Vrs shifting

[Wilko251088]

What is the actual time that the dsg is meant to be able to change gear in? Anyone

[newbie69]

What is the actual time that the dsg is meant to be able to change gear in? Anyone

It depends of what gear change you're talking about.

Assuming a gear change which the DSG has foreseen, eg. you're in 2nd, accelerating, and switch to 3rd, this will be done in smt less than 0,4" according to VW.

This time can however increase to up to 1,2 seconds I think, when you ask for an unexpected (with respect to current conditions of throttle, angle etc) gear shift.

Imagine that you're in 5th, accelerating, and manually drop it down to 3rd (supposing that the revs are not extremely high) then that is one of the most difficult tasks of the DSG because:

1) You ask for something which it couldn't have foreseen (shifting down during acceleration)

2) You drop to a gear which is controlled by the same clutch as the one you're into (Clutch 1 controls gears 1, 3, 5, 7)

In that case I'd say it could take a whole second (or even a little more) for the change to complete. In short, the more foreseeable, according to current conditions, is the way you drive, the quicker and smoother the changes will be and vice versa.

[Wilko251088]

When driving manual, can you ruin the gear box by doing the downshifts yourself instead of lettin the car do it auto. E.g coming to a junction and down shifting to third then second etc

[newbie69]

When driving manual, can you ruin the gear box by doing the downshifts yourself instead of lettin the car do it auto. E.g coming to a junction and down shifting to third then second etc

The DSG won't carry out any change that will damage the box regardless of you manually shifting down from 6th to 1st.... So as long as it completes the shift-down you requested, it's safe. Shifting down manually won't do any harm either as long as you do it in time.

There is however a possibility to send it to limp mode for a few seconds (happened to me the 1st week, but never again after I got used to the box) If the following happens:

Say you want to shift down before the box does. You better go ahead and do it early enough before the box decides to do it on its own. Because in that case, say you're in 4th and decide to shift down to 3rd, then you think about it for a sec, hesitate, and then go on and pull the left paddle. If you're late enough, the box may have at the same time decide to shift down itself so you'll end up 2 gears lower instead of one. Now If this is timed accurately, it's possible that it will stall the box for a few seconds, you'll be in 1st and it won't be shifting up at all. In that case, pull over, switch from manual to auto back and forth 1-2 times or even switch off and on and it will be working again.

It's all about getting the feel of the box. When I want to act and shift down earlier I know I have to do it quickly, otherwise the box will do it itself and then there is no point in intervening. It may sound complex but it's not at all. After some mileage, you'll be doing this without realizing.