DSG and how to get the best of it

[popeye]

Ok this is a real noob question.
As i previously stated i come from a lifetime of driving Japanese products and have no idea what to expect from a modern German car.
My brief test drive and the gorgeous looks of the 162tsi R LINE convinced me that i need one in my driveway.

As i am patiently waiting for delivery i troll the forum trying to learn as much as possible from those who know.
The question as the title states is how would one drive a DSG equipped vehicle and get the best of it without causing any long-term issues if any .
I read paddle shifters ,semi auto stick shifts etc.Some reviews talk about the DSG been jerky ,elastic ,eratic
Whatever!!!!!!!


Please laugh at my expence if you must [emoji12] but shed some light over my helpless uneducated soul.
Thanking you in advance.

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[R1911]

My advice would be to treat it like you would a manual, so no crawling in traffic. Other than that just drive it and enjoy it and try not to overthink it, just like any other car you're going to get use to it's idiosyncrasies pretty quickly

[Harrydhillon]

My advice would be to treat it like you would a manual, so no crawling in traffic. Other than that just drive it and enjoy it and try not to overthink it, just like any other car you're going to get use to it's idiosyncrasies pretty quickly

+1 what he said [emoji16]


MY15 Polo GTI - Red - DA Pack

[X-Rated]

Please laugh at my expence if you must, but shed some light over my helpless uneducated soul.




Definitely not laughing! Try this...

How to Play The DSG Game, and Win - DSG Driving Tips and Tricks

https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?share_fid=7951&share_tid=5989734&url=http%3A%2F%2Fforums%2Evwvortex%2Ecom%2Fshowthr ead%2Ephp%3Ft%3D5989734&share_type=t

[ewok666]

The question as the title states is how would one drive a DSG equipped vehicle and get the best of it without causing any long-term issues if any

It's really not a bad question. I've had an S3 for a while and there are a couple fo things you need to think about:
1) do you want to shift gears yourself or do you want the car to do it for you. If you want to shift manually then there are a few fundamentals. If you want the car to do it for you then you're pretty much stuck with regular and sports mode I assume...if you're lucky ;-) Maybe it only has one mode. Now I never drive mine in automatic unless I'm eating, need to hold something with one hand or otherwise absolutely MUST have the car do it. This brings us to....

2) Shifting manually....this is a bit more involved than you might initially think. There was a really good post somewhere on it but, in a nut shell, the DSG has gears 1,3,5 and 7 on one side and 2,4,6 on the other. So if you're in 1st then 2nd is already pre-selected and the shift will be almost instant. When you're in 2nd (and others except for 7th, of course) the DSG needs to work out what you will want next. There is a bit of a learning process for the driver on how to handle the throttle and brakes in different situations to get the DSG to understand what you are going to want next. When the DSG gets it wrong then you will have an unpleasant second or so where it changes the gear it THOUGHT you were going to need to the gear you ACTUALLY asked for....feels almost a bit like the engine stalls but it's completely harmless ;-)

There are a few more oddities, I assume they're the same across all DSGs but mine has APR DSG software on it so fortunately I do not have to put up with them. I also heard that the 7 speed DSG was less 'annoying' in that respect.

Hope this helps

[IsDon]

Haven't spent much time in my wife's Tiguan, but my A6 has a similar 7 speed DSG. I've. I've been driving it for four years.

With it, I found the Drive setting to select much higher gears than I liked and Sport went with too lower gear. For example, at 70 km/h drive would select 6th gear, whereas Sport would select 4th at the same speed.

I also found that, in normal city driving, the high gears Drive had selected meant that you were faced with a delay while the DSG fluffed about downshifting whenever you needed to give it a squirt.

This is the first "auto" I've owned in over 30 years of driving so it's not a situation I'd ever had to cope with before. It so annoyed me I started driving it in manual. Now I rarely ever use any of the auto modes. I'm always in the right gear and I find it far more controllable and enjoyable.

Something to note though. If you're accelerating, or even cruising at a constant speed, in say 5th, the DSG will preselect 6th as the next gear it expects you to use. If you decide you actually want to drop down to 4th to accelerate the DSG will throw its toys out of the cot. You'll be faced with a delay while the electronics sort out the downshift. The trick is to lift off the throttle for an instant before you hit the downshift paddle. That tells the DSG what you're planning and you get an instant downshift as a result.

Another thing they don't like is tootling along in traffic. As it's essentially an automated manual. Continual start/stopping uses computerised slipping of the clutch pack. Time will tell how long the clutch pack will last.

