caranddriver

Thanks. This is confusing as a new Audi owner. If I always have Drive Select in my Individual setting and choose Dynamic for engine/trans, isn't is always choosing that when I turn the car back on? And Dynamic = S?

Wires

No, that's where the confusion is. Apparently it got lost in translation from German.

Easiest way to check is start the engine (keeping your foot on the brake) put the shifter in "D" and look at the tach. It idles at about 600 RPM. Now put it into "S" mode. Revs will jump to about 900RPM. I assumed Dynamic=S, and drove it during the break-in period in 100% manual mode. All the time I was thinking throttle response was really lame for a vehicle with so much potential. Then superswiss pointed out you need to go to S before going to M to get sport/manual mode (regardless of dynamic mode). It is a much different beast in that mode.

caranddriver

There are tons of threads on this topic if you use Google sear and many on this forum. From what I can tell, Dynamic via ADS improves throttle response compared to Auto and Comfort, but if you want max performance you put the transmission in S which also locks outs 7th gear, which Dynamic in ADS and D on the shifter do not.

up-n-coming

S doesn't lock out 7th gear. It just dramatically increases the mph at which it will automatically upshift into 7th. You have to go at least 80 mph before it will switch to 7th.

Glisse

Up until 2010, Drive Select operated in essentially the same way as the systems in BMW and Mercedes. No ability to switch the engine/transmission map independently of the drive mode. Always started in Auto mode (vs Comfort mode in BMW and Mercedes). Needed to cycle through the MMI mode selector to make any changes.

Audi then started providing a switch on the dual sequential and torque converter transmissions' lever to cycle between the D and S engine / transmission maps, which could override the Drive Select mode setting for engine / transmission. Which are not labelled D or S, but Comfort or Dynamic (or Auto, which effectively cycles between the two). Which clearly creates some confusion.

Because they could operate these maps independently from the Drive Select modes, it enabled Audi to program the MMI system to start up the car in the last used Drive Select mode, rather than Auto. Because they can code the system to always start in the engine / transmission's D (MMI Comfort/Auto) map. And not the S (MMI Dynamic) map. This then meets the homologated fuel consumption and emission figures for the car. This is not an "EPA" thing, it applies to all of Audi's global production vehicles. And IIRC, it is the NHTSA that is the responsible body in the US for CAFE standards and implementation, not the EPA.

It is obviously not clear enough in the US manual that the car will always start in D mode, regardless of the MMI Drive Select mode. Once the car has been started, cycling through the MMI modes will immediately implement whatever engine / transmission map is entered in that MMI mode. The bit about having been started seems to have been missing from the excerpt of the manual., although I don't know what the asterisk after drive select was referencing. Of course, it is quicker just to change to S mode using the shifter if you are happy with the current Drive Select mode rather than cycle out of Drive Select's Dynamic mode and back again.

Personally, whenever I get into a BMW or Mercedes, I get a little frustrated by their relative inflexibility compared to the Audi system. Audi does have Auto mode as well, but I have never liked it, and never use it. I use MMI's Dynamic mode or Individual mode (suspension to Comfort), have the programmable asterisk button on the steering set to Drive Select mode so I can quickly move from Dynamic to Individual if I hit a rough road, always start in S mode, but constantly toggle between S and D if not using the paddles. In short, there is quite a lot of flexibility in how you can set the car up. But it needs some active experimenting with all the modes and settings, an understanding of how it all interacts. You would think the salesperson would do that, maybe the better ones do. But from what I was told a few years back by an Audi tech, 70% of owners never take the car out of Auto mode.

Where my criticism lies, returning to the OP, is that as Audi has accelerated the drive for increased efficiency, the gap between D mode and S mode has grown too large. The D mode on the OP's 2.0TFSI with the sequential transmission is better than the D mode on the 3.0TFSI in the S4/S5/SQ5 in terms of the throttle map, but that isn't saying much.

