Observations with GTI+

[Vonbek2004]

So I have just come back from a week's holiday in Cornwall and wanted to get some opinions from others about how their GTI behaves in rural areas.

I found while driving along that as soon as I would hit a hill the car would drop down a gear from 6 to 5th sometimes even 4th even if it was travelling at 60-65. I know Cornish hills can be steep but it just felt to me that there was alot of unnecessary changes resulting in not a smooth drive.

Is this a normal behaviour for the DSG as I have owned other automatics and they don't change gears are much as mine did.

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[monkeyhanger]

It's normal and even more noticeable on s cold engine. The Polo GTI DSG doesn't like riding its torque - it is geared quite high for a non-diesel performance VW.

[Ima]

Whilst I’m still waiting for the car to be built and no DSG experience what’s the best way round this so it hangs longer to use torque? Can change down be overridden by manual mode?

[MattHGR]

Whilst I’m still waiting for the car to be built and no DSG experience what’s the best way round this so it hangs longer to use torque? Can change down be overridden by manual mode?

Sure, you can run it in manual by moving the gear selector to the side.
However, you can't train it to hang longer in gears. It's just programmed how it's programmed.

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[Blackpug]

I just anticipate when going up hill and flick it down a gear with the paddle. (Or put it in sport!)


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[monkeyhanger]

Not sure why ima would want to make the car do what it doesn't want to do i.e. labour in a higher gear.

Let the car do what it wants to do and drop a gear going up an incline - what harm is it doing? The DSG box has self preservation in its programming, it will not allow you to do something detrimental to the longevity of the gearbox or its clutches, even in full manual mode.

[fazzy]

So I have just come back from a week's holiday in Cornwall and wanted to get some opinions from others about how their GTI behaves in rural areas.

I found while driving along that as soon as I would hit a hill the car would drop down a gear from 6 to 5th sometimes even 4th even if it was travelling at 60-65. I know Cornish hills can be steep but it just felt to me that there was alot of unnecessary changes resulting in not a smooth drive.

Is this a normal behaviour for the DSG as I have owned other automatics and they don't change gears are much as mine did.

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

Which gearbox mode are you referring to? Have you tried to put the gearbox into the E mode? I found that when I select the gearbox into the E mode, instead of S or D, it makes less changes and doesn't hop through the gears as much. It's not as responsive, and feels a bit sluggish, but hangs on to the gears much longer.

[MattHGR]

So I have just come back from a week's holiday in Cornwall and wanted to get some opinions from others about how their GTI behaves in rural areas.

I found while driving along that as soon as I would hit a hill the car would drop down a gear from 6 to 5th sometimes even 4th even if it was travelling at 60-65. I know Cornish hills can be steep but it just felt to me that there was alot of unnecessary changes resulting in not a smooth drive.

Is this a normal behaviour for the DSG as I have owned other automatics and they don't change gears are much as mine did.

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

Which gearbox mode are you referring to? Have you tried to put the gearbox into the E mode? I found that when I select the gearbox into the E mode, instead of S or D, it makes less changes and doesn't hop through the gears as much. It's not as responsive, and feels a bit sluggish, but hangs on to the gears much longer.

An addition to this:
You can go to the individual driving mode and set the car how you like,. But the gearbox in eco mode.

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[Vonbek2004]

So I have just come back from a week's holiday in Cornwall and wanted to get some opinions from others about how their GTI behaves in rural areas.

I found while driving along that as soon as I would hit a hill the car would drop down a gear from 6 to 5th sometimes even 4th even if it was travelling at 60-65. I know Cornish hills can be steep but it just felt to me that there was alot of unnecessary changes resulting in not a smooth drive.

Is this a normal behaviour for the DSG as I have owned other automatics and they don't change gears are much as mine did.

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

Which gearbox mode are you referring to? Have you tried to put the gearbox into the E mode? I found that when I select the gearbox into the E mode, instead of S or D, it makes less changes and doesn't hop through the gears as much. It's not as responsive, and feels a bit sluggish, but hangs on to the gears much longer.

An addition to this:
You can go to the individual driving mode and set the car how you like,. But the gearbox in eco mode.

Sent from my SM-N9750 using Tapatalk

When I was down in Cornwall the car was set in individual mode.

S engine (not gearbox though)
With S suspension.

I never thought of trying E mode, I'll try in the future (subject if I have the car still)

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[monkeyhanger]

Your overall driving mode does dictate what gearbox mode you can be in. If you're in Sport mode, or the engine (within individual) is in Sports mode (either way, it is giving an undulled throttle response), you can't get Eco mode on the gearstick.

