Kickdown issue and a few other questions

[plankton]

I'm new to A8's (and indeed Audi) - I bought a 1999 4.2V8 back in November and I have a few questions.

Kickdown is very slow to work. My other car is a diesel Saab automatic, and that kicks down far quicker than the A8. I'd say it's a good second, maybe 2 seconds before it finds the right gear in mid range.

Acceleration and gear changes from standstill are fine, but with the kickdown behaving as it is, I have to plan overtakes and floor it before I actually go.. If I use the manual selector, it's fine, though I hardly use that (not used to it).

What is this problem likely to be? I'm hoping this is not symptomatic of a borked gearbox. Car is at 101,000 miles, and the gearbox oil was changed around 60,000 miles.

Second question is regarding the temperature. Where should it sit once it's warmed up, and how long should it take to get there? At the moment my diesel Saab gets to normal temp a fair bit quicker. Temp seems to not get as far as 90.

Here it is (pic from sellers advert):