How easy to stall a 6M?

WEC4104 · November 15th, 2011, 06:24

Over on the JSW sub-forum, there have been past discussions regarding accidentally stalling TDI with the 6M. Some folks, even ones who are very experienced clutch drivers, occaisionally stall when pulling away from a stop. It apparently has to do with the electronic controls killing the engine when the rpms drop below a threshold. On most other vehicles, you can sense when the engine is about to stall on it's own, and when you sense that, you can "recover". On the JSW, it is electronically controlled, so there is less of a sense that it is about to happen, and no way to recover.

With the engine and transmission similarities of the Passat/JSW, I am wondering if the Passat exhibits a similar attribute. Anyone experience this? My wife is a pretty competent at driving a stick, but wouldn't want this to become a frustration point.

gergg · November 15th, 2011, 07:05

I know there is a lot of talk about the ease of stalling the 2012 Passat 6spm as well, but I have to say I don't find that true at all, I have never stalled mine and I've actually put it in a few almost certain stall situations and it still hung on without dying. Now my wife did stall the car 3 times the first time she drove it, since then she says no stalling issues at all. I love the 6sp in this car, for me it is the best I've owned, and I've owned a bunch over the years.

scknight · November 15th, 2011, 07:16

Having owned 2 Jetta TDI manuals, but only test driven the Passat TDI manual, I did not find the Passat as easy to stall as the Jetta.

For sure the Passat has better throttle response and feels quicker.
I have on occasion stalled the Jetta (over 175,000 miles driven). Usually its after putting the A/C on, or adding a few passengers.
I would consider the Jetta slightly easy to stall.
I didnt feel the same about the Passat- at least during the test drive.

tryin · November 15th, 2011, 07:32

Yep, the issue is there. My wife has been driving gas manuals (Honda's) for years, no issues, don't remember her ever stalling a car. First day we had our's, she stalled it twice. Bad thing is, it takes a little while for the restart, as you have to turn the key all they way to the off postion and then back to the start position, can't just turn the key forward to engage the starter. I tried it, and could get it to stall as well, pretty frustrating as with the torque you have on hand, this thing should pull away without giving any fuel at all. Like was stated before, you get no warning that the engine is lugging, which is what you are used to in any other previous manual and then adjust clutch and throttle to recover.

Neither of us have stalled the car since, now that we know what will happen and when it happens. Just give the car a little diesel and off you go. I really like this manual after the first 1-2 shift, can't seem to get that one as smooth as the rest, pretty normal for any manual though.

I was worried that the six speed would be to close of a ratio and you would be changing gears to often. Not the case, I've found that we pretty much just use up to 4th, sometimes 5th on our regular driving, 6th is pretty much interstate only cruzing.

Love the car, just a little different than what we were used to.

tdi90hp · November 15th, 2011, 13:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by tryin

Yep, the issue is there. My wife has been driving gas manuals (Honda's) for years, no issues, don't remember her ever stalling a car. First day we had our's, she stalled it twice. Bad thing is, it takes a little while for the restart, as you have to turn the key all they way to the off postion and then back to the start position, can't just turn the key forward to engage the starter. I tried it, and could get it to stall as well, pretty frustrating as with the torque you have on hand, this thing should pull away without giving any fuel at all. Like was stated before, you get no warning that the engine is lugging, which is what you are used to in any other previous manual and then adjust clutch and throttle to recover.

Neither of us have stalled the car since, now that we know what will happen and when it happens. Just give the car a little diesel and off you go. I really like this manual after the first 1-2 shift, can't seem to get that one as smooth as the rest, pretty normal for any manual though.

I was worried that the six speed would be to close of a ratio and you would be changing gears to often. Not the case, I've found that we pretty much just use up to 4th, sometimes 5th on our regular driving, 6th is pretty much interstate only cruzing.

Love the car, just a little different than what we were used to.

sames story on golfs...been on manuals since i was 15....35+ years...never stalled a car as many times as I have this one....dont try to pull out at super low r's in 2nd...it will just shut down....almost got hit yesterday...adjusting but annoying...

IndigoBlueWagon · November 15th, 2011, 13:50

I've only driven my new Golf 500 miles, but haven't stalled it yet. Don't drive it any differently than any other TDI I've owned, and it hasn't even come close to stalling. And this started 2 weeks after tendon surgery in my left leg so my control of the clutch isn't the best.

I wonder if VW has made additional updates to the ECU tuning for '12 and it improves my Golf's driveability (it was built in September). I also have experienced no stumbles, no hesitation, nothing that others report.

gergg · November 15th, 2011, 15:39

I've experimented with 2nd gear at low rpm's, no problem at all.....there must be differences between the way these cars are set up as too many experienced drivers seem to have issues, guess I got lucky with mine.

lojeff10 · November 15th, 2011, 16:14

My daily cars for the last 21 years have all been manual. I stalled once in 1st gear and twice in 2nd gear during the first few days with the new passat. I don't think in the previous 21 years I ever stalled in 2nd gear. That being said, I appear to have adjusted and have had no recent stall problems.

This car is pretty amazing. It is fun to drive, has good pick-up, is very comfortable and gets great mpg. I have a long 95% highway commute and it appears that this car was made for this type of driving. Love it.

Steve Ferrous · November 16th, 2011, 19:18

I have a 2011 TDI Golf, and it is by far the smoothest clutch release (try an Infiniti G35 for the exact opposite) I've had in 35 years.

The Golf has a hill-hold where it keeps the brakes on so you don't roll backwards on a grade. I have found that to cause me some issues where I start to release the clutch and it doesn't move as I expect.

Perhaps some of these issues are related to the hill-hold?

Billion003 · November 24th, 2011, 20:54

I've stalled my 2011 Golf TDI a couple of times. The first time it happened some kind of alarm went off and I drive about a half miles with it going off - embarrassing. But just as others have said you learn to push the pedal a bit more in certain situations. It doesn't need it often.
But man...when the engine quits...it quits! Like hitting a wall. LOL.

no-blue-screen · November 29th, 2011, 13:15

It hasn't stalled on me with about 200 miles on so far. Coming from 2003 bug. With the hill hold you shouldn't need to give it more go...I don't have enough miles racked up yet to say for sure though.