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serdar_18fr

Active Member
May 29, 2021
922
1
672
Hi everyone,

While I'm very happy with my Cupra Ateca 1.5 since I got it brand-new in December 2024, there's one thing that keeps annoying me.
As I said it's an Ateca but I'm pretty sure there are other models suffering from the same DSG behaviour, that's why I chose to post in general discussion section.

I'll try to explain my annoyance by telling about a part of my daily route, but it happens in a lot of other situations as well.
There's a gentle downhill, and then a left-turn, almost like a U-turn, then a gentle uphill.
As the section after the turn is not visible, I lift off before I arrived at the turn, car decelerates and loses some of its momentum.
Right after the turn at the start of uphill, I push the throttle a little to gain momentum again and keep a steady acceleration.
But there seems to be an area, like a very thin line, in the throttle and if I pass that line a very very very tiny bit, our infamous gearbox decides that I want some kind of spirited drive and makes a downshift, which is one I could live without, and that causes a sudden attack forward and obviously a loud revving of the engine, while all I want at that point is to keep a not-so-fast but smooth and steady acceleration, in the current gear. This misinterpretation of the driver request annoys me too much everytime it happens and I consider switching to manual mode. But then I ask myself, why did I buy an automatic? To switch to manual several times each day? To have to think about all the time how it would behave in a specific situation? I was very happy with manual gearboxes in my previous motoring of 30-plus years and those never disappointed me like this.

There seems to be some DSG remapping services that might help, but I don't think I'll ever let anybody touch it, other than the service guys at the dealer when the time comes to replace worn clutches.

Anyway, I'd be happy to hear your experiences and of course affirming or objecting opinions.

Cheers,
Serdar
 
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I've been driving DSG powered cars since 2011.

Generally they are excellent, but there's always going to be the odd occasion when the combination of gearbox programming, power & torque from the engine, road conditions and driver preference, it gets caught out. It's just unfortunate that that occasion, for you, is on a frequently travelled piece of road.

The basic issue is that a DSG is unable to predict what the requirements on it are, only react. By which time it's got it's knickers in a twist.

Simple solution for that specific piece of road will be to either go manual or into Sport, reverting to Drive after.

As an example; for me there's a point on a route I take from time to time where the exit from a roundabout goes into an uphill slip road onto a Motorway. Left to it's own device the DSG is in a high gear around the roundabout, and stays in that gear on the slip road unless I press the throttle pedal harder than I want to.

Solution? On the exit I change down one gear, conveniently using paddle shirt, and am then able to accelerate up the slip road in a controlled fashion.

Food for thought.

Guy

Sent from my Galaxy S25 Ultra using Tapatalk
 
@Bahnstormer_vRS - when I owned my Polo GTI+ with DSG, I would pretty much always use the flappy steering wheel paddles and change gears manually when entering and exiting a roundabout.

I agree the DSG is generally excellent and a clever piece of kit. However, it’s only as good as the software program controlling it and IMHO there’ll be the odd occasion when it’s better for the driver to take control.