DSG driving tips? Former manual driver.

I am a manual transmission enthusiast and now have a GSW SE with DSG.
I love actually "driving" my car. I like to drive assertively.
I am hoping to recreate a manual driving experience as best I can since I was unable to locate a 6sp. manual in my price range and geographic area.
I have a few questions about this new (to me) transmission.
1. I have heard that the DSG will adapt and "learn" your driving style and change the shifting patterns. Is this true?
2. I have tried driving in D mode and S mode and find that neither suits me completely. I tend to use a combination of both during my commute or general driving. E.g. I start out in S and then on the freeway change to D. Is this common?
3. I have had a couple of heart stopping moments when pulling into the passing lane in traffic. When under hard acceleration in D mode there is a definite "lag". I thought the car had gone into limp mode until it suddenly came to life.
Is this normal? Or a result of the stage 1 fix?
4. I haven't played around with the manual mode much. Any tips on driving with the paddle shifters versus the "stick"?
I so want to fall completely in love with this car like I did with my 01 Jetta manual 15 years ago.
I am considering a Malone chip next year sometime but until then I am wondering if there are Vagcom tweaks that can be done.
I appreciate any information I can get!

I use S mode all the time (never D) and religiously use the paddles to downshift to 3rd, 2nd and 1st are so short, it's not worth doing it manually.

Only way you'll get close to recreating the manual shifting is to put it in manual mode and either use the stick or the paddled to move up and down through the gears.

Good luck man!

3rd is my favorite gear, great range.

My GSW is my commuter-only vehicle, so I focus more on economy than anything. The only manipulations of DSG that I employ are switching to neutral when stopped at a light to relieve the clutches and I always restart from a stop in S mode to avoid any lugging until I get up to cruising speed and then I switch back to D. I live in a table-flat region, so I rarely go manual mode, but when I road trip and hit hills/mountains, I do switch to manual mode on grades for engine braking downhill and to keep the RPMs in the meatier range of ~1600-2400 rpms uphill.

Still playing around with it and pretending I don't miss my clutch.
All of my control issues are rising to the surface with this car, as beautiful as it is.
I just keep reminding myself that I was suspicious of the electric windows and sunroof when I got my Jetta in '03 and I survived that just fine...??

A DSG tune will dramatically improve your experience with that transmission. Stated simply, it'll put it somewhere between normal and sport mode, won't shift up to 6th at 40 MPH, and will hold gears a bit longer. Car drives much better.

But I think you have to adjust to driving an automatic. I fretted over this for a while with my 335d, but have learned that the transmission shifts very well and at the right times. Now I just relax and consider it a different driving experience than my manual transmission cars.

The DSG will adapt, but to clutch wear. not to the driver.

you can play with the shift levers, but the computer will override if it thinks you are making a bad choice (outside parameters)

you can use VCDS to operate an adaptation cycle but this is about it for the DSG

after 200k driving mine, I like it. give it a chance. it is what it is.

meerschm said:

...you can play with the shift levers, but the computer will override if it thinks you are making a bad choice (outside parameters)...

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That really ticked me off the first time I tried the paddles. I stomped it and hoped to hit the paddle just before redline but the DSG shifted itself well before that. Pretty disappointing.

I seems that for a more satisfying launch from a dead stop, let it roll off to 5-8 mph, then stomp it. It seems to help confuse the torque limiter and get tire chirp in 1st and on the shift.

thundershorts said:

I seems that for a more satisfying launch from a dead stop, let it roll off to 5-8 mph, then stomp it. It seems to help confuse the torque limiter and get tire chirp in 1st and on the shift.

Click to expand...

That's what I'm looking for!
Every once in a while I want to chirp the tires.?
For the most part I'm enjoying the driving experience very much. It just takes some getting used to.
And I still have the Jetta when I want to give my left leg a workout...

i smell a DSG tune in your future

Keli_OR said:

3. I have had a couple of heart stopping moments when pulling into the passing lane in traffic. When under hard acceleration in D mode there is a definite "lag". I thought the car had gone into limp mode until it suddenly came to life.
Is this normal?

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.... when-if I get the fix, --- and this happens to me -- will be a show stopper.

.... next move will be to get the 1/3 fix money in hand ... and sell it

.... if I hit the brake, I want STOP

.... If I hit the go peddle, I want acceleration.

3. I have had a couple of heart stopping moments when pulling into the passing lane in traffic. When under hard acceleration in D mode there is a definite "lag". I thought the car had gone into limp mode until it suddenly came to life.

Click to expand...

