DSG gearbox experiences
Discussion
Would anyone who owns a Volkswagen Audi Group car (preferably diesel), fitted with the DSG gearbox, care to share their thoughts and experiences?
'Tis approaching the time when I've got to start thinking about a replacement company car. I'm thinking of another Octavia VRs estate (boring, I know, but being a tight-fisted Yorkshireman, I hate the idea of paying large amounts of extra tax for the privilege of a more prestigious badge on a less practical car, just for my employer's benefit).
Question is, do I stick with the manual box that I know and love, or do I give the DSG a go, for novelty value (bearing in mind that I'll probably end up running the thing for 80K miles, so the novelty might wear thin if it's not actually any good)?
'Tis approaching the time when I've got to start thinking about a replacement company car. I'm thinking of another Octavia VRs estate (boring, I know, but being a tight-fisted Yorkshireman, I hate the idea of paying large amounts of extra tax for the privilege of a more prestigious badge on a less practical car, just for my employer's benefit).
Question is, do I stick with the manual box that I know and love, or do I give the DSG a go, for novelty value (bearing in mind that I'll probably end up running the thing for 80K miles, so the novelty might wear thin if it's not actually any good)?
jamoor said:
Why not test drive them?
I will, but there's a world of difference between a half hour test drive and spending 80,000 miles with the thing. Hence I was hoping for comments from people who've lived with one, day in, day out, for a while.Maintenance costs aren't a factor (neither is fuel consumption, for what it's worth); it's a company car, so they're paid for. Similarly, reliability is only an issue if it becomes a serious pain in the arse having to take it to the dealership every other week.
neil_bolton said:
Very very smooth, changes are impressively smooth under power, but prone to wrong footedness at times when you want a different gear to what the car reckons it needs and finding a balance when pulling off or reversing the clutch 'banging in' can be annoying.
It makes sense around town, better than a normal auto certainly, but MPG is affected and ultimately it doesn't give you anything an normal auto doesn't.
In a larger engined car I hazard it'd be ideal, it can swap cogs quicker than you can, however, when in 'manual' it is annoying - the gearbox upside down, and a pain to drive quickly with - you have no way of engine braking in the way that you can accurately with a normal clutch.
If it were me:
Tootle about town and motoways - do it.
Something you want fun in? Don't.
This is the sort of opinion I find valuable - thanks! It makes sense around town, better than a normal auto certainly, but MPG is affected and ultimately it doesn't give you anything an normal auto doesn't.
In a larger engined car I hazard it'd be ideal, it can swap cogs quicker than you can, however, when in 'manual' it is annoying - the gearbox upside down, and a pain to drive quickly with - you have no way of engine braking in the way that you can accurately with a normal clutch.
If it were me:
Tootle about town and motoways - do it.
Something you want fun in? Don't.
I don't do much town driving. Lots of motorway stuff, and lots of rural roads. The hope was that the 'auto' mode would make the motorway stuff less of a chore, whilst the 'manual' mode would be fun on the back roads.
One of the things I like about my current manual Octavia is that the pedals are about the best I've encountered for heel-and-toe wearing my normal size tens, so I was hoping that the manual mode would be good enough to compensate for the loss... sounds like it's not that transparent to use, then?
I don't know that the lack of engine braking would bother me - I match revs or H&T down the box anyway; I don't like using the clutch to slow myself down. Does the DSG auto-blip the throttle effectively to simulate rev matching, in manual mode, or does it sometimes get that wrong as well?
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