Long top gear... Some dud arguments doing the rounds?

[Andy B]

I just read the car magazine review...

http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/Drives/Search-Results/First-drives/VW-Golf-GTI-2013-CAR-review/Post.aspx

...and one bit which I noted was this

"The bad news concerns the calibration of the six-speeder. While the first five ratios are staggered just about right, sixth is so long it’s almost grotesque. If maximum speed was to be attained in top gear, the new GTI would be good for a hyper-theoretical 208mph. With the transmission in S, however, this is rarely an issue because S happens to obey a very energetic algorithm. When in D, the black box shifts into sixth at low engine and road speeds, thereby changing the character of the car from GTI to mpg. It may be politically incorrect to accept higher fuel consumption, but a GTI top gear ought to be a proper driving ratio. Perhaps the cogs in the optional Performance Pack work better (a snip at around £1000, but our car didn’t have it)."

This strikes me as full of nonsense.

1) They admit it's not an issue, because if you stick it in 'S', then it stays away from 6th, as it should.
2) What has political correctness got to do with fuel economy? Isn't it about money?
3) The top gear *is* a 'proper driving ratio'. It's the gear that most cars are in most of the time when doing long journeys, otherwise there wouldn't be a point to it!

Isn't the point of a top gear to be an efficient gear that covers the miles with the minimum of fuel? In the past, the top gear was often called 'overdrive'. It's a really useful idea. I like it. I want it. If I'm stuck on the M4 trundling along at 60, do I really want the nuts wrung out of the engine just because I'm in a 'gti' and some old duffer on a car magazine demanded it?

If you want to pick up the pace, no matter what gearing, you'd be wasting the car by staying in 6th anyway. And the review admits that all the other gears have ratios well chosen to do precisely that. So what's the problem here? And if you've got DSG (as the reviewer did) just stick it in sport and press the accelerator. Could it be any more simple?

In short, what are they moaning about?

Discuss!

 

[JonnyG]

 

I totally agree with you ... for motorway driving especially, I prefer to "cruise" at "70"mph  with the revs fairly low and a quiet cabin.

With DSG it's so easy (and quick) to downchange to 5th for little surge of power, there isn't really a problem.   

[Exonian]

One of the main reasons I went for a manual was that report. I don't want to be fighting the car all the time!
Part of driving (and I'm far from an expert on the subject) is being in the right gear for the right conditions so therefore a manual gearbox for me will allow me better control as I live in the West Country where we have these things called 'bloody great hills' and 'bends' so even dual carriageway driving will involve a bit of stick shifting instead of just leaving it in a direct top gear like on the mk6.
The higher top gear will utilise the higher torque output too and thus help a little with economy and no doubt that's where VW get their laughable 18% improvement in economy from.

So 50/50 for me.

[SF-GTD]

I agree with what you've said here.  I had a DSG box on a Scirocco and the one thing for me was that in D mode it was far too keen to work it's way up to 6th gear.  S mode was the opposite, hanging on to gears as long as possible, which is exactly what I would expect.

I would have preferred for it not to move up gears quite so quickly in D mode, but it was really clever and would automatically shift down when required so not a massive issue.

[Bill_the_Bear]

If I'm stuck on the M4 trundling along at 60, do I really want the nuts wrung out of the engine just because I'm in a 'gti' and some old duffer on a car magazine demanded it?

You do not.

On the plus side, first review without PP? 

EDIT:
Ok I've read this before somewhere, must be an old review.  And he praises the PP and says get it even though he has never tried it.  That has convinced me to be 100% against PP now.

[Andy B]

One of the main reasons I went for a manual was that report. I don't want to be fighting the car all the time!
Part of driving (and I'm far from an expert on the subject) is being in the right gear for the right conditions so therefore a manual gearbox for me will allow me better control as I live in the West Country where we have these things called 'bloody great hills' and 'bends' so even dual carriageway driving will involve a bit of stick shifting instead of just leaving it in a direct top gear like on the mk6.

It's probably too late for you, but you can use dsg like a manual if you want - it only intervenes when used as such when necessary (e.g. if you slow down but don't change down), but if manual is fine for you, then it's a good way to save a big chunk of money. I'm afraid I can't go back now. Therefore I am doomed to spending gazillions more on cars forever. The main reason I don't want to tick the performance pack or the adaptive dampers or any of the other features I never knew I needed is that this very quickly is going to get out of hand 

[monkeyhanger]

DSG is money you'll never see back. If you're in 2 minds and are used to manual i'd say don't bother. My dad's quoted guaranteed final value on his solutions quote for his GTD order is only £240 higher than mine in manual - that's a lot of money lost on something you may not need.

[mark@vorny.co.uk]

All very interesting.

I personally think that early change ups are a feature of the manufacturers chasing emissions, and that in itself brings the lazy/too keen argument of standard/sport modes.

It would be interesting to see how many are prepared to use the paddles on a regular basis, this is where I believe the boxes start to make real sense. I think the manufacturers also have to get together to agree an industry standard of the paddles operation so that they all work in the same fashion.

I am an Auto fan. I drive my wife's DSG on the paddles, I drive my PDK on the paddles, and I drove my last BMW on the paddles. It's second nature now and I think adds real value to the whole experience.