I've had that happen once or twice. It seemed to cut power under a full throttle shift from 1st to 2nd. But in normal driving, even when pulling into a gap, I haven't had it happen.

Keli_OR said:

3. I have had a couple of heart stopping moments when pulling into the passing lane in traffic. When under hard acceleration in D mode there is a definite "lag". I thought the car had gone into limp mode until it suddenly came to life.

Is this normal? Or a result of the stage 1 fix?

Click to expand...

I always go into manual mode and downshift to 4th(going +/-100Km/h) to get RPM’s up, then accelerate and pass. I taught the wife to do this as well... she loves driving the Jetta, especially in city traffic.



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It happened both times at about 65mph. It was like the transmission was trying to decide whether to downshift.
I'm used to a continuous power band from about 1200 rpms to 3000 rpms plus in my Jetta. I wasn't paying attention to the tach because I was looking at the car bearing down on me in my rear view mirror.
But it has made me distrust the computer that runs the transmission.
I'm going to try to recreate it a few times minus the traffic part to see what the tach is doing.
Because I've driven manuals exclusively for so long I'm in the habit of constantly monitoring engine noise and tach readings. I have noticed a lot of inconsistencies in shifting patterns that I'm trying to make sense of.
Sometimes the car undershifts and sometimes it overshifts and I just want to understand why.

kayn1n3 said:

I always go into manual mode and downshift to 4th(going +/-100/h) to get RPM’s up, then accelerate and pass. I taught the wife to do this as well... she loves driving the Jetta, especially in city traffic.



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Click to expand...

So I can shift into manual mode at speed and downshift?
What are the tach restrictions?
In other words, at what point does the 'puter override the manual mode to protect the transmission?
I'm used to shifting at about 2500+ rpms depending on driving conditions etc.

You will have a hard time trying to hurt this transmission. Here's a DQ250 with stock clutches and slightly more power https://youtu.be/FCzv4x13B34?t=2m1s

At lights, treat it like a manual. No rolling forward slowly like a torque converter, if towing manual mode would probably be best and keep the revs a bit higher.

Yes you can downshift anytime and won't be able to hurt it. Worst case it will pop it into neutral if you over-rev. Just downshift while driving and it will go back into D/S mode after a few seconds, in manual mode it won't really shift on you unless you hit the kickdown switch. Experiment a bit with it, these are very clever transmissions.

2000-3700 or so is where these shine, you can rev them right out to 4500 though.

Thank you!!!

I see a lot of reading and test driving in my future...

Keli_OR said:

So I can shift into manual mode at speed and downshift?

What are the tach restrictions?

In other words, at what point does the 'puter override the manual mode to protect the transmission?

I'm used to shifting at about 2500+ rpms depending on driving conditions etc.

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You sure can. The transmission will only let you down shift if it is not going to over speed the engine. In my no-mod ‘14 TDI DSG these are my manual shift points:

At 110km/h I can manually down shift from 6th down to 4th.

4->3 engine must be at or below 3000RPM
3->2 engine must be at or below 2800?RPM


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Like you new to the dsg...I prefer it manual mode and found..1) shift in straight lines using paddles corning use stick....
2) shift 1st to 2nd before you need to...its almost a subconscious shift as it is so low geared that seems to over rev before you know it...so I shift 1-2 immediately after moving...

I feel like there's a slight slide when dumping the clutch too fast and sometimes when I'm trying to upshift. But last night I also considered that under normal conditions I wouldn't be trying to downshift into 2nd gear at 30mph and it was stupid to think the DSG would let that happen. I have a stage2 south bend in my ALH and even in that I can't make the clutch pop the same way you'd expect a rear wheel drive to react. Either it wasn't installed correctly (and maybe my wife glazed it during break in) or comparing it to my BMW isn't fair.

That said, it does drive differently than my 2012 so maybe some of what I'm feeling is the tune. But I also keep driving my buddy's Golf back to back and it sometimes seems like he has tighter shifts. Hard to say, he has the same mileage (65K) and neither probably had the 40K DSG service done so I'm crossing my fingers that nothing was broke before I serviced them.

Playing around a bit

So I've been doing more experimenting and have found that when I drive in manual mode I tend to shift at about 3500 rpms. The engine noise and pull are completely different than my 01 Jetta. Also, sometimes when the engine is cold and I start off in sport mode the engine revs to well over 4000 rpms going from 2nd-3rd and from 3rd-4th. Can't isolate it more than that, I usually intercede with a manual shift.
So many variables with this transmission, I'm still trying to wrap my head around what is normal and what isn't.
I think I won't be happy until I get it chipped...

