A couple of months into ownership i found myself driving the superb 100% percent in tiptronic mode. Always been a manual person, that option seems to be the best compromise i can make.

The area i live in is littered with speed bumps, stop lights, and bad bad traffic.full auto mode wont go beyond 1st and 2nd gear all the way until i reach my workplace,which fortunately is only a few km's away.still, that hurts mpg a lot.in 1st it would drink up to 55l/100km,sucks,literally.using tiptronic at least i could slot in 3rd whenever possible.

My observation so far,the gb wont shift below 1850rpm except in 1st into 2nd.torque below that rpm range seems to be nonexistent although the spec says 1.8t powerhouse should peak at 1750rpm.i always lift the throttle slightly when upshifting so it would actually upshift at lowest rpm possible.rather than pressing the brake,i usually downshift a couple of gears to utilize engine braking when coasting to a halt.

Well,my actual concern is whether these habits will be bad for the gb in the long run?i always try to shift as early as the computer would allow that i frequently found the box slips in gear,until certain speed in reached, only then it will fully engage. This behavior is most prevalent in 3rd.

Im i doing it right here,or is it calling a for disaster? What are the proper ways to care for this gb? I want it to last of course now that it's already had 85k miles on the clock.

I read somewhere (can't remember where, sorry) that this gearbox needs highish revs in 5th to get enough oil around the box to prevent it killing itself.  In my car it seems there is a difference of approx 5-10mph between when you can put it into 5th with tiptronic, and when it would choose to shift up by itself.  It does make me wonder if shifting into 5th "early" is bad news.

I think this was the post:

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=227332

(post 11 is where the detail is... I don't know what the guy's qualification is but he seems to know a fair bit about the gearbox)

thanks..seems that this car is destine to have bad mpg in town

just read the link.im pretty sure i have been shedding a few years off the gb's life.should've found out sooner

Probably shouldn't worry.  I think the guys are complaining that it is even too slow to go up in tiptronic mode.  I'd imagine that the chosen settings are safe(ish)... But I guess you might get a bit more life out of it without forcing it up so quick.  I'm guilty of doing it too on occasion as the shift points are insanely annoying in a country where most of the roads I'm on have a 40 mile an hour speed limit.

Now I'm back to using full auto mode. Even now I can still detect slight slippage in 3rd.just hoping it won't get any worse

Ouch, hope it doesn't get much worse for you.

 

My gearbox slipped very slightly a couple of times in reverse; I had the fluid changed and reverse gear became pretty much unusable due to constant slipping / "hopping".  It appears that the new fluid was lubricating it great, however my reverse gear was relying on the poor fluid with all the contaminants for friction!

 

Just bear it in mind if you consider fluid change that just like it might fix it, it might make it worse.  I ended up with a rebuild at a cost of £1500.  It could be argued that with a slipping gearbox I was wasting money with the fluid change.

So there's no cure for it?

If it is slipping it is going to be internal to the box or the torque converter - so unless you're into that kind of work I guess it is a "take it to a man" job.  If you take it to a non-gearbox place (your regular mechanic) most likely the only thing they'll be able to do is change the fluid and filter.  That is the route I went down and for me it turned out to be a waste of £200.  A gearbox specialist would be able to advise if it is worth changing the fluid and giving that a go, or whether it is likely to be something more serious.

 

I had my fluid changed at 96K and gearbox refurbed at 98K.  VW say filled for life don't touch it; ZF (gearbox manufacturer) say every 60,000 "or whatever your vehicle manufacturer says", the specialist who did the gearbox for me said if it was their car they'd do initial change at 12K miles and then every 24K.  

 

Anyway, that is my experience.  Part of me wishes I'd sold the car before doing any of it... but I do like driving it.

Thanks for sharing. I'll take it to a gearbox specialist and see what they make out of it.the slip in 3rd is persistent, not that it's too annoying but knowing what's actually happening inside making me feel uneasy everytime it happens

If you have a local ZF brand gearbox specialist they might be a good option - the gearbox is made by ZF.

I opted for an independent specialist who did a good job - though after first doing the work car had a noticeable "thump" dropping from 2-1.  They sorted it out though, so fair play to them.