JohnS

A friend of mine that is the local Audi tech went to TT school in California last week and was telling me some of the new features of the TT. One of them is that drivers will be unable to heel-toe downshift in these cars because of the way they designed the programming. When you put your foot on the brake, the car automatically begins shutting down alternating fuel injectors - maybe to save on emissions or something. <br>Kinda wierd, eh?<br>JohnS<br>

John Ireland

Unless they are going to a F1/Alfa Romeo/Ferrari style gear box w/ automatic throttle control to match the gear box. Not being able to heal/toe would be the dummest piece of engineering since the Corvette attempts at fuel economy in their manual transmissions. I find the heal/toe function in my A4 1.8t better than Porsche and equal to my old 308. Also...we haven't heard of this from other drivers of the cars...especially the guys in BTCC who drove all three models, 180 FWD, 180Q and 225Q. Any Audi engineers out ther who can comment?

JohnS

It may have something to do with US spec cars. I know the prototype TT I drove last fall allowed heel-toe shifting.<p>My A4 is at the dealer for service today. I'll ask the tech more about it when I pick up my car.<p>JohnS<br>

JohnS

After speaking with my tech about the US spec TT heel-toe question, he said the injector shutoff is tied into the brake circuit and so when the brake pedal is pressed, pairs of injectors shut off. If you could keep the revs up high enough with only 2 cylinders working, I guess you could still heel-toe.<br>His name is Jason and he is one of the Audi techs at Ken Garff Audi.<br>For a more detailed description, call him at (801)374-1751.<br>JohnS<br>

John Ireland

If this is Audi's idea of a performance car, they can take it and shove it. I'll go for a used M3 or 911 before I take this Ralph Nader version of a car. If this is going to be the case with the 225 version, I'm out of here.

TonyB

I conferm,You can do heel-toe with the TT,but cant kick down when using brakes (like some rally drivers do with 2wd cars)<br>For me this is not a problem....<br>The same is for the Q 225hp<br>Bye

John Ireland

nt

Ernie C

How is it that none of the reviews I've read thus far have made any mention of this. I thought they had real drivers testing these cars.

Steve Wingard

It's a surprise to me also. But keep in mind that the throttle on the TT is not mechanical -- like the C5 Corvette, it's a purely electronic input and the ECU is going to be calling the shots no matter what. So it's possible that the ECU is performing some magic to match engine RPM to gearbox RPM on upshift/downshift.

Lou

This is to John Ireland and all of you out there who are upset with Audi’s way of making a sports car. I haven’t mentioned this before in my earlier postings because of several things.<br>To start with I do not consider the TT to be a real sports/racing car meaning that I have some indulgence with it as it is more of a good tourer with a lot of sporty attributes and plenty of good looks. <br>Also, not only does the engine management shuts off but the relationship between the accelerator and the brake pedal is also kind of awkward (they are positioned exactly as in a Golf, Beetle, brake very high, accelerator low.) making too/heel difficult anyway. But……<p>One of the guys modified the accelerators to be closer to the brake pedal and, this is the good stuff John, since one engine management system (EMS) guy was present we disconnected this Audi feature!<br>This is very simple to do and as soon I have received my car I will post to this forum the codes for interfering the EMS.<p>Lou<p>PS<br>For all of you who don’t want to modify your cars, don’t be sad cause the benefits of too/heel driving are very small driving at full speed at a race circuit or at small bending roads anyway. Driving rally style in gravel is another thing because there it is a must. But I don’t think any of you will take your TT and skid around in the gravel anyway.<br>