And my mpgs suck!
I'm driving much more conservatively than normal and can't get over 32 mpgs.
Jetta consistently got over 40 with my lead foot and biodiesel.
And last road trip I got 47 mpgs running B99, 3 adults and luggage, averaging 75-80 mph on I-5 from Portland to Medford.
Please tell me I can get at least 40 in my GSW...

Keli_OR said:

And my mpgs suck!
I'm driving much more conservatively than normal and can't get over 32 mpgs.
Jetta consistently got over 40 with my lead foot and biodiesel.
And last road trip I got 47 mpgs running B99, 3 adults and luggage, averaging 75-80 mph on I-5 from Portland to Medford.
Please tell me I can get at least 40 in my GSW...

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I've gotten over 60 and am averaging a hair over 55 mpg through 19k miles. I have a perfect commute for mileage though, so I'm way to the right of the bell curve.

It's all about how you drive. If you have a heavy foot, and it sounds like you might, then the rated mileage might be what you'll be stuck with. My car never sees 75, as I don't want to go to jail.

Not sure how many miles you have on the engine, but they don't really start to free up until after 10k miles. And of course, the best mileage months for most areas of the country are going to be spring and fall, when engine isn't so cold to be less efficient and the outside temps don't require A/C usage.

And no, these Mk7s won't come near an ALH in economy, when driving conditions are equal.

Just had the throttle response mod done yesterday and I can already feel the difference when driving on the freeway. Sooo much more enjoyable to drive! Not the manual transmission experience, but much better than factory settings. ����

Keli_OR said:

And my mpgs suck!
I'm driving much more conservatively than normal and can't get over 32 mpgs.
Jetta consistently got over 40 with my lead foot and biodiesel.
And last road trip I got 47 mpgs running B99, 3 adults and luggage, averaging 75-80 mph on I-5 from Portland to Medford.
Please tell me I can get at least 40 in my GSW...

Click to expand...

Lag is a huge issue for the stock fixed DSG tune. When trying to pass or in a hurry to move or change lanes in traffic when ya accelerate it will hesitate for several seconds and you can actually hear Droopy dog say "oh i dont know" then the DSG will downshift 2 gears smoke the tires and then ur movin. Ive actually backed out of the throtyle cause the window to move i had was gone. So plan accordingly.
I have no doubt that a tune will be required to fix this fixed car to make it drivable. If i still have this car at 130k miles itll be getting deleted and tuned when it gets a new timing belt. Probably a CP3 and CR190ish turbo too.

Let us know what you think of the throttle response mod. Also did you know there is a DSG reset that calibrates the clutches? It's in OBDeleven and I am thinking about trying it, some say it really improves shifting. Although I am not really that unhappy with the shifting or throttle response, the throttle response seems perfectly fine to me and I have never had a hesitation in throttle response, however the DSG response is a bit slow and sometimes requires me to mash the pedal pretty hard, but no heart stopping moments. Perhaps it is because I am used to driving an older Mercedes 124 turbodiesel which needed plenty of skinny pedal mashing to get a downshift.

bigb said:

Let us know what you think of the throttle response mod. Also did you know there is a DSG reset that calibrates the clutches? It's in OBDeleven and I am thinking about trying it, some say it really improves shifting. Although I am not really that unhappy with the shifting or throttle response, the throttle response seems perfectly fine to me and I have never had a hesitation in throttle response, however the DSG response is a bit slow and sometimes requires me to mash the pedal pretty hard, but no heart stopping moments. Perhaps it is because I am used to driving an older Mercedes 124 turbodiesel which needed plenty of skinny pedal mashing to get a downshift.

Click to expand...

do you have a link to that by any chance? the DSG reset

GreenLantern_TDI said:

Lag is a huge issue for the stock fixed DSG tune. When trying to pass or in a hurry to move or change lanes in traffic when ya accelerate it will hesitate for several seconds and you can actually hear Droopy dog say "oh i dont know" then the DSG will downshift 2 gears smoke the tires and then ur movin. Ive actually backed out of the throtyle cause the window to move i had was gone. So plan accordingly.
I have no doubt that a tune will be required to fix this fixed car to make it drivable. If i still have this car at 130k miles itll be getting deleted and tuned when it gets a new timing belt. Probably a CP3 and CR190ish turbo too.

Click to expand...

I did mine after 2month of ownership. It was either that or find a unicorn fully loaded with 6speed manual.

bmwM5power said:

do you have a link to that by any chance? the DSG reset

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https://www.golfmk7.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31105

https://www.golfmkv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=156824