I had many of these questions myself when I got my DSG Yeti in 2010 as it was also my first automatic car. So good to see you asking these questions.

 

First your DSG is an automated manual. But don't fret about the semantics since to you and me it is just a standard automatic albeit without a torque converter as you'd find on a normal automatic. It has two clutches with the one selecting the current gear, e.g. first when you set off and the other selecting the next gear (2nd). So when the box needs to change the change is lightning fast due to the gear having already been pre-selected on the other clutch. The car uses accelerometers to determine if the car is accelerating or decelerating - since if you are in 4th and you are braking the box of course has to have 3rd ready and not 5th. This latter bit of logic might catch it out at a roundabout for example, when it has pre-selected a lower gear as you are slowing down, but then you spot a gap and put your foot down. So the second clutch has to release the lower gear and get the higher gear all of a sudden causing a delay you are not used to. This is when you tip it over to the left into Tiptronic mode as you approach the roundabout so you KNOW it is in 3rd and will stay there, and you tip it up or down depending on what YOU know you will be doing. Just like in a manual car. But fret not, I hardly ever need do this as it is 99% of the time just in the right gear for the situation.

 

Now S and D. You will normally only use D. This is the most economical programme and it will shift up as soon as it can to conserve fuel. This means it won't rev the engine all the way to the red line if you use a light throttle. BUT should you want to overtake and put your foot down it WILL rev higher than normal, sensing you need power and want to overtake. It will also drop a gear should it need to. So even in D the power is always there when you need it.

 

But say you are behind a truck on a road and are hanging back waiting to overtake.  Yes, you can do this in D as the car will gather its skirts and shift down and let you rev the engine when you put your foot down, BUT that does take a few seconds to happen. This is when you put it in S in anticipation of overtaking. The car immediately drops a gear and the engine start to rev higher - where there is more power in the rev range. So when you get your gap to overtake the car is in the power sweetspot already and off you go. Just like in a manual car where you also hang back to overtake in a lower gear, ready to pounce. In S the car will never go into the topmost gear unless you switch the cruise control on when it will go into S6 on a diesel or S7 on a 1,2 DSG. Even on a light throttle the car will stay in the selected gear. Also whatever gear you are in when you select S the box will always drop one gear lower. Use a lot of throttle and will stay in that gear until the red line BUT it will change gear if you start to damage the engine.

 

You do not need to use S to go downhill. The inclinometer in the gearbox knows if you are going uphill or down. If you are going downhill and want some engine braking gently feather the brake. The gearbox will go down a gear (or two depending on the amount you brake or the steepness of the hill) and it will stay in that gear regardless of you taking your foot of the brake. You can now go down the hill without using the accelerator OR the brake pedal with the engine providing the braking - just like on a manual car. This is the case in D and S. Only once you touch the accelerator again will the gearbox go back to the normal D or S function and start to use the gears as per normal. 

The Tiptronic side of things can only be accessed from the D position. I only really use this to slow the car down slightly on a motorway so as to not get the brake lights to come on and cause a ripple effect of people braking behind me. Yes, around a race track this is also nice IF you have paddles - which very few Yetis have retrofitted as it is not a factory option and it increases your insurance, as its a change you need to declare to them. But I find the changing in Tiptronic mode weird. You do not have to take your foot of the accelerator to use the + and - nor do you have to use the brake (really don't understand why you would want to use the brake pedal to change gears but there you go...)

 

Now the button on the gear lever. This you need to press to move the selector from P to R and backwards. But once in D you do NOT need to press it to move between D and N - Neutral. You would do the latter when you are stopped for longer than normal to stop wear on the clutch as it is designed to have some forward creep. This means you can put your handbrake up and not have your brake lights on in the face of the people behind with the car in neutral. Don't pull the handbrake up AND release the brake pedal with the car in D. You can move back to D from N without using this button. To get to S you need to press the button but you can go from S to D without pressing it. Just remember that if you put it in N at a traffic light and it goes green you must have your foot on the brake pedal before the lever will move again. You might have been resting your right foot and being used to a manual you just change the lever from N to D to go off and then nothing happens. 

