After more than a year I'm still finding things out! When I got my Yeti it was my first experience with a DSG box. I just accepted that you have to put your foot on the brake to engage D and I though no more about it. After several recent threads discussing the pros and cons of selecting N or keeping your foot on the brake when at a halt, I made a conscious effort to take note of what happens when I stop temporarily (I've got a 6 speed by the way) and I noted that if I stop with my brakes on and then select N, I feel the car 'relax' and the engine note changes. The only conclusion is that a certain amount of drive is still being applied even though the footbrake is hard on. So - no brainer for me, I now always select N.

 

What I've now realised is that in order to select D again you don't necessarily have to apply the footbrake. If the wheels are rotating then you can move between N and D freely but if you are actually stationary then the footbrake must be applied to select D. We've got  quite a few roads where it's constant stop start and very often not quite stop so I'm finding this quite useful.

 

I assume that this is by design and not a fault developing on my car?

Observing normal safe driving habits; I've never had a problem of coasting and re-selecting D at any time.

....I assume that this is by design and not a fault developing on my car?

 

That's the way it is - for me,anyway - no fault

Edited 5 December, 201510 yr by Brijo

Not much more annoying than sitting behind another car when the driver keeps their foot on the brake but it appears they are designing cars that encourage just that.

 

Is that how they teach on driving lessons these days?

 

Use of the handbrake appears to be a dying skill.

Use of the handbrake appears to be a dying skill.

I'm teaching my lad at the moment.

He has the handbrake on, in neutral, feet off the pedals every time he stops

My dad always considered driving to be a two stage process. Learn to pass the test, then learn to drive. I think he was right. I didn't when I was 17 though.....I was a driving God! Not really .... It took a few months to accept that he was right.

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I went through various stages of driver training and our 'bible' was "Roadcraft" (albeit an edition from the 1960's). Under 'the system' knocking the car into neutral whilst still moving would have been an immediate fail. I suppose it was my deeply ingrained habits that prevented me from discovering this earlier. Anyway that was then and this is now as they say and I'm making use of the new found ability of my cars gearbox every time I go out in it now. It's certainly easier to avoid blinding the drivers behind me.

Driving instructors see everything in black and white .....there is no place in their world for grey (context).

Observing normal safe driving habits; I've never had a problem of coasting and re-selecting D at any time.

 It's been awhile since I had my Passat DSG but I thought it warned about coasting in the handbook as it can cause damage to the transmission, also applies to towing?

 

I'm probably getting confused with the earlier autos that use a torque converter though.

It's been awhile since I had my Passat DSG but I thought it warned about coasting in the handbook as it can cause damage to the transmission, also applies to towing?

 

I'm probably getting confused with the earlier autos that use a torque converter though.

Agree

Seeing lights turn red up ahead, I tend to coast up and then use the handbrake if held up.

Not much more annoying than sitting behind another car when the driver keeps their foot on the brake but it appears they are designing cars that encourage just that.

 

Is that how they teach on driving lessons these days?

 

Use of the handbrake appears to be a dying skill.

Yes, and not helped by many new cars not having "proper" handbrakes.

 

Joy o joy to find that the Yeti and the TT have traditional handbrakes having had three cars with push button hand brakes/parking brakes.

 

To be honest though on the last two, Passat (DSG) and A6 (Multitronic) being autos. the electronic handbrakes worked really well, especially as the A6 had Autohold which applied the handbrake as soon as you braked and stopped - very useful in stop/start traffic and I always left it in Drive. No blinding those behind with brake lights either.

 

My first Passat was a manual though and the electronic handbrake could be a pain in the butt. It was either on and off, so no fine control, and it embarrassed me more than once when it wouldn't release when I was at the head of a queue at traffic lights and I had to wave other drivers past so I could sort it out. Problem with the manual was it had sensors/switches for both the clutch and accelerator and if you didn't push the clutch down enough the sensor/switch wasn't activated!  

 

BiL also had one and recounted what a nightmare it was parallel parking on a road with quite a steep slope.

 

When I had the manual Passat someone told me that the electronic hand brakes were being introduced as legislation was being introduced that required vehicles to have a secondary emergency braking system. In an emergency you could just hit the parking brake (worked on all four wheels) and in conjunction with the ABS the car would come to a halt pretty damn quickly! Obviously not true though given cars are still (thankfully) being produced with normal handbrakes.

