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Time to open a can of worms........... DSG or Manual?


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I chose manual because...

 

I don't like the chunking with low speed maneuvers and when going between 1st and reverse/vice versa

I like the ability to go 6th to 2nd - or other such combinations.

 

BUT, I would have had DSG if I'd found one with the options I wanted - I found my preferred manual first.

 

 

Chris

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I'm a devoted DSG man, my last 3 or 4 cars have been auto.

Drive autos at work...(landrover disco)

Drive VAG auto at Home, Seat Alhambra mk2. And Octavia VRS170.

Modern auto DSGs are spot on.

If you can... Try one out for a while. It will grow on you.

Relaxed cruiser when you want..... Effortless town stop start.... Can pick up its skirt and push on nicely when required.

Fuel economy still good..... It knows what gears best for the car... And no torque converter sapping power.

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Never owned a DSG before, actually never owned a Skoda, but prior to placing the order for my new Superb 4 x 4 DSG 170 I test drove a 140 DSG....  I would say DSG :) 

 

Real smooth.... easy to drive, and I only did the test drive.... 

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DSG no competition. Why get an aching left leg in queue's. Changes quicker than manual. Smoooooth seamless changes. DSG has come of age.

My first was Passat and awful....clunky, hesitant & dithered. Then got Octavia with DSG at 103k...silky smooth and stayed so until 190k when I swapped to Superb. Never regretted staying with DSG. Behind the 2.0tdi its terriffic. Twin Clutch is great without the slip and inefficaincies of a torque converter. 

Go DSG.....you wont regret it!

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A skoda franchise MD and also his service manager both told me that DSG is brilliant, but make sure you buy from new and change when the warranty expires. Not that they only last 3 years but, on the occasions they go wrong the bill tends to be well into the £1000's of pounds, one case they quoted was of a repair was costed at £6500... I vote manual :-)

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Only driven one DSG Superb (couple of thousand miles on it) and it was a dog, jerky going into 1st and reverse and the drive was not great either, drove a Fabia vRS a year later and that was faultless

If you do lots of start stop driving then sure consider the DSG (but under warranty!) if you don't then I would (and did) go for a manual.

But you really need to drive both, just be aware of the possible high repair costs for the DSG (hence keeping one in warranty).

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I went out in one for the first time yesterday - an Ibiza Cupra. I must say that I was extremely impressed with it!

 

I've driven an old-school auto in the past... but this thing was in a different league! The shifts were so unbelievably smooth. You couldn't even feel the change!

 

DSG I'd go for personally. Reliability can only get better as time goes on surely....

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I had no choice - the 2.0TSI was only available with DSG. I probably wouldn't have chosen DSG as an option, but wouldn't be without it now

 

Relaxed cruiser when you want..... Effortless town stop start.... Can pick up its skirt and push on nicely when required.
Fuel economy still good..... It knows what gears best for the car... And no torque converter sapping power.

 

A spot on summary of what's good about DSG

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I've drive 2 Fabia Vrs estates with the DSG. One was amazing - the other was jerky, clunky, reverse was a joke.

Not tried a DSG superb yet, but I may persuade my dad into coming with me on Sunday & having a look.

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All of you guys that have DSG was it a choice you made easily coming from an automatic or are there manual converts here too??

Physical necessity, in my case.  Nothing serious, just enough to take the edge off a slick change.  Caution said 'Go Automatic before it becomes embarrassing', so I did.  In the event, DSG was infinitely better than I expected, with smooth and barely noticeable shifts that come at just the right time whether you're idling along or making genuine progress. 

 

The comments about hesitancy at critical moments are, I think, at least in part exaggerated - any delay is probably no longer than the time otherwise taken to make a manual shift.  And if you're reading the road right, you will probably anticipate most of those situations where a precautionary move to the tiptronic side would be an insurance anyway - you are not giving total control over to the electronics. 

 

I don't do recommendations, simply offer my own experience - and I'd not willingly go back to a manual gearbox. 

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This is an interesting thread. I went manual on our Octavia. I agree with Gizmo68 fully.

I tried a DSG on a 1.8TSi and thought it was fantastic I have to say, very quick gear change, faster than I can change manually that is for sure. Effortless in town and mpg still very good.

