Tiguan TDI Manual or Auto ?

[jimbomort]

I went for the manual. I prefer it to an auto for a number of reasons, mostly already covered by other posters.

It was lots of fun along the Great Ocean Road on Sunday. Punted the Tiguan along there at a reasonable clip and it didn't miss a beat. I was comfortably taking corners at about 50% above the advisory signs and it felt like it could stretch that out to double of many of the signs.

Bit more body roll than my 206GTi and obviously a fair bit slower, but still lots of fun. From home to Warnambool via the Great Ocean Road and back home inland via Highway 1 with a couple of detours thrown in here and there was almost 700km and even with the spirited squirts along the GOR the Tiguan still averaged 6.3 l/100km for the trip. Still felt reasonably refreshed after the drive as well.

Ben.

manual will better conventional auto by 10-15% without much trouble if driven consciously, Ben's fuel economy for this manual drive above is an example.

friends of ours have both, he reckons the manual is substantially better, but look its preferences and driving conditions.

All i'd say is that on fuel economy, a manual TSI without air con, will get about the same fuel economy as an auto TDI with air con on. Thats about the difference.

on advisory signs, speeds on those are based on a car approaching from each direction at that speed being able to just stop in time. So yes, you can go much faster than the advisory sign in general (fun of course) and up to twice the speed on some, noting equally all the risks of doing so on public roads.

[NZTiguan]

All i'd say is that on fuel economy, a manual TSI without air con, will get about the same fuel economy as an auto TDI with air con on. Thats about the difference.

Absolute bunkum (in my grumpy Old Man opinion of course !!). I regularly get 6.6l/100k (real not off the MFD) on a trip, air-con on and with 4 people up (and that's on NZ winding hilly roads) with average point to point speeds (from the mdf) of over 90 kph (93 kph for my last 1600km round trip) and on refill I've seen the mdf show over 1000km to run on a tank. I'm sure you think I'm an old slow fuddy duddy but you try those average speeds in NZ and you'll find that I'm very rarely passed so I'm not dawdling or crawling up the hills. I wish anybody in a petrol Tig good luck in getting close to those figures !!

The petrol/manual Tig may well have advantages for some people BUT fuel consumption isn't one of them !! and frankly the majority of people who buy the petrol manual option do so to enjoy the performance advantage and "using" that advantage burns fuel, pur and simple.

Cheers

[maca]

I bought a DSG TDI Jetta and I'm so glad I did, I had a manual TDI Jetta as a loan car once and it felt soooooooo sluggish.

Not to mention that it's easier to get the best power out of an auto diesel as opposed to changing all the time to stay in the torque range.

[clip]

I bought a DSG TDI Jetta and I'm so glad I did, I had a manual TDI Jetta as a loan car once and it felt soooooooo sluggish.

Not to mention that it's easier to get the best power out of an auto diesel as opposed to changing all the time to stay in the torque range.

yeh, I agree with that, buggered if I can get a manual deisel to perform - I keep over-reving it. auto does much better than I can at keeping it in the sweet spot.

[Sharkie]

Actually, my post was about the fact that DSG is now becoming a real possibility for the Tigs in the future as up to now it was not possible.

Maybe it would have been better to start a new thread for it .....

But incidentally ... the TDI manual is much better than the auto .....

Wheels tests ... September 2008 (manual) and May 2010 (auto) as a comparison.

0-100km/h ...... 10.9s (manual) .... 12.0s (auto)
80-120km/h ..... 9.0s (auto in drive) ... 7.4s (man in 4), 8.5s (man in 5), 10.1s (man in 6)
400m ..... 17.6s @ 131km/h (man) ..... 18.2s @ 123km/h (auto), the difference on the road would be about 50m at the 400m mark .....

Fuel consumption on test .... 9.8l/100km (auto) .... 8.2l/100km (man)

TDI manual wins on all counts ..... except on ease of use IMO ....

NOW ... if the DSG was available ... I'd expect the going to be pretty much equal ... in fact I'd look seriously at a DSG 147 Tig ...

[team_v]

Actually, my post was about the fact that DSG is now becoming a real possibility for the Tigs in the future as up to now it was not possible.

Maybe it would have been better to start a new thread for it .....


TDI manual wins on all counts ..... except on ease of use IMO ....

NOW ... if the DSG was available ... I'd expect the going to be pretty much equal ... in fact I'd look seriously at a DSG 147 Tig ...

Ahh okay, just clarifying that 2011 won't see any mech upgrades is all.

I would consider a 147 DSG if and only if it came with flappy paddles and i got an extended warranty.
That gearbox scares me for when the costs of repairing will hit.

[Sharkie]

Ahh okay, just clarifying that 2011 won't see any mech upgrades is all.

VW has in the past released upgrades to models outside the MY changes. The Jetta's got new engines and gearboxes halfway through a model year so I would not be going on pure model year changes to rule it out.

Anything can happen. I suspect we will see DSGs on the Tiguans within 18months.

[team_v]

Well all speculation around the facelift thas now shifted to the My12 model (June next year) and there is talk of a hybrid (similar to the Touareg) possible for North America (since they dont get the diesel).

Wouldn't be surprised if they bring out the new engines/box then.

[Sharkie]

And the Passats have just had a mechanical upgrade ..... 5 months before MY changes they stopped producing the 147 TSI and 103TDI Passats and started the 118TSI (1.8 not 1.4) and 125TDIs ...

so as said, don't be looking at MY changes .... it can happen anytime .....