 

Over time you will also learn to not look at the gear lever when you change gear. Most people do coming from a manual car. If you've always only driven manuals you never look at the gear lever in a manual. The same will happen to the auto.  You start the car and one click back is Reverse and three clicks is D and forwards. Easy and it becomes second nature after a while.

 

I think that covers it. Hope you enjoy your DSG. I love mine and will never go back to a manual. 

WOW! thanks for that most detailed reply. Let's hope you can teach an old dog new tricks. Earlier this month I completed 40 years since I passed my test (43 bike) & had automatics on & off for the last 10 years (8 years Fabia & Octy) without realising what a DSG box can do. I drove Royal Mail vans for 39 years so in my time I've driven many different types of vehicles best one being the Ford Transit Connect, sadly none of them were Autos.

 Thanks again Johann, I'm going to print it off so I can keep it in the car & let her ladyship read it. We met at the National meet in July when you organised the Yeti photoshoot. If you have the one where we used the museum as a backdrop mine is next to yours on the front row with the red "Yeti" Yeti between us. Hope to see you at the next big meet.

WOW! thanks for that most detailed reply. Let's hope you can teach an old dog new tricks. Earlier this month I completed 40 years since I passed my test (43 bike) & had automatics on & off for the last 10 years (8 years Fabia & Octy) without realising what a DSG box can do. I drove Royal Mail vans for 39 years so in my time I've driven many different types of vehicles best one being the Ford Transit Connect, sadly none of them were Autos.

 Thanks again Johann, I'm going to print it off so I can keep it in the car & let her ladyship read it. We met at the National meet in July when you organised the Yeti photoshoot. If you have the one where we used the museum as a backdrop mine is next to yours on the front row with the red "Yeti" Yeti between us. Hope to see you at the next big meet.

 

Ah...  well I'm glad to have been able to help.  That is what this forum is about. I did such a detailed reply so that anyone in the future doing a search about this subject won't be as in the dark as both of us were just after buying our cars. Hence going on about things like not looking at the gear lever (which with your experience in driving other automatics, you already don't do!).

This is news to me. Off to research....

 

Apologies. It does appear to be 4WD all the time, just varying the torque to each wheel based on what it senses is going on. I'm still not sure what the default power distribution is (in normal tarmac driving, straight line, no wheelspin). If anyone has the answer to that, or any links to share I'd be grateful. Serves me right really, I bought the car because of the engine not the 4WD. I just saw the 4WD as necessary to get the 140hp engine.

Excellent write-up!  I see so many "technical" answers on various forums that have inaccuracies or completely wrong information - nice to see a good, well-written response, even including a comment about the clutch wearing if you sit in gear with the handbrake on.

... I did such a detailed reply so that anyone in the future doing a search about this subject won't be as in the dark as both of us were just after buying our cars.

Not sure if the DSG box is the same in S mode but in my freelander putting it into S not only held the gears longer but also changed them down sooner, altered the throttle response and and gear change speed ( quicker vs smoother). Again with the freelander, also fitted with a Hadlex diff, in normal drive 90% went to the front wheels and 10% to the rear, if slip was detected then it would send power to whatever axle had grip! I believe up to 100%.

I had many of these questions myself when I got my DSG Yeti in 2010 as it was also my first automatic car. So good to see you asking these questions.

 

First your DSG is an automated manual. But don't fret about the semantics since to you and me it is just a standard automatic albeit without a torque converter as you'd find on a normal automatic. It has two clutches with the one selecting the current gear, e.g. first when you set off and the other selecting the next gear (2nd). So when the box needs to change the change is lightning fast due to the gear having already been pre-selected on the other clutch. The car uses accelerometers to determine if the car is accelerating or decelerating - since if you are in 4th and you are braking the box of course has to have 3rd ready and not 5th. This latter bit of logic might catch it out at a roundabout for example, when it has pre-selected a lower gear as you are slowing down, but then you spot a gap and put your foot down. So the second clutch has to release the lower gear and get the higher gear all of a sudden causing a delay you are not used to. This is when you tip it over to the left into Tiptronic mode as you approach the roundabout so you KNOW it is in 3rd and will stay there, and you tip it up or down depending on what YOU know you will be doing. Just like in a manual car. But fret not, I hardly ever need do this as it is 99% of the time just in the right gear for the situation.

