the transmission makes sense whether some of us like it or not. Almost nobody offers manuals anymore. I think the only manual they still sold was the B8.5 S4, and in North America only.
To be honest, I don’t think I will miss a manual when my hand is forced. If there’s a reasonable paddle shift option and it shifts reasonably briskly, I’m good.
After another road trip with the PDK on some back roads on Sonoma Coast, I have to say it’s the most satisfying transmission ever. Sure it costs $14k to replace if you break it, but it’s completely awesome. The sound in the cabin is intoxifying when it rips off a shift near 8000 RPM without the chassis even taking note that a shift happened. There’s no weight transfer front-rear at all. Poor man’s GT3 all the way.
I’m not impressed with any MY2015 turbo motor. The Macan S is laggy. The C400 Mercedes is laggy. I’m not expecting the B9 S4 to have better technology than either of those. I’m even skeptical that the 991.2 base turbo can pull it off at the $90k price point (at 1800 RPM the lag is 3 seconds, at 2400 RPM it’s 2 seconds). If the RS4 does an electric turbo I think that could work better.
The iPad screens aren’t bad at all. I think it’s going to take a while to get Apple Car Play to market on them. I was playing with Android Auto last week and it’s totally not ready. When the car is in park it stayed in Hyundai UI mode, and only when it was in drive would it start to mirror the phone screen. You jump back and forth between the 2 interfaces and it’s really janky. Apple needs to support Android devices and Google needs to support Apple devices for these systems to be market ready. Basically the car relies on your device to provide the center stack experience. If you don’t have a paired device the manufacturer still needs to provide a default implementation so you can use the car.
Why would Apple need to support Android or vice versa? Couldn’t the auto manufacturers just support both options, and allow the system to be configured for either depending on the end user’s preference? Similar to a dual operating system? Just seems like it would be easy to have three basic operating modes, and they are sold/installed as options at the software level. Assuming the ecosystem stays the same, it’s pretty easy when there are two main players. Just have a system capable of supporting Apple, Android, or a default option that support neither. There is no way Apple will ever support Android software or the other way around. That is pretty clear.
For what amounts to most of the population, that is true. Eventually, all the people that really care about manuals will die off (literally). There are a million reasons why the new breed of autos are better than a manual, but it still doesn’t change the fact that a true manual is more engaging, involved, and entertaining to drive.
I’m really torn because in my older age, I definitely enjoy the ease of a good auto (or more specifically a dual clutch). However, on the rare occasion that I drive my B5, I’m like damn, I really miss the manual sometimes…
It’s 3x the bugs to support 3 systems. This generation is already a hack with supporting a car OS and a phone OS skin. It’s not reasonable to expect that both Apple and Google will be ready to go to market at the same time, on the same car, with all of the bugs worked out, and seamless handoffs between Android carrying drivers and iOS carrying drivers who use the same car.
For a company like VW/Audi, it just doesn’t seem like a hard thing to support. All the basic functionality is done by someone else (the supplier). Even most bug fixes would happen at the supplier level. It almost seems easier to take that route then coming up with your own software to try and support basic functionality of all the different device platforms. Let the supplier do most of the work… I mean that is the route most car companies are taking anyway.
Really, there are like 4 options that exist:
Options 2-4 all basically have the supplier do 90% of the development, release, bug fixes, updates, etc. Then it’s just integrated by each auto manufacturer with minimal changes. I think most auto manufacturers find this model a lot easier, and why you see the popularity of QNX, and now CarPlay and Auto. For someone like Audi/VW, supporting two of these versus one is a pretty minimal difference in the big picture.
Microsoft has the largest install base in cars right now, and the most experience with shipping product to a full manufacturer lineup (Ford). I think they’re the dark horse in this game and at this point have a better shot of being successful than Google or Apple. The car manufacturers don’t trust Google nor Apple, Google especially has a bad reputation in Germany. Google may lose interest in this project in 24 months and leave them stuck supporting it until 2027.
The real goal for a company like Google is to sit on top of the funnel for things you buy after you buy your car. They want to check if the car has insurance and offer to sell it to you before you start driving. They want to pick what gas station you go to and where you eat lunch. They want to help you pick what Audi dealer or local mechanic you bring it to.
Microsoft just got kicked to the curb, sync 3 is supported by RIM and is shit tons better than the prior microsoft version.
LOL i was just curious tbh. Seems like no one knows the answer???
Yep. Now QNX based.
Looks like the Passat will have both ready to go. But boy was the Hyundai I tried last week NOT ready for production.
[quote]The 2016 gets an updated infotainment center, now available with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, as well as MirrorLink.
[/quote]
The thing I like most about manuals is your ability to make the car make cool sounds…and that requires a V8, V10 or V12.
Since everything is going V/I6, I’d rather it kept quiet as I hate the sound. Or if cars are going turbo V8s, the turbo shuts the car up so badly you can’t make it sound cool even if you try.
Well, that makes sense if that is what you are after. For me, it’s just about being more in tune with the car, and the sense that you have full control over everything it’s doing. That probably sounds stupid, and in my older age it probably matters less and less…
I used to think that mattered. Now I’m willing to make trade offs. I care a lot less about 10/10ths now. My car is almost stock…just the full exhaust. No tune, no LW parts, no supercharger, no suspension, no tinted windows even.
yooh need dah toon
I’m having misfires so I’m going to sort that out before anything. I’m not triggering CELs because the stock ECU file is so resistant to giving a CEL for misfires.
Why is that?
My theory is because when carbon started showing up, Audi said ‘no carbon cleans under warranty without a CEL’. Audi figured out that carbon causes misfires, and that if you come in with a carbon caused misfire CEL underwarranty, they had to clean your carbon for free. They hated that. So there was a ‘new file’ written to address carbon buildup. We were told it ran hotter to help. We know that’s bullshit. It doesn’t matter what happens. They also made sure that new stock file would basically ignore a huge range of misfire conditions. Not smart at all. You can see this when you log misfires on original stock vs updated stock tune vs. aftermarket.
Fast forward to getting JHM tuned, where they have a far more sensitive level for triggering a CEL for misfires…suddenly you’re showing codes. Then…you post on Audizine how the JHM tune is causing misfires, mostly because you’re a fucking moron who doesn’t realise his car wasn’t healthy and the misfires were present, but were hidden from you by Audi.
Come on now Saki we all now VAG group would NEVER tamper with the ecu! ;D LOL
Yeah you can watch the misfire counter on a stock rs4. pretty funny
“The latest version of Audi’s seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, specially calibrated for U.S. cars to provide smoother transitions and launches, replaces the eight-speed torque-converter automatic.”
I am confused, did I just read that the next Gen regular a4 will swap the 8 speed auto for the dsg? Yet the s4 will do the opposite? Doesn’t that seem a little backwards? I know the 8 speeds are stronger and does well in the rs7 but if it is enough for the s6 why the change on the s4?
The A4 had an 8 speed. I thought the A4s had a close to the same transmission as the S4.