Driven a 170ps dsg Passat today in the great protracted car hunt (yes I know I was looking at 7 seaters but we’ve had a logistics rethink).

The car felt a little keen / lacking in sensitivity in reverse (like it wanted to charge off). IE hard to rol back slow and smooth under power.

So for those that use dsg is this something you get used to quickly.

The practice reverse I did was flat-ish and tight 90degrees with a little kerb up and I might have had the hill hold on if any of that is relevant.

Was this due to an electronic hand brake and having to depress the accelerator to disengage this before reversing? With a little tap of the throttle to disengage the handbrake first before a second throttle feather to actually reverse, it can be a lot smoother than if you keep the pedal depressed from the off.

I test drove a T5 with it , and found as I was reversing back into its parking space that I didn’t use the accelerator and just feathered it using the brake pedal.

Just trying to remember exactly what I did. Was this morning when I drove it and was still trying to get my head round the whole keep the left foot out the way thing.

So used to the interaction of left and right feet it felt blooming alien!

Is there enough pull there to reverse park uphill? My folks have an awkward drive access across two different uphill cambers/need to reverse park on a steepish hill and a few other places we visit regularly can be awkward.

Sorry I guess people must just get used to these types of things but I worry (lots) when spending car sized lumps of money that I should get the right thing and know what I’m doing with it!

Did you find yourself shaking the gearstick to make sure it wasn’t in gear too ?

I had an insignia rental car a few years back that had a button handbrake. I just couldn’t get used to reverse parking up a hill with it.

Never had any issues reversing with dsg.
This has got overthought car purchase all over it.

Did you find yourself shaking the gearstick to make sure it wasn’t in gear too ?

A bit but less than I thought I would. Tested three now but a few weeks apart. I might need to work on my left foot braking when the new car comes. Give it something to do so it doesn’t feel left out!

This has got overthought car purchase all over it.

You are way wide of the mark.

I am far far worse than your comment suggests, it doesn’t even get close to describing how much I have over thought this. If your comment is suggesting I am an 8 on a scale of 1 to 5 I am presently hovering at 43. 😉

1) Reverse parking up hill – my wife has trouble but I don’t. I just leave off the throttle. It’ll take a second or two but it’ll start biting and ease you up the hill. At least mine does on my drive, which isn’t steep. Similarly no problems parking – just off the brake and let it bite and then creep.

2) Reverse parking has nothing to do with the parking brake, which is only for parking. If you want to avoid rolling back/forwards then use the auto-hold function. Auto hold uses the ABS pump to hold the car; the handbrake is a completely different mechanism that winds the rear pads on hard with a screw.

3) Don’t left foot brake.

3) Don’t left foot brake.

Well , do it once……then never again

I am far far worse than your comment suggests, it doesn’t even get close to describing how much I have over thought this. If your comment is suggesting I am an 8 on a scale of 1 to 5 I am presently hovering at 43.

*breathes a sigh of relief*
(its not just me then…)

Thanks molgrips, thought you’d be along at the word DSG (for which I’m grateful as I know you’ve had plenty of time with yours).

Re left foot braking it was tongue in cheek.

But expect a visit from Miss Whiplash when you do left foot brake that first time.

Just tryin one of those weird fiat500 4×4 things with a 9 speed auto box. Just let off brake and let it creep. Use brake if you need to.

DSG Passat here. Always disengage the elec handbrake/hill-start function as soon as i start the engine (unless on a gradient of course).

Reversing is perfectly smooth and as expected. Leaving the function on naturally results in a little ‘kick’ at the start – but that’s all.

I park on a slope which involves a reverse down, partly round a corner then a short up hill section ready to turn down hill onto the road
All of the dsg vehicles I have been loaned at various times seem hesitant and awkward, as they require a bit of throttle to start off, drop back feathering the brake (does this disengage the drive?)and then a hesitation again as I start the uphill section still in reverse. I almost always ended up using too much throttle and got a lurch backward.

One of the vehicles I had for two weeks as my car was in for some work, and it never became intuitive even when I was anticipating it and tried fealthering the throttle.

A long winded way of saying:
one of the number of reasons I wouldn’t buy a car with DSG

My DSGs fine in reverse, hardly touch the go peddle unless it’s slightly uphill.

You are just not used to it.

Was the one you drove new, GD?

The transmission is supposed to learn where bite points are over time and how the clutch material is wearing. However sometimes it can get somehow confused, and you need to reset the values and have it re-learn. Mine was improved by this procedure, even though it was only 46k miles when I got it.

