Automatics

mlbtheshow · 21 Mar 2011 at 10:16

I know ill get slaughtered for this, but I dont know the answer and my Dad is out on driving lessons all morning.

Basically going to test drive an Automatic (Q7 3.0) now I pretty much know that Automatics are a case of push the gear stick forward and you go etc.. but what im worried about or not sure of is how well they pull away.

Sounds stupid, but if im not in charge of the clutch per se' do Automatics just bite and tear off? Or does it depend how much accelerate pedal I give it?

Im thinking of roundabouts in the main, I dont want to be pulling out like a milk float..... or like you've left your car in 3rd gear stationary and attempt to get out

I hope someone understands and can re-assure me, otherwise im going to look like a right tit at the dealership!

Howard · 21 Mar 2011 at 10:20

They'll go as fast as you press the pedal, much like when you accelerate in-gear in a car with a manual box, except you don't need to change gear. If you let off the brake the car will just creep forward at idle speeds in most cases.

phil675 · 21 Mar 2011 at 10:21

Generally they crawl quite slowly as you release the brake pedal (you must press the brake to change from Park/Neutral to Drive) and when you press the accelerator its just like pulling off in any car in regards to amount of foot down = amount of vroom. I'm sure a Q7 will be very refined and smooth, it won't tear off unless you jam your foot down.

Liampope · 21 Mar 2011 at 10:46

You can even do lairy wheelspins - simply bounce of rev limiter in neutral then engage drive

.

*Disclaimer: You can probably do this approximately once before your auto box is fubared. A clever modern box with interfering electronics probably wont let you do it at all. Just dont do it.

ubersonic · 21 Mar 2011 at 11:25

Basically the is a common myth that automatics drive themselves and you just press a go pedal, its rubbish.

When driving an automatic you are in total control of what gear your in, when you change and how quick the change is, the difference is its all done by throttle manipulation. (you cannot make it down shift for a corner/junction, you have to break for that).

If you slowly press the pedal down it will slowly accelerate and change slowly as it goes, if you press it harder it will accelerate harder and shift faster, if while accelerating you quickly back of the power then reapply it will change up quickly, if while driving you quickly press the pedal down it will drop 1-2 (sometimes even 3) gears and accelerate.

With time you will learn how to manipulate it, its not something you can just get in and do but when you have mastered it you can utilise it well. i.e I can leave a roundabout in 4th, drop to 1st gear, fly up the revs, shift to 2nd gear at will staying in the power band and accelerate to 70 before shifting to 4th and cruising, all with just the throttle.

Minstadave · 21 Mar 2011 at 11:32

They do get confused though, I had a corsa that got all out of shape on hills, the dsg box in my A3 is much better, a lot of the problem with the corsa is to do with pairing a already underpowered with a automatic box that saps what little power was available, but it just didn't quite get what to do to get up a hill.

Morba · 21 Mar 2011 at 11:34

Yeah some crap ones change at the most inappropriate times. but thats generally rare unless you make it happen (accelerate then brake at silly times).

Type_R · 21 Mar 2011 at 11:35

ubersonic said:
When driving an automatic you are in total control of what gear your in, when you change and how quick the change is, the difference is its all done by throttle manipulation.

Unless you are using the automatic in tiptronic mode (DSG/SMG etc) where you are telling the box which gear to remain in (in which case its a semi-auto anyway), you are talking utter rubbish. When you kick down on an auto box you have no idea which gear it is going to select at all. Yes you have some say of being in a low or high gear depending on how depressed the accelerator pedal is but thats about as much control a fully auto box will offer.

Morba · 21 Mar 2011 at 11:37

Type_R said:
Unless you are using the automatic in tiptronic mode (DSG/SMG etc) where you are telling the box which gear to remain in (in which case its a semi-auto anyway), you are talking utter rubbish. When you kick down on an auto box you have no idea which gear it is going to select at all. Yes you have some say of being in a low or high gear depending on how depressed the accelerator pedal is but thats about as much control a fully auto box will offer.

Kick down is one gear, press harder and it drops 2 gears. Thats pretty much how its been in all my auto's. Could be chance rather than hard coded though I guess.

ubersonic · 21 Mar 2011 at 11:38

Type_R said:
Unless you are using the automatic in tiptronic mode (DSG/SMG etc) where you are telling the box which gear to remain in (in which case its a semi-auto anyway), you are talking utter rubbish. When you kick down on an auto box you have no idea which gear it is going to select at all. Yes you have some say of being in a low or high gear depending on how depressed the accelerator pedal is but thats about as much control a fully auto box will offer.

You have complete control as it is entirely predictable and its something you learn with use.

mlbtheshow · 21 Mar 2011 at 11:39

Sounds more complicated than a manual! Do you get an indication that the gears are changing then? Like a dial saying its in 1st or something? Or can you physically feel/hear it via the engine?

Thanks for the tips, I think the main thing is knowing that I wont milk float a roundabout.

Morba · 21 Mar 2011 at 11:40

mlbtheshow said:
Sounds more complicated than a manual! Do you get an indication that the gears are changing then? Like a dial saying its in 1st or something? Or can you physically feel/hear it via the engine?

Thanks for the tips, I think the main thing is knowing that I wont milk float a roundabout.

If you are in semi auto mode then you should know (by an indicator on dash) what gear you are in. If in Drive then it will most likely just say D.