Wires

That is some great insight. I still don't understand what "auto" mode is (in the drive select). The sales/delivery guys just say "balance between comfort and dynamic". Manual re-iterates the same verbiage. Is it comfort mode most of the time, and when you start throwing the vehicle around, it switches to dynamic to tighten up response, and then back to comfort when you are cruising?

I do agree about your comments with the throttle mapping on the 3.0, and this was my impressions driving to/from work on the same hilly stretch of highway in D mode:
Dynamic - throttle is very flat at the bottom end. As you get more into it, it would become more responsive.
Comfort - throttle is better at the bottom end, and then flattens out as you get into it.

It wasn't until I switched to S/dynamic that it merged those throttle profiles, giving nice tip in response, and feedback throughout the throttle range. It is a catch22 for fuel consumption though. In D mode, the vehicle felt like it was struggling to climb the hills, so I'd drop it from 8 to 7th. In S, you would get a lot more boost come on, and it didn't feel like it was working, so you didn't downshift, which resulted in higher fuel consumption. You "pay to play"

superswiss

I've yet to find an official description of what 'auto' does, but based on my experience it does not toggle between 'comfort' and 'dynamic' as some think. Balanced is more of an accurate description. It balances comfort and sportiness, but it's never quite as comfortable as 'comfort' and never quite as sporty as 'dynamic', so this shouldn't be interpreted as it balances between 'comfort' mode and 'dynamic' mode. The engine and transmission for example do not differentiate between 'comfort' and 'auto'. The user manual says that both modes are balanced and that matches my experience. There is no difference in how the engine and transmission respond in 'comfort' vs 'auto'. The transmission is adaptive by nature. Depending on how you drive, it adjusts the shift points. S just kinda forces more aggressive shifts and holds gears longer as well as rev matches. Other components clearly have distinct characteristics in 'auto'. For example I have the optional dynamic steering in my RS5 and in both 'comfort' and 'auto' mode it adjusts the steering ratio based on the speed, but in 'dynamic' it keeps it fixed like a non-variable steering rack. In 'comfort' mode the steering effort remains comfortable even at highway speeds, but it doesn't get loosey-goosey, because of how it adjusts the ratio. In 'auto' mode, the effort is more comfortable at lower speeds, but the steering gets more heavy at higher speeds, but still different from 'comfort' and 'dynamic'. Similar for the sport differential. In 'auto' mode it's never quite as aggressive as in 'dynamic' mode and never as non-aggressive as in 'comfort' mode. Maybe 'auto' mode does turn into 'dynamic' if you really drive the car hard and fast, but at that point I put it in 'dynamic' anyway, because I want the response to be consistent regardless of the speed. Audi touts 'auto' as the mode for daily driving where the current driving situation changes frequently. It seems to do a great job. Other than the sport differential, I keep everything in 'auto' mode for regular driving, but I keep the sport differential in 'dynamic' mode as 'auto' mode never quite gives me the handling I want.

I've found that it's easier to feel the difference in characteristics between each mode in R(S) vehicles, because the spread between 'comfort' and 'dynamic' is bigger so it becomes a bit more obvious that 'auto' is neither 'comfort' at times nor 'dynamic' and instead has its own characteristics. In less performance oriented models, the spread between the modes is more subtle, so it's harder to tell them apart. For example I quite regularly drive an A4 and I find Drive Select a bit pointless in that car. 'Dynamic' mode is still very comfortable. The difference between D and S is most noticeable in the A4, but the rest of the components don't change much between the modes, so I generally leave it in 'auto' mode at all time and put the transmission in S to get past the annoying lag in D.

Wires

Ok, that makes sense. Would have been less confusing if they had labeled it "comfort / normal / sport" then.

Here is an article I found on the Audi portal (it's for the Q5/SQ5) but lays out the modes in a pentagon:
Drive Mode

superswiss

That's probably the best visualization I've seen so far and matches up. In 'auto' mode it balances all aspects equally. In 'comfort' mode it favors comfort and in 'dynamic' it favors agility.

clr1945

I agree - great visualization. They should put that on the website of all the models.