 

Now S and D. You will normally only use D. This is the most economical programme and it will shift up as soon as it can to conserve fuel. This means it won't rev the engine all the way to the red line if you use a light throttle. BUT should you want to overtake and put your foot down it WILL rev higher than normal, sensing you need power and want to overtake. It will also drop a gear should it need to. So even in D the power is always there when you need it.

 

But say you are behind a truck on a road and are hanging back waiting to overtake.  Yes, you can do this in D as the car will gather its skirts and shift down and let you rev the engine when you put your foot down, BUT that does take a few seconds to happen. This is when you put it in S in anticipation of overtaking. The car immediately drops a gear and the engine start to rev higher - where there is more power in the rev range. So when you get your gap to overtake the car is in the power sweetspot already and off you go. Just like in a manual car where you also hang back to overtake in a lower gear, ready to pounce. In S the car will never go into the topmost gear unless you switch the cruise control on when it will go into S6 on a diesel or S7 on a 1,2 DSG. Even on a light throttle the car will stay in the selected gear. Also whatever gear you are in when you select S the box will always drop one gear lower. Use a lot of throttle and will stay in that gear until the red line BUT it will change gear if you start to damage the engine.

 

You do not need to use S to go downhill. The inclinometer in the gearbox knows if you are going uphill or down. If you are going downhill and want some engine braking gently feather the brake. The gearbox will go down a gear (or two depending on the amount you brake or the steepness of the hill) and it will stay in that gear regardless of you taking your foot of the brake. You can now go down the hill without using the accelerator OR the brake pedal with the engine providing the braking - just like on a manual car. This is the case in D and S. Only once you touch the accelerator again will the gearbox go back to the normal D or S function and start to use the gears as per normal. 

The Tiptronic side of things can only be accessed from the D position. I only really use this to slow the car down slightly on a motorway so as to not get the brake lights to come on and cause a ripple effect of people braking behind me. Yes, around a race track this is also nice IF you have paddles - which very few Yetis have retrofitted as it is not a factory option and it increases your insurance, as its a change you need to declare to them. But I find the changing in Tiptronic mode weird. You do not have to take your foot of the accelerator to use the + and - nor do you have to use the brake (really don't understand why you would want to use the brake pedal to change gears but there you go...)

 

Now the button on the gear lever. This you need to press to move the selector from P to R and backwards. But once in D you do NOT need to press it to move between D and N - Neutral. You would do the latter when you are stopped for longer than normal to stop wear on the clutch as it is designed to have some forward creep. This means you can put your handbrake up and not have your brake lights on in the face of the people behind with the car in neutral. Don't pull the handbrake up AND release the brake pedal with the car in D. You can move back to D from N without using this button. To get to S you need to press the button but you can go from S to D without pressing it. Just remember that if you put it in N at a traffic light and it goes green you must have your foot on the brake pedal before the lever will move again. You might have been resting your right foot and being used to a manual you just change the lever from N to D to go off and then nothing happens. 

 

Over time you will also learn to not look at the gear lever when you change gear. Most people do coming from a manual car. If you've always only driven manuals you never look at the gear lever in a manual. The same will happen to the auto.  You start the car and one click back is Reverse and three clicks is D and forwards. Easy and it becomes second nature after a while.

 

I think that covers it. Hope you enjoy your DSG. I love mine and will never go back to a manual. 

 

 

Excellent write up Johann, I actually thought I'd written it myself,  very good    

Just one point, Johann - I've got the impression once or twice that the brakes firm up a bit, too; is that possible?

Just one point, Johann - I've got the impression once or twice that the brakes firm up a bit, too; is that possible?

