DSG gearbox experiences
Discussion
I had it on a Golf GTi Edition 30 for 18 months ... have just sold the car but would have another DSG without hesitation ! Doesn't sap power like a normal auto and has enough variation with S mode and paddles to keep you amused. Smooth, infact incredibly smooth. Only sometimes is it caught out kicking down - like many autos depends on the revs ... if it's right at the end of the range for kickdown in that gear it can get noisy. Apart from that - superb ... and now regarded by many as stronger than the manual for tuning 
I've been driving a Passat 2.0TDI Highline with the DSG box for the last week and 1k miles, and I'm not terribly impressed.
I remember big things were made in the motoring press when the DSG box was introduced, so when I saw DSG on the auto lever I was prepared to be impressed.
I can't figure out, for all it's supposed complexity, how it is any better than a conventional auto.
What I dont like:
Very jerky moving off in D or R from rest.
Changes up too early in D so you always in too high a gear, then this exagerates how slow it is to kickdown, as its probably dropping 2 + gears.
Sport mode holds on to its gears too long.
Manual mode is very smooth though, but it'll still change up itself, so you've got to be accurate near the limiter.
IMO, its is not measurably better than any traditional auto, and considerably worse than some.
It might suit a powerful petrol engine better, but I would certainly not pay for the priveledge on an Oil burner.
I remember big things were made in the motoring press when the DSG box was introduced, so when I saw DSG on the auto lever I was prepared to be impressed.
I can't figure out, for all it's supposed complexity, how it is any better than a conventional auto.
What I dont like:
Very jerky moving off in D or R from rest.
Changes up too early in D so you always in too high a gear, then this exagerates how slow it is to kickdown, as its probably dropping 2 + gears.
Sport mode holds on to its gears too long.
Manual mode is very smooth though, but it'll still change up itself, so you've got to be accurate near the limiter.
IMO, its is not measurably better than any traditional auto, and considerably worse than some.
It might suit a powerful petrol engine better, but I would certainly not pay for the priveledge on an Oil burner.
jamoor said:
mat205125 said:
Racefan_uk said:
jamoor said:
mcford said:
You'll have to factor in gearbox fluid changes every 40,000 miles at around £200 a time.
Sweet lord! What do they put in it?
People really do get hung up about silly little things when calculating running costs. Whilst £200 in a lump for a payment hurts, and needs budgetting for for most people, it's fuggall over the ownership period of the car, and the mileage.
I imagine the reality is more like £10 a litre and a particularly troublesome oil change. Like where you have to remove the gearbox........
In response to a few points:
Manual to reverse and vice versa will never be as smooth as a normal auto as it uses clutches, not a torques converter.
S mode does hold on to gears for too long. Unnecessary screaming.
If you are tuning it, beware that there is a torque sensor that cuts the power thorugh engine management to protect gearbox. I know because I tried a well known chip product and experienced this. Anyway, there's a limit to what you can put through the front wheels unless you're happy to see the DSC everytime ther's water on the road. Basically, too much welly in the dry and the engine managemt cuts in, too much in the wet and its the DSC! Mind you, the area in between maximum standard torque and these limits is quite fun!
Manual to reverse and vice versa will never be as smooth as a normal auto as it uses clutches, not a torques converter.
S mode does hold on to gears for too long. Unnecessary screaming.
If you are tuning it, beware that there is a torque sensor that cuts the power thorugh engine management to protect gearbox. I know because I tried a well known chip product and experienced this. Anyway, there's a limit to what you can put through the front wheels unless you're happy to see the DSC everytime ther's water on the road. Basically, too much welly in the dry and the engine managemt cuts in, too much in the wet and its the DSC! Mind you, the area in between maximum standard torque and these limits is quite fun!
I drove a TT DSG for an afternoon. The technology is extremely well developed and it works incredibly smoothly. However, it was entirely devoid of any driver interaction and felt very like a computer game - not something I look for in my cars.
I also felt there needed to be an intermediate auto setting between Normal and Sport, perhaps Enthusiast
- for me Normal shuffled up the gears too quickly, getting into 6th before I got to 30mph at times, and Sport held onto gears for too long on the road. Probably fine on track but too aggressive for most of my road driving. Something in between may have endeared the car to me a bit more.
Of course I could have just used the paddles all the time but derived no pleasure from doing so - no feeling of mechanical linkage with the car. It was very definitely the driver asking a computer for permission to change gear, computer deciding if it is allowable, if so, computer changing gear - very smooth, very safe, very dull.
Overall opinion - technologically great but too inert on the paddles and poorly set up on auto modes for me.
I also felt there needed to be an intermediate auto setting between Normal and Sport, perhaps Enthusiast
- for me Normal shuffled up the gears too quickly, getting into 6th before I got to 30mph at times, and Sport held onto gears for too long on the road. Probably fine on track but too aggressive for most of my road driving. Something in between may have endeared the car to me a bit more. Of course I could have just used the paddles all the time but derived no pleasure from doing so - no feeling of mechanical linkage with the car. It was very definitely the driver asking a computer for permission to change gear, computer deciding if it is allowable, if so, computer changing gear - very smooth, very safe, very dull.
Overall opinion - technologically great but too inert on the paddles and poorly set up on auto modes for me.
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