For starters, lets read a portion of the factory description of a 2005 Audi A8 4.2 TDI Quattro: Then we can proceed with transmissions, in particular. This car is unbelievable in terms of performance and comfort, fairly dust for folks who don’t have plenty of money and a desire to own an exotic, comfortable, rocket ship..
“All Audi A8 V8 TDI models are equipped with 5-speed tiptronic transmission with DSP dynamic gearshift programme and additional sports programme. The engine’s output and torque are always unleashed with such precision that the conflicting requirements of spontaneous power flow, high performance and perfectly refined running are all achieved.” Quote from Audi…
Tiptronic is a registered trademark, owned by sports car maker Porsche, who licenses it for use by other manufacturers, including Land Rover, Audi, and Volkswagen.
Luxury vehicles with a Tiptronic transmission have two fully-automatic modes: the normal mode, identified as “Drive” or similar. Having a second mode, usually called “Sport,” which delays and firms up the shifts for a sportier driving. Understanding that modern Tiptronic-type transmissions use utilize electronics, incorporating an electronic control unit (ECU), sometimes specifically referred to as the transmission control unit (TCU), the control units work in harmony, which means that the operation of the transmission is capable of mimicking a persons particular driving style by storing every metric exacted from every input on the car.
To put it in usable terminology, this adapts to the demands being placed upon the car by the driver. In this way, shift quality has been improved due to better electronic controls. When we boil down the above statements, the result we come up with is an automatic transmission that uses a highly complex TCU which allows the car to make its own decisions on when and how hard to shift. When we talk about different modes, we are discussing the amount of shift programs installed in the main TCU.
Realistically speaking, it sounds complicated and in theory it is, however, once you read the owners manual and become acquainted with the system, it become easy to use and particularly addictive.
In truth, most of the jargon and fancy talk about this unit is for the consumer who demands fancy language and complicated terms. Every make of car has a form of a self adjusting computerized system now. The main difference is that a Volkswagon may only have 5 or 6 shifting programs installed in the ECM or TCU, a Porsche 911 Turbo may have as many as 250 programs installed for the person who drives the car to work everyday and then drives it to the roadcoarse on the weekend for some spirited driving fun, legally.
In turn, the Audi A8 transmission has over 67 factory programs installed to fit the character of the car.
That being said, I had the opportunity to provide a rebuilt transmission for a 2005 Audi A8 in 2006. A kid owned the car (don’t ask me where he got 90,000 clams) and drove it in the true spirit of the cars nature, all the time.
After absorbing this ‘vibe’, read the next post on GotTransmissions.com Blog on the experience we had doing a rebuilt transmission job for this car. Unbelievable, to say the least.