Driving an automatic

[aphill24]

Hi, I have had my a4 avant 2.7 tdi s line for a couple of days :D now and it is the first auto I have ever driven. Sorry if this sounds like a really daft question but what is the correct procedure when coming to a stop at traffic lights etc..?
Do you just keep it in drive with your foot on the brake or shift it into N and apply the handbrake. I noticed when I put it into N while stopped at the lights the revs dropped slightly which one would expect. Just don't want to be doing anything that might not be good practice and would welcome your thoughts.

[Guest 2]

Hi, I have had my a4 avant 2.7 tdi s line for a couple of days :D now and it is the first auto I have ever driven. Sorry if this sounds like a really daft question but what is the correct procedure when coming to a stop at traffic lights etc..?
Do you just keep it in drive with your foot on the brake or shift it into N and apply the handbrake. I noticed when I put it into N while stopped at the lights the revs dropped slightly which one would expect. Just don't want to be doing anything that might not be good practice and would welcome your thoughts.

Just keep your foot on the brake in D

Or shift into N and apply the handbrake if you're sitting for a longer period of time.

[aphill24]

Cheers Chris, I suppose I answered my own question there just wondered what everyone else does, love the smooth ride but it does understeer which I need to get used to.

[markp306]

Hi, I have had my a4 avant 2.7 tdi s line for a couple of days :D now and it is the first auto I have ever driven. Sorry if this sounds like a really daft question but what is the correct procedure when coming to a stop at traffic lights etc..?
Do you just keep it in drive with your foot on the brake or shift it into N and apply the handbrake. I noticed when I put it into N while stopped at the lights the revs dropped slightly which one would expect. Just don't want to be doing anything that might not be good practice and would welcome your thoughts.

If you have time to think about it then yes, you should apply the handbrake at junctions / lights /etc. (That goes for a manual too). When ready, just move off and the handbrake will release.

If you keep moving the selector around you do nothing but increase wear and tear on the gearbox. The auto box is designed to be left in drive....unless you are going to be stationary for a while then move it to N or even P as mentioned above.

[SunnyBard]

Just keep your foot on the brake in D

For added laziness retrofit the Audi Hold Assist (aka Hill Hold). As soon as you're stationary you can take your foot off the brake ... it does require the correct type of ABS controller though.

[dts439]

I used to go into Neutral, apply the handbrack and then back into drive - so that it you can use the auto handbrake relase feature once you touch the throttle.

Recently I noticed that I can just brake to a standstill and apply the handbrake and then release the brake pedal. I try to see how smoothly I can get away by using the softest touch of the accelerator.

If its going to be a long standing time I'd use Neutal. I'm interested to see what the impact of Stop/Start does to all of this.

[SunnyBard]

I try to see how smoothly I can get away by using the softest touch of the accelerator

Me too, I find the HHA makes it even smoother as it holds the brakes on all wheels, rather than just the rears, so there's less of a "squat" when setting off.

[dts439]

Interesting about HHA, our car does not have this annoyingly which seems odd as it was only a £45 option. Seems cheap given you actually get a button! We have the AAS ABS unit so probably not fixable.

SunnyBard, do you notice the sports differential at all ? And is the sports suspension hard?

[SunnyBard]

do you notice the sports differential at all? And is the sports suspension hard?

Difficult to say about the diff, never actually feel it cutting in, but I don't drive it that hard very often, probably not my best VFM choice of option, but there you go.

As for the suspension, together with the highly inflated extra load tyres, I do wish it was a bit more forgiving over potholes, my biggest regret in speccing the car is not noticing that having Drive Select (which is required with the sports diff) dropped the price of the Damper Control to something like £175 (not sure it still does on the current configurator looks like it stays as £300).