Moving from 2015 fabìa 1.2 petrol to a August 2022 Karoq 1.5 petrol with dsg automatic

[JoePeddos]

Moving from 2015 Fabia 1.2 sel petrol to a 2022 karoq 1.5 sel petrol automatic any handy hints as this is my first  automatic car

[ColinD]

The steering wheel wiggle at junctions keeps or starts the engine. That for me at least has smoothed out the stop start, auto box ready to go.

 

dsg is very smooth really. Occasionally find it dropping down or going up mid corner. So if I’m after enjoying the wiggly bits, I to it over to manual.

 

those are my top two.

[NottsIan]

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any handy hints as this is my first  automatic car

Keep your left foot well away from the brake pedal! It surprising how quickly you stop when your left foot tries to operate the clutch and hits the brake pedal😀

[ColinD]

Haha yes this. 
 

I did it on the a55 when blue lights appeared. Actually for the near hypersonic Tesla a few moments before. I only wanted to tap the clutch to kill cruise. Shed a good 20mph and cost me a beer for my mates distress at my ineptitude.

[NottsIan]

Another tip, make sure you have auto-hold on. That way when you stop, the brakes stay on and the clutches are disengaged. As soon as you touch the throttle to move away the clutches will engage and the brakes release instantly. Don't use the handbrake unless in neutral or park. With auto- hold on, the handbrake will come on automatically when you select park anyway.

Edited 25 April, 2023 by NottsIan

[agedbriar]

Having auto-hold on also allows for fast starts on joints without the initial creeping forward before the turbo boost comes on.

Edited 25 April, 2023 by agedbriar

[SurreyJohn]

On the infotainment, go into car and settings, then go into each item in turn, scrolling down.  Choosing your options.

 

Probably take you 15 minutes, but only have to do it once.  

 

There might be some surprising settings (my car was delivered with a safety system off, either blind spot monitoring or front radar, I forget which).  Had I not been through list I wouldn't have known.

 

 

[Sanqhar]

To turn on the ignition without starting the engine don't put your foot on the brake when you press the starter.  

Good for playing with the settings.

 

tom

[Kenny R]

Don’t panic when you lift off the accelerator going down a hill and the coasting function kicks in and car freewheels down hill, a dab of the brakes will re engage the gearbox to allow engine braking.

[JoePeddos]

Thanks for all the info.  Have been on a test drive today. Thank goodness the indicators are on the same side as the Fabia saves running the wiper blades when turning L or R.

[Routemaster1461]

On 26/04/2023 at 14:52, JoePeddos said:

Thanks for all the info.  Have been on a test drive today. Thank goodness the indicators are on the same side as the Fabia saves running the wiper blades when turning L or R.

 

I thought all indicators were on the left nowadays, although it is possible that some Japanese cars have the indicators on the right.

[croquemonsieur]

Nottslan - when you talk about the handbrake, presumably you are referring to the E-Brake.  I understood from past posts that as with Autohold, say when the car is sitting idling at traffic lights, activating the E-Brake also disengages the clutch on a DSG car.  I stand to be corrected though, if you know differently, but that's what I've sometimes been trying recently, as moving off then seems a bit smoother  than when using Autohold.

[NottsIan]

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activating the E-Brake also disengages the clutch on a DSG car

I believe that's correct although I've never tried it, although I'm not sure the clutches were disengaged with a conventional h/b

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as moving off then seems a bit smoother  than when using Autohold.

I'm surprised at that. Autohold works by holding pressure in the braking system and so holds the brakes. As soon as you touch the throttle the brake pressure is released and the brakes come off instantly. The EPB is a worm drive operating a parking brake on the rear wheels and so will take time to release.

[Modders]

Although mine’s a manual I’ve so far found autohold releases seamlessly, completely smooth and instant.

 

[croquemonsieur]

Nottslan & Modders.  With Autohold, the brake cerainly releases instantly, but maybe that's the issue.  The throttle, even on my 1.0 DSG, is rather sensitive when taking off from rest, Autohold or no Autohold - in fact smoother starts are easier if the car is first allowed to start to creep away.  If needing to take off fast, whatever the choice of brakes at standstill, I do find I have to think twice so as not to push the peddle down too far - my previous Yeti was the same.  That's in comparison with most non-VAG DSG conventional auto cars I've had in the past, where the throttle is far gentler at the start of the action.  My 2.0 Saab 9-5 auto of some years ago was a model of how to do smooth starts, particularly when wanting to get away quickly, say turning right into a busy road.  The Karoq doesn't compare well in this regard, though overall I do think the it is a somewhat better car than the Saab.

 

In reviews, non-smooth starting from standstill is sometimes mentioned as the main downside with VAG DSGs, though in other regards the gearbox action is favourably commented on.  I did have to drive a new model Juke with DSG last year for a month or two, while my car was being repaired following a minor bump.  Actually start off from standstill was significantly jerkier than with the Karoq, not helped by the fact there was no inbuilt creep in the transmission, so maybe this slightly jerky behaviour is an inherent characteristic with all DSGs.

