DSG Gearbox

[SoupDragon]

I have been driving the Tsi 110 with DSG for more than a year now. I like the gear box, It's certainly not 'transparent to the user', it's more like a robot who is second guessing what you want to do, and it usually gets it right. I still have an occasional problem with jumpy starts, but not nearly as often as when I was new to the box. I think the trick is to judge the acceleration that is about to occur as you enter junctions etc. Also, l think that a manual gear box gives you far more control. 

    I am interested to hear how others are getting on with the gear box and if others ever use the manual mode. I hardly ever use it because, with seven gears, I can not keep up with the required changes. I use the sport mode quite often, especially on roundabouts and in congested town ares, not for rapid acceleration but for better speed control. On the motorway, it is a joy to drive and gives me 50+ mpg, but beware of lack of brakes when it is raining hard.

 

 

[bunnydrumming]

I love the gearbox! I've only had the car s few weeks but got used to it very quickly. It's so smooth - a real joy to drive. Everyone who has been in my car has been surprised by how smooth it is.

I haven't used any other mode yet - not on purpose anyway but you've inspired to have a play next time I'm in a roundabout!

I don't miss my manual gearbox at all - love it!

[river27]

I've never used the sport or manual mode on mine. The DSG just gets it right every time for me.

I would never go back to a manual box. Love my DSG!

[the_raz]

I agree with the previous comments, even though the current car does not have DSG (and I miss it every day). Driving a DSG is not the same as driving a manual, but once you get hang of the tricks, the DSG is very smooth and nice, and always gives you the gear you need. The only problem is when you are almost stopping, and then accelerate away, that is something the DSG (at least in Drive mode, Sport does better) can not handle. 

 

For jumpy starts: the DSG does not crawl like a standard auto box, so releasing the brake, waiting for the car to start moving and the pressing the throttle will create kangaroo drive (this took me months to realize with my first DSG). Instead, release the brake, and give just a little throttle immediately after. Once the clutch grips, you can accelerate harder. For me, starting with DSG box gave me even more control on slippery surfaces than what I ever was able to achieve with a manual, so the DSG is really a total gem once you learn the tricks.

[DRSSkoda]

I bought mine to help with the daily traffic I have to endure but wished I'd bought the manual now as it is too jumpy for me especially when cold as it wants to run away on its own and when I brake without the S/S coming on the drive disengages slightly then when i release the brake there is a second or too where the is no drive then suddenly it engages again and jumps forward, I brake then it then it disengages drive and so on, as I say it's worse when cold, maybe I'm driving it wrong as mention in some of the above comments or mines wrong but my previous Auto car (Merc CLC) was a joy in traffic and I expected the same?  on the plus side my previous Diesel Merc could only manage 45mpg but I managed 59mpg on the way home the other day (no traffic)

 

I will try the different driving styles to see if I can master it!

[Rooted]

Some of you seem to have badly behaving DSG, 

or the way you are using them seems to be not getting the great performance available.

 

?

Do you understand the Hill Hold, and that using 2 feet can cause issues as using the brake and throttle can cut drive to the engine.

S is good for decelerating without braking and then back to 'D' for upshifts etc.

 

They are Automated Manuals and not Automatics in the common understanding of Automatics, and better for it.

If they do not drive Smoothly and feel smooth then question ether the Car / DSG or how you are using it.

one foot and the use of the Hand Brake can make a difference,  2 foot driving with a DSG can cause it to misbehave.

[alltorque]

After some years of torque-converter gearboxes...previous 8 years mated to a Volvo D5 engine...I find you have to be more 'aware' with the DSG. I do some times get a bit of a jump start, but just need to practice/concentrate more; I'm sure it's me not the 'box. One thing I'n not totally clear on is : stopped in traffic, foot on brake, engine off. Engine fires up, presumably on demand from battery or..., is correct procedure to slip into 'N' or just sit there, on brake, 'til time to go? I tend to grab N as I think clutches will be engaged...but are they? What is the correct procedure in this instance? Comments welcome, please.

Handbrake is my 'Parking Brake' but not very often, unless in hilly country. Have never subscribed to the two-feet method of driving autos.

Do sometimes miss the old Volvo D5+Geartronic set-up where you could just stand on the loud pedal, from a standstill, and ride the torque mountain...albeit at some fuel cost.

Maybe I should just put aside decent time to read the manual.

Would I go back to a manual? Hmmmm, possibly for a Lotus 7 or similar but not for routine urban/city driving. On the move the DSG is a gem and the 1.2TSI/110 is a cracking bit of kit and, after circa 8000 miles, is just getting better and better. Should be lovely post-first service oil change.

[RickW]

I'm very happy with my DSG. No jerkiness,just smooth all the way through the gears. I don't push it hard and don't race.

 

The only thing I'm missing is a trilby,a pipe and a frilly cushion on the parcel shelf.

