Mk6 GTI Manual - Gear suggestion indicator

[minke]

Hi,

I'm hoping that I'm calling the number in the top right hand corner of the display that suggests which gear you should be in correctly the 'gear suggestion indicator' I have a question of others if they've had 'interesting' suggestions before.

Let me give you an example.

I'm going down hill in 3rd year with no throttle (so compression braking) it is suggesting that I should be in second gear (2 with the down arrow) but I've around 1500-1700 RPM on board with a hot engine. Sure if I was heading up a steep hill with wide open throttle that 'suggestion' might make sense?

I've noticed that my car is 'often' confused as to what gear I should be in. Other GTIs I've driven doesn't seem so confused. but NOT ALWAYS (sorry for the shouting) it seems random.

Any thoughts? anyone experienced this? I'm wondering if there is an internal mercury switch or level switch is getting confused with the level of the car?

I think this all ties in with my lagging throttle issue as well.

[Lucas_R]

I pay absolutely no attention to that silly gear suggestion indicator - the one in my wife's Mazda SP25 tells what gear you are actually in which is more helpful.

Give me some scenarios where you think your car is acting weirdly and i will do my best to replicate in my GTI and see what the differences are.

[elephino]

Mine hasn't done the scenario described. If I'm off throttle it tends to not suggest a different gear to the one I'm in.

[minke]

I pay absolutely no attention to that silly gear suggestion indicator - the one in my wife's Mazda SP25 tells what gear you are actually in which is more helpful.

Give me some scenarios where you think your car is acting weirdly and i will do my best to replicate in my GTI and see what the differences are.

I've noticed that generally if you're off throttle but in a high gear, so long as you're 1200rpm or higher it will show the gear that you're in and NOT suggest to cog back one. How to recreate. Down hill in 3rd with around 1300rpm and off throttle. My car, no always, will often tell me to pick 2nd.

[ThatGuy]

The car would use several parameters to suggest which gear you should be in but it can't predict what is ahead. I guess it calculated that if you are downhill in 3rd there isn't sufficient engine braking to maintain current speed so suggests 2nd to increase engine braking and reduce brake pressure (wasted heat energy). The fuel use should be the same (zero).

Does this sound accurate?

My car does the same. I'm more often surprised by the high gears it requests. Like 6th at 65kph up a moderate incline, the engine vibrations (mild lugging) definitely increase if the suggestion is followed.

Sent from my SM-N910G using Tapatalk

[CraigR]

It is suggesting the downshift to better hold your speed, instead of riding the brakes down the hill. My wife's Polo GTi DSG does this, and revs it's tits off to ~4500rpm - but it does hold the speed.

The gear indicator does tell you what gear it is in by just having the dot next to the number... or at least mine does.

[Lucas_R]

I've noticed that generally if you're off throttle but in a high gear, so long as you're 1200rpm or higher it will show the gear that you're in and NOT suggest to cog back one. How to recreate. Down hill in 3rd with around 1300rpm and off throttle. My car, no always, will often tell me to pick 2nd.

I will test this for you today - i work in a hilly suburb so i should be able to re-create the scenario pretty easily several times.

[Lucas_R]

Ok so just tried this out while getting lunch - at no point does the car suggest i downshift when coasting or slowing down. Tried it on flat roads, a gentle downhill and a steeper downhill - nothing. At one point i was in 3rd gear and coming to a stop at a red light and i let the car almost get to stalling point before i put depressed the clutch - it was still saying 3 on the MFD.

If the car is "happy" with the gear i am in, i just get a full stop/dot next to the gear i am in on the MFD. Once the RPM goes above about 1,800 it then "suggests" that i change to the next gear in which case the next gear number appears on the MFD with an arrow pointing up.

Once agian, i pay absolutely no attention to this gear indicator because i find it useless, but interesting to see yours is behaving differently. Might be time to move that car on with all the weird things it has been doing to you over the past 12 months.

[GeorgeMK1]

I have a manual mk6 gti. Have no issues at all, always accurately tells me what gear im in, and when driving normally it suggest I shift up at a relatively efficient rpm. Also I've never had it tell me to downshift on a downhill, only time it tells me to downshift is when im trying to put my foot down in 5th going 40 haha

[sparkey_18]

It works off engine speed. It guesses what gear you are in. Before I had my clutch replaced, when it would slip in 6th gear it would have no idea what to go as it couldnt work out why you were at a certain RPM that didn't match any gear speed. If it bothers you, I am sure there is someone around that would know how to disable it.