GTD acceleration responsiveness

[adekil]

Warning, this may not be explained too well!

As much as I love my GTD, from the beginning I expected more from the performance and have posted about this.

Over the last several months when the car is lagging with acceleration, out of curiosity I tested some things and noticed that when I switch modes after the car is running, the car reacts much more livelier as I would expect it to when setting off in the first place....

For example... I start the engine/journey in Sport mode and most times the car accelerates like a standard midrange TDI when pressing hard and revving high, but if I switch mode to Normal (no difference in response experienced), then back to Sport the car reacts amazingly quickly. This can sometimes happen switching from Sport to Normal, whereas Normal feels quicker.

Then if I was to stop the car and switch off the engine for a while, the performance when started again is as like above, I need to switch modes to get the most out of it.

Has anyone else noticed similarities to this and if so is it something a VW garage would pick up on if I was to book in?

[monkeyhanger]

Are you sure it's not just the car warming up? The GTD seems to have a protection system on it that limits output when cold. Never had this on any previous TDI . It would a right pain to have to select sport from normal every time you wanted to be a bit sporty. On the other hand though, my car is always in sport and I swear that switching to normal causes the car to have more low end response and it's 10% thirstier.

[adekil]

This is noticeable when cold and warm, I've even had other people take it out and they notice the same that when starting in Sport the car doesn't perform as expected, switch to normal or any other mode then back to Sport and the car is noticeably more responsive.

Quite often I notice too when switching from Sport to Normal the car again feels more responsive but only when the car is warmed up, I don't notice any difference when cold.

I know next to nothing about car mechanics or the software but it does appear switching modes once the car engine is on is triggering something but feel if I took this to VW I would be wasting a trip.

[monkeyhanger]

Most of the dealership techs know very little about the workings of the car beyond what the manuals and bulletins tell them when the car has been diagnosed by a computer. They get to work like someone picking a Lego kit to build and following the instructions precisely to get to the end product. They are rarely allowed to use their initiative, they remove and replace whatever the diagnostic equipment tells them to, or reinstall controlling software.

If the computer doesn't detect a fault or have one stored, as far as they're concerned, there is no fault.

It might well be worth trying having the car in normal to start on every journey and then flick it over to Sport, for a few days at least. If starting in Sport is treated by the car like starting in normal and only a change to normal (and possibly back to sport) mid journey initiates the true sport mode response then i'd consider it a fundamental fault. Doubt VW techs could confirm whether this is the case, and if it is, then VW should just have the car default to normal on start-up for every journey.

It might be a bit difficult to tell for me with the box on.

[monkeyhanger]

Anyone with a GTI noticed same, with the modes in sport at the start and then a change to normal (and possibly back to sport)  resulting in better throttle response?

[monkeyhanger]

Well I had a play with this on a 3 stage round trip to pick my missus up from work, and it seems that no matter what mode the car was left in, it benefits from a change every journey. I have my individual set up for Sport on every setting except aircon, which is set to eco.

Drove to the missus' work. About 1/2 a mile into the journey I press the mode button and change from individual to sport and the car's low end pick-up improves and the car seems just a little thirstier than normal. Get to her place, engine off, play about on my phone for 10 mins until she comes out. Drive to Sainsburys (it's about 1/3 of the way home/3 miles). The car's low end pick-up isn't quite as sharp as it was when I changed modes. Change modes again, from sport to individual, and the car sharpens up again. Do the same from Sainsburys to home (6 miles), changing back from individual to sport again and the absent low end sharpness returns. Very weird.

Without changing modes, the car is plenty sharp for me with the DTUK box, but it's still noticeable. It's like the car defaults to Normal on every journey, but the display icons in the mode selection don't reflect that.

[adekil]

monkeyhanger, that's exactly what I experience and tried down to a tee for me to post this in the first place as it seemed not normal.

But as we've both noticed, switching to Normal is sometimes more responsive after setting off, so maybe the default is not Normal mode either than the one displayed?

Is this a flaw, design or a bug perhaps and is it worth booking in to a garage?

Strange that no one else has complained about this and instead raved about leaving the car in Sport mode as its so good!

[dippy_x]

Could it be defaulting to Eco mode?  That is the only other option available.  My GTD stays in individual setup with engine set to normal.  This is the one feature of the car I haven't really played about with.  Sounds like a nightmare to try and explain and demonstrate to the dealers / VW.

[monkeyhanger]

Yes, it does sound like a nightmare. It'll be a "leave it with us for a few days" scenario. 2 days later some scrote has put 100 miles on your car and thrashed it, leaving you with 1/3 of a tank gone. They'll say they couldn't find anything.

It's definitely no-where near as limp as eco mode, the pedal is decidedly dead in eco mode. It seems to me that the car always starts in normal mode (regardless of what the displayed mode says, if you haven't selected eco), and switching to anything but eco once the journey is underway results in a performance improvement. When I switch between normal and sport, the soundaktor behaves as it should e.g barely on in selected normal and louder in sport.

A few other people mentioned the same when I said ages ago that sometimes my normal seems more potent than sport. Might be harder to spot on a DSG (if it even happens with a DSG) because of the car deciding when it's going to change.

[adekil]

I have DCC too as an extra so chuck in Comfort mode as well but when I do start of in Sport, the steering is tight so must be Sport mode, and the soundaktor is noticeable too, so would it be just the engine mode defaulting to something else?