In a similar issue, we have a very steep driveway. In drive the DSG starts in 1st and almost instantly selects 2nd. It then slips the clutch in second all the way up the driveway. Can't be good for it. It's something you'd never do if you were driving a manual. My suggestion, even my wife understands, is to drive up the steep slope in manual mode. That way it forces the DSG to stay in 1st and minimises the clutch slippage.

My 1.1 cents wort plus tax.


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[popeye]

Thank you all for the replies /explanations.
So in a nutshell the DSG is a 2 year old that likes to do whatever it wants and when things don't go the way it thought would be it throws tantrums .
Yep got it [emoji12]
I should employ the ancient methods of beating it with a stick / paddles and get it to behave .
Simples .

Looking forward to it !!!!

Thanks again .


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[Transporter]

With 3 female drivers in my family, none have any gripes with the DSG. So, I believe if you drive just normally, you should have no problems and your DSG will be fine.

If you want to shift the gears manually almost 100% of the time, then perhaps you should get the car with the manual gearbox instead. I would.

[ewok666]

With 3 female drivers in my family, none have any gripes with the DSG. So, I believe if you drive just normally, you should have no problems and your DSG will be fine.

If you want to shift the gears manually almost 100% of the time, then perhaps you should get the car with the manual gearbox instead. I would.

I would not. Much slower, you generally lose boost on shift and, on the Golf R and S3 at least, you could be faced with clutch slip should you chose to tune the car.

[ewok666]

Thank you all for the replies /explanations.
So in a nutshell the DSG is a 2 year old that likes to do whatever it wants and when things don't go the way it thought would be it throws tantrums

No, it's actually really good and far superior to manual gearboxes and FAR, FAR superior to traditional Auto gearboxes. You just need to know how to handle it and what to expect.

[Transporter]

I would not. Much slower, you generally lose boost on shift and, on the Golf R and S3 at least, you could be faced with clutch slip should you chose to tune the car.

I just drive on normal roads or off road and don't use the car on the race track. So, I don't experience any of what you just described.
But, if I tune the car and the clutch slips, I just upgrade the clutch. :?

[ewok666]

I just drive on normal roads or off road and don't use the car on the race track. So, I don't experience any of what you just described.
But, if I tune the car and the clutch slips, I just upgrade the clutch. :?

I don't drive on the race track either. I was merely pointing out potential limitations of a manual gearbox in the Tiguan because they are very real on other VW vehicles.

[Transporter]

I don't drive on the race track either. I was merely pointing out potential limitations of a manual gearbox in the Tiguan because they are very real on other VW vehicles.

It's all good. :)

After limitations, there are also many pluses, like greater reliability and longevity. When the driver use the clutch properly, the clutch should last at least 250,000km, and the clutch is very cheap compared to the automatic transmission (incl. DSG) rebuild, don't even need to mention expensive servicing every 60,000km.

...and if we're still talking about the transmission in Tiguan ( or any SUV), then the manual gearbox is better suited if you like to do a bit of off reading or you want to tow.

[ewok666]

...and if we're still talking about the transmission in Tiguan ( or any SUV), then the manual gearbox is better suited if you like to do a bit of off reading or you want to tow.

Absolutely, I actually prefer the manual gearbox especially for off roading.

[jdw]

Any thoughts on the Harding Performance DSG tune ? I am seriously thinking about it to get rid of the "race to 6th gear issue" and to make S mode less aggressive ....however at $1,295 its not cheap.

[ewok666]

Any thoughts on the Harding Performance DSG tune ? I am seriously thinking about it to get rid of the "race to 6th gear issue" and to make S mode less aggressive ....however at $1,295 its not cheap.

Is this on the new Tiguan?

[jdw]

Is this on the new Tiguan?

No, I have a GTI Performance.

[ewok666]

No, I have a GTI Performance.

Glad to hear that. The GTI, like the R and the S3 runs the DQ250 and it seems the VW engineers are outright to stupid to get the gear selection right. I can confirm that, before my DSG tune, D mode tried to get to 6th gear before I hit 60km/h while S mode held 2nd up to 4000 RPM even without accelerating. I got the tune and it made the problem go away, among other goodies, nut I was also told ( can't confirm) that the 7 speed DQ500 did not have the same issues.

