I have a 2002 A6 3.0 with the CVT and front wheel drive. I am within 2,000 miles of the expiration of my 50,000 mile warranty. I am having a transmission problem. The problem has been getting worse and I'm taking it into a new dealership (I bought the car in Florida and recently moved to Pittsburgh). Working with a new dealership that I'm unfamiliar with and with the warranty nearly expired I have some concerns about getting this addressed prior to the end of the warranty. Here is what is happening:

1) The transmission has never been impressive. It starts with what I would describe as a "low spot" when I begin to accelerate from a stop. It seems to be under powered and then it lurches a bit as it hits second gear (at least I assume this happens when it moves to second gear, I don't really know much about how this or any transmission works, this is not a turbo engine so it's not turbo lag). The car has always been well cared and never driven hard.

2) I am now experiencing what I would describe as a shudder or skipping between gears when accelerating from a stop (again, as noted above, I'm only assuming this is at a gear change). You can feel it easily. The shudders or skips are distinct and evenly paced like a drum beat with two to four quick beats in succession. It's like the transmission is trying to catch a gear.

3) It's more likely to happen when I have people in the car or if I'm going up hill but it has happened at other times, and it is getting slowly but progressively getting worse.

4) It is almost exclusively occuring when I am accelerating from a stop although on occassion it occurs at low speads when the transmission downshifts. I do not recall any time this occurred at high speeds when changing gears or downshifting. It doesn't happen every time. I would say about 40% of the time but is influenced, as noted above, by hills, etc.

4) Other than this low-speed problem the transmission appears to work very well.

Has anyone had a similar experience or can anyone shed some light on this. I am always careful where I buy my cars because I know the integrity of a dealership is important, particularly at times like this when I'm facing warranty expiration. If they take the car around the block on a quick drive they may not experience the problem, and I am concerned about how much it will cost me if has to be fixed after warranty.

Thanks for any insight you can provide to me, Don

 

have engine and transmission checked for fault codes first

 

The tranny fluid was supposed to be changed during your 40k service. Was that done? I find it odd that you describe so many shifts. There really arent supposed to be all that many shifts felt with a cvt.

 

Mine does the exact same thing when starting from a stop. From what I understand it's normal (although it's a nuisance) because the belts will adjust and stretch when under load. As for the shuddering I think they have a flash to fix that and/or they'll replace the tranny, although most people can't get it to shudder when at the dealer, go figure. And you should feel no shifts at all. The CVT doesn't have gears, it uses steel belts that stretch and contract with engine speed. You'll definitely want to get it fixed before the warranty is up, if they have to replace the tranny, I've seen that it's upwards of $11,000.
Good luck