I took delivery of my new Fabia 1.2 DSG TSi recently. This is the first time I have driven a DSG automatic.

I have noticed that when I approach a roundabout or filter on to a carriage way at around 20 - 30 mph in 2nd as I accelerate there is a snatch or lurch as the car pulls away. It is very unpredicatable and a bit unnerving. I have tried to vary my driving style but the snatch still happens.

Is this normal? Will it improve with time? or do I need to visit my dealer?

Thanks.

When you say its unpredictable I'm guessing it doesnt do it all the time?

I may be barking up the wrong tree here but they do take a little time to get used to, mine wasn't "right" for the first 500 miles. Although I think I've changed more than the car

You will notice though that if you give it the beans it'll surge for a bit afterwards (minutes) then settle down once it realises you don't wanna over take the moon!

Edited 7 July, 201114 yr by LewJo

When you say its unpredictable I'm guessing it doesnt do it all the time?

I may be barking up the wrong tree here but they do take a little time to get used to, mine wasn't "right" for the first 500 miles. Although I think I've changed more than the car

You will notice though that if you give it the beans it'll surge for a bit afterwards (minutes) then settle down once it realises you don't wanna over take the moon!

your description is interesting... when I first took delivery, I thought "I realise why the press jumps in this and doesn't like the gearbox..." it took me several thousand miles to master it, now I will never go back to a manual...

so like you say, I have changed (or simply learned to use it properly) .....

to OP: just keep practicing, you will master it... have you tried overriding auto with the paddles as you approach a roundabout, so it stays in the gear you choose?

When you say its unpredictable I'm guessing it doesnt do it all the time?

No not all the time which is what makes me a bit nervous when driving it, because I don't know what to expect. It is like launch control sometimes.

Thanks for the feedback.

your description is interesting... when I first took delivery, I thought "I realise why the press jumps in this and doesn't like the gearbox..." it took me several thousand miles to master it, now I will never go back to a manual...

so like you say, I have changed (or simply learned to use it properly) .....

to OP: just keep practicing, you will master it... have you tried overriding auto with the paddles as you approach a roundabout, so it stays in the gear you choose?

My DSG is totally auto no paddles so it is either D or S. I normally use D unless I want to reverse ;-)

I will keep my fingers crossed that either I learn how to use it or it adapts to me.

My DSG is totally auto no paddles so it is either D or S. I normally use D unless I want to reverse ;-)

I will keep my fingers crossed that either I learn how to use it or it adapts to me.

I don't think your DSG will be fully auto. Push the lever to the left and then it's back for down changes and forward for up changes; give that a try, it's basically a sequential gearbox like in racing cars.

Watch out when reversing up hill, especially out of a tight parking place with lock on, as it can take off a bit sharpish if you use too much throttle.

As above, it's practice needed; it took me 5000 miles to feel I had all modes of using DSG mastered.

Regards

Tony

My DSG is totally auto no paddles so it is either D or S. I normally use D unless I want to reverse ;-)

I will keep my fingers crossed that either I learn how to use it or it adapts to me.

I've only been driving my DSG Diesel (with paddles) for a couple of months, I assume that there will be differences between Petrol & Diesel versions but I also took a little while to get used to how the car reacted when pulling away from a slowish speed. The gearbox does tend to react quite differently to how you press the accelerator, even now I sometimes get wheelspin (in D) when I give it some in lower gears .

I believe the DSG has no real direct link with anything in the engine, rather it is all electronic and so will take some getting used to. I will not being going back to a manual for the foreseeable future anyway!

Bet DSG is going to be fun in the snow!

Bet DSG is going to be fun in the snow!

should be easier I think than manual, at least with the 7-speed... 1st gear (and second gear) much shorter than a conventional box, so run in tiptronic mode when in snow, should give even more control through the throttle to the front wheels than a manual due to the shorter ratios.....

Sounds like people are tapping the gas pedal though and shooting forward!

I don't think your DSG will be fully auto. Push the lever to the left and then it's back for down changes and forward for up changes; give that a try, it's basically a sequential gearbox like in racing cars.

Watch out when reversing up hill, especially out of a tight parking place with lock on, as it can take off a bit sharpish if you use too much throttle.

As above, it's practice needed; it took me 5000 miles to feel I had all modes of using DSG mastered.

Regards

Tony

Hi Tony

I just have the P,R,N,D,S selection it is not tiptronic and the owners manual does not refer to manual shift/selection of gears, only Auto selection of D or S. I tend to use D all the time.

My Fabia DSG is awful for this. Take off from standstill is greeted with 1 to 2 seconds of nothing then it thinks about moving off, and approaching junctions/roundabouts at slow speed then asking for some speed takes a bit longer, making some entries to junctions/roundabouts a bit tense as cars bear down on you and nothing you can do apart from screaming at the car to move as it drifts along with no connection between gas pedal and wheels. In my opinion one of the most dangerous cars I've ever owned and I don't want to sound dramatic but it has got that bad. Next stop is a visit to the dealer to ask what they are going to do about it.

