Hi everyone,

Our local Audi dealership just lent us a demo car for the day and my wife and I took it out for an afternoon of spirited testing. I enjoyed the car tremendously except for one issue. I am a big guy (6'4") and the weight of my foot and leg can push down on the accelerator pedal on cars whose pedals have little resistance, or that have been tuned to be very touchy (I find that Japanese manufacturers in particular like to make the throttle response very aggressive...I think this fools people into thinking the engine has more power than it does).

When driving a car like this, the front part of my ankle quickly starts to ache because driving becomes an exercise in holding my foot off of the gas pedal rather resting my foot against it when cruising along and pushing when I want to accelerate.

One of the reasons that I buy European cars is that in general the accelerator pedals are a lot more firm and the throttle response is linear. In my '00 BMW 323i, for example, if I rest my foot on the gas pedal it idles only about 100 more RPM than normal. Same for my wife's '04 Allroad. To make either of these cars accelerate, I have to push the pedal.

However, driving the A7 for only a few hours made my ankle ache like crazy. Just resting my foot on the accelerator pedal causes the car to accelerate at the rate of maybe 10mph every 2 seconds or so. Driving on a crowded highway is particularly annoying because I have to fine-tune how much I hold my foot off of the gas.

I was curious if anyone else had noticed this. I was quite disappointed because, as I say, I have not had this problem in other European cars. The dealer service manager says there is nothing that can be done to alter the pedal resistance. Is Audi trying to make their cars seem peppier by lightening the pedal?

The dealership also had an S7 in the showroom. Its throttle did not depress when I rested my foot on it. They won't let anyone take it for a drive, though, so I don't know if the same pedal resistance would still be present when the car is running.

Thanks,

--Mofongo

 

The problem is that most new cars use drive by wire. and no longer use a throttle cable and return springs. So there is no simple way to adjust how the pedal feels.

 

Have you attempted to alter the position of your seat so that your position changes your pedal pressure? halp

 

Yes, I played with the seats extensively. Because of my height there was still no good way to get enough support under my thighs to remove weight from my foot.

--Mofongo