Basic details: 2006 L&K Octavia Estate diesel 140bhp 6-speed wet-clutch DSG, 36.000 miles. Very cold this morning and reversed out of driveway. Then into forward and felt like a slipping clutch - accelerated but for several seconds little forward movement, then after creeping forward the gearbox suddenly engaged with a clunk. But during the first mile speeding up and slowing down was far jerkier than normal. Then all back to what I would expect.

Car is on two-year service schedule with next full service coming up in March. Believe DSG oil needs to be changed at 40,000 miles - if so, I will make sure they do. But am I just seeing a combination of very (for the UK) cold weather and tired oil, or could anything else be wrong? Grateful for any comments. So far the car has been rock-solid, but I'd like to be aware of any nasties as he comes up to his 6th anniversary!

I'd pop it into a dealer to have a look, might well be an ECU update or another underlying fault.

Does sound very much like a mechnatronic dying.

Gearbox oil is due to be changed at the 40K service so is now pretty much near end of life,

I would do as suggested and pop to a dealer, however hopefully its nothing serious.

I had this fault on an Octavia I bought used - it needed a new gearbox, but as I'd had it under a month I rejected in under the 30 day/1000 mile policy

Mine does this very occasionally when very cold. Just make sure you are at a dead stop before putting into D from R.

Dealer couldn't find any issue with the box when it went in for a service as it had previously stalled twice on me....but hasn't done it for about 6months touch wood.

Thanks, folks - do hope it's not a failing gearbox as I was hoping to keep the car for 10 years and wouldn't expect the gearbox to die after 6. As it's due its MoT and service in a month's time I'll wait until then before reporting the problem to the dealer - unless of course things start deteriorating!

Incidentally, has anybody had an ECU update which improved the gearshift? While I'm generally happy with the DSG, I've always felt it could be just that little bit smoother, especially when taking off from rest.