[Transporter]

Glad to hear that. The GTI, like the R and the S3 runs the DQ250 and it seems the VW engineers are outright to stupid to get the gear selection right. I can confirm that, before my DSG tune, D mode tried to get to 6th gear before I hit 60km/h while S mode held 2nd up to 4000 RPM even without accelerating. I got the tune and it made the problem go away, among other goodies, nut I was also told ( can't confirm) that the 7 speed DQ500 did not have the same issues.

The VW engineers aren't stupid. The job number 1 for the DSG is to get the best fuel economy and they've done it well.

[ewok666]

The VW engineers aren't stupid. The job number 1 for the DSG is to get the best fuel economy and they've done it well.

How does holding 2nd to 4000 RPM help with that once you put it into sorts mode? Almost everyone I spoke to complained about that.

[Gladbach]

How does holding 2nd to 4000 RPM help with that once you put it into sorts mode? Almost everyone I spoke to complained about that.

I agree with this, D is quite numb, too quick to cycle through the gears and reluctant to change down gears. S is the opposite, it holds on to gears way too long. Would be nice to have an S1 and S2 or S and S+.

I found that using the individual setting and configuring the drive mode to sports but DCC to normal works well. I drive it in D most of the time, but having the mode set to sports increases the throttle sensitivity, even in D, so the car feels more responsive, and the DSG does seem to drop down gears easier when input my foot down.

[theresanothersteve]

I've seen this question posted in lots of places and have asked the question myself, particularly in the light of the Ford fiasco where the driver gets blamed.

In a nutshell there is nothing out there that explains how you should drive a double clutch gearbox.

There is lots of information from owners on how to get the most out of one, but nothing from manufacturers (I've found) on what the driver must do.

I find the Jetta gets it right most of the time. Coming down the SE freeway I'll put it in manual and select lower gears to reduce brake applications. Going home there are 2 corners with hard acceleration directly after, for these I slip it into sport. The rest of the time for normal driving the DSG is OK, although it selects the higher gears a little before I would. There again, I picked the Jetta for the broader torque spread of the twin charged motor, courtesy of the supercharger.

I personally do not like manually selecting gears in any automated gearbox. I want the gear change to occur when I move the lever, not when the electronics make the change. If it happens almost simultaneously there is still the disconnect. Maybe its better with paddle shifters, but I doubt it. The electronics still make the change and the driver is disconnected. Personal taste, I know.

[Bunty]

I have a Mk 5 GTi with over 230k on the clock.
No issues at all, except for the occasional rollback on a hill.

I drive in D all the time, but use paddles when approaching a corner or round about.
After accelerating out of the corners i upchange to 6th and after about 10 sec it will automatically switch back to auto mode.
Perfect for me. I love it.

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[jrgti]

You can actually double shift up or down provided the revs are in the right range.

[ewok666]

You can actually double shift up or down provided the revs are in the right range.

But that will result in a delay of about one second while the DSG changes gears. The instant change is only for the next, pre-selected gear, assuming it pre-selected the gear you actually want. I always drive manual and usually run into this no more than once every two or three months. It's just a matter of getting used to the way it selects your next gear.

[SteveMc]

I'm hoping my 7spd DSG will have the same "temporary" manual mode as my wife's Q7. Whilst in auto mode, you can tap a paddle to change gears manually, and it will stay in that gear for around 20 seconds or so, with manual mode showing on the dash. Then it relaxes back into auto and recommences changing it's own gears again. Is that the way the current 6 speed works ?

[Bora Sport]

Any thoughts on the Harding Performance DSG tune ? I am seriously thinking about it to get rid of the "race to 6th gear issue" and to make S mode less aggressive ....however at $1,295 its not cheap.

I got an Underground Performance DSG tune on my 2011 Golf R. It makes D more like Sport and Sport a bit closer to Drive. That is, it makes the difference smaller. You can also nominate a speed that it drops into 6th. I found it a huge improvement on standard. I've done a couple of happy laps days at Lakeside and leaving it in Sport it did every gear change perfectly at just the right time. In normal on road driving in D it is great too.

I'm not sure what they charge but I think it would be closer to $750.00.

You can find them on Facebook.

[Bunty]

Temporary manual mode?
Thats the way my old Mk V GTi works.
Tap the paddles to down shift, being on the brakes coming into a turn it has preselected the next lower gear, and after accelerating out and changing up you can wait for the dsg to swap back to auto or hold the up (+) paddle and switch off manual mode.
If you look closely at the up paddle it has OFF as well as the + symbol.

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[Cobwebs]

I may be a bit late in the thread but here is some interesting well explained 'don'ts' for a dual clutch transmission

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W42zsFYjZvM