Gotta be honest - that chunk of nasty plastic chrome is putting me right off. Has anybody removed theirs and recoloured/wrapped, or does anybody offer a replacement that looks slightly less like a bit of Airfix kit?

Edited 22 February, 20233 yr by wardth

I totally agree. It’s the most obnoxious looking thing I have ever used, very plasticky. I think it’s so small so it’s not confused with a normal gear selector. There are replacements for the golf and Audi A3 but to be honest they don’t look much different to the standard selector. 

Just now, mitchec said:

I totally agree. It’s the most obnoxious looking thing I have ever used, very plasticky. I think it’s so small so it’s not confused with a normal gear selector. There are replacements for the golf and Audi A3 but to be honest they don’t look much different to the standard selector. 

I mean literally ANYTHING would be an improvement. I can't actually believe this one got approved! Somebody needs to bring out a black one at least, maybe with a milled alloy shift selector. I would pay good money for that, although at the moment I'm thinking a MK IV may not be the way to go right now.....

I would stay clear of any VW based vehicles based on the current MQB evo platform. Although my Octavia mk4 drives well enough the standard of the infotainment, ACC, Travel assist and safety systems are awful. 

11 hours ago, mitchec said:

I would stay clear of any VW based vehicles based on the current MQB evo platform. Although my Octavia mk4 drives well enough the standard of the infotainment, ACC, Travel assist and safety systems are awful. 

Well, i guess you can't please everyone. I don't mind the gear selector, nor do i dislike the ACC, infotaiment or travel assist 🤷‍♂️

 

Have you tried Google/ You Tube?

 

Edited 23 February, 20233 yr by gumdrop

I am slightly confused, are you talking about the DSG selector in the Mk4? Its small and convenient for me, nothing wrong with it at all. If you don't like that one you should try the Porsche Taycan one!! 

Well, its easy to operate, does what it should, and its sturdy enough. I like it - and I like the design.
Yes, its plastic. Metal would have been nice. The same could be said about other details within the otherwise rather good looking (at least to me) cabin.
But in the end, its probably a question of price point and place in the market. If the gear selector is a definite showstopper, you could always go for an Audi A3. Its pricier (and smaller), but I'm sure the gear selector is nice 🙂  

Don't know whether you should be playing with your knob in public 😏 

C'mon, it's just fantastic. The gloss black plastic frame though, could be better - just because it's super hard to keep shiny... but the DSG gear selector is amazing!

 

Like someone said, you can't really please everyone...

Can't see anything wrong with the shifter, looks neat and works fine imho. Infotainment system takes some getting used to but once 'learnt' it's pretty good. My only gripe is NO inbuilt HDD for music storage, even my 10 year old Jeep had that!

On 04/03/2023 at 23:12, SouthernComfort said:

My only gripe is NO inbuilt HDD for music storage, even my 10 year old Jeep had that!

A harddrive would be a bit old-fashioned and unpractical by today's standard 😉 But I would have liked an SD-card reader hidden in the glove compartment, like my Fabia had.

Instead, I'm using a USB-stick - I just bought the (physically) smallest one I could find, and it now permanently occupies one of the two USB-C ports.

However, I must admit that I don't use it much. Spotify and Android Auto is just so much more convenient. Even though the audio quality is marginally better from the USB stick.

36 minutes ago, LarsKC said:

Instead, I'm using a USB-stick - I just bought the (physically) smallest one I could find, and it now permanently occupies one of the two USB-C ports.

However, I must admit that I don't use it much. Spotify and Android Auto is just so much more convenient. Even though the audio quality is marginally better from the USB stick.

I’m the same. Bought a physically small but high capacity USB-C stick but usually use Spotify and CarPlay. 
Voice control works well with the USB source though, probably better than it does with Spotify - mainly because it’s a play this or that rather than a ‘search for’ type request.

 

Way off topic though!
 

BTW, for the 8.5k miles I drove a 1.0 e-tec DSG I thought the “hideous DSG gear selector” was wonderful - so much so I wish my current manual ‘box was DSG. Next time…

Fair point,  we got off topic so I'll resist any further comment about the music...or maybe open another thread.

Edited 9 March, 20233 yr by SouthernComfort