[the_raz]

The DSG is really a dual-clutch mechanic gearbox, so when you press on the brake pedal hard enough, the clutch is totally disengaged. You can actually find the engagement spot if you press the brake down slowly - the "Urge" to move ends, and the car idles nicely (or stops, when I had DSG I did not have start-stop).

 

All DSG cars have hill-hold, so you can release the brake pedal, and then you have a few seconds to accelerate so that the clutch engages. The left foot is never need, keep it firmly on the footrest  

[SoupDragon]

Yes, you can forget your left foot but I find that after say, an hour of driving, it's better to shuffle your left leg about or when you get out of the car, your lefty has just gone stiff and numb. There is a difference between neutral and park. I think that if stop/start is activated, park position will stop the engine but neutral will let the engine restart. I don't like keeping my foot on the brake pedal for more than about 30 secs because I was taught not to, and it can dazzle those behind. So there are two possibilities when stopped for a longer period. Go to neutral and set the handbrake and the engine will restart or park and it will stop.. But, if you select neutral, you have to press the brake to change to drive which stops the engine and immediately restarts it, not good. Be aware that if you select park, the car must be exactly stopped or you get a bad mechanical effect.

[alltorque]

Raz and Soup-Dragon, thanks for your comments re clutch-disengagement with footbrake hard on...or fully on, which sounds rather better. Does make sense, but that's not always the best guide. Afraid I'm one of those annoying old blokes who hardly ever uses the handbrake in normal daily use...so don't find that the armrest gets in the way, either.

Once again, thanks for your input. Greatly appreciated.

[Grandad2]

I would like to share my experience. This is my fourth Fabia Auto and I haven't had any problems before until this Fabia 3. The car is a year old and has now done 8000 mls. Went in for its annual service at 6000 in April. I have used Tesco Momentum fuel since the start and and have used just over 100 litres and I always fill the tank and normally from the local Tesco. 

About 4 months ago I started to have difficulties with putting the car in the garage as it would not start smoothly up the slight slope. The revs would drop and then when accelerator applied would rev to 1800 leap forward and then when brake applied the revs would drop and the clutch disengage. If no action taken then the car would roll backwards completely freely!! I found that control was slightly better if I used manual first gear but it still wasn't behaving. I took it to Main Dealer but apart from confirming that the latest software update was applied no action was suggested -(My fault  - couldn't drive it) Up until now the car had driven perfectly well under normal driving conditions with the normal slight hesitant pickup upon acceleration when moving. But now the behaviour of the car was deteriorating quickly, the starts were jerky and the accelerator response was difficult - slight pressure and the engine would rev to 3000 and then slowly reduce. Starts in traffic became very difficult and the car was no fun to drive. The gear changes where also becoming jerky - not a lot but nowhere near the smoothness that normally happens. The the gearbox started to change gears at inappropriate times, normally when a hill was encountered -  it would hold a lower gear and rev to 4000 all on its own before settling down to a lower rpm and then change up!!

Following a discussion on Facebook I noticed that a comment was passed about Momentum fuel causing problems. Last Saturday (6 Aug) I filled the tank with 30 litres (Tank full) with Tesco 95 RON. Within 20 miles on a run on the Sunday the car started to behave perfectly and the throttle response and gearbox changes all went back to normal. The car now creeps obediently up the slope to the garage at about 1200 rpm. I reported this to the Main Dealer but with a disappointing response. He didn't know about Momentum or any other premium fuel and immediately tried to imply that I was using a non specified fuel! When we both checked the filler cap info and found that it was 95RON Premium non leaded he then backed off but had no other useful advice to offer.

I've have no idea what is going on with the engine /gearbox combination and the software involved - re-mapping has been discussed but that is beyond me. Has anyone on the Forums any thoughts or comments what could be happening please?

[fuelpump]

Hi Grandad 2 I never touch any Tesco fuel.  Over the years I have heard so many bad reports about their Diesel and petrol from people I personally know. Of course many will have had no problems but I don,t take the risk.

 

The 95 ron is a minimum requirement indicating that the engine will achieve best performance on higher grade. My 110 runs very sweet on BP Ultimate, I know it is around 12p more p.litre but running a car is expensive and I hope to keep my car for a long period and hope the additional cost will offset the cost of repairs / maintenance. Happy Motoring.  

[Rooted]

Tesco fuel is supplied by 'Greenergy', who also produce the Momentum 99. (99 octane minimum.)

Greenergy supply many of the ESSO filling stations in the UK and produced their fuel in Scotland and quite a few other areas of around the UK.

They also supply Petrol & Diesel to many other Retailers of Fuel.

http://greenergy.com

http://greenergy.com/press/news/article18

 

Petrol and diesel comes into the UK in Bulk or some is produced here, 

Greenergy and Royal Dutch Shell share many import and storage facilities and then what happens with Detergents or Octane boosters is for them to know and the internet to talk about often enough.

