Life before DSG

[runboy]

Does anyone know what automatic VW/Audi/Skoda/Seat models (or age range) will not have the DSG auto gearbox. Having owned two (one with a petrol engine, one with a diesel) I'm not a fan of DSG and with all the different naming conventions across VAG I never know which is DSG under a different name or CVT/torque converter auto.

[Fubar1977]

I would think all VAG group automatics will be DSG boxes regardless of what they are called in each model.
Do they still even produce a conventional auto?

[Rutter]

I'm not sure if they still do now but a colleague of mine bought a passat CC I believe it was a 59 plate and that had a conventional auto rather than DSG, he took it back as it was awful and had been told it would be DSG when he bought it.

The last two cars we have had have been DSG and they are both great, much better than slow shifting autos of old.

[SuperchargedVR6]

Fubar1977 said:

I would think all VAG group automatics will be DSG boxes regardless of what they are called in each model.
Do they still even produce a conventional auto?

I think the Toerag and Stiguan still use a convential slush box auto.

[Face for Radio]

Is DSG reliability better than it was? I've heard horror stories of short life spans and big bills out of warranty, but don't know if that is fact or fiction.

[SuperchargedVR6]

The gearboxes themselves are fine. There's two flavours. Wet clutch for the high torqued cars and the dry clutch flavour for the little things, like the 7 speed 1.4 TSIs for example. The main problem with these boxes is the mechatronics.

I won't be going DSG until the technology is mature enough to be as reliable as a slush box auto.

[Fubar1977]

I`m just selling a `55 plate Octavia TDi with a DSG box and had no problems with it at all.
It`s not my car, it`s my dads and I don`t think I`d personally want a 7 year old DSG box given the cost to replace if it borks.
If this car had a conventional manual I`d have aleady sold it!

They are much nicer than the old slushmatics though...

[Bitzer]

The new Audi A6 3.0 TDI BiTurbo uses a conventional 8 speed auto, not DSG/S-Tronic.

You can still have a non DSG box in the A4 and above front wheel drive cars which is the CVT multitronic. It's had majot reliability issues over the past 10 years according to the internet.

[Puddenchucker]

SuperchargedVR6 said:

I think the Toerag and Stiguan still use a convential slush box auto.

Tiguan, from approx late 2010 (IIRC) has 7-speed DSG. Previously was 6-speed torque converter.
Current Toureg is 8-speed torque converter, previous model was 6-speed.

[runboy]

Thanks all. Didn't realise DSG had been around for that long. Still don't like the thing but it discounts so many otherwise decent cars. That and these robotised manual/automatic things in some Toyota's and Citroen's and the field narrows even more.