 

If using the E-brake I can only think that the front wheels power off momentarily before the E-Brake releases and play in the suspension slightly stretches the wheelbase before the car moves off, maybe smoothing things a little, but that's only conjecture and it may wrar the suspension bushes (weren't Morris 1100s of many years ago notorious for this stretching action - front wheels trying to tear the car in half if the handbrake wasn't released quickly).

 

Whilst writing, the brake light staying on with Autohold could be illegal, or at least can be annoying to a driver at standstill behind - this has been discussed here before.  I don't think the brake lights come on when using the e-brake.  On the other hand, it has been suggested in the situation where there's no-one behind when stopped at traffic lights, having the brake lights can be a useful warning to cars maybe coming up too fast behind, a second or two later - if I'm feeling particularly conscientious, I occassionally do use Autohold in that situation.

 

Tried to keep this as short as possible - honest.

[Modders]

@croquemonsieur

 

I do agree that the throttle response in 1st from a standstill is far more sensitive and can make a smooth standing start more challenging than in most other cars I’ve encountered. 
Is this a ‘characteristic’ of modern Škoda/VAG engines possibly? I could certainly pull away smoothly in my 1973 Type 3 Fastback 😂👴🏻

 

[sussamb]

My Kamiq with DSG pulls away easily, my wife's Karoq however is more difficult to get off the line smoothly

[Ootohere]

FWD 1.0 or 1.5 TSI have DQ200 DSG's but they do obviously have different power and behaviour off the line.

Just as a 1.6 TDI with a DQ200 has.

As to those 1.5 TSI AWD or 2.0 litre TSI or TDI's with DQ381,s again still 2 pedal cars but again different moving off, and likely no wheel scrabble like with the small capacity TSI's.

 

Manuals different again.

[NottsIan]

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If using the E-brake I can only think that the front wheels power off momentarily before the E-Brake releases and play in the suspension slightly stretches the wheelbase before the car moves off

When the E brake releases the clutches will engage and the car will 'creep' before you touch the throttle. I suspect that's what's making the pull away appear more smooth.

[croquemonsieur]

Nottslan, when moving off, I wonder whether you're assuming I release the E-Brake by pushing the e-Brake button, before depressing the throttle.  If that's what you think, I don't actually do this when at traffic lights, I just press the throttle pedal and this releases the E-brake automatically, just as I would if using Autohold, except as I said before, the take off is just a bit smoother.  This E-brake release feature is yet another thing I picked up from here, actually only an few months ago, 3+ years after owning the Karoq - I really do continue to appreciate this site.

 

I do actually manually release the hand brake first and let the car creep a moment if moving off in a non 'competitive' situation with no traffic around, say from home.  Then taking off is really gentle as long as I'm careful with that somewhat fierce throttle.  I do hope the creep doesn't cause significant clutch wear though.

 

It anyway always takes me 3 or 4 years to get really get used to a car - couldn't go along with changing annually or even every 2 years, as some do.  I always considered I got rid of my Yeti prematurely after 4.5 years.  Just got a bit fed up with the rubbery firm & somewhat crashy ride and was rather impatient to change it for the much smoother Karoq, but liked the Yeti in many other ways, particularly the handy compact dimensions with particularly good visibility - that was another thing amongst many aspects that I disliked about the Juke I had temporarily last year - poor visibility when trying to park., made worse by lack of transmission creep.  I got really fed up with that car after only a short period and it was a big relief to get my Karoq back, with its much more upmarket feel.

[Ootohere]

'Autohold' applies the brakes front and rear and can apply more holding force / like pushing the brake pedal if any movement.

 

The e-Brake just applies the rear brakes / parking brake.

[croquemonsieur]

Is that by way of explaining the slight smoother take-off I experience Toot.  On the other hand, when wanting to be stationary, say at lights, I do find the e-Brake easily holds the car still anyway.  it just requires me to press the e-Brake button the instant I've just stopped (not a moment before mind you - or the car then dramatically screeches to a halt), whereas Autohold does apply the brakes for you automatically without having to think about it.

[Ootohere]

@croquemonsieurJust so we know.  Is this a 1.0 TSI DSG and are you stopped in D with e-Brake applied and you have 'Autohold' disabled.

Stop / start off and your engine running. 

[croquemonsieur]

Correct Toot.  I sometimes keep the engine running if I think the wait is going to be short at lights or junctions, but if I anticipate the wait will be longer at traffic lights or in traffic jams (I'll call this situation 2 - generally I know from experience how long traffic lights will keep me stopped in my locality), I turn on stop/start as I come to a halt - I apply the E-Brake when just stopped in both situations.

 

I generally wriggle the steering wheel in situation 2 when I see the traffic lights beginning to change to green, so as to prestart the engine leading to a smoother take off.  Sounds complicated but keeps me a bit more alert on the road & to my mind still much easier & less effort than dealing with a non autohold manual car when stopped and have to start again soon after.

[Ootohere]

So in D not N and with parking brake on.

Why not just 'Autohold' , are you sure you have not got autohold enabled.