Hi guys,

Anyone with experience of towing a boat trailer with a DSG Octy?

My main concerns are the DSG box and of course my car being front wheel drive.

How does the DSG work with towing from a slipway? Also a generel question of using a front wheel drive on a slipway.

Can my 2.0 TDI DSG estate handle it or do I need to look for 4X4, Scout or something else (Subary boxer diesel is tempting). Would not like to change as the car is only 9 months old and 10k miles on it, so would be really expensive miles.

Although I dont have a DSG Ive done a fair amount of heavy towing in the past with my Discovery TD5 auto. With the Discovery if things got very difficult the oil in the torque convertor and box would get hot and a light would come on saying "give me a rest". So you have a coffee then have another go a pulling tree/ car/ caravan out of a ditch etc. No damage done.

BUT the DSG does not have a torque convetor and therefore must let its clutches slip whilst the drive is taken up, - thus it appears to me that it is possible to burn them out. It ofcourse also depends on the boat/trailer/slipway. I dont know what the DSG's limits are, but it doesnt take much to burn a clutch.

Have done towing with boat and caravan, what you have said about slipway's is nothing to do with dsg, it will respond as it should in any incline, however its the front wheel drive whats it all about and condition of slipway ie is weeded/wet etc , so in these conditions you would be helped with a 4x4.The only time i had problem with front wheel drive was when i got the boat on the trailer which was submerged and it took a bit of whelly to pull boat and trailer out of the sea.

In ideal conditions the Octi can pull up to 1.5 tons, that is if the wheels don't slip and anything else doesn't affect this. I think this rating is good for an incline up to 7%.

There should be noticeably more wear&tear if you do this frequently, though.