However mines 10 years old now and I think they’ve been refined and developed since then.

On DSGs in general – I don’t think I would want to buy a car without a dual clutch box now.

My DSGs fine in reverse, hardly touch the go peddle unless it’s slightly uphill.

You are just not used to it.

I think it is the combination of the down hill then up hill with no short flat inbetween that confuses the ‘box

I have driven many miles in various cars with DSG gearboxes, from a Skoda Rapid to a couple of Audi R8 V10’s Didn’t really like the gearbox in any of them. Then there is the extra purchase cost, the extra fuel used, the potential unreliability in older vehicles…

Nope, not for me. If it were someone else paying for the vehicle possibly but since they don’t, I won’t.

I have a DSG Skoda and reverse up a short but steep drive (about 2m long) into a garage door 5″ wider than the wing mirrors. It took a bit of getting used to but as above I don’t really use the accelerator except a small jab to give the front wheels a nudge over the brow of the slope.

You get used to it very quickly.

I had an insignia rental car a few years back that had a button handbrake.

Never used the handbrake on my Insignia; if you took your foot off the brake on a slope it held* the car until you pushed the accelerator.

* And sometimes it didn’t let it go, which meant you stalled it. Usually in front of a pedestrian who laughed at you.

It was a 62 plate. About 40k or so on the clock.

Just seemed a little “snappy” to me. I had been negotiating slow town traffic in it OK not long before. Creeping forward in that it seemed ok but I tend to aim to keep rolling slowly on a trailing throttle before going for my gap. Have I confused it?

Perhaps.

These things have two shafts – one with 1, 3 and 5 on, the other with 2, 4 and 6. So when you are in say third, it’ll have either 4th or 2nd on the other shaft ready to switch over depending on whether or not you are accelerating or decelerating.

If you are coasting forwards slowly in say 3rd, the revs will be low so it will have 2nd on the next shaft since 4th would stall it. So when you then ease down it can flip down to 2nd easily. However if you floor it, it’ll assume you wanted 1st but that’s on the same shaft, so it has to actually de-clutch and shift to 1st as if you were doing it yourself in a manual. This takes half a second or so and results in a bit of a rough takeoff.

I think it is the combination of the down hill then up hill with no short flat inbetween that confuses the ‘box
I have driven many miles in various cars with DSG gearboxes, from a Skoda Rapid to a couple of Audi R8 V10’s Didn’t really like the gearbox in any of them. Then there is the extra purchase cost, the extra fuel used, the potential unreliability in older vehicles…

Eh? In reverse its not trying to do anything, how do you confuse it…? re: the OP’s question I do find the same – quite jumpy as the power comes in, so rarely press the noisy pedal in reverse, just let it do its thing.

The R8s don’t have DSG do they (or S-Tronic in Audi parlance, unless you mean the new model)? They have R-Tronic which is a single clutch, and having driven an R8 yesterday, as well as previously, I can attest to the fact the ‘box in those feels awful compared to DSG in my own Golf GTI! they’re stunning cars, but I can’t help be disappointed by the feel of the auto.

Thanks njee, I’m normally fairly delicate with cars.

I could go for a manual instead but Id prefer not as I regularly go through phases of despising the constant clutch shoving (any long journey in the school holidays and long weeks in the car for work are the usual triggers).

The R8s don’t have DSG (unless you mean the new model)

The very first R8 auto cars had a robotised single shaft manual gearbox (R-tronic) and I drove a V8 version with that and it was even scarier in close manoevering than the DSG. The S-tronic (equivalent to DSG although the box in the R8 is quite different to run of the mill DSg in other applications) came in the 2012/13 MY.

I could go for a manual instead but Id prefer not as I regularly go through phases of despising the constant clutch shoving (any long journey in the school holidays and long weeks in the car for work are the usual triggers

I love my DSG box, wouldn’t go back lightly, don’t think you’ll regret it, you get used to any minor quirks.

The S-tronic (equivalent to DSG although the box in the R8 is quite different to run of the mill DSg in other applications) came in the 2012/13 MY.

Dammit, You quoted before my stealth edit! Wondered if the post facelift ones changed, they needed it! I stand corrected.

I love my DSG box, wouldn’t go back lightly, don’t think you’ll regret it, you get used to any minor quirks.

This is what I’m hoping.

I’ve got a choice between this one and a Mondeo powershift (very similar tech box) that I also really like.

