My DSG woes!

[Jimble]

So as not to clog up the R thread i've copied this to here:

@Jimble what are you not liking with DSG?

Back on the R topic - why do most folk think its essential to have DSG on the R?

Ok, trying not to stray too far off topic, the biggest problem i have is that there is no consistency with it on my daily route which has some up and down hills, stop start traffic and a couple of long straight roads, if your travelling at speeds between 28 and 31 mph it will either be in 3rd or 4th and will only change to 5th at 32mph or above?? whilst whilst accelerating up and and down any kind if gradient it will hold onto 2nd or 3rd way too long or it'll be in 4th and i'm happy! I've done the same journey ~25 times in this car now and every day seems different! When in stop start traffic with the stop start system active it's pot luck as to whether it'll pull away smoothly as soon as you lift your foot off the brake or if it will lurch forward as it releases the brake itself and the traffic in front has disappeared into the distance!

If the car is just in D there isn't enough urgency when trying to pull away quickly or accelerating hard from a slow pace unless you floor it into kick down which seems to take an eternity to decide which gear to be in! Now this can be solved by being in S but then the revs are held up at 3k which i don't want all the time!!

I've tried driving it in manual mode in traffic but it will not give me the gear i want and still changes down for me! WTF?

I may have misunderstood Jimble but why do you want 5th gear at 30mph? That would be labouring the engine and have no response to acceleration at all. 3rd is ideal at that speed.

Mine always pulls away smoothly from auto stop/start as soon as I remove the brake pedal, do you have auto-hold on? I turned this back off as there's a little delay.

As for kick down. Mine changes instantly on kick down. It will drop from 5th into 2nd for example and instantly send you flying.

The main reason i want 5th is for fuel economy which this car is sorely lacking in round town, i'm not saying it should be in 5th as soon as i reach 31 mph but should it really be in 3rd at 26~27 with the engine buzzing away? I'm already tired of it's constant up-down shifting between 25 and 31 which unfortunately is most of the daily trip! Auto hold is off at all times as it just makes things worse, 5th gear in my manual mk6 was perfectly fine and never laboured the motor so why should this be any different? This car WILL NOT give me 5th at 30 even in manual which really winds me up!! Even if the motor started to chugg it's my car and i'll decide!!!! I thought i'd love it having driven many auto boxes over the years which have been fine but i just don't get along with this automated manual.


I was using the acc on the motorway yesterday which is an awesome bit of kit, unfortunately there were two accidents on the m6 which involved quite a bit of stop start, now from the videos i've seen i thought you didn't need to do anything but when the car stops and the engine cuts out, when it restarts you need to touch the gas pedal to get going again, is this right?


@Mr Savage, If your car kicks down instantly then i suspect that mine could have an issue as it is not instant, yes once it's gone your off like a shot but it seems to take a second to decide what to do?


Another thing, when i reverse off my drive and then change to D there is a definate delay, it goes into forward drive instantly but when starting to pull away it's almost as though the clutch hasn't engaged fully, anyone else have similar?


Like i said in the other thread, there isn't enough urgency under medium throttle in D but nobody wants to keep it in S on the daily commute do they? It could do with something in between.


It stands a very good chance that i'm the problem but i guess i'm just one of the many people that don't get on with the DSG box?


I don't think i'd re order another GTI as i'd lose too much money for the same car, whereas at least if i went with an R it would be a change.

[Geomets]

Jimble, it sounds like a problematic gearbox, could your dealer reprogrammise it for you? Though, it's a possibility that since you drove a manual before, you can't get accustomed to the dsg yet. The delay between forward-rearward and the opposite is normal by the way, to prevent the gearbox. As you know, going rearwards, restrains the worm gear too much because it reverts the movement of the engine. So the gearbox should fully disengage and engage the 1st gear/reverse. You should come to a complete stop before going in the other direction and not do it as you did in the manual (slipping the clutch to stop and continue in the opposite direction). That's probably the delay you noticed after selecting first...
Just some thoughts, don't get me wrong. I never were or will be with dsgs, probably my age (can't teach an old dog new tricks, that is). If I were you I would take a visit to the dealer and reset and reprogram the dsg software (if it can be done, i don't know, never bothered with automated trannies!)

[MAW73]

I would log your potential dsg issues with the dealership and ask them to arrange a test drive in their demo gti to see if its you or your car.

[2014GTi]

I would log your potential dsg issues with the dealership and ask them to arrange a test drive in their demo gti to see if its you or your car.

