This is my first car with DSG so sorry if this is a stupid question.

 

I've noticed that sometimes when I lift off the throttle the gearbox drops into neutral so it's costing out of gear. Other times it decides to keep it in gear. Is this normal? I always thought leaving it in gear while decelerating was better for fuel consumption. It also saves you having to use the brakes as much. Would be interested to know if anyone else getting this or if it's an issue.

The short answer is that it depends upon which driving mode setting you are using.

 

Just noticed what model car you have but I would presume it's the same as the rest of the VAG range.

This is how it works. I think coasting is present in all modes except Sport. Some requirements need to be met for coasting to engage. See attached pictures.

 

 

Edited 10 May, 20215 yr by TheUltraRunner

 

My Mk3 Octavia also coasts - in the case of mine it only happens in "Eco" mode but it sounds like the principle is similar.

I think whether it's a benefit depends a bit on what roads you're on - in busy urban traffic it doesn't feel so helpful but on country roads/ A roads you can use momentum to coast for ages which does feel like it's more economical. And as per the quote above it seems like some of the Mk4s can switch off the engine altogether when coasting which must also get good value out of any momentum.

 

But also I assume VAG must have done the maths and found the fuel savings were worth the cost of having this extra feature even with mine which leaves the engine idling while coasting.

 

The rules for when the car will use/ not use coasting in my Mk3 (who knows if they're all the same in a Mk4 ?) seem to be:

1. coasts In "D" (for my Mk3) only in Eco mode - looks like for the Mk4 it's enough just to be in "D"
2. coasting begins (if other conditions are met) as soon as I release the accelerator
3. coasting ends as soon as I touch the brake. Once I've touched the brake, even very gently, it keeps engine braking engaged until next time I use and release the accelerator again.
4. it doesn't coast if cruise control is active
5. it doesn't coast if I've selected a gear manually. (For the Mk3 I just move the old-fashioned gear lever across from D into this mode - not sure if there's a Mk4 "flappy paddle" equivalent?) . If I move the lever back into D again it starts coasting again.
6. there is a lower speed range below which it won't coast, probably the same as the quoted speed above but I'm not sure - although confusingly there is also a narrow speed range when it will always coast (15-20mph ish?)

For me I will often briefly tickle the brake some way before a junction, to allow engine braking to kick in. Sometimes I move the gear lever across to manual mode but this has the risk I forget it's in manual mode and rev the engine loudly in 1st gear once I set off again... leaving me scrambling to go up  a few gears...

 

But having got used to it, I do like it, and am sold on the idea that it can be more economical.

 

In the mk4 you can have the "full" manual only in Sport mode. In all other modes you can manually change a gear with the paddles. But as soon as you stop changing gears it switches back to D after a short period of time.

6 hours ago, 5koda51mon said:

This is my first car with DSG so sorry if this is a stupid question.

 

I've noticed that sometimes when I lift off the throttle the gearbox drops into neutral so it's costing out of gear. Other times it decides to keep it in gear. Is this normal? I always thought leaving it in gear while decelerating was better for fuel consumption. It also saves you having to use the brakes as much. Would be interested to know if anyone else getting this or if it's an issue.

 

Not sure if it is 'normal' or not, but it is what mine does!  ;-)

 

I have a loan car at the moment (whilst mine is being investigated for the infamous MOPH/KPH issue) - its a Mk4 1.0 e-Tec DSG (and my first DSG too). That coasts some of the time on a closed throttle, at other times will keep the engine running with the benefit of engine braking. Fortunately it seems to be almost intelligent in that if I'm on a downhill and lift my foot off the throttle it keeps it in gear for the engine braking whereas on a [near] level road it will coast with the engine off. Just relax and enjoy the ride...

11 minutes ago, TheUltraRunner said:

In the mk4 you can have the "full" manual only in Sport mode. In all other modes you can manually change a gear with the paddles. But as soon as you stop changing gears it switches back to D after a short period of time.

 

I discovered that today! Quite nice to have the flexibility once I got used to changing up so rapidly after a junction - whilst twirling the steering wheel. Found myself putting it back in D at those busy spots then in to S and using the paddles for full manual once out on the open road.

3 minutes ago, sneal said:

Fortunately it seems to be almost intelligent in that if I'm on a downhill and lift my foot off the throttle it keeps it in gear for the engine braking whereas on a [near] level road it will coast with the engine off. Just relax and enjoy the ride...

 

Does that mean you can't zoom downhill into a dip to build up momentum to go up the other side... that's no fun!

The more I drive it, more I notice how complex the logic behind the coasting is... 

You can really notice when the clutch re-engages and the car starts braking with the engine, so it appears definitely worth to coast in certain situations. I just don't understand the logic of not showing the fuel consumption during the coast, since it is not 0 (but I expect is way less than it would be if I would apply the gas to sustain the speed).

I noticed that the mk4 uses satnav data (especially road inclination information) to decide when to coast or brake with engine - if CC is engaged on a road with slight hills, you can notice the car switching into coasting on the top of the hill and then brake with the engine if the speed builds up going downhill.

I didnt like that coasting is a standart feature of D mode. What if i dont want the car do coasting? It should have an option to disable it. I use engine breaking efficiently and dont want to step on breaks evertime... Another problem is  "coasting to acceleration" response time will be longer than "engine break to acceleration" response time.  I would never want my car go into coasting while I am preparing for overtaking.. 

5 minutes ago, eksa said:

I didnt like that coasting is a standart feature of D mode. What if i dont want the car do coasting? It should have an option to disable it. I use engine breaking efficiently and dont want to step on breaks evertime... Another problem is  "coasting to acceleration" response time will be longer than "engine break to acceleration" response time.  I would never want my car go into coasting while I am preparing for overtaking.. 

Do you actually have our have driven the dsg that coasts?

One can control it with shift paddles on the steering wheel - downshifting when car is in coast puts it in the gear.

It never happened to me that the car would coast when i wanted to overtake. I hate quite aggressive start/stop behavior more...

Edited 13 May, 20215 yr by bmat

@eksa Your 1.6TDI with a DQ200 DSG can behave totally different from a 1.0,1.4 or 1.5 TSI with a DQ200 DSG, then different again from a 2.0 TSI or TDI.

Then we get to Mk4's with which ever Engine / DSG and even hybrid which can feel and behave even more different.