 

You need really to check where the Super Unleaded 97 octane that Sainsburys, Texaco, Gulf, Esso, Mobile is produced or distributed from,

or the 99 octane or the Premium Diesels, because it is not from some back street facility it is sold in Billions of litres all around the UK,

all meets the Minimum Standards, but sometimes is rather crap compared to that available on mainland europe.

(you might even be getting Winter Grade fuels in the UK long after production stops in Europe because that is what the buyers purchased, 

lots of fuel is sitting in Tankers at sea around the UK as well as Unrefined Oil is sitting right now.)

Edited 13 August, 2016 by GoneOffSKi

[RickW]

Stick with Tesco 95 RON then.

[SoupDragon]

Hello Grandad2. My 110 Tsi dsg  has covered about 10,000 miles in 15 months on almost entirely Morrison's 95 ron petrol which is to EN 288 specification. I did once fill the tank with Shell Super unleaded from curiosity after reading a thread on this web site, The Shell Super did give a slightly increased mpg, but it was not worth the extra expense and I was not aware of any performance improvement. But the engine has only improved with the miles: it now registers about 46 mpg long term average where it used to register about 44 mpg. The first-service effect seems to be true.

    Most of my journeys are around town, and the mpg reaches 52 on motorway journeys, Actually, if I am really careful, I can get 50 mpg around town, but you have to really try hard.

    We recently visited my wife's sister who lives at the top of a long steep hill, maybe 1 in 8 and on stretches 1 in 6. I was interested to see how the car and gear box would treat the hill and I found that the car would happily climb the gradient on tick-over which I thought was necessary because of the hill-hold feature. The DSG box went to D1 and the car climbed the hill slowly and steadily with no throttle input at all. I don't know if the gear box was slipping the clutch and for that reason, I would not do it often, but I know that D1 is a very low ratio because it hardly ever shows on the indicator. In normal driving conditions, the car usually pulls away in D2, which is a normally-low ratio, 

    I don't use Tesco fuel and I don't know what Momentum fuel is. and I don't know if that is anything to do with your problems but I think that if the hill-hold feature is to work correctly, the car must be able to climb a hill if you release the foot brake and definitely not roll backwards. I guess there will be a limit, at some gradient. Also I have noticed that if the car is heavily loaded that when you pull away, the clutches do slip in bursts, not like a human driver would, just until you get moving. You get a different sound from the engine and gear box when this happens.

[DRSSkoda]

I bought mine to help with the daily traffic I have to endure but wished I'd bought the manual now as it is too jumpy for me especially when cold as it wants to run away on its own and when I brake without the S/S coming on the drive disengages slightly then when i release the brake there is a second or too where the is no drive then suddenly it engages again and jumps forward, I brake then it then it disengages drive and so on, as I say it's worse when cold, maybe I'm driving it wrong as mention in some of the above comments or mines wrong but my previous Auto car (Merc CLC) was a joy in traffic and I expected the same?  on the plus side my previous Diesel Merc could only manage 45mpg but I managed 59mpg on the way home the other day (no traffic)

 

I will try the different driving styles to see if I can master it!

 

mines now in the Dealers having new clutch pack so there was something wrong as i suspected, just hope this is the last thing that goes wrong with my Fabia as i'm losing my temper now!

[SoupDragon]

DRSSkoda, I hope that the dealers are able to make the gearbox work correctly for you. Please let us know if they are able to improve the driving experience. I used to complain about the jumpiness when combined with the start stop but I can usually avoid it now. Yours sounds like an extreme version of the jumpiness.

I am concerned that you are the second poster on the forum who is having a new clutch pack fitted.

[SoupDragon]

I correct myself, you are the same person who is having the clutch pack replacement.

[DRSSkoda]

SoupDragon, i am picking the car up tonight so will update once I've driven it a few hundred miles, I have read that there are issues with the clutch packs on the DSG but hopefully this will solve it, fingers crossed.

 

They put me in a Yeti Monte Carlo 4x4 DSG diesel and i must say it is a totally different drive to my Fabia, it drives the way I expected a DSG to drive so hopefully they can get mine the same?

 

PS Yeti is my next car !  loved it

Edited 15 August, 2016 by DRSSkoda

[13TSI]

I find in my 7-Speed DSG (Ibiza FR) it can be very jumpy starting from 0mph and generally at low speeds but I've pretty much managed to overcome this. It's quite difficult to describe but instead of just pressing the throttle like I would in a manual, if you 'squeeze' the throttle to accelerate then it accelerates perfectly and changes through the gears without me noticing at all. As it should be.

However, I can make the drive a truly awful one and feel lurching between each gear change if I simply accelerate as I would in a manual car. Make sense? I think I've confused myself! Basically, the DSG involves much more thought and input from the driver than I imagined before I bought one...

[Grandad2]

Thanks for the responses - guess no-one knows why then?. I think I will go with RickW brief and to the point - and stick to Teso 95.

Edited 15 August, 2016 by Grandad2