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Driving along in 5th gear, 2-cylinder mode. The OBC advises me to change up to 6th, which I do... but now the engine goes back to 4-cyl mode. WHAT TO DO??

Makes me pleased that I have the auto version. At least the car has to makes it's own choices.

It's a complex algorithm revs vs active cylinders. Assuming the objective is optimum economy VW techs advice is that the higher gear will, in those circumstances be most fuel efficient. I too have the DSG version, in D it always seems to be one of two years higher than I would intuitively expected, that seems to support the VW stance.

It does feel a bit weird though.

Is this displayed on a certain screen on the trip computer or always at the bottom of it?

Just wondered as I didn't notice it during test drive but saying that I didn't touch the Trip controls

Top right of the MFD screen there is a gear indicator, which tells you which gear to be in or the current gear in a DSG car.



This is a Golf, but same idea. Also says '2 Cylinder Mode' lower down in the screen.

But only if you have set it up to do so....

Ricmondo wrote:But only if you have set it up to do so....

I'll have to have a proper look when I get it on 27th May!!

Rik762 wrote:Makes me pleased that I have the auto version. At least the car has to makes it's own choices.

i tried the BlueGT with DŚG before I bought mine with manual transmission.

I found that the DSG would rather chanĝe up a gear rather than stay in a lower gear and switch off two cylinders. That would drive me crazy.
At least I can choose to ignore the gear indicator in my manual version.
(I know you can too in a DSG version. But that meens taking the gearbox out of auto. Which defies having an automatic gearbox.)

Not really, it changes gear far quicker than you can even in manual mode, it gives measurably quicker acceleration and better economy not to mention the bragging rights of a seventh gear.

The shift points in Sport are higher up the Rev band and it holds on to gears longer, I went DSG following the recommendations of a friend, an ex Jaguar Works driver with podium finishes at Le Man and wins including The Nurburgring Ring. He currently drives a PDK equipped car, his recommendation was spot on.

Ricmondo wrote:Not really, it changes gear far quicker than you can even in manual mode, it gives measurably quicker acceleration and better economy not to mention the bragging rights of a seventh gear.

The shift points in Sport are higher up the Rev band and it holds on to gears longer, I went DSG following the recommendations of a friend, an ex Jaguar Works driver with podium finishes at Le Man and wins including The Nurburgring Ring. He currently drives a PDK equipped car, his recommendation was spot on.

Brochure quotes 7.8 seconds to 60 for both manual and dsg versions. Ddg is between 2 and 3% more economical in the urban and combined cycles (same for both in extra-urban cycle) and the manual is supposedly 1dB quieter. All according to the brochure.

So basically nothing in it.

I don't have anything against DSG gