No manual GTI was the dealbreaker

[gavs]

There is an easy solution all all these supposed problems, drive it like the clutchless manual gearbox that it is so YOU as the driver can dictate what gear and when, pretty simple to me. You still change gears, you just don't have a foot pedal and an H pattern gearbox, you either use the gear lever or the steering wheel paddles, that's what they're there for.

[GTI JOE]

Yes... well said....mmmmooooooohahahahahahaha

C'mon guys get over it, DSG is the evolutionary next stage in technology. Stick shift is overrated

[Corey_R]

if you are experiencing jerkiness from a standstill or surges at low speed then get the dsg looked at... most likely it is at fault and not the driver...

It could be a mechanical fault. But the reality is, it's been the customer more than it has been the mechanicals (at least based on this forum's experience, and considering we're all enthusiastic to get online and discuss this stuff, I'd have to think that we'd be even less pointed towards the customer than the general public).

I drove it like an automatic car, which essentially it is.

That's very untrue. "Essentially", it's two traditional manual gearboxes strapped together, with the shifting and clutch operation controlled by a mechatronics unit. (That is the mechanical and technical reality of the DSG). Whilst you could say that part of the mechatronics (the electronic "brain" part) is similar to that of an auto, the rest of the box bears no resemblence from a mechanical standpoint.

There is an easy solution all all these supposed problems, drive it like the clutchless manual gearbox that it is so YOU as the driver can dictate what gear and when, pretty simple to me

Yes and no. Whilst when driving spiritedly, you're correct, when crawling along in traffic, driving in M is actually not as smooth as using D. It's simply not possible to be as smooth as D actually. The reason is, when you put it into M, the idle revs increase, and also the minimum shift points change.

For example, in my Golf R, if I'm crawling along in traffic, the car will be in D2 from as low as 4km/h, using the torque of the engine and a single gear until it gets to around 22km/h when it changes into 3rd. If you're in M, it won't let you change into 2nd until you're doing around 17, because M is oriented towards "sportiness", if you're pottering in traffic, you usually cannot have enough load on the engine to make it a "smooth" change either!

So certainly, for "stuck in traffic" driving, learning how D operates in your particular car, and making small adaptations to that, is essential for smooth driving. But in that sense, it's no different to driving a traditional manual in one make/model, then jumping into another manual make/model and adjusting to it's different gearshift and clutch operation.

[pologti18t]

That's very untrue. "Essentially", it's two traditional manual gearboxes strapped together, with the shifting and clutch operation controlled by a mechatronics unit. (That is the mechanical and technical reality of the DSG). Whilst you could say that part of the mechatronics (the electronic "brain" part) is similar to that of an auto, the rest of the box bears no resemblence from a mechanical standpoint.

i know it's not a conventional idea of an automatic... BUT it is the VW automatic option for several cars in its range. In essence the driver doesn't have to use a clutch or change gears themselves to move forward

If you dropped joe blogs into a VW with DSG and asked them to drive it they would say its an automatic.

[Corey_R]

I understand. But it is joe blog's expectation that it will drive like every other automatic which they've been in which ultimate leads to much of the customer dissatisfaction in the DSG (where there are no mechanical faults involved).

This is the Polo forum and the DSG is very new to this range. But in the Golf forums where the DSG has been available for 7 years now, there is case after case of this where once it's been explained and people have adapted their driving, they have then been satisfied and even come to love the DSG... for better or worse, it just needs a slightly different approach

[kaanage]

Let me say once again that I find the DSG faster for upshifts than I could ever be - the underlying engineering ensures this. Also in normal driving, it shifts very smoothly, especially if you let it pick when to shift rather than trying to manually override.

Like all autos though, the shift points in both D and S mode are not always where I would choose them to be, especially for off throttle situations and I find the manual down shifting sometimes slower than I would like. Plus light throttle takeoffs can be a little jerky if you shift to neutral while stopped and don't shift into gear a couple of seconds before takeoff. But these are pretty minor complaints given the normal speed and smoothness.

But the hesitation after a momentary stop is not something I find totally satisfactory as it sometimes leaves you in awkward and potentially dangerous situations. And while you can say "just don't stop", it's not that easy to alter your thinking when you swap vehicles and are concentrating on a traffic situation rather than trying to remember that the car has a behaviour mode that you're best off avoiding.

It's like swapping between a track bike with race shift vs a sports bike with road shift - the time you forget is when you're concentrating on what you need to do rather than how to do it.

If I only drove DSG equipped cars, maybe I'd never get caught out by this quirk but don't say it doesn't exist (this comment isn't pointed at you, Corey).

[dasrattles]

i realised that on the DSG, there is a sweet spot on the depression of the gas pedal from standstill. this sweet spot lets you take off instantly and smoothly. too little and it hesitates, too much and it jerks. i guess over ~2000km of driving will get your leg's muscle memory accustomed to this

[blutopless2]

i had hesitation from a standstill and jerkiness on take off nearly all the time... this gearbox has since been replaced with a new unit (as i had other issues also).
the new gearbox is soooo much better. No "sweet" spot needed... it is smooth from a standstill all the time no matter how much throttle i apply - which is how it should be, and there is no hesitation - straight off the brake and on the throttle and away it goes.