Sport mode on engine = choice of Normal/,Sport gearbox mode.

Eco mode on engine = choice of Eco/Normal gearbox mode.

Not sure whether you have access to all 3 gearbox modes in normal engine mode, I never use normal mode.

Why buy a GTI to Tootle around in Eco mode? The mpg gains in Eco mode are negligible.

In Eco mode, you get marginal gains from coasting. If you're coasting downhill and picking up speed, as soon as you brake, coasting stops.

Apart from coasting in eco mode, the only engine differences are that Eco and Normal dull the throttle to varying degrees. You press the throttle harder in Eco mode to get the same effect as in Sport.

Your Polo GTI is costing you probably £300-350pm if PCPing and you're worried about saving a fiver a week on fuel to turn a fun car into a dull car. Crazy.

[Ima]

Not sure why ima would want to make the car do what it doesn't want to do i.e. labour in a higher gear.

Let the car do what it wants to do and drop a gear going up an incline - what harm is it doing? The DSG box has self preservation in its programming, it will not allow you to do something detrimental to the longevity of the gearbox or its clutches, even in full manual mode.

You’re right I don’t want to Labour the engine. I wasn’t clear. I wasn’t thinking of inclines where I would expect to be in a lower gear. I was thinking more that on a motorway in a manual assuming the gearing is right in 6th gear I can use the torque reserves to smoothly accelerate without having to change down. I might change down if I wanted fast acceleration such as overtaking. Maybe it dosent matter in DSG anyway?

[monkeyhanger]

Not sure why ima would want to make the car do what it doesn't want to do i.e. labour in a higher gear.

Let the car do what it wants to do and drop a gear going up an incline - what harm is it doing? The DSG box has self preservation in its programming, it will not allow you to do something detrimental to the longevity of the gearbox or its clutches, even in full manual mode.

You’re right I don’t want to Labour the engine. I wasn’t clear. I wasn’t thinking of inclines where I would expect to be in a lower gear. I was thinking more that on a motorway in a manual assuming the gearing is right in 6th gear I can use the torque reserves to smoothly accelerate without having to change down. I might change down if I wanted fast acceleration such as overtaking. Maybe it dosent matter in DSG anyway?

If for example you were behind a car or van on the motorway doing 60mph (with yours in 6th) and it pulled in a lane, allowing you to get up to 70mph, if you tickled the throttle to get to 70, it wouldn't downshift. If you put your foot down a little harder, it would knock down to 5th, or if you floored it, it would drop to 4th. As soon as you got to 70 and eased off the accelerator,, the car would shift up from whatever gear it was up and get to 6th.

[Ima]

Lovely that makes sense thank you monkey hanger. I’m sure I’ll get used to it once I get it. The test drive didn’t really give me a long enough time to work it out.

[Trantor]

Lovely that makes sense thank you monkey hanger. I’m sure I’ll get used to it once I get it. The test drive didn’t really give me a long enough time to work it out.

Don’t forget the paddles on the steering wheel. Depending how responsive you want the car to be you can pull on the paddle to put it in a lower gear. If you drop down a gear via the paddle, while the gear lever is in D, the gearbox will remain in manual for a short period and will then return to full automatic mode itself. I find this useful going up a moderate hill to maintain momentum, rather than push harder on the throttle. There are many options available to you with a DSG to enhance your driving enjoyment of the car. Don’t be afraid to experiment. The DSG is well sorted so you’ll not break it or the engine.

[monkeyhanger]

Lovely that makes sense thank you monkey hanger. I’m sure I’ll get used to it once I get it. The test drive didn’t really give me a long enough time to work it out.

Don’t forget the paddles on the steering wheel. Depending how responsive you want the car to be you can pull on the paddle to put it in a lower gear. If you drop down a gear via the paddle, while the gear lever is in D, the gearbox will remain in manual for a short period and will then return to full automatic mode itself. I find this useful going up a moderate hill to maintain momentum, rather than push harder on the throttle. There are many options available to you with a DSG to enhance your driving enjoyment of the car. Don’t be afraid to experiment. The DSG is well sorted so you’ll not break it or the engine.

The paddles are overridden by throttle position unless you've slotted the gearstick left from D into full manual mode e.g. you have the car in D, paddle shift down twice to 4th and put your foot down...the car decides to stick it in 3rd because you gave it 80% throttle, totally disregarding your intentions. That's highly annoying and almost negates the usefulness of having the paddles.

Due to throttle response overriding paddle input, the only things the paddles are good for (when in D and not in full manual mode) is up shifting far quicker than the car would when you've finished a bout of hard acceleration.