The car was new so I could have specced it, it was not based on cost. Purely my choice of the manual was down to long term reliability. Now I know that that are loads of cars on here and other group VW forums where owners have done big (6 figure mileages) with no issues at all. There are also quite a few with big repair costs and for this reason alone I went manual. I was always going to keep the car after the 3 year warranty expired and this concerned me.

My opinion was, what would you do if your car was worth say £7k and something went wrong with the DSG box and the bill was £4k, you'd be kinda stuck and would probably have to have it repaired or effectively right the car off.

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Buying new? Selling-up before the three year warranty expires? - DSG.

 

Buying used? High mileage? No warranty? Plan to keep the car long term? - Manual.

 

Still unsure? Search for 'DSG Mechatronics'.

Edited by silver1011
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My first DSG very occasional jerkiness 99.99% of time smooth pull away just stick it in D and enjoy the ride, I pull a caravan it sorts out gear changes excellently , mine has done 48000 I do have the worry at the back of my mind the worry of the costs if it goes belly up. I don't know if there is a mileage when you may expect problems.

Edited by mellyboy
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This is my first DSG and I'm very impressed with it, very smooth. I've used the sport mode on the odd occasions to pull away which is very good. You do have to alter your driving style to on hills and either balance  with the handbrake or wait for the bite just depends on how quickly you need to pull away. I've only used the manual selection once as its so easy to leave it in Drive but I'm sure it'll be handy during snow/icy conditions.

I've only owned it since September 2013 and its an ex fleet car and has now done 115000 miles I intend to change the gearbox oil in the summer. I was looking for some time to find an Elegance with the 170 CR engine and I picked it up for just under 7K, however I had to have the cambelt, water pump changed and I refurbed all the alloys. I wanted the performance of the 170 and its got great torque as far as MPG goes its poor around town high 30's and then between 48-55 on a run.

 

So yes DSG all the way.

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Auto only licence means that I have no choice. Wouldn't have it any other way anyway, now. Simply the best box I've ever had, coupled with 170 bhp means it's well matched. Ignore all the hype about failures - there are far more people who don't say anything about their car than those who whinge constantly about a bad car that they may have inadvertently picked.

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The problem is Paul there are approx. 10% of VAG DSG’s that have issues (there was a link confirming this) so although yes you may indeed be unlucky to have a bad one the fact remains they DO fail, there is no real problem with that as all mechanicals can fail, the issue is the £1.500 for a mechatronic unit when they do fail.

 

Being an auto licence holder you can’t really make a comparison with a manual box can you?

 

DSG is certainly the way forward, the only problem is we are not there YET.

I would have one without a second thought if

  • I was only going to keep it whilst it was under warranty (so I did not have to pick up any potential tab),
  • It was not around £1K more,
  • Most of my driving was done in start stop traffic.

My car was specced (and paid for) by myself with no expense spared... everything I wanted was ordered and anything missed off the option list was done so for a reason.

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Up until taking delivery of my DSG I had never driven an automatic before!!

I absolutely love it - smooth, comfortable and really picks it's feet up when pushed, and mines only a 140CR

Tows nearly 1600kg of caravan like a dream, it's easy to forget the van is on the back sometimes!!!

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The problem is Paul there are approx. 10% of VAG DSG’s that have issues (there was a link confirming this) so although yes you may indeed be unlucky to have a bad one the fact remains they DO fail, there is no real problem with that as all mechanicals can fail, the issue is the £1.500 for a mechatronic unit when they do fail.

 

Being an auto licence holder you can’t really make a comparison with a manual box can you?

 

DSG is certainly the way forward, the only problem is we are not there YET.

I would have one without a second thought if

  • I was only going to keep it whilst it was under warranty (so I did not have to pick up any potential tab),
  • It was not around £1K more,
  • Most of my driving was done in start stop traffic.

My car was specced (and paid for) by myself with no expense spared... everything I wanted was ordered and anything missed off the option list was done so for a reason.

Quite true, I can't comment on a manual but I can comment confidently on the fact that it's probably been the best auto I've had in goodness knows how many years of driving.  Autos have always been about a grand more - I should know - and as with all these types of questions, the only answer that should ever be given is "go and drive both and see which you like".  As for failures, regardless of other threads, it's always going to be pot luck. You'll find someone who's done x thousand miles and never had a failure and someone else who's done say 50k and it's gone pop. Horses for courses if you ask me.

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