I'm awaiting my first auto DSG PHEV having driven manuals all my life. I have had autos as hire cars and had one this week. I'm old school in that I've always used engine braking even though that is not taught anymore. It being chaper to replace brakes than a clutch. On my journey I automatically pushed for the clutch when approching a junction to loose pace and braked hard. Nothing behing so no drama this time. Any tips on driving and auto please. What sequence should I activate functios as it was always engage clutch, apply handbrake, remove from gear and turn off indicator if being used. When waiting in traffic or at the lights should I engauge the paring brake before or after I go to neutral rathe rthan sit with my foot in trhe break? Alos how do I correctly use the flappy paddles and when? Perhaps i need to book a couple of drving lessons to improve my technique. I am not the best driver in the world. Given there are no stpuid questions I thought I'd pull on the collective knowledge to improve my technique. Cherrs for any responses. BRS

Enjoy it.

 

First thing to read up on in the manual and understand when in the car is 'Autohold', 

no need to sit with a foot on the brake pedal and have brake lights on.

(Well actually 'Autohold' will have the brake lights on in your car'.)

 

So get to know how the PHEV works and if you are going to need to use the e-Brake if you want the brake light off when people behind for extended periods.

 

Others with the same as your car will be along. 

There is very little engine braking on any tsi engine, they are so free running that inevitably will increase speed going down a steep hill.

 

That said, the brakes on modern cars are specified to be able to drive down mountain passes, losing about 1500m (5000 feet) without any problems.   There are very few roads in UK where you will get to 20% of that.  So don’t worry about 1970s engine braking ideals.

 

The PHEV can use the electric motor in reverse, as a generator, and this provides braking whilst recharging the batteries.   In B mode there is a braking effect with right foot off, in D it is more natural coasting.

 

Even if you don’t have flappy paddles, can engage sport mode on a DSG box by flicking lever back, can nudge it to the side and use up or down flicks to manually change gears (the gear display on the dashboard lets you know which mode you are in).  Although everyone I know are initially playing with it, tends not to bother with manual mode as leaving it in D is so much easier.

 

So I would suggest don’t worry about it, let the gearbox electronics do the thinking.   Unless you are stopped at multi-way traffic lights or a level crossing where not going  to move for >20 seconds you probably won’t manually intervene to neutral.

 

 

As above switch the autohold on and leave on , then at traffic lights etc you can leave in D and no need to faff about with ehb etc.

Using the B setting using regenerative braking when lifting off  or leaving in D mode and coasting when lifting off is something to get used to and choosing what suits you’re driving.

 

my phev is the vrs, so it’s a little different in that there is no “B” mode. It has sport mode instead on the gear selector, so whats below might be different for your car. 
 

If you set the regen braking to “auto” it’ll decide when to let the car coast and when to apply regen, and exactly how much. 
 

when it is regenerating, it will feel just like engine braking, but it will vary in strength. This might frustrate or delight, depending on your nature. I expected to hate it, however I find the auto setting great and well judged.
 

It knows if a junction is approaching, or if you’re coming up behind another car, or a lower speed limit is coming up. It’s not frustrated me once yet. You can almost drive the car with one pedal. 
 

when braking normally, you’ll be using regen most of the time, you might not even realise it. You have to be slowing down pretty hard for it to transition to actual brakes, that transition is noticeable in mine, and the first few times it was a little unnerving for me. Maybe because the brakes are still new on mine. 
 

you can set it to permanently regen a fixed amount every time you let off the throttle, but it can be a bit harsh, and you’ll probably find your brake lights are coming on a lot, or you can disable regen and it will coast when you let off the throttle. When you brake it will still regen first, and if you’re not slowing enough, then bring the brakes in. 
 

Auto hold is also great on hills and indeed anywhere, if you have acc activated too, then all you need to do in a traffic jam is dab the throttle to set off, and acc and auto hold will move you along, and stop you when the car in front stops. Works great. 
 

flappy paddles are probably only useful if you’re planning to use a big burst of acceleration, and don’t want the inconvenience of waiting for the car to kick down. 
 

I’d say try and relax and let it do it’s thing, it’s my first auto too, and I don’t think I’d want a manual again in a normal road car. 

DSG is a wonderful gearbox, having had a manual VRS and manual cars all my driving life the switch was smooth, to the point I hate driving my wife's car, I occasionally forget to pop it into second when pulling off! 

 

The only negative is the one you mentioned, you definitely have less control in slow moving traffic, I either have to drive in sport so it keeps the gear longer, for example 10mph it tends to put the car into second which makes the car run away if that makes sense, you have to use more break input rather than dipping the clutch to control the car. I tend to switch to manual and select first gear in slow moving traffic.

 

Hope that makes sense!

 

On 01/10/2022 at 13:17, SurreyJohn said:

B mode there is a braking effect with right foot off, in D it is more natural coasting.

There is no "B-mode" in octavia

 

But yeah, you can use paddles to make regen/braking. Hold left to apply and hold right to go back to D.

I almost always brake/regen with  paddles when coming to lights.

 

Yoú can have static regen on high/low/auto. I use Auto. since it regens fairly cleverly.

Edited 2 October, 20223 yr by timster