Good God everyones having very diffrent experiancies with the DSG.

I did have a couple of scary moments within the first 1000 miles but one of those was my fault for trying to be to smart. The others were just the DSG not being coded to cope with the situation as it can't see the road ahead.

Admitidly with the VRS the extra grunt does seam to help but the DSG does slowly learn over time how you drive the car but if you know its going to be a tight gap or your going to want to hold a higher gear just chuck it into S as you say you don't have the manual mode. makes the box drive much more agressivly then drop back into drive once the roundabout etc is out of the way.

Sounds like people are tapping the gas pedal though and shooting forward!

ah! understand what you mean lol...

My Fabia DSG is awful for this. Take off from standstill is greeted with 1 to 2 seconds of nothing then it thinks about moving off, and approaching junctions/roundabouts at slow speed then asking for some speed takes a bit longer, making some entries to junctions/roundabouts a bit tense as cars bear down on you and nothing you can do apart from screaming at the car to move as it drifts along with no connection between gas pedal and wheels. In my opinion one of the most dangerous cars I've ever owned and I don't want to sound dramatic but it has got that bad. Next stop is a visit to the dealer to ask what they are going to do about it.

does sound dramatic, I'm sure it can be fixed with practice, if I'm honest I can make the DSG work any way i want, slow crawl, big take of, somewhere inbetween... as long as you can master the ammount of throttle needed for the speed required its easy! however, I do conceed, some people obviously have a "hesitation" issue, and I haven't worked out (from all I've read on here!) why some boxes seen to struggle and some dont......

when you say "no connection to the wheels" are you approaching in , say, 3rd, and when you want to go are pressing the gas, and nothing is happening because the box is changing to second,(gentler throttle would get you out still in third..) so alternatively you press it harder, and it jumps into 1st and goes like a stabbed rat? (whereas pressing the gas a split second before you want to move would get second engaged by the time the gap arrives...) ect. tell me I'm wrong if I am, I just can't see a problem with mine, but some people are really struggling (no disrespect intended, many people have posted such problems) ... maybe its a different software issue? I dont know.

Good God everyones having very diffrent experiancies with the DSG.

I did have a couple of scary moments within the first 1000 miles but one of those was my fault for trying to be to smart. The others were just the DSG not being coded to cope with the situation as it can't see the road ahead.

Admitidly with the VRS the extra grunt does seam to help but the DSG does slowly learn over time how you drive the car but if you know its going to be a tight gap or your going to want to hold a higher gear just chuck it into S as you say you don't have the manual mode. makes the box drive much more agressivly then drop back into drive once the roundabout etc is out of the way.

for those without paddles, this should sort it... just select "s" .. I often do this when turning off a major road from speed onto a slower side road, just so it selects lower gears on approach, its also faster and more aggressive with the changes, clunky even sometimes! (If I cant be bothered to select them with the paddles) it seems to have the desired effect.

Hi Tony

I just have the P,R,N,D,S selection it is not tiptronic and the owners manual does not refer to manual shift/selection of gears, only Auto selection of D or S. I tend to use D all the time.

When you are in D, push the stick sideways to the left, (assuming you are in the UK). You are now in manual sequential mode, push forward for up and back for down.

When I tested a vRS, I found problems at roundabouts, when I tried to feed into a gap and the car didn't want to go until it had shifted down, then it shot off because I'd given it more throttle because it wasn't going

That aside I loved it, more practice and I would adapt and make it work better.

When you are in D, push the stick sideways to the left, (assuming you are in the UK). You are now in manual sequential mode, push forward for up and back for down.

When I tested a vRS, I found problems at roundabouts, when I tried to feed into a gap and the car didn't want to go until it had shifted down, then it shot off because I'd given it more throttle because it wasn't going

That aside I loved it, more practice and I would adapt and make it work better.

good description... you adapt your driving to suit, after a few thousand miles it becomes natural. you are welcome to drive mine Mike

My Fabia DSG is awful for this. Take off from standstill is greeted with 1 to 2 seconds of nothing then it thinks about moving off, and approaching junctions/roundabouts at slow speed then asking for some speed takes a bit longer, making some entries to junctions/roundabouts a bit tense as cars bear down on you and nothing you can do apart from screaming at the car to move as it drifts along with no connection between gas pedal and wheels. In my opinion one of the most dangerous cars I've ever owned and I don't want to sound dramatic but it has got that bad. Next stop is a visit to the dealer to ask what they are going to do about it.

I have the same model as you and your description is spot on. I have driven conventional automatics since 1975 and consider myself a steady driver but each time I take the Fabia out I really have to concentrate on how I approach Islands and Junctions. I would prefer to be concentrating solely on the traffic than worrying how the car is going to react.

