I've had the car nearly a month now and I thought I would give a quick report.

Overall I'm very happy, I find it very quiet and smooth. It really does feel like a luxury car. The dsg gearbox is good, although there is a slight hesitation when pulling away and sometimes when I need a bit more acceleration it seems to grab one gear lower than I think it should. Maybe I'm pushing the accelerator to hard.

The 1.4 petrol engine has as much power as I need and it is extremely quiet, a very competent engine.

Things I like:-

The adaptive cruise control, Sat nav, self opening boot, rear camera.

Things I don't like :-

I find the seat's lateral support lacking, although this is not helped by me having a small frame. It needs a wide German backside!

When braking I can hear the rear brakes rubbing, although this only sounds loud because the rest of the car is so quiet.

I think I'm going to enjoy driving this car for a long time.

When you put the accelerator completely to the floor the DSG gearbox should drop at least one gear to give you the best possible acceleration. If there's less than 2500 miles on it I'd hold off on going to the red line for a while. There's an excellent post on this forum on running in new engines with more details here: http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/408713-running-in-tsi-engines/ . Provided it's run in and at temperature there's no need to be afraid of using the full rev range of the engine either. Full power on petrol engines is often within 500 rpm of the red line.

I'm not putting the accelerator to the floor, I'd be surprised if it's half throttle.

I'm really nit picking here by complaining about to much acceleration but I think that dropping one gear would give reasonable acceleration obviously the car wants the next gear down.

I will probably get more used to the throttle as time goes by.

What a great engine it is, when it gets on the step it really goes. I'm very pleased with it.

Hi, hope you don't mind me asking as you seem to be using and enjoying the car for its purpose, ie being driven, what sort of mpg are you getting? Thanks in advance

Hi, hope you don't mind me asking as you seem to be using and enjoying the car for its purpose, ie being driven, what sort of mpg are you getting? Thanks in advance

Since you are curious:

Same engine with a manual transmission, I get 6-7 l/100 l. This is my daily commute of 2 x 20 km, half city, half motorway. I tend to drive in a calm manner. And mpg is completely alien to me

Hi, hope you don't mind me asking as you seem to be using and enjoying the car for its purpose, ie being driven, what sort of mpg are you getting? Thanks in advance

I have got 41mpg long term. I picked the car up in Mansfield and drove it back home to Brighton and the mpg was 51 when I arrived home. That was at 75mph on cruise control all the way home.

If I do short journeys it seems to return about 35mpg

Edited 23 November, 20169 yr by facet edge

DSG, as good as it is, just isn't as smooth as the likes of BMW's / Jag's 8 speed torque converter unit.

DSG is super smooth when you're moving, but it's slow to kick down (as you physically have to wait for another gear to engage before it'll pull), and can be jerky from standing starts.

Even the new 7 speed unit fitted to the new A4 gets exactly that criticism.

Edited 24 November, 20169 yr by vtec to vrs!

DSG, as good as it is, just isn't as smooth as the likes of BMW's / Jag's 8 speed torque converter unit.

DSG is super smooth when you're moving, but it's slow to kick down (as you physically have to wait for another gear to engage before it'll pull), and can be jerky from standing starts.

Even the new 7 speed unit fitted to the new A4 gets exactly that criticism.

I was worried about the gearbox snatching when pulling away as one of my boys has an A5 and that can really snatch if you try and accelerate too fast. However I have found my gearbox very smooth, I do think that it takes it's time getting going from rest but I think that is how they have avoided it snatching.

With regard to kicking down I was under the impression that the dsg will have a lower gear already selected if you are in top gear so it should be very rapid.

I was worried about the gearbox snatching when pulling away as one of my boys has an A5 and that can really snatch if you try and accelerate too fast. However I have found my gearbox very smooth, I do think that it takes it's time getting going from rest but I think that is how they have avoided it snatching.

With regard to kicking down I was under the impression that the dsg will have a lower gear already selected if you are in top gear so it should be very rapid.

Mine is super smooth on the run and you can't feel the changes at all, it's more just from a standing start it can feel jerky compared to a proper auto (torque converter).

The change down is fast enough, but it's the momentary pause before it actually pulls, as DSG actually needs to have a gear engaged before the car will pull, whereas on for example the BMW 8 speed you get a surge instantly. Drive them back to back and it's really noticeable. One of my pool cars at work is a 330d auto, so it feels noticeably different to me!

Mine is super smooth on the run and you can't feel the changes at all, it's more just from a standing start it can feel jerky compared to a proper auto (torque converter).

The change down is fast enough, but it's the momentary pause before it actually pulls, as DSG actually needs to have a gear engaged before the car will pull, whereas on for example the BMW 8 speed you get a surge instantly. Drive them back to back and it's really noticeable. One of my pool cars at work is a 330d auto, so it feels noticeably different to me!

 

Maybe it's just the extra power? Found this explaining steptronic gearboxes :-

 

The advantages of the Steptronic are vastly smoother gear engagement, especially driving around town and when starting from a stop, though gear changes aren't quite as instantaneous or responsive as the dual clutch box (see below), especially in situations where you either (a) need to floor the gas pedal for a sudden acceleration or ( want to manually select a different gear using the +/- selector on the shifter (or paddles behind the wheel if equipped with the sports package), in which case there is a slight delay.

The advantages of the dual clutch box are lightening fast shifts with literally no perceptible interruption of power between shifts, though driving around town especially when starting from a standstill can feel a bit... odd, sluggish, and sometimes a bit rough.

 

dsg boxes change up in 8 milliseconds, down in 600 milliseconds ( time needed to match engine speed ) and kickdown in 1100 milliseconds, that's 1.1 seconds. 

I started a thread around a month ago concerning the sluggish takeaway from standstill on my 190 DSG. Although I haven't done it yet, it seems there is a "relatively simple" VCDS adjustment which can change throttle response from Skoda to Audi values, and those who have done this confirm that the improvement is very noticeable.

DSG, as good as it is, just isn't as smooth as the likes of BMW's / Jag's 8 speed torque converter unit.

DSG is super smooth when you're moving, but it's slow to kick down (as you physically have to wait for another gear to engage before it'll pull), and can be jerky from standing starts.

Even the new 7 speed unit fitted to the new A4 gets exactly that criticism.

Disagree totally, had a 330d 8 speed auto (car before last) and the gearbox, whilst smooth, was much less responsive, particularly on kick down, than the dsg on my new Superb. I haven't experienced the jerkiness from standstill that you mention either.

Disagree totally, had a 330d 8 speed auto (car before last) and the gearbox, whilst smooth, was much less responsive, particularly on kick down, than the dsg on my new Superb. I haven't experienced the jerkiness from standstill that you mention either.

 

Personal taste maybe...the one I drive is the 8 speed sport automatic transmission, and it's the best automatic gearbox I've ever used.