Good idea  then you will know if it's a issue with your DSG box.

[Jimble]

I would log your potential dsg issues with the dealership and ask them to arrange a test drive in their demo gti to see if its you or your car.

Good idea  then you will know if it's a issue with your DSG box.

Might ask them to scan it while it's in, only problem with a test drive is their demo is a manual so thats out.   Do they do software updates on the gearbox?

[Geomets]

I would log your potential dsg issues with the dealership and ask them to arrange a test drive in their demo gti to see if its you or your car.

Good idea  then you will know if it's a issue with your DSG box.

Might ask them to scan it while it's in, only problem with a test drive is their demo is a manual so thats out.   Do they do software updates on the gearbox?

As long as it has a software and tuners have tuning software for dsgs, I think that they can update or reload the software from the factory... I think it can be done.

[Mr Savage]

I do agree with you Jimble that the first drive for me was massively disappointing. The car felt underwhelming with the DSG box in drive, I had come from a MK5 GT TDI 140 manual which seemed quicker than the GTI and I was confused as to what was going on.

However it was a combination of me being gentle with the throttle because it was new and getting used to the DSG box. The car is definitely lacking gut in Drive with gentle throttle and I agree that in sport it just wants to smash every gear into the red line regardless of your throttle pressure, which is a little irritating. I have resorted to just using manual mode, in sport and using the paddles for all my driving which is great.

Yes when auto start/stop cuts the engine out you need to press the accelerator to get moving again, this is normal. However you get used to the pressure point on the brake pedal to engage start/stop. You can bring the car to a stop and hold the car still without the engine cutting off if you don't push down too heavily on the brake pedal when you're at a stand still. The most annoying thing I find with start/stop is when you come to park up and you drive past a space that you want to reverse into. As soon as you stop it cuts the engine out and then when you engage reverse it starts the engine up again, very irritating I found!

This hasn't bothered me much though because I won't mind the engine labouring a little in drive or blasting through the revs in sport once it's at that magic broken in number. There is a split second delay from kick down but only slight. For overtaking I usually just tap the paddle shifter down to get an instant boost.

[Jimble]

Thanks for that mate, i have noticed that sitting lightly on the brake stops it from cutting out, my gripe with the stop start is that sometimes when i have let it stop, when i lift my foot off the brake the car will fire up and start to creep straight away which is perfect and exactly how i like it, however sometimes it'll fire back up and then take 2 seconds to release the brakes which then causes a slight lurch and i don't know why?


I'm glad you've found a way to make it work for you but using the manual paddles on an auto box kind of defeats the point really don't you think?

[Mr Savage]

Thanks for that mate, i have noticed that sitting lightly on the brake stops it from cutting out, my gripe with the stop start is that sometimes when i have let it stop, when i lift my foot off the brake the car will fire up and start to creep straight away which is perfect and exactly how i like it, however sometimes it'll fire back up and then take 2 seconds to release the brakes which then causes a slight lurch and i don't know why?


I'm glad you've found a way to make it work for you but using the manual paddles on an auto box kind of defeats the point really don't you think?

Hm, can't say i've experienced that myself but i'll check it out when I drive the car later tonight as it needs another tank of fuel (This thing absolutely drinks fuel) Are you experiencing that too Jimble? It seems to consume a tank every 200 miles which I find pretty pathetic even pottering around in drive.

The only lurch i've experienced is when it's downshifting itself as you're coming to a stop in manual mode and it doesn't change from 2nd to 1st very smoothly at all.

Yeah that's true it does feel a bit silly to have to use the paddles on an auto box and I hope it's not a permanent thing.

Maybe we should both just go and trade ours in for a Golf R Manual? 

[Jimble]

I'm seriously considering swapping for an R, if my dealer can make the numbers work then it might actually happen!


The fuel consumption is a friggin digrace!! I've mentioned it before but i'm really not happy about it, now i'm not expecting miracles but when vw say it should do 34.9mpg on the urban cycle and it's actually doing 25-26mpg it's not on! My manual mk6 would easily do 33-34mpg on the same trip when the book says 28.9 mpg???


Now i know people say "you don't buy a GTI for fuel consumption" but it makes my piss boil when it's not doing at least as much as the supposedly less fuel efficient car it replaced!!!

At least if i buy an R i'll be expecting poor fuel consumption, not the bullsh!t i've bought into with this GTI!

And have you noticed that the ECO mode is a red herring?? The displayed avg mpg is at least 3mpg down on NORMAL!


And breath.....