Edited 8 July, 201114 yr by velag

Doesnt the DSG/ECU learn your style of driving over the first 500 miles and adapts some ? thought this was the case.

As far as I can tell mines is 5k miles on it and still learning and adapting as I can change the change up/down point in drive by over riding it via the paddles for a while.

The worst thing you can do though is start second guessing the DSG as it will addapt to your hesitation and will get worse and worse until it actually needs to be reset. The other possible option is to get it on a strip/track and just get it to learn how to launch there.

Hi,

Yes DSG does (certainly compared to a normal torque converter auto) take some getting used to. Ultimately whilst it behaves just as a normal automatic in the way it shifts gears - albeit much quicker - being a robotised dual clutch manual gearbox will mean it has some inherrent issues which you'll just have to live with.

They tend to surge a bit at low speed, this is normal DSG behaviour and you just need to alter your driving style to adapt to it. Be careful when parking etc to begin with. Also, certainly to begin with they are not so smooth...our vRS estate was quite clunky when we first got it and initially I was a little disappointed. However it is a learning box so over a period of a few hundred miles it learns your driving styles and changes its gear selection programme to match. Our car now have 700ish miles on the clock and its now much smoother. On this note, if you change up or down a gear on trailing throttle its not always that smooth; again down to having a pair of clutches and no torque converter.

I'd be very surprised if your car does not have a tiptronic mode. Only the vRS gets paddle shifts but all other DSG models (in the UK in any case) have the +/- selector (push left across the gate from D) which allows you to change gear manually. As the kickdown switch is quite obvious and doesnt have to be activated with full throttle (so long as you are a little gentler when planting the accelerator) it is possible to get near enough full manual control and full throttle this way. I've found to make real progress this is the best way to drive a DSG car; on the vRS anyway as it has so much torque it is able to pull high gears at low RPM's so doesnt change down on heavy throttle inputs; it tends only to change when hitting the red line and if you slow down without changing down yourself (comes down to a gear it can easily pull away in.

One thing I have personally noticed with D mode is that the throttle response from standstill can be a little delayed. You can press the throttle and it feels like a second or so passes before the thing moves; though its probably less than a second in reality. It is quite disconcerting but I think its a characteristic of the DSG's D mode. It's also programmed for maximum efficiency so you'll probably notice it goes right up through the box quicker than you'd expect, its simply trying to save fuel. To do away with the hesitation I find its necessary to drive around in tiptronic or S mode. The idle rises when in these modes and the clutches seem to engage much quicker though S mode is a bit to aggressive for day to day driving.

By the way alot has been said about earlier DSG cars suffering from hesitation; as far as I'm concerned its still the case now and nothing has changed. Our car is only six weeks old and it suffers from mild hesitation in D; just one of those things. As you get used to driving the car you will adapt your driving style to suit I am sure.

Thanks to all that have replied.

I have also found out my car does have a tiptronic mode so that will help.

This morning I took the car in to my dealer and they looked in to the issue. After about an hour the car was returned to me and I was told the software had been reloaded. I have only driven the car a short distance but the low speed pick-up does appear to be much better. I will update this thread after I have driven the car a bit more, following on from what people have said it may relearn my driving and end up jerking again ;-)

Hi Tony

I just have the P,R,N,D,S selection it is not tiptronic and the owners manual does not refer to manual shift/selection of gears, only Auto selection of D or S. I tend to use D all the time.

I checked my facts with Skoda Customer Service this morning and they are not aware of any DSG gearboxes fitted to Fabia 1.2 (105) DSG TSI without Tiptronic mode; so you must have something very special.

Tiptronic gives an extra element to driving enjoyment.

Tony

p.s. velag, glad you have Tiptronic, you will enjoy it.

I checked my facts with Skoda Customer Service this morning and they are not aware of any DSG gearboxes fitted to Fabia 1.2 (105) DSG TSI without Tiptronic mode; so you must have something very special.

Tiptronic gives an extra element to driving enjoyment.

Tony

Hi Tony

I had just posted an update and you were correct, it would have been nice if the Tiptronic had been explained to me by the dealer.

Thanks for your advice.

I have the same model as you and your description is spot on. I have driven conventional automatics since 1975 and consider myself a steady driver but each time I take the Fabia out I really have to concentrate on how I approach Islands and Junctions. I would prefer to be concentrating solely on the traffic than worrying how the car is going to react.

I have noticed similar effects with my 1.2DSG especially when approaching roundabouts, mine sometimes emits a clonk and a mild jerk when changing down. I guess that it is just sorting itself out.

I also get the delay / lag problem occasionally when entering a Motorway off the slip road in a traffic queue at about 50MPH. It needs a good shove of the throttle to pick up. do this and it goes Ok.

I agree with others posting here, that you need to tap the lever to the left and then you have seemless changes by nudging forward or back.