I stopped by the dealer today and the service advisor says my questions about my 9/15 build A8 with 3600 miles is normal.

When paddle shifting at light throttle, the 1-2 shift is delayed a second or so and the car continues to accelerate for another 500-600 rpm after paddle activation before initiating the shift. The 2-3 shift does the same but only for 200 rpm or so. The rest of the shifts are quick with almost inperceptible rpm increase. Also, on cold start in the morning, the car will not initially move when shifted to reverse unless I give it some gas or wait a few seconds. I don't think I am experiencing the shudder others have expressed to get a new TC installed. I do notice some vibration that feels more like a pavement issue that is more or less constant. Is this the shutter?

The advisor says it is the adaptive learning and I should drive it to 5000 miles or so.

Would appreciate some feedback, particularly others experience with the 1-2 paddle shift.

 

Mine also had a slow reacting reverse, but no other real shifting issues.

At about 7,500 mi, i felt like the pavement was rough or that I had a tire issue. Eventually I had a shudder that happened nearly every second. It only happened when I was in V4 mode, which is nearly continual when cruising, even as high as 80+. When I put my dash in Tach mode, you could see the engine RPM's continually going up and down by around 150 RPM's. When the RPM's went up, there was a shudder that felt like the car had gone over 3 very small rumble strips. Evidently, the torque converter was leaking which caused the RPM's to go up and the shudder.

Shifting the A8 into Manual mode which locks in V8 mode made the shudder issue disappear. Unfortunately, when you go to stop and then start, you have to shift into D or use your paddle shifters. Switching between V4 & V8 modes when cruising is a good way to determine if you have the TC issue.

I took it in for repairs and the Service Manager agreed the TC needed replacing after he drove it a short distance. Parts took around a week to arrive.

Don't think the reverse/shifting issues have anything to do with TC issues.

As I have said elsewhere, repair labor is nearly 24 hrs. Most of the rear of the car's underside need to be removed to get the tranny & TC out.

Tadge (ask Tadge- question) indicated that all A8's installed after 11/1/15 have the new TC.

 

I have found the same lazy behavior when paddle shifting at low throttle/RPM (2016 Z06 March build) however now that the weather has warmed up enough for the tires to have decent traction I have tried the same shifts at higher throttle and they are quite responsive.

I think the cold slow engagement was taken care of before I purchased mine however I let all of my vehicles idle 15-20 seconds after a cold start before putting them in gear so I likely wouldn't notice.

Leave your A8 in drive and cruise on a level stretch of highway so that it will go into V4 mode and then go to manual mode to stop AFM activation and see if the vibration feel is greatly reduced. If so then that points towards shudder. The LT-4 in the Z06 doesn't go into AFM often but the LT-1 should go into AFM quickly under light load for you to test.

 

I have an October 2015 build, 2015 Z51 Coupe with A8. The paddle shifters suck in my opinion, because of the lag they have (as do most others I have used in torque converter based autos).
I do like that the car stays in whatever gear you put it in (for the most part) when using them, which my BMW 335 was HORRIBLE at (always nanny the hell out of shifts), and is the only reason I still use it occasionally. But if I want perfectly timed shifts, I leave it in auto mode.
Other than that, this transmission is amazing... it shifts so damn fast under hard acceleration, it is mind-numbing and then is super smooth when cruising.

 

I agree that the A8 and even the A6 shifting can be lazy at best at P/T----But is this really an issue ??? I am more happy about the new shifting patterns at full throttle (or above 4000 RPM's) that I can live with the P/T shifting----Seems my cars shifts crisper at P/T when in drive than when paddle shifting-----
PS : I was able to shorten the shift times in my trans tuning and it almost completely eliminated all the delayed lazy P/T shifting anyway--
Also anothe issue that proved to have excellent results to quicker shifting at P/T is related to your "minimum final timing table" in your engine tune
The timing at P/T below 4000 can be as much as a -13* and a minimum of about -8*
Simply raising the final timing to about 6-8*positive will aid in the shift delays at P/T
Above 4000 RPM's you really can't mess with the final timing as setting it positive here will make the WOT shifts bang extremely violent

 

Thanks. I was hoping there was something that could be done short of tuning the transmission. That voids the warranty doesn't it? With all the TC and trans replacements noted here on the forum, I really don't want to void it at this point. Like you said, it shifts wonderfully in drive and after all, I did get an auto! Not really missing the stick too much.

 

My Zo6 was built on 02/02/15 should I be concerned about the TC?

 

What is your exact concern about traction control ??

 

All 4 of my A8s had a noticeable delay in paddle response. I traded in a 2016 Stingray for a 2015 Z06 (bought both new) and have to say my new 2015 shifts better (smoother and no downshift issues) than the '16 (and two previous '15 models) ever did.