch starts engaging as soon as one lifts the foot off the brake and the car starts creeping. A last minute downshift on the other hand would explain a fraction of a second lag. I don't notice this as much on the RS as the RS S-tronic changes gears much faster than the standard S-tronic, but even the RS likes to hang out in 2nd gear unless you come to a complete stop for a second or so and I notice the downshift into 1st if I give full throttle when it thought I was just gonna accelerate casually, but thanks to the fast shifting of the RS S-tronic there's practically no lag.

With light throttle on the S5, I don't feel the hesitation or delay (which is also accompanied by a mechanical clunk of sorts as if something is locking up or in place). Easy acceleration is smoother, more seamless. In manual or S modes, it's not present, or not to a discernible degree. Maybe it's just one of those beloved characteristics of the S tronic.

You may wanna have this looked at. A mechanical clunk isn't normal. My car actually happens to be in the shop currently and it may need the transmission replaced. I had loose mechatronic bolts accompanied by a leak. They replaced the bolts, pan and gasket two weeks ago, but it's still leaking. Dealer is working directly with Audi now. They are trying another pan and gasket just to rule out that the prior one wasn't properly installed. If that doesn't work it gets a new transmission. I had no clunk or anything, but in retrospect the transmission didn't feel right.