Though its not different to a manual, you know when you are in too low or too high a gear and can change it if you need. Some of the newer boxes are much more clever though and will change as and when needed pretty quickly.

Its not complicated, its rather easy and you definitely will not be driving a milk float

PMKeates · 21 Mar 2011 at 11:44

ubersonic has it exactly right. An automatic transmission can be controlled, within reason, just by manipulating the accelerator. The techniques take a bit of driving to pick up, but I pretty much had them down within a month or so of owning my first automatic. Occassionally it will do something you don't want, but it will take only a second or so to figure out your intentions and make an adjustment.

Assuming when you say Q7 3.0 you mean the new one, you will have no problems whatsoever. This car features a modern and very clever 8-speed automatic transmission mated to an adequately powerful 272 HP / 400 Nm V6 engine. The car manages 0-62 in 7.9 seconds - faster than the vast majority of cars on the road. You will find that if you do not squeeze the accelerator much you'll get a nice, relaxed casual 2nd gear start with early upshifts. If you squeeze that a bit more you'll get a revvier 2nd gear start, and if you just nail it the transmission will drop to 1st and go to the redline. You'll have no problems whatsoever at roundabouts - they couldn't be easier in a powerful automatic car.

ash_scotland88 · 21 Mar 2011 at 12:11

ubersonic said:
Basically the is a common myth that automatics drive themselves and you just press a go pedal, its rubbish.

When driving an automatic you are in total control of what gear your in, when you change and how quick the change is, the difference is its all done by throttle manipulation. (you cannot make it down shift for a corner/junction, you have to break for that).

If you slowly press the pedal down it will slowly accelerate and change slowly as it goes, if you press it harder it will accelerate harder and shift faster, if while accelerating you quickly back of the power then reapply it will change up quickly, if while driving you quickly press the pedal down it will drop 1-2 (sometimes even 3) gears and accelerate.

With time you will learn how to manipulate it, its not something you can just get in and do but when you have mastered it you can utilise it well. i.e I can leave a roundabout in 4th, drop to 1st gear, fly up the revs, shift to 2nd gear at will staying in the power band and accelerate to 70 before shifting to 4th and cruising, all with just the throttle.

When I was having driving lesson's we were talking about my parents car and I how drove that to begin with- it's an automatic. He then told me when you feel the car changing gear to ease off the acelorator. I can't remember the logic behind this but any truth?

Morba · 21 Mar 2011 at 12:13

not heard of that myself

Zid_ · 21 Mar 2011 at 12:19

me neither, can't think why you would.

mehuk · 21 Mar 2011 at 12:19

PMKeates said:
Assuming when you say Q7 3.0 you mean the new one, you will have no problems whatsoever. This car features a modern and very clever 8-speed automatic transmission mated to an adequately powerful 272 HP / 400 Nm V6 engine. The car manages 0-62 in 7.9 seconds - faster than the vast majority of cars on the road. You will find that if you do not squeeze the accelerator much you'll get a nice, relaxed casual 2nd gear start with early upshifts. If you squeeze that a bit more you'll get a revvier 2nd gear start, and if you just nail it the transmission will drop to 1st and go to the redline. You'll have no problems whatsoever at roundabouts - they couldn't be easier in a powerful automatic car.

wrong forum

ubersonic · 21 Mar 2011 at 13:17

Zid_ said:
me neither, can't think why you would.

My only guess would be to maintain the speed, i.e you press the pedal down far enough to go to 70 and accelerate in 2nd/3rd gear, after holding a constant speed at 70 it will shift up but constant throttle causes it to exceed 70, by backing off slightly as the gear changes you could maintain the same speed through the change. If that makes any sense lol.

Tomsk · 21 Mar 2011 at 15:12

ash_scotland88 said:
When I was having driving lesson's we were talking about my parents car and I how drove that to begin with- it's an automatic. He then told me when you feel the car changing gear to ease off the acelorator. I can't remember the logic behind this but any truth?

I do that in mine when the box is cold, but that's only because the gearbox is old and knackered. Once warmed up, it's full power change-ups and kickdowns.

mikeh501 · 21 Mar 2011 at 16:21

Ive got an A6 with the same engine and I think same gearbox as the Q7 your trying out. Honestly its a great combo. Mine is a 6 speed auto with tiptronic, someone said that yours will be an 8 speed but it matters little to how it will behave.

* For 90% of your driving you just put it in D and it will go however fast you want via the accelator. If you press the pedal hard down it will drop gears (1-2) normally to accelerate inline with how much stick your giving the pedal. However, the D mode is setup so that it goes up the gears fairly quickly to ensure better fuel consumption and keeps the ambient noise down.

* To make it a little more sporty you can select S from the gearstick (S=Sports IIRC) and the gearbox will always select 1st at a standstill, and it will redline in every gear before changing up, unless you hold a steady speed at which point it will hold the gearbox at optimum torque in the best gear. With Quattro and S mode you just jam the accelerator to the floor and it does the rest, works great tbh.

* You also have the choice of manually selecting the gear via the paddles behind the steering wheel or the gearstick +/- selection. Both of these modes allows you to basically press a button to change up/down. Note that it wont let you stall it or select a gear which would rev higher than the redline. Tbh, I used this method a few times for ****s and giggles and didnt both again. D and S modes are far better.