 

I'm not sure about the intricacies of that and how that relates to the DSG.

I think he's suggesting that by selecting 'Sport' on the DSG shifter the car also adjusts the settings on the brakes to make them firmer / more responsive.

I can't comment on this as I do t have any real knowledge of DSG cars.

Not sure if the DSG box is the same in S mode but in my freelander putting it into S not only held the gears longer but also changed them down sooner, altered the throttle response and and gear change speed ( quicker vs smoother). Again with the freelander, also fitted with a Hadlex diff, in normal drive 90% went to the front wheels and 10% to the rear, if slip was detected then it would send power to whatever axle had grip! I believe up to 100%.

 

All sport does on the Yeti is change the point at which it changes up a gear. Never noticed an change down earlier, as in D at speed it changes down quite early anyway.

 

It does not sharpen up throttle response or do anything to the brakes or steering.

 

I never used it as I considered it a waste of time. 

 

Now the tiptronic function, that was something else and I would recommend retro firing a vRS MFSW. fingertip control of the gearbox up or down within reason. It will override or rather not let you do something stupid. It will work in D or S and doesn't need to be in tiptronic to work.

 

I understand you can now get the auto change up removed by Shark performance and possibly alter one or two other settings on the DSG, and if I had kept mine, then I would have done so.

 

Sorry about some of the photos being removed, I had to have a clear out on Flickr.

................. if still struggling go back to your dealer and get them to explain how to use the gearbox in all modes.

 

    ...........Fell off my bl**dy seat laughing when I read this!

"The DSG dual-clutch gearbox features two driving programs: normal mode and sport mode. In Sport mode, the DSG holds on to the gears for longer, as well as shifting down earlier as necessary."

 

The above is copied from the VW technical site.
 

    ...........Fell off my bl**dy seat laughing when I read this!

 

Let me make you laugh a little more. When I collected my 1.2 DSG and asked about how the gear lever worked. I was just advised that the "S" mode makes the car go faster !!!!   and using the manual mode eliminates having to use the clutch..."What Clutch"  Ha.Ha.Ha !!

Let me make you laugh a little more. When I collected my 1.2 DSG and asked about how the gear lever worked. I was just advised that the "S" mode makes the car go faster !!!!   and using the manual mode eliminates having to use the clutch..."What Clutch"  Ha.Ha.Ha !!

This just reinforces my opinion that it's best to buy from dealers who have good feedback from Forum Members.

 

Fred

Minor correction to 900000's long post;-

 

Fitting 'paddle shift', as I did by installing an Octavia vRS's steering wheel (fitted by my dealer), whilst I declared it to my insurer (Skoda Insurance) it did not increase my premium.

 

Guy

Minor correction to 900000's long post;-

Fitting 'paddle shift', as I did by installing an Octavia vRS's steering wheel, whilst I declared it to my insurer Skoda Insurance it did not increase my premium.

Guy

Same for me

I have recently bought a 2 year old 140 DSG yeti. I find that 1st and second gears seem a lot lower than they were on my previous 170, it very rapidly seems to change up to second gear, then it feels like there is some clutch slippage in second gear while travelling slowly with a cold engine. Is this normal?

I have recently bought a 2 year old 140 DSG yeti. I find that 1st and second gears seem a lot lower than they were on my previous 170, it very rapidly seems to change up to second gear, then it feels like there is some clutch slippage in second gear while travelling slowly with a cold engine. Is this normal?

Yes

I have recently bought a 2 year old 140 DSG yeti. I find that 1st and second gears seem a lot lower than they were on my previous 170, it very rapidly seems to change up to second gear, then it feels like there is some clutch slippage in second gear while travelling slowly with a cold engine. Is this normal?

The only ways to get my 140 DSG to run in 1st are (1) via manual, or (2) hook up the caravan.  Otherwise, loads of spare torque at tickover on the flat, then a bit of slip as you start to accelerate.  Just enjoy it!

Thanks for the prompt replies. I certainly do enjoy my DSG box, I will do even more not worrying about the clutch slip.