DSG is it that good ?

[Cousin]

VW aren't alone with getting things wrong
Subaru's new XV, in manual, has a lot of difficulty getting up the ramp at Docklands workshop
And that's with no load
It is steep, and they cannot get a run up or the front of the car will hit
So it's go to the start of the upramp, and then gun it
Most of the times it either dies, or the clutch is nearly burnt out just getting up one level
And this from an SUV?


M

[greymad]

[QUOTE=greymad;816136]

I agree owners shouldn't have to adapt at all unless they're driving a 16speed b-double, lol. QUOTE]

Thanks for the Vagcom (or whatever) enlightenment... and as to adapting: I adapt pretty damn well to my 1909 Sizaire Naudin & my 1909 IHC Autobuggy but the good old DSG7 has had me into heart attack territory on more than one occasion.
I'll post back after I've had $olitaire check it out again - and this time, I'll be staying with the car and the "test" driver, making sure they find themselves a roundabout or busy piece of traffic into which they have to slot. I might have to close my eyes while it happens, though

Right: well I've been there & done that, and had it been my wife taking it in, the talk by the "technician" (whatever happened to mechanics?) would have convinced her that the lag issue was an inherent feature of the DSG box. Thanks to IN2VWS John's post of the worksheet which I stuck under the "technician's" eyes, he went away and decided that (surprise surprise...) there was in fact a software fix for it. (sigh...).
What pisses me off is that this would have been available to be applied at the 15k service, but it wasn't. Slack - utterly slack, and we still pay absolutely top dollar for the "technicians". Ah well ... now there's no sticker stuck to the door pillar to show me, but the report sheet shows the fix as the following, and I urge anyone with a VW of any sort with the transmission lag issue to quote it to their service department. Good luck all.
TPI 2024293/2

[IN2VWS]

How is it to drive now? Did you notice a difference?

[Transporter]

How is it to drive now? Did you notice a difference?

Judging from his post, it resolved the problem that he had.

[Sharkie]

Problem is, the fix is not permanent. I had the fix at 15000km service and now at 20000km its back to its old tricks ...... was much improved for a while though. I have a recall to go in for and will have it "reapplied" .....

[IN2VWS]

Strange.....Mine was done at 15,000km. It is now at 45,000km and it is still good.

Have you tried to reset to the TCM to see if that makes a difference?

Resetting Transmission Control Module (TCM)

1. Ignition ON and Engine OFF
2. Press the accelerator to the floor till it clicks
3. Hold the pedal for 15 seconds
4. Release pedal gently
5. Turn Key to OFF
6. Start engine and drive normally

The TCM will now re-adapt to your driving style.

[greymad]

Strange.....Mine was done at 15,000km. It is now at 45,000km and it is still good.

Have you tried to reset to the TCM to see if that makes a difference?

Resetting Transmission Control Module (TCM)

1. Ignition ON and Engine OFF
2. Press the accelerator to the floor till it clicks
3. Hold the pedal for 15 seconds
4. Release pedal gently
5. Turn Key to OFF
6. Start engine and drive normally

The TCM will now re-adapt to your driving style.

Couple of things ...
IN2VW John ... in answer to your question is it any better - yes, but it's subtle: I'll get back later & let you know whether or not I'm just imagining it. (but I don't think so at the moment... what I'm going to wait for is wait for one of those gap in the traffic at a roundabout situations to really put it to the test).

Secondly - what's this "readapting to my driving style" business - as far as I'm aware mine is not an "adaptive" transmission - and anyway, as another poster mentioned earlier, what if (as is the case in my household) there are TWO different drivers?

[jc29]

DSG is great on the Golf 118TSI however i preferred to get manual on the GTI, just because I find there's little delay on the 118TSI when you press on the gas before the car starts to move.
Best bet is to go to the dealer and test drive 'em, nothing better than first hand experience to see how it performs.

[Sunny43.5]

Hello Greymad I think you were referring to my post about the "adaptive " transmission , it was the T4 gearbox that had this feature as far as I know not in the latter autos fitted to the T5,s . Ours was a 2000 model in 2.5 petrol auto , and yes it was a nuisance the way it would "learn " one style and then you had to re educate the mongrel to get it to go the way I like to drive . I suppose you could almost compare it to the DSG as it would also be slow at the wrong moment but thankfully not like some members have experienced , but in saying that there were times it would just forget to even respond to throttle input . The worst cases were going up a hill near our home after 500 metres of uphill climb we then do a rh turn into our street with a down hill section the bugger would turn the corner and just die , put your foot down and nothing then thump down change and away it would go . As JC29 points out DSG it works fine on the Golf but the Golf only weighs half a Transporter so response time would be negligble as it has less weight to pull ,maybe I m wrong but thats how I see it . Howard

[Sunny43.5]

Found this review today from a motoring journal "Quote" We have our doubts about the DSG gearbox’s suitability for a commercial vehicle, though. Jerky low-speed engagement isn’t a good thing when trying to manoeuvre into a tight parking spot or loading dock.
Trying to smoothly move away from a standstill is difficult, particularly when on a slight incline. You can feel the transmission trying to juggle its clutches seamlessly, but repeated small throttle movements (such as when reversing up to a loading dock) can have the Van jerking and stuttering awkwardly. This report was about the Caddy but it still shows up some concerns about the DSG regardless .

[greymad]

Found this review today from a motoring journal "Quote" We have our doubts about the DSG gearbox’s suitability for a commercial vehicle, though. Jerky low-speed engagement isn’t a good thing when trying to manoeuvre into a tight parking spot or loading dock.
Trying to smoothly move away from a standstill is difficult, particularly when on a slight incline. You can feel the transmission trying to juggle its clutches seamlessly, but repeated small throttle movements (such as when reversing up to a loading dock) can have the Van jerking and stuttering awkwardly. This report was about the Caddy but it still shows up some concerns about the DSG regardless .

I think you'll find that the jerkiness referred to here was dealt with in a fix applied to US DSG fitted cars - and jc29 ... US Golfs weren't without their problems as I think you'll find after a bit of Googling. My suspicion is that it can be a car-to-car issue as much as an across the DSG board thing.
Crikey - I'm glad the T5 7 speed doesn't have the adaptive gizmo, I've had enough "fun" without it!
I'm still evaluating the vehicle's behaviour since the "technician" made the software change. Don't want to rush into premature and possibly incorrect assessment.

[Sunny43.5]

Some time ago I wrote a report on a friends new T5 with DSG so today I had an opportunity to do an extended drive with the same van with now 8000 kays , sorry to report I am even more disapointed in this transmission . My friend is not very mechanicly savy and does not know how different each of VW,s trannies have been since the T5 was released as its his first . Down hill coasting it just holds the last gear for a long time and then changes up to the next gear with a thump not good for a near new van . Next along the flat it was really weird with a steady foot on the accelerator with no increase in pressure it suddenly changed down a gear on a dead flat road . When accelerating from stopped on flat there is a sense of the gear reaches its change point and then it seems to suddenly cut off , its probably normal for the DSG and I would imagine its not something most people would notice but as I still have our clunky triptronic I did notice the unusual pattern . As others have mentioned taking off has an art to be learn,t as it launches suddenly , at least the triptronic does not show this behavoiur even with its other problems . Other than the auto its is a great van to drive .

[greymad]

Some time ago I wrote a report on a friends new T5 with DSG so today I had an opportunity to do an extended drive with the same van with now 8000 kays , sorry to report I am even more disapointed in this transmission . My friend is not very mechanicly savy and does not know how different each of VW,s trannies have been since the T5 was released as its his first . Down hill coasting it just holds the last gear for a long time and then changes up to the next gear with a thump not good for a near new van . Next along the flat it was really weird with a steady foot on the accelerator with no increase in pressure it suddenly changed down a gear on a dead flat road . When accelerating from stopped on flat there is a sense of the gear reaches its change point and then it seems to suddenly cut off , its probably normal for the DSG and I would imagine its not something most people would notice but as I still have our clunky triptronic I did notice the unusual pattern . As others have mentioned taking off has an art to be learn,t as it launches suddenly , at least the triptronic does not show this behavoiur even with its other problems . Other than the auto its is a great van to drive .

If your friend has not as yet had this* "fix" (or whatever it's supposed to be called) applied, I'd strongly recommend he does so. I'm not claiming it will fully satisfy him - or you, by the sound of it - but it does feel somewhat more responsive than before, in my case. I suspect there will be folk out there for whom DSG will never be satisfactory, but every possible avenue should be tried before totally dumping on it.
And as for the "thump" you speak of - my van has never suffered this, so something's out of whack, by the sound of it (no pun intended!).

*TPI 2024293/2

[Sunny43.5]

I know this is not neccesarily related to our vans but it does show some underlying problem with the design . VW criticised for ignoring DSG gearbox woes .Please note this is about the DSG in the China market place but it does say that the US has also had problems , I also watched a video on youtube last night which showed how the DSG works definetly a marvel of engineering with a huge developement cost but how long will it last do we really need this type of gearbox that thinks for you why cant designers just make an auto box that gives good economy without all the over the top bells and whistles , lets face it we are still in the infancy days of this one lets see what transpires a few years down the track when they are 5 or 6 years old , probably a second hand van worth $20 - $30.000 with a dodgy box that will cost more than a third of its value to repair Hmmmm

[Sunny43.5]

I am adding this comment to stave off anyone who thinks I,ve got it in for VW to a degree yes I have spent some time researching things about the DSG , the main thing that seems to be on all the "for " camp sites is its ability to get from zero to a million kays an hour in as little number of nano seconds it can . At the end of the day it can do this magnificant trick in a second or so faster than a normal manual gearbox "big deal" are we to decide what is good by how fast it goes get a life everyone . I read on one report of a guy who decided to over take a long semi somewhere in the world any way he gets outside the semi and finds himself faced with another truck coming over the hill as he pointed out with his normal manual he was able to drop a gear floor the pedal and just keep accelerating past redline as he points out if it had been any other box he would have been dead as it would have probably not allowed him to over rev the engine as all this wonderous technolgy cannot handle this behavoiur like we were able to enjoy in the old days . I still love our 3 VW,s but I can live without some of this technology that is removing the driver from the equation of why we are driving in the first place ???