It's been awhile since I had my Passat DSG but I thought it warned about coasting in the handbook as it can cause damage to the transmission, also applies to towing?

I'm probably getting confused with the earlier autos that use a torque converter though.

Am I missing something or have they changed something for the latest 150tdi DSG? Mine goes into "Coasting" mode automatically if I lift off the accelerator - the MFD stops displaying MPG and says "Coasting Mode" (or something similar), the revs drop to idle speed and the car freewheels until I press the brake or accelerator.

Am I missing something or have they changed something for the latest 150tdi DSG? Mine goes into "Coasting" mode automatically if I lift off the accelerator - the MFD stops displaying MPG and says "Coasting Mode" (or something similar), the revs drop to idle speed and the car freewheels until I press the brake or accelerator.

Auto coasting has trickled down to the cars mere mortals own now it seems.

Auto coasting has trickled down to the cars mere mortals own now it seems.

Yeah, I didn't have it on my Scirocco with same gearbox a few years ago...

I'm very glad I've still got a manual handbrake though, it's a habit to hover over it when slowing down due to brakes failing on my old Mini and Datsun 260Z, it's horrible not having it on the wife's Qashqai!

Yeah,

, it's horrible not having it on the wife's Qashqai!

It'll last 10 years, so nothing to worry about (((

After Ryman's response to my post about coasting DSG's I remembered that some (as per later posts) now had a coasting function incorporated. A bit surprised as I thought this was frowned on by the authorities/Highway Code etc? I do note that if the throttle or brake is pressed it deactivates though so I guess the safety aspect is covered.

 

Damage or no damage, in my Passat I never dared coast in N because I didn't know whether you'd need to match the revs or not before sticking back in D and you don't have a clutch to feather the revs.

 

Whilst I do coast again now (when safe) in my manual it's not so much about saving fuel as it's because I can and it's different! Like using CC but without any power!

Our 308 gives great economy in steep twisty mountain country which seems to be down to the fact that zero fuel is used on the descents where braking is not registered as a waste of energy like I seemed to think.

Yeah, engines now shut off the fuel when on the over run and on roads like that you need the help of the engine braking!

 

As you know coasting in neutral works best when you have hit a good speed and then come to a gradual down hill where you don't normally need to brake much. I have a good section on the way home from work, a long straight, followed by a gentle down hill section leading to an island, must be a good 2 miles or so.

Not much more annoying than sitting behind another car when the driver keeps their foot on the brake but it appears they are designing cars that encourage just that.

 

Is that how they teach on driving lessons these days?

 

Use of the handbrake appears to be a dying skill.

Many handbrakes on the higher end cars are either electronic or foot operated (hand released) thus a little more time is involved in applying and releasing. It's far simpler to just lower your hand, pull up and hold a lever.

 

I had a loan car recently and it took me all of 5 minutes before I found out how to release the electronic hand brake.

Not much more annoying than sitting behind another car when the driver keeps their foot on the brake ... Use of the handbrake appears to be a dying skill.

 

Depends how long.  This is my first automatic in - shall we say - many decades of driving but I think both I and m'Lady treat the DSG much as we did conventional clutches.  If the pause is brief, the footbrake is sufficient and allows a quick getaway; if it's going to be longer then handbrake and N is called for until the situation is clearing.  At that point, footbrake and D (or S!), ready to move. 

 

Of course, one driver's brief pause is another driver's lunchbreak...

Depends how long.  This is my first automatic in - shall we say - many decades of driving but I think both I and m'Lady treat the DSG much as we did conventional clutches.  If the pause is brief, the footbrake is sufficient and allows a quick getaway; if it's going to be longer then handbrake and N is called for until the situation is clearing.  At that point, footbrake and D (or S!), ready to move. 

 

Of course, one driver's brief pause is another driver's lunchbreak...

 

Yup, I'm the same - thing is with the stop/start tech it encourages you to leave your foot on the brake because when you lift off the engine turns back on, in the last 5 days I've had my new Yeti I'm yet to sit at lights and put it in neutral + handbrake because of that, while I've always done so on previous cars.

Edited 6 December, 201510 yr by Jimrod

Our 308 restarts when you reselect D. So we use N + handbrake regularly.

When coasting you could get brake fade

When coasting you could get brake fade

Yeah

If you're a muppet