Audi CVT Transmission

The CVT transmission in the 2011 Audi A4 is an interesting one...

CVT or Continuously Variable Transmissions differ from standard

mechanical transmission in that they have an infinite number of

gear ratios which allows the car to maintain the proper RPM for

whatever task you are trying to do...either driving efficiently and

using as little gas as possible at a low RPM or maximizing the

performance by keeping the RPM at the peak power point.

The feeling when driving a CVT transmission is a bit different than a standard transmission, as you never feel or really see the car changes gears...it’s very smooth and almost futuristic feeling in a way. When driving conservatively, the RPMs rarely pass 2000 and fluctuate only between 1200 - 2000 no matter your speed or rate of acceleration. If you do step on it, the RPMs will rise to where the car makes it’s peak power and stay there until you let off.

Audi, along with other manufacturers, went a bit beyond how a CVT normally acts and also included a “Sport” mode where now the car simulates 8 virtual gears, which change very quickly with the RPMs dropping very little. This also allows you to shift manually through all 8 “gears” using either the gear shifter in the center console or the paddle shifters behind the steering wheel on Audi A4’s with the Sport Package.

In this video, you can see how the CVT transmission behaves at full throttle from 20MPH to 60MPH. The RPMS shoot to ~5000 and move very little. On a standard transmission, the RPMs would rise rapidly to redline in 1st gear till around 30MPH then the car would shift into 2nd where the RPMs would drop 2000-3000 then rise again to redline and shift to 3rd gear at 60-65MPH...repeating the process until you reach top speed.

Audi has programmed the new A4 (and other models) to behave like a standard transmission when in “Sport” or “Manual” mode. Here you can see the CVT transmission simulating standard gears and shifting at various points.

All modifications and changes are done at your own risk. This site in no way is responsible for any modifications performed on your vehicle. Please check with your Audi dealer as certain modification could void your factory warranty.