My first drive of a new T5 103

[Sunny43.5]

Hi all a friend of mine just purchased a new T5 103 diesel with the DSG box , we went for a drive as I was curious about how it compared to our T5 128 triptronic . First impression was that when going down our steep long hill it did not change up with foot off gas this gave a rather noisy decent as the gear seems to hold . Down low from take off the gear changes were no where near as smooth as our T5 the first 4 gears you could feel the change noticably , once we got up around 90-100 kays it was smoother with the last few gears changing smoothly . The engine feels strong even though it was the lesser powered version at 100 kays its barley ticking past 1900 rpm stab the foot and it drops two gears and away it goes quite good . I would imagine that the 132 would be smoother as this will eventually be our choice I suppose , the only niggling thing was for the money spent why does VW just sell you a empty box with 4 wheels two seats and no sound proofing not even a rubber mat in the back . Most cars that would cost you a lot less would easily be better equiped and yes I know they would not carry what the VW can but still the price is sometimes hard to swallow . Howard

[MultiplexMan]

The DSG is the deal breaker for me. I've a lot of friends with first hand experience of what happens when the DSG goes bad.

[Cousin]

The DSG is the deal breaker for me. I've a lot of friends with first hand experience of what happens when the DSG goes bad.

Any worse than when a tiptronic goes? (and that's not if but when)

And I've heard the DSG's are generally pretty bullet proof, but it's the electronics that give trouble

?


M

[Sunny43.5]

Probably not they are both technical nightmares waiting to frighten you when you least expect it or can afford it as well . Give me the good old days when an auto tranny could be serviced and easily repaired and you could also check the oil level and colour plus they were only 3 gears , with a manual throttle kick down cable rather than some computer which tries to out think you . Howard

[MultiplexMan]

Tiptronic issues I have seen have been predominately with owners/service centers believing and sticking to the "sealed for life" line. If the fluid is serviced (and the gearbox flushed) you have a pretty solid auto transmission - especially if it used as one. That is, drop it into D and just drive.

DSG on the other hand... It is of no value if 90% of the mechanism is robust if the 10% that ensures its function and reliability fails - be that mechatronics, electronics or software.

I remember the "you have to learn how to drive" BS being touted to new DSG owners. Check this forum in the Golf section for some of that "quality advice".

This was then followed by firmware updates (still current practice) and finally acceptance that the mechatronics unit may be faulty. No recall, no campaign - you got a new unit if you were persistant, "lucky" or your vehicle suffered a complete "failure to proceed" whilst under warranty. This is not restricted to VAG DSG units.

At least the majority of tiptronic autos give you the option of "limp home" mode. The DSG gives you the option of sit and wait...or stall mid turn.

To be fair - I have personally suffered a Tiptronic failure (Mercedes Benz) that defaulted to limp home mode; I was able to drive GMH autos into fail mode during proving tests; and I have driven dozens of various VAG DSG equipped vehicles that exhibited jerky "unsynchronised" gear selection, failure to launch (severe lag), mid shift pause...

I'd be buying a manual if I had to select a new vehicle. At least all I have to look forward to is a disintegrating dual mass flywheel...

[Cousin]

Any word if VW are considering cvt units, say direct out of Audi, as a tranny in a Multivan?

M