City driving with dsg

[rory]

Hi All
Had to drive across the western suburbs of Brisbane today in my Jetta 1.6 TDI and being a country lad for some time now found I'd forgotten what its like driving in the city. I found myself driving from the lights in "D" and selecting "S" for the extra engine braking approaching stops at traffic lights. I've long given up on trying to outdo the DSG adding my input by using manual changing and actually only find myself using manual select when I want to hold a gear for engine braking down long hills.
Is that how you city boys do it?
Through the 'burbs of Brissie the DSG was constantly changing cogs and I managed to get an average fuel reading of 4.9l/100k for my 450 k round trip with only me in it.

[centralaxis]

Hi Rory,

My daily commute involves traversing from the inner-west of Sydney to the eastern suburbs of Sydney (50km round trip), and until school started last week I had to problems leaving it in "D" (mind you, I have only had my car since December). Now that everyone has gone back to school and work, traffic has gotten worse and the indesicive gear-changing is getting a tad annoying plus my fuel consumption has gone through the roof - 11.5L/100km (ok, it's a turbo petrol so I really shouldnt be complaining...). I may look into your suggestion into using S mode on downhills and lights, but it won't help me with annoying uphill starts from lights (crap tyres don't help, although the wheelspin I get from hill-starts will make them wear quicker so i can get rid of them...).

[MariusGT]

i have no drama driving in d when pottering around the city (sydney). the niggles of DSG don't really bother me like they do some.

people forget it is a manual box with a dual clutch system operated by the mechatronic unit - don't expect it to be as smooth as a conventional auto and you'll be fine.

rather than plonking into 's' mode for slowing down and hills i just use the paddles (2nd gear is good from 60 and down). if light goes green or for whatever reason want to return to d i just hold "+" paddle to return to auto. easy as pie. hardly ever touch the shift stick. and only use s when wanting to get away from lights in a hurry (stop a cabbie from pushing in).

[DionM]

Can't say I've had an issue with DSG in traffic in Brisbane.

If I'm need to do some lane darting I may leave it in S just so I've got poke at the ready in my TFSI, but other than that, its fine.

[brimway]

Agree with mariusGT. In Brisbane traffic (getting as bad as Sydney) I leave it in D and use the paddles when required. Only problemn I have found is going round a corner at low speed, I forget its in D and MFD display confirms this, I use the stick to change up only to embarrassingly get neutral. A lockout to prevent shifting D to N as per some conventional autos, would be a good thing.

[STV4SYT]

I'm pretty sure a 1.6 jetta doesn't have paddles

I prefer to use S for engine braking too. Have put a few mates onto it too. Seems to be catching.

[maca]

Agree with mariusGT. In Brisbane traffic (getting as bad as Sydney) I leave it in D and use the paddles when required. Only problemn I have found is going round a corner at low speed, I forget its in D and MFD display confirms this, I use the stick to change up only to embarrassingly get neutral. A lockout to prevent shifting D to N as per some conventional autos, would be a good thing.

I agree with this, 100%! I've changed up to N so many times thinking the car was in manual mode.

As for Brisbane traffic (and I live at Toowong, so I get the best of all worlds when driving to anywhere east/south of the city), I find leaving it in drive is the best as I can't remember a time where I've had to drive aggresively. If I am feeling aggresive, I'll keep it in S and my car can read my mind like a book

EDIT: I found that S mode in my old diesel was hopeless, it would hold the gears way too high and out of the torque range to give it a good boot when I needed to. Manual mode and keeping it between 1,500 and 3,000rpm was optimal for my kind of driving.

[triode12]

It does have a lock doesn't it? I'm pretty sure you have to press the button on the lever in order to move it up to N. Unless the catch is no longer working.

[hua_qiu]

I have a Jetta 147 2.0TSI. VW has the most stupid gear lever design among all the car I ever owned.

1. Switch from D to S(sport) require pressing the lock button
2. From D to N, no lock, I accidentally put the lever into N a few times when switching from S to D.
3. From N to D, no lock, risky and stupid. What if some one knock the lever and the car roll forward cause injury. VW will get class act.
4. D mode is way too mellow
5. S mode is way too aggressive, so often I have to switch between D and S according to traffic condition. They should introduce a M(median) in my opinion

[balkanac]

all of you people should drive manuals. DSG is the dumbest thing ever invented. I drove a '10 jetta TSi with a 7 speed (7 SPEED!!!) DSG and it just keeps shifting!! It was in 7th on 70km/h. I cant see these 'boxes lasting very long and i really dont see whats wrong with having a clutch in the car. When did the world become so lazy??? Oh, and whats with farts when shifting? That sounds really bad

End of rant

[triode12]

all of you people should drive manuals. DSG is the dumbest thing ever invented. I drove a '10 jetta TSi with a 7 speed (7 SPEED!!!) DSG and it just keeps shifting!! It was in 7th on 70km/h. I cant see these 'boxes lasting very long and i really dont see whats wrong with having a clutch in the car. When did the world become so lazy??? Oh, and whats with farts when shifting? That sounds really bad

End of rant

When you have a spouse who refuses to drive manual transmission, you'll then understand why some ppl have to purchase cars with DSG.

[brimway]

all of you people should drive manuals. DSG is the dumbest thing ever invented. I drove a '10 jetta TSi with a 7 speed (7 SPEED!!!) DSG and it just keeps shifting!! It was in 7th on 70km/h. I cant see these 'boxes lasting very long and i really dont see whats wrong with having a clutch in the car. When did the world become so lazy??? Oh, and whats with farts when shifting? That sounds really bad

End of rant

If you are looking for someone to bite, you hooked me. If what you say about DSG being the "dumbest thing ever invented", are you suggesting that most Aussie VW drivers are dumb?

[hua_qiu]

no insult to any VW owners, that I am one of. But VW designer and a lot of car manufacturers are really dumb. They should listen and learn from the car fan club such as this one.

I was always a manual car driver. Can't disagree that human are still way better when making complex decisions, e.g. access traffic situation and adjust driving style accordingly.

However, technology developed. Auto car should and can be design smarter given the current advance of computer technology. e.g. the ECU should adapt its driving style according to driver behaviors. e.g. the frequency of a driver indicates or performer a lane change steering, or frequent of small steering input, switching frequently between gas and brake, frequent of sudden accelerating, or even particular time of the day based on historical behavior in the similar time of the day, etc, etc.

All of the is not hard to implement based on current technology.

[balkanac]

brimway please read my post again, i was talking about the gearbox, not the people who use it

[Diesel_vert]

It's the cost of sacrificing the freedom to select your own gears.

Unless you have the ability to reprogram the logic controller to suit your own driving characteristics, you have no choice but to accept that you're going to have to tolerate and drive around the gearbox's idiosyncrasies like the rest of us.


But you can always use the manual override mode though - at least you don't have to deal with a clutch pedal should you have gone and bought a manual gearbox.