Golf R Observations and Questions

[Prodigy]

Got my DSG MY11 Golf R in united Grey on wed 10 Nov, it's an Aug 10 build car. Compared to my 06 DSG GTI it changes up to 5th gear in not time at all, and when cruising around seems to always be in too high a gear with a lot required for kick down. I can't get the factory Bluetooth to initiate voice dialing on either an iPhone or a blackberry. This was standard fare on the old Parrot kit in my mark 5. Ride and handling pretty good without ACC despite 19 inch wheels and 35 series rubber.

Congrats on your pickup, i've heard a few comments regarding the R changing up into the highest gear too soon for a lot of people's liking compared to other models, but i've never owned a DSG VW so i wouldn't know the difference.

Good to hear you are happy with the ride on 19's with no ACC.

[SilvrFoxX]

Got my DSG MY11 Golf R in united Grey on wed 10 Nov, it's an Aug 10 build car. Compared to my 06 DSG GTI it changes up to 5th gear in not time at all, and when cruising around seems to always be in too high a gear with a lot required for kick down. I can't get the factory Bluetooth to initiate voice dialing on either an iPhone or a blackberry. This was standard fare on the old Parrot kit in my mark 5. Ride and handling pretty good without ACC despite 19 inch wheels and 35 series rubber.

I was reading in the Letters to the Editor of this month Wheels magazine that someone had bought a Golf with DSG and was upset at the delay ond operation of the gear changes.. and going so far as to have it looked at ( VW claim it operates as designed ) and lodging complaints.. he indicates that he didnt experience it t that degree in the test drive.. the Wheels Editor suggested a reflash of the DSG software.. now I have to admit from all the test drives I took there were big differences in how the DSG behaved and provided a different experience.. so is there water in the idea of reflashing the software..?

[HPSOV]

when cruising around seems to always be in too high a gear with a lot required for kick down.

Mine does exactly the same thing, which I have whinged about on here. It's as though the DSG program is the same one used in the GTI, which would work fine when you have peak torque starting from 1700rpm, but it doesn't come on till 2400rpm in the R. You spend your whole life laboring away in too high a gear, so you're forced to put your foot down to get it to change. It then seems to be pot luck as to whether it drops one gear, or ends up going from 6th straight to 3rd rocket launching you into the car infront.
I spend 90% of my time in manual mode now as a result of that. It would be 100% except manual is rubbish in stop start traffic because it insists on dropping back to 1st anytime you go below 15kph. Auto will hold second until you get to about 2kph.
I give the DSG 9.5/10 mechanically, and about 4/10 for the software program.

[G-rig]

I don't know what the software differences would be in the GTI DSG, but seems fine to me. Perhaps you have to get used to the car, applying the right amount of throttle so that it doesn't kickdown 3 gears.

[Fab_R]

I don't know what the software differences would be in the GTI DSG, but seems fine to me. Perhaps you have to get used to the car, applying the right amount of throttle so that it doesn't kickdown 3 gears.

Yeah i dont mind the way it does this, I agree with G-rig though ^^^

[aaaaah]

Got my DSG MY11 Golf R in united Grey on wed 10 Nov, it's an Aug 10 build car. Compared to my 06 DSG GTI it changes up to 5th gear in not time at all, and when cruising around seems to always be in too high a gear with a lot required for kick down. I can't get the factory Bluetooth to initiate voice dialing on either an iPhone or a blackberry. This was standard fare on the old Parrot kit in my mark 5. Ride and handling pretty good without ACC despite 19 inch wheels and 35 series rubber.

The 77TDI loan car I had last week would go into 7th at about 65km/h...

[Jasonpb]

The 77TDI loan car I had last week would go into 7th at about 65km/h...

The polo we have goes into 7th @ 60km/h if in drive mode which is why I always drive the car in sports mode. The only thing I can fault with S mode is it will hold 4th gear at 70-80km/h even if you haven't changed speed in 5-10minutes which leaves the car revving its nuts off when it could easily change up a gear and still have plenty of throttle response available.

The golf R DSG I test drove behaved the same way as well, large throttle inputs to adjust speed and have the gears kick down. Personally I just can't drive the car in D mode and my R which I will hopefully be picking up on Monday will be left in S mode permanently or driven in manual mode, the only time I ever change into D mode is when I am on the freeway/highway and cruising but come overtaking another vehicle I change back to S mode.

[AdamD]

Compared to my 06 DSG GTI it changes up to 5th gear in not time at all, and when cruising around seems to always be in too high a gear with a lot required for kick down.

Remember that the DSG is a learning gearbox that adapts its shift patterns somewhat to your driving style. I found D to be fairly frustrating in my GTI for the first few hundred km, but now that it has some distance under its belt, it holds gears longer and kicks down a gear or two with minimal hesitation. So maybe just live with it for a while and see if it improves over time.

[dave_r]

The polo we have goes into 7th @ 60km/h if in drive mode which is why I always drive the car in sports mode. The only thing I can fault with S mode is it will hold 4th gear at 70-80km/h even if you haven't changed speed in 5-10minutes which leaves the car revving its nuts off when it could easily change up a gear and still have plenty of throttle response available.

Ours is the same hehe, can't wait to get to 7th in D, but its going for economy I guess. Sports is annoying cos you can't manually change gears when it holds it for so long. Lucky I don't have to worry about it.

As for the R, I find D is the same in most of the DSG cars but use of the right foot can get around most of the issues people report. I'll be using S and paddles unless I'm stuck in peak hour traffic so don't see an issue.

[Pepe]

Remember that the DSG is a learning gearbox that adapts its shift patterns somewhat to your driving style. I found D to be fairly frustrating in my GTI for the first few hundred km, but now that it has some distance under its belt, it holds gears longer and kicks down a gear or two with minimal hesitation. So maybe just live with it for a while and see if it improves over time.

Yep, this is definitely true... after 4500km or so, mine's getting better. Along with that, the engine is wearing in nicely and I'm sure my driving style is adjusting to the R as well. I spend a lot of time in traffic for my job, and whilst it still needs a bit more down low, it's fairly drivable regardless.