DSG - manual mode
Author
Discussion

MichalPH

Original Poster:

97 posts

155 months

Thursday 12th March 2015
quotequote all
Recently I took a test drive in a DSG equipped Golf. I read a lot of positive stuff about that transmission, but to be honest I wasnt impressed.The thing that annoyed me the most, was the lack of real manual mode. Even with manual selected, the box would still change gears by itself... Is there a way to override it?

TIA,
Michal


Edited by MichalPH on Thursday 12th March 22:32

covmutley

3,383 posts

221 months

Thursday 12th March 2015
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Not that I'm aware of. It's worst in lower gears in manual, but those are perhaps where auto is best anyway, in traffic for example.

It's not great in manual, but if you want that, then get a manual.

I really like my dsg and probably wouldn't go back to manual now unless it was for a sporty car that really warranted a manual

[

Edited by covmutley on Thursday 12th March 22:44

MichalPH

Original Poster:

97 posts

155 months

Friday 13th March 2015
quotequote all
Why doesnt anyone mention that in the reviews? I would be pi**** if I bougt a car like Golf R or Leon Cupra and on my first drive notice I cant downshift when I want to...

ianrb

1,644 posts

171 months

Friday 13th March 2015
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Can you not push the leaver over to the left in the current version? My wife's TT has DSG and you can select manual in that, although it's about 3 years old so possibly an old version.

MichalPH

Original Poster:

97 posts

155 months

Friday 13th March 2015
quotequote all
In the one I drove, You could select manual, but when pushed it would still have a mind of its own. I thought it should work like a sequential box in that mode.

Howard-

4,964 posts

233 months

Friday 13th March 2015
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My Mondeo has a Powershift gearbox, which works just like a DSG box. If I flick it over to manual mode, it'll hold whatever gear I select unless I slow the car down to pretty much a standstill. It'll even bounce off the rev limiter.

Does DSG not work in the same way in manual override mode?

anonymous-user

85 months

Friday 13th March 2015
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Wife's 2014 A3 will let you take full manual control via the paddle shifts, would have thought the Golf would have been the same.

It won't let you mash the gearbox though, obviously.

Hol

9,316 posts

231 months

Friday 13th March 2015
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The Audi S4 box is the same, but unlike the Golf they no longer offer a Manual option, as the auto helps them with the emissions rating.

It was a compromise, that I wish I didnt have to make.

There is another thread on here, where people are raving about modern auto boxes, and flappy paddle changes, justifying it by saying tha Ferrrari etc, have them.

I think they are either just in love with the idea of paddles, only do flat out driving/trackdays, or they have never really driven a manual car fast around winding roads.

ecsrobin

18,689 posts

196 months

Friday 13th March 2015
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MichalPH said:
Why doesnt anyone mention that in the reviews? I would be pi**** if I bougt a car like Golf R or Leon Cupra and on my first drive notice I cant downshift when I want to...
That's what a test drive is for.

Having driven a skoda Fabia with DSG gearbox I was sold, however I'm currently not after a new car but I think when I do I'll go for a DSG or similar equipped car for 99% of most people's driving they will be perfect for the task.

vrsmxtb

2,003 posts

187 months

Friday 13th March 2015
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MichalPH said:
In the one I drove, You could select manual, but when pushed it would still have a mind of its own. I thought it should work like a sequential box in that mode.
Are you sure you had the DSG stick over to the left? It is almost fully sequential then, it'll only upshift if it redlines and downshift if the engine really starts to labour badly.

If you just use paddles in D or S it will change back to fully auto after about 5 secs.

I barely ever use either to be honest!

zed4

7,248 posts

253 months

Friday 13th March 2015
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Of course it will downshift on its own, otherwise you could labour the engine and it would stall if you forgot to downchange. It won’t upchange automatically though, so I don’t really see what the problem is.

rich83

15,839 posts

169 months

Friday 13th March 2015
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zed4 said:
Of course it will downshift on its own, otherwise you could labour the engine and it would stall if you forgot to downchange. It won’t upchange automatically though, so I don’t really see what the problem is.
Yea they do. They shift automatically at about 7000rpm.

The only way to stop it doing that is the have the dsg box remapped. That removes auto up shift and also the kickdown in manual mode

zed4

7,248 posts

253 months

Friday 13th March 2015
quotequote all
rich83 said:
zed4 said:
Of course it will downshift on its own, otherwise you could labour the engine and it would stall if you forgot to downchange. It won’t upchange automatically though, so I don’t really see what the problem is.
Yea they do. They shift automatically at about 7000rpm.

The only way to stop it doing that is the have the dsg box remapped. That removes auto up shift and also the kickdown in manual mode
Ok, didn't think ours did upshift, but I never go up to 7000 RPM anyway! HAving said that, ours has been worked on by R-Tech anyway.

rich83

15,839 posts

169 months

Friday 13th March 2015
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Well if niki did a dsg map on it as well, he will have removed the auto up shift

DLovett

329 posts

194 months

Friday 13th March 2015
quotequote all
MichalPH said:
Recently I took a test drive in a DSG equipped Golf. I read a lot of positive stuff about that transmission, but to be honest I wasnt impressed.The thing that annoyed me the most, was the lack of real manual mode. Even with manual selected, the box would still change gears by itself... Is there a way to override it?

TIA,
Michal


Edited by MichalPH on Thursday 12th March 22:32
No, unfortunaly you cannot override the automatic upshifts or the annoying kickdown when you depress the accelerator fully.

krisdelta

4,673 posts

232 months

Friday 13th March 2015
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I think Revo(?) do a software patch for the DSG box to give more control to the driver - probably worth a look if it's spoiling your karma. smile

Dave Hedgehog

16,371 posts

235 months

Friday 13th March 2015
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DLovett said:
No, unfortunaly you cannot override the automatic upshifts or the annoying kickdown when you depress the accelerator fully.
never had any of our DSG cars kick down in manual gear, they wont let your stall / labour the engine and most change on the red line (RS's don't) but you just plan ahead and short shift if you need to hold the car on the revs on a corner (which you have to do on some corners in manual cars anyway)

the main thing to remember is that VAG duel clutch systems learn the driver and change how long it holds onto gears etc

sjg

7,686 posts

296 months

Friday 13th March 2015
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I don't remember my Fabia vRS doing too much by itself in manual mode.

If you're slowing and not downshifting it will do it for you to avoid engine revs dropping too low. It might have upshifted if you were bouncing off the limiter, but I remember hitting it a few times without it shifting for me. And it wouldn't allow downshifts that would put the engine revs too high.

There's quite a few variants of DSG though spanning 10+ years so maybe they don't all behave like that.

s4tronic

245 posts

157 months

Friday 13th March 2015
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and why exactly would you want to be bouncing of the rev limiter at over 7k RPM? In a golf?

MichalPH

Original Poster:

97 posts

155 months

Friday 13th March 2015
quotequote all
The car I tested shifted up way before red line, and changed down way before stalling.

I man - why is this mode called "manual" anyway if it still shifts automatically?

What is interesting is the fact that people doesnt sejm to notice.