Buy all your VW California Accessories at the Club Shop Visit Shop

Dsg vrs manual gearbox

Re mpg figures, I would add that (in my experience) the onboard computer is generally 1 -3 mpg better than actually achieved based on brim to brim figures.

Edit: the figures I quoted are brim to brim averages over vehicle ownership, I'm OCD about these things:D
 
Last edited:
Had a Volvo XC70 D5 that lied through it teeth by as much as 10mpg
 
I don't really worry too much about MPG.

Knowing I can travel 500 miles before stopping to fill up makes me very happy. I know I'm managing something a bit over 30mpg and also know that the next time I wild camp or park up at a Britstop I'm saving around £80 on hotel bills and associated costs.

Quite honestly being able to have my own personal bedroom with my own personal touches and my own personal bed that only I have slept in and have it wherever I want it, on road, off road, big car park, small car park, under a height barrier or hidden behind a bush and still have over 30mpg is having cake and eating it.
 
It did and I sung it praises.

Loved that car but it broke my heart when I found out it had been lying to me! I thought 50mpg was pretty good with a 2.5 litre D5, 5 speed Auto and 4wd. Then it turned out 50 equated to 40mpg / 40 equated to 32mpg. So I sold it and bought a manual V70 D2 off Volvo (the actually one below). Great car. Went from 430miles to a tank to 650 - 800miles.

http://seesawmedia.co.uk/index.php/in-production/123-volvo-a-mothers-son
 
It I buy an eco car I drive it like one. If I buy a 3 ton van there is a degree of irony there.
 
We have the DSG and we have no delay at all, we also have a Golf DSG and there does not have any delay either.

The people that say they have delay, have you reported this to VW as it is obviously a fault with your vehicles?
 
I have noticed a slow pick up once or twice, split seconds though, otherwise Albert behaves impeccably,

as he should of course, carrying me :shocked
 
I think the delay thing is subjective, some people may have different ideas of urgency or laid back-ness.

Anyway, ours seems to have improved, but maybe that is because I have got to grips with the DSG logic as outlined in Welshgas's post. It doesn't particularly bother me.

I now would describe it as slightly sluggish for the initial 2 seconds, then it's away (particularly if you press the throttle down that last half inch past the detente.

The (apparent) sluggishness seems (to me) to be caused by the box changing from 1st to 2nd as soon as a wheel starts to turn. There seems to be no way to stop it doing this, selecting sport or manual mode makes no difference.
 
We have DSG on our 140 SE and it suits the engine well.

A lot of the long post above seems to be about changing gear manually with a DSG box, which is something I don't do. The DSG programmed logic is very good: shifting to a higher gear when going downhill without throttle for example, and works very well with the cruise control.

Compared to a manual clutch there is a slight lag when pulling away, but I find I've adjusted to it, taking my foot of the brake just a half second or less before I'm ready to move, then only applying the throttle when the van starts to move forward.
 
long story short... many years ago, got frustrated with Mrs M and how she drove a manual - ordered a Touran with DSG and did not tell her! After the shouting and driving it for a week - all her cars are now DSG, auto types. Bought our Cali a few weeks ago - DSG no brainer, newer version with superb 180 ps engine - it brilliant, and now i'm getting to know the bluemotion, I'm liking that too...
 
Previous to my Cali Beach I drove a Discovery 3 around for 7 years, it was green had a manual gearbox and was a proper Land Rover.....,

Shortly after purchasing I had a niggling suspicion that I'd bought the wrong car or more to the point the wrong gearbox. So I swore the next car I'd have would have an Auto box. I imagined that it's unreliability would be its demise so at the 3 year point when it sailed through its MOT I was a little bemused. Likewise years 4,5,6,7, albeit every year a little more required correcting until it became uneconomical, Hence the Cali in DSG guise.

The other thing of course was Xenons, having these in my Disco meant I could see where I was going, my Wife's Tiggy has Halogens and are dire,

Anyway, I'm loving the DSG, just got back from Cornwall where there were 5 other blue T5's on the site, was this you ?
 
I just drove around 4500 miles down to Greece and back (back through Albania etc rather than taking the ferry to Italy) this was in a 180 SE 4Motion manual. I love the manual and would never go for a DSG, however, the DSG box is awesome and although I wouldn't have one myself, I'd probably recommend one!!

That being said, the 180 has tons of torque which means gear changes are kept to a minimum - even going around the coast road and up and down hills with tight hair pins - even gong up the steepest hills through the Alps I only had to change down to 5th once or twice so the rest is all in 6th gear. Driving through town, again I like the manual, but a lot of town driving would mean the DSG is much better, but who wants to drive through towns in a Cali ;)

MPG was a little disappointing - it did get all the way (average) up to 37 MPG at one point, but averaged around 30 - mostly due to me doing 130 KPH on the motorways and also the constant up and down hills on the way back and the fact I had it pretty loaded to the weight limit!!

Oh and I have my arm rests down in the manual most of the time with the exception of town driving ;) And of course when I try to get out and the arm rest is in the way!! Still doing it :p
 
DSG took a little time to get used to...(slammed the brake down a few times thinking it was the clutch lol). Have learned to absolutely love driving with the DSG. I've even used manual for engine braking downhill and Sportsmode for steep alpine uphill climbs.
Cruise control with the armrests down makes driving through France a lot less stressful....but like Bluestone sometimes get into bother getting out if the armrest is still down:)
 
Back
Top