I just picked up my Karoq and I'm very happy with most of it. I have a question about the gear change indicator on the maxidot screen.

 

It seems it suggesting a gear change waaay too early? For example: I'm driving in third gear, about 2000 rpm and the indicator is showing my gear and suggestion to change into fourth (like in the photo). This means my revs would drop well below 2000 rpm. Sometimes it shows that I should change from third to fifth gear even, with about 2500 rpm. 

 

Is this how these new cars should be driven??  What is your experience?

You don't state which engine is in your Karok, but all available engines develop maximum  torque low down in the rev range. So they "pull" well from 1500 rpm and upwards. 

No need for high revs to make normal progress on the roads. If you have a petrol engine and want to get going, then you need to give it more beans!

1 minute ago, OldKaroq said:

You don't state which engine is in your Karok, but all available engines develop maximum  torque low down in the rev range. So they "pull" well from 1500 rpm and upwards. 

No need for high revs to make normal progress on the roads. If you have a petrol engine and want to get going, then you need to give it more beans!

Yeah I forgot. It's 1.0.

Ok, then you may need to ignore the gear change indicator and hold on to each gear a little more. Especially if you are in a hurry! 

13 minutes ago, OldKaroq said:

Ok, then you may need to ignore the gear change indicator and hold on to each gear a little more. Especially if you are in a hurry! 

Yeah... I felt the engine "choking" a bit whenever I did change gears when indicated. 

sounds normal to me but I usually listen to what the engine is telling me and change accordingly and when you get to know your car you will know when that is

I own a 2.0TDi Octavia and found I get slightly better MPG if I hold the gear a little longer than indicated, even in sport mode.

If I follow the indicator to the letter I feel it's labouring a lot.  For example when I'm on a 50mph dual-carriageway , doing around 45mph in 5th gear, slight incline and fairly heavy traffic, it wants me to change up to 6th gear which I don't believe to be practical or safe given the conditions.

 

I guess the indicator works on an algorithm rather than what a driver is seeing/experiencing.  I do however, notice that if it's indicating for me to change up when it's marginal whether I should or not, if I press a little harder on the throttle it stops telling me to change up.

13 minutes ago, Russ77 said:

I own a 2.0TDi Octavia and found I get slightly better MPG if I hold the gear a little longer than indicated, even in sport mode.

If I follow the indicator to the letter I feel it's labouring a lot.  For example when I'm on a 50mph dual-carriageway , doing around 45mph in 5th gear, slight incline and fairly heavy traffic, it wants me to change up to 6th gear which I don't believe to be practical or safe given the conditions.

 

I guess the indicator works on an algorithm rather than what a driver is seeing/experiencing.  I do however, notice that if it's indicating for me to change up when it's marginal whether I should or not, if I press a little harder on the throttle it stops telling me to change up.

I wonder if the indicator is calibrated differently for different engines. I suppose what it is showing me would make more sense if the engine was a diesel (less rpms etc). 

Personally I would ignore it. You know how to drive so don't let the car tell you!

The car is much smarter than we are. It calculates the most economical gear based on DATA - not emotions. But, just like the lane assist, it is a recommendation, not a command. If you already know that very soon, you will need acceleration in a bit of a vigorous manner, you would be foolish to shift up, just because some display told you to. On the other hand, if you just intend to keep toodling along at about the same speed, it tells you that it would be more economical to change to the  suggested gear.

 

I find that with the DSG, the car brain is better than I was with a manual gear to select the right gear, and very quickly change down in response to a firmer push on the accelerator.

 

Conclusion: better mileage than I got with the manual, and quicker acceleration, based on  accelerator position than I would get with a manual.

 

seems to me to be a win-win situation.

I try changing when indicated works a treat with the 1.0l the torque is more lower down the rpm. sometimes i get a message not to change gear after 1800 rpm ECO

Ignore it, it's geared towards achieving the optimal fuel economy and emissions, not component longevity.

 

The worst thing you can do in car equipped with a dual-mass flywheel (diesels) is labour the gearbox /engine.

 

I find it a little more useful in our 1.4 TSI Kodiaq, but in my 2.0 TDI Superb it's way off.

2 minutes ago, silver1011 said:

Ignore it, it's geared towards achieving the optimal fuel economy and emissions, not component longevity.

 

The worst thing you can do in car equipped with a dual-mass flywheel (diesels) is labour the gearbox /engine.

 

I find it a little more useful in our 1.4 TSI Kodiaq, but in my 2.0 TDI Superb it's way off.

Mine is 1.0 tsi. Started to ignore it. Pleasant engine noise at 2200 rpm and the car tells me to change from third to fifth. 

On 05/07/2018 at 11:42, forty_tw0 said:

I just picked up my Karoq and I'm very happy with most of it. I have a question about the gear change indicator on the maxidot screen.

 

It seems it suggesting a gear change waaay too early? For example: I'm driving in third gear, about 2000 rpm and the indicator is showing my gear and suggestion to change into fourth (like in the photo). This means my revs would drop well below 2000 rpm. Sometimes it shows that I should change from third to fifth gear even, with about 2500 rpm. 

 

Is this how these new cars should be driven??  What is your experience?

This is what I'm talking about. 62 kmh, 2000 rpm and the suggestion is to change from fourth to fifth gear. 62 kmh in fifth gear? That doesn't sound right? Is this the same for everyone here? Maybe incorrect calibration or something similar? 

Two comments:

 

1. The car knows! It is telling you that it is more economical to shift up a gear or two, and the engine can handle it at the current speed.

 

2. It’s you driving, and it’s your decision if you want to follow the recommendation or not.

6 hours ago, forty_tw0 said:

... 62 kmh in fifth gear? That doesn't sound right? Is this the same for everyone here? Maybe incorrect calibration or something similar? 

 

1.5 tsi dsg, the car changes in 5th even when it's around 55 kmh.

The change indicator is, as noted, set up for optimum emissions etc. I have the 1.0l and it suggests changing a bit early especially as my engine is still very new (1500 mile) so I don't use it until engine fully warmed up and usually rely RPM instead. Happiest around 1800 - 2000 for now. Once loosened up I think the indicator will be more useful.

Wife's SEL Karoq 1.5Tsi will quite happily go into 5th (manual gearbox) around 37mph and 6th at 45mph. My best economy figure on my 26 mile commute is 62 mpg and even on a recent 11 mile journey I still got 51 mpg. On a slightly different note my 300 bhp Octavia has so much torque it will happily go into 4th (manual gearbox) at 24 mph , 5th at 32 mph and 6th at 39 mph , thanks to 467NM at 2,800 rpm. Combined figure from SKODA for my car is 42.8 mpg but my average is 39.3 mpg with a best of 49.8MPG.

Another gizmo / gimmick that needs turned off (if possible).

 

I know it’s turned off on my bike.

 

Competent drivers don’t need gear change indicators. One less distraction.