Either that or a manual of either.

Do you dsg users flip into neutral when waiting at junctions etc? Think I read that was better for clutch wear?

If I’m stopped for a while, yes. Otherwise I just keep my foot on the brake. More likely to use neutral in the dark – avoid dazzling with brake lights.

Thanks all.

I’ve just done some more googling.

I am wondering on the back of that if the snatchy throttle response I experienced on what was basically a flat reverse might just indicate that the particular unit in that car might not be 100% fit. I might need to try another.

I only pop mine into neutral if, if, at lights for a long period or in a long queue. In daylight brake lights aren’t so much of a worry, but during dusk/night I do pop it into neutral more often.

I like the DSG on my car, but I’ve also got another Auto box on a bigger car, to be honest that’s good too but you have to take into consideration that that vehicle is a lot larger and heavier but non the less it’s a good auto box as is.

I’m not sure what your problems are now TBH.

I only pop mine into neutral if, if, at lights for a long period or in a long queue. In daylight brake lights aren’t so much of a worry, but during dusk/night I do pop it into neutral more often.

Why Neutral and not Park, out of interest?

It’s a while since I last drove an auto, but I don’t remember using Neutral, well, ever really.

I’m not sure what your problems are now TBH.

Sorry the neutral thing was just me trying to learn about best use as I hope to buy one.

The specific issue I was trying to get to the bottom of was the car I test drove on Sunday seemed to not really “creep” well and then the gentlest brush of the throttle had it ‘lurching’ back.

I have to reverse parallel park on a fairly steep hill with small spaces regularly so buying something where this manoeuvre is a fiddly ball ache is not my preference.

If I need to learn new techniques that’s fine but I’d like to know what before I commit also because it will affect my wife as she will use the car too but without the day to day familiarity with any idiosyncrasies it has.

Secondly if what I experienced is not normal or right for a dsg then clearly I don’t want to buy that specific car.

Sounds like you had Auto Hold switched on.

Turn it off, and you can modulate speed on the brake pedal for tight parking.

(Auto Hold means you can leave it in drive, but don’t have to sit with your foot on the brake, in a queue, but it also stops the car creeping forward in drive, which is what you want when you’re parking.)

I have driven many miles in various cars with DSG gearboxes, …….Then there is the extra purchase cost, the extra fuel used, the potential unreliability in older vehicles…

Yeah, it’s a right pisser if you marry someone with a disability….

The Park v’s Neutral point..

I think (well I was told a long time ago now, could be crap but hey, I’ve owned the car from new 11years now) that the Park function locks the gearbox and therefore you’ve no need to use the handbrake. In mine when parking you have too use this and yes it does stop the car from rolling, but I always apply the handbrake because there is a bit of roll if you don’t then it stops rolling (hard to describe but it sort of rocks on the gearbox) also you can’t get the key out of the ignition. The Neutral just lets the shafts spin without the clutch engaged thereby no wear on the plates, you do have to use the brake or handbrake (as I always do).

That’s what I was told, and I’ve stuck to it all these years.

Why Neutral and not Park, out of interest?

Several reasons…

– You have to move the lever further. Also, some cars unlock the doors when the car is placed into park.
– It’s not going to be good for the gearbox if someone drives into the back of the car if it’s in park.
– It flashes the reverse lights, scaring the car behind.

On the hill hold point I’m pretty darn sure I switched it off as I wondered if that was the issue. Balls might need to try another.

I always use parking brake for parking even if on a slight slope. Doesn’t take much for the weight of the car to roll against the peg in the gearbox which a) makes it hard to get out of park and b) causes a god awful shudder when you start it – for some reason I can’t quite figure out but it’s to do with the weight of the car resting on the gearbox gubbins somehow.

I’d not worry too much about lurching up hill – you can do it if you are really gentle. My wife can’t be this gentle apparently 🙂

Re clutch wear when stationary in drive – the clutch disengages, and re-engages when you lift your foot off the pedal. It’s computer controlled, remember – no designer in their right mind would program the computer to let the clutch plates wear themselves out in this normal situation.

Re auto-hold: on mine, I always disengage it when parking because it doesn’t creep and you have to apply throttle to get it to move which results in jerkiness. Also once you go below a certain speed (measured in centimetres/second, but still speed) it decides you’re stopped then applies the brakes, which is a) annoying when parking and b) causes a jerky stop. As I said though mine is 10 years old.