Hello all,

I recently took the plunge and bought a 2025 Skoda Octavia SEL. It’s a lovely car, but in today’s world of ever-tightening emissions standards, it comes with a feature I find incredibly frustrating. The car uses what I believe is called “coasting,” where the DSG shifts into neutral when no throttle input is detected. However, it seems VAG have pushed this even further, and the engine actually switches off entirely. Apparently on earlier facelift cars turning off the starts/stop feature stopped this but not so on the very latest models.

I find this especially annoying when you want a bit of engine braking on a downhill stretch, there’s nothing there, so you end up having to tap the brakes (which then restarts the engine) just to control your speed. I also can’t help but think this constant stopping and starting isn’t doing the starter system any favours in the long term.

Switching the DSG into Sport mode disables the feature and brings the car back to how I expect it to behave, though of course the engine holds onto revs for longer before shifting.

With that in mind, I went searching online for a way to disable this behaviour, ideally something I could tweak with my VCDS cable. There are a few discussions suggesting it can be coded out (for example: Module 19 – Gateway > Long Coding > “FPA Funktion Freilauf DefaultON” > set to “Not Active”). That may well be a red herring, and not the correct parameter to change.

Thought I would put a post up on here to see if anyone else has had any experiences/thoughts on this.....

A while back I drove a pre-FL mk4 DSG for some 8000 miles; IIRC, a gradual lifting of the foot off the accelerator who result in Coasting whereas rapidly lifting the foot would not and thus induce engine braking. Could be worth trying if you haven’t already.

Another thought, does your car have a speed limiter (eg with adaptive cruise control)? Does that use brakes or engine braking on a gentle descent?

On mine one click on the downshift paddle puts it back into gear.

@ffvrs What engine does your 2025 Octavia SEL have?

Stopping / Starting as well as 'Coasting' has been part of the scheme of things with VW group for a long time now and it was used with Bentley's way back then Audi & VW,s then Seat & Skoda. The starter system is designed for this. It is not just some after thought. Plenty stuff VW Group do get wrong that will shorten a vehicles life, this is really not one of them. Tap the brake, or touch the accelerator a bit or manually drop a gear. It is a Semi-Automated gearbox..

45 minutes ago, Evolution13 said:

@ffvrs What engine does your 2025 Octavia SEL have?

1.5 TSI with Active Cylinder Technology.

47 minutes ago, Evolution13 said:

Stopping / Starting as well as 'Coasting' has been part of the scheme of things with VW group for a long time now and it was used with Bentley's way back then Audi & VW,s then Seat & Skoda. The starter system is designed for this. It is not just some after thought. Plenty stuff VW Group do get wrong that will shorten a vehicles life, this is really not one of them. Tap the brake, or touch the accelerator a bit or manually drop a gear. It is a Semi-Automated gearbox..

I hope so dude. I'm a bit old school I'm afraid but i get they are many years on from the earlier cars when these features may have contributed to other engine issues (used to have a Transporter van and the engine was renowned for failure due to the start/stop function). I guess its something i'll just have to accept.

Edited 18 November, 202518 Nov by ffvrs

10 hours ago, SteveTheElder said:

A while back I drove a pre-FL mk4 DSG for some 8000 miles; IIRC, a gradual lifting of the foot off the accelerator who result in Coasting whereas rapidly lifting the foot would not and thus induce engine braking. Could be worth trying if you haven’t already.

Another thought, does your car have a speed limiter (eg with adaptive cruise control)? Does that use brakes or engine braking on a gentle descent?

Yes mine has the adaptive cruise with speed limiter, whilst its in it automation mode it does allow the engine to switch off when no throttle input is required (i.e. driving downhill). The car is still quite new to me so will try the differences in lifting foot off the accelerator with different urgency to see how it reacts.

PS. my generation of car does have "-R SFD+SFD2" plastered all over the controllers so with software like VCDS at this time I cannot make any changes to anything unless I purchase a token to permit my access. Nice one Skoda.

Not much engine braking is there even with a 1.5 TSI ACT when not in 'Coasting mode'. PS Which VW Transporter engines, diesels. and which gearbox and years were these having failures. Which engine did they have that was unique to them and not in other VW Group vehicles.

Edited 18 November, 202518 Nov by Evolution13

37 minutes ago, Evolution13 said:

Not much engine braking is there even with a 1.5 TSI ACT when not in 'Coasting mode'. PS Which VW Transporter engines, diesels. and which gearbox and years were these having failures. Which engine did they have that was unique to them and not in other VW Group vehicles.

There is a bit of engine braking - when i put it in sports mode it doesn't coast it feels better.
I had a 2020 Transport T6.1 with the 2.0TDI with CXFA engine type - a problem with the toothed belt jumping position causing engine damage (only on higher mileage units).

I have to admit I haven't seen/heard of anything related to such on the passenger cars.

Never heard of it related to Stop / Start.

Maybe this is something only for non RS models. Pretty sure mine will only coast in ECO mode. Never had the engine turn off doing down a hill or have the gearbox go into neutral in the same circumstance.

I wouldn’t worry about start stop despite various videos doing the rounds warning about it. The cars are designed for it and the system is very sophisticated. For example it will even stop the engine with one cylinder at TDC so that re-start is essentially instantaneous.

Maybe you could set up an "individual drive mode" to make it behave in the way you would like?

1.5 Etec (MHEV) has no setting to disable it (from the infotainment at least). My car doesn't have different drive modes, so I don't know if those change anything. However switching the DSG-selector from D to S, switches the controlunit to a mode where there's no coasting and start-stop is disabled (while in S-mode). I've had the DQ200 tuned, so D is a bit more sporty and S a bit less, it was an option to also disable coasting in D-mode with that tuning.

A MHEV is a whole different kettle of fish considering the need to use regen to charge the traction battery.

On 18/11/2025 at 18:32, whippersnapper said:

I wouldn’t worry about start stop despite various videos doing the rounds warning about it. The cars are designed for it and the system is very sophisticated. For example it will even stop the engine with one cylinder at TDC so that re-start is essentially instantaneous.

Exactly this....... My VAG guru independent said to me when we first got the wife's Fabia with stop/start and I asked him about it that do you really think that VAG would risk lawsuits from customers who's cars had packed in through constant stopping and starting in traffic? Everything affected by the stop/start was totally redesigned/re-engineered to the new criteria and was designed to last as long, if not longer, than the old school equivalents did without stop/start.

On 17/11/2025 at 21:13, ffvrs said:

Hello all,

I recently took the plunge and bought a 2025 Skoda Octavia SEL. It’s a lovely car, but in today’s world of ever-tightening emissions standards, it comes with a feature I find incredibly frustrating. The car uses what I believe is called “coasting,” where the DSG shifts into neutral when no throttle input is detected. However, it seems VAG have pushed this even further, and the engine actually switches off entirely. Apparently on earlier facelift cars turning off the starts/stop feature stopped this but not so on the very latest models.

I find this especially annoying when you want a bit of engine braking on a downhill stretch, there’s nothing there, so you end up having to tap the brakes (which then restarts the engine) just to control your speed. I also can’t help but think this constant stopping and starting isn’t doing the starter system any favours in the long term.

Switching the DSG into Sport mode disables the feature and brings the car back to how I expect it to behave, though of course the engine holds onto revs for longer before shifting.

With that in mind, I went searching online for a way to disable this behaviour, ideally something I could tweak with my VCDS cable. There are a few discussions suggesting it can be coded out (for example: Module 19 – Gateway > Long Coding > “FPA Funktion Freilauf DefaultON” > set to “Not Active”). That may well be a red herring, and not the correct parameter to change.

Thought I would put a post up on here to see if anyone else has had any experiences/thoughts on this.....

Things have moved on a lot in the world and most cars now are way more economical because they cut cylinders when coasting, the gearbox and ECU all work together to make the best of everything.

If you manage to disable the function then all you would do is put unnecessary extra strain on the gearbox, increasing the chance of it failing.

Modern brakes don’t overheat like older cars did, my car has done multiple very long alpine passes with no fade.

Replacing brake pads and discs slightly more often is a damn sight cheaper than relaxing a DSG gearbox.

If you want an old school gearbox then buy an old school car!!

29 minutes ago, MiniNinjaRob said:

Things have moved on a lot in the world and most cars now are way more economical because they cut cylinders when coasting, the gearbox and ECU all work together to make the best of everything.

If you manage to disable the function then all you would do is put unnecessary extra strain on the gearbox, increasing the chance of it failing.

Modern brakes don’t overheat like older cars did, my car has done multiple very long alpine passes with no fade.

Replacing brake pads and discs slightly more often is a damn sight cheaper than relaxing a DSG gearbox.

If you want an old school gearbox then buy an old school car!!

I don't quite follows - how would disabling start/stop or where the car turns the engine off put extra strain on the gearbox - surely the engine being on all the time has the opposite effect i.e that it reduces the forces that strain components turning on/off all the time.

21 minutes ago, ffvrs said:

I don't quite follows - how would disabling start/stop or where the car turns the engine off put extra strain on the gearbox - surely the engine being on all the time has the opposite effect i.e that it reduces the forces that strain components turning on/off all the time.

There’s no strain in turning the engine on and off. It’s designed to do it, the electric system works in tandem with the ICE, if you alter that system from how it’s designed then it’s going to put forces into a gearbox it might not be designed to cope with.

Driving tests and tutoring have advised not to use engine braking as a way to slow the car down for 20 years and more because that’s not how modern cars are best driven. Even manual cars, you’re best to stay in a higher gear, use the brakes until you’re nearly stopped then shift into first.

There’s no way I’d want to risk damage or extra wear to a DSG box, they are insanely expensive to replace.

Although their system is a bit different, look at the Toyota hybrids like the Prius - they operate in a similar way and cab drivers run them to 300-400k miles with original engine gearbox etc.

1 hour ago, MiniNinjaRob said:

Although their system is a bit different, look at the Toyota hybrids like the Prius - they operate in a similar way and cab drivers run them to 300-400k miles with original engine gearbox etc.

Interesting points but if you are given the option to turn off start/stop or using the dsg in sports to deactivate the engine turning off then i would question why its bad for the engine to do this at all since the manufacturer are giving the option to do so.

I turn start/stop off when at a side junction turning onto a fast road, this eliminates the engine start time and makes for a safer quick entry onto the main road.

2 hours ago, PetrolDave said:

I turn start/stop off when at a side junction turning onto a fast road, this eliminates the engine start time and makes for a safer quick entry onto the main road.

I just put it in sport mode, then it uses petrol and battery power together. My iV is pretty rapid that way. The tyres/available grip are the only weak point then cos that thing wheel spins in the first 3 gears even in the dry sometimes.