Dsg

[Lawto48]

Just after a bit of advice from anybody with the Dsg box fitted:

- How smooth is it?

- Are the gear changes noticeable ?

- Are they fairly quiet?

Or any more useful info. I had an Audi A4 2.7 V6 diesel with a multitronic box fitted and that was fantastic, would the Dsg be similar to the multitronic- any info greatly appreciated

 

[Stegor]

I hardly notice it changing gear half the time unless I'm flooring it and then obviously you can tell by the engine noise - seems much smoother than the 6 speed I had last time (which I still thought was great).
Doesn't make a sound, not even the old clunk into second/first that the 6 speed made.
If the Audi was the 7 speed it might be the same box - think multitronic is the same as dsg, though I could be wrong.
On the 1.8 I've noticed that even in normal mode it can be in 7th at under 40mph but it doesn't seem to struggle.

 

[derelyth]

My 6 speed can vary (bearing in mind it is 7 years old) there are times it does clunk but when punching it it would change seamlessly and the surge of acceleration would be seemingly uninterrupted.

The 7 seemed a lot smoother on my test however I have heard reports that it can get lurchy in traffic when it heats up a bit too much. Time will tell I guess. Picking my new 1.8 dsg very soon but I can't wait - so long as it shifts I don't care!

Audi's multitronic is a CVT box - one which appears to only have 1 speed. They refer to dsg as S-Tronic.

 

[weatherlight]

It is quiet and smooth. There is no struggle / lossy power feeling compared to a regual automatic tranny (as long as you don't try to maintain speeds just at shifting points). There are 3 downsides though;
no shifting fun,
D mode shifts up way too early (7th at 60km, reducing rpm to only 1300) where S does not shift below 3000+.
slightly lower efficiency compared to a manual gearbox, resulting in 2-3% more fuel at highway. however it may also promote fuel economy at low speeds since it shifts just in 8 miliseconds and shifts up very early
If you can live with the above, it is nice and easy to drive, especially at traffic jams and stops at hills.

 

[Lawto48]

My 6 speed can vary (bearing in mind it is 7 years old) there are times it does clunk but when punching it it would change seamlessly and the surge of acceleration would be seemingly uninterrupted.

The 7 seemed a lot smoother on my test however I have heard reports that it can get lurchy in traffic when it heats up a bit too much. Time will tell I guess. Picking my new 1.8 dsg very soon but I can't wait - so long as it shifts I don't care!

Audi's multitronic is a CVT box - one which appears to only have 1 speed. They refer to dsg as S-Tronic.

Thanks for that, its just that there seems to be people reporting a few problems with the dsg but i suppose taking into context of how many they sell its just a very small minority that have problems, you rarely get people putting on the internet how good something is its always the negative stuff.

Out of curiosity how lomg did you have to wait after ordering?

 

[derelyth]

The internet is a breeding ground for complaints unfortunately!

I ordered on 27th July however my process has not been straight forward as my car is dying. I have ended up taking a better specced car from the dock for another £700 and got told it is on its way to the dealer today. I was told originally up to 17 weeks but bearing in mind the factory shuts down for august its down to the usual 12-14 week ballpark.

Others who haven't faffed around like I have will be able to give a better idea of order times!

 

[Lawto48]

It is quiet and smooth. There is no struggle / lossy power feeling compared to a regual automatic tranny (as long as you don't try to maintain speeds just at shifting points). There are 3 downsides though;
no shifting fun,
D mode shifts up way too early (7th at 60km, reducing rpm to only 1300) where S does not shift below 3000+.
slightly lower efficiency compared to a manual gearbox, resulting in 2-3% more fuel at highway. however it may also promote fuel economy at low speeds since it shifts just in 8 miliseconds and shifts up very early
If you can live with the above, it is nice and easy to drive, especially at traffic jams and stops at hills.

I suppose you could have shifting fun if you used the flappy paddles!!
You say it shifts up too early in D, does this feel as though the engine is labouring or does it feel ok, plus whats the pick up like in 7th at that speed

Thanks

 

[weatherlight]

Unfortunately mine is 1.2, so I dont have paddles contacted Seat for retrofitting, but they passed me to the country importer and they said sorry. In my opinion it shifts up early and the engine does seem to labor a bit. It picks up speed without flooring the pedal but slowly. If you press it hard, sometimes it still tries to hold on to 7th and accelerate, sometimes downshifts to 6th or 5th depending on grade and pedal.

For example after shifting from 2nd to 3rd at slow accel, you can feel a letting loose as the car jumps forward once shifted to 3rd. The feeling is opposite once it shifts from 6th to 7th at 60 as if you need a slightly higher pressure on the pedal to continue accelerating. I can also see it from the instant consumption. Once it shifts to 3rd or 4th, consumption instantly drops while accelerating. However as it shifts to 6th or 7th, the consumption actually increase around 0.5-1lt for 2-3 seconds during steady slow acceleration.

S is another story, it downshifts quickly and keeps revs well above 2500 rpm all the time, but does not up-shift until reaching 3000+.
D would be perfect if it would shift at around 200-300 rpm more, never dropping below 1500 (consumption could be lower while accelerating at early 6th and 7th) Strange why engineers could not fine tune it..

 

[derelyth]

Ah. You still have the tiptronic gate though - never used it on my TDI as it feels backwards to me (should be down to shift up and up to shift down IMO)

I've noticed throttle pressure still plays a part in gear changes like a conventional auto (when a change in pedal pressure related to a change of oil pressure in the gearbox) so you can invoke a gearchange to a point.

 

[weatherlight]

I know exactly what you mean, tiptronic gate also feels backwards to me, so I don't use it. In S mode DSG is like an athlete waiting for the take off shot. It immediately shifts down as soon as you press the pedal and you dont need to floor it. They should either make a 2nd N as "normal" mode for it or modify D to have slightly higher changes.

 

[weatherlight]

I heard about "coasting" mode for DSG on vehicles with eco drive profile (Passat bluemotion supposedly has this). It basicly puts into N when the acc pedal is off in eco mode, resulting in lower consumption. It automatically engages gear once you press the acc pedal, so no saftey issues as well. Unfortunately my car does not do it (or I don't know how to do it). Anyone know about this feature?

I was also planning to engage N myself, but as far as I know, clutch does not disengage for good unless the vehicle has stopped and brake pedal is firmly pressed. It should also eliminate the need to engage N during traffic lights since the tranny automatically disengages the clutch as long as you firmly press the brakes (correct me if I'm wrong). Switching N to D to N at high speed could damage the gearbox I guess so, I won't try it unless otherwise proven.

 

[Stegor]

I heard about "coasting" mode for DSG on vehicles with eco drive profile (Passat bluemotion supposedly has this). It basicly puts into N when the acc pedal is off in eco mode, resulting in lower consumption. It automatically engages gear once you press the acc pedal, so no saftey issues as well. Unfortunately my car does not do it (or I don't know how to do it). Anyone know about this feature?

I was also planning to engage N myself, but as far as I know, clutch does not disengage for good unless the vehicle has stopped and brake pedal is firmly pressed. It should also eliminate the need to engage N during traffic lights since the tranny automatically disengages the clutch as long as you firmly press the brakes (correct me if I'm wrong). Switching N to D to N at high speed could damage the gearbox I guess so, I won't try it unless otherwise proven.

Mine does it if I put it into ECO mode via the 'mode' button on the dash. Try using 'individual setting' and change the 'engine' mode to ECO in there and see if that works. If none works then it looks like a trip to the dealer.

 

[weatherlight]

Unfortunately I have style (SE) trim, so no drive profile. I checked the manual and inertia mode is only available for eco mode with drive profile. I will ask Seat whether I can retrofit this at dealer (it should be just software, without the extra button). Meanwhile as far as I can see from the manual,

"The brake pedal must be pressed when moving the selector lever from D/S
to N if the vehicle is stationary or at speeds below 5 km/h (3 mph)"

"If the selector lever is moved accidentally to N when driving, release the
accelerator and let the engine speed drop to idling before selecting gear
range D or S again."

"If you allow the car to roll with the selector lever in position N with the
engine switched off, the automatic gearbox will be damaged as it will not be
lubricated."

So as long as the engine is running, I'm above 5km and wait for the rpm to drop down to idle before reengaging D, is it perfectly fine to engage N while coasting, in terms of DSG reliability?

 

[Stegor]

Unfortunately I have style (SE) trim, so no drive profile. I checked the manual and inertia mode is only available for eco mode with drive profile. I will ask Seat whether I can retrofit this at dealer (it should be just software, without the extra button). Meanwhile as far as I can see from the manual,

"The brake pedal must be pressed when moving the selector lever from D/S
to N if the vehicle is stationary or at speeds below 5 km/h (3 mph)"

"If the selector lever is moved accidentally to N when driving, release the
accelerator and let the engine speed drop to idling before selecting gear
range D or S again."

"If you allow the car to roll with the selector lever in position N with the
engine switched off, the automatic gearbox will be damaged as it will not be
lubricated."

So as long as the engine is running, I'm above 5km and wait for the rpm to drop down to idle before reengaging D, is it perfectly fine to engage N while coasting, in terms of DSG reliability?

I'm not sure how ECO works but simply putting any engine into neutral i.e. tickover will use more fuel than when engine braking is being used, so if you want to use less fuel shift the dsg into manual and drop some gears.

 

[Suicida1 Zombie]

I have the DSG in my 150PS 2.0 TDI and its great.

Plus points:

You don't feel any gear change when driving gentle

Eco mode works a treat - when you come all the way off the gas and don't touch the brake the car automatically coats in neutral and then pops it straight back into gear (Not at all noticable unless you watch the rev needle) when you touch either pedal .

Sport mode keeps the revs up so that there is zero turbo lag.

Kickdown works nice and quick.

You can 'knock' the box into sport mode with one click on the gear lever and put it straight back into eco/normal with a second click.

You can have paddle shift or use semi-auto on the leaver

You can never stall the car

Downsides:

You will never be able to hit the rev limiter

The paddles/semi-auto is a little slow to react and doesn't feel 'connected' as the box thinks about if it wants to let you change up/down before letting you.

 

[Lawto48]

I really fancied the DSG after having multitronic in my Audi but was just concerned about problems when the car is out of warranty. I appreciate that it's a minority that do have problems but its a very expensive piece of kit to put right if it does go wrong. I notice VW has extended the warranty in China and Australia after a big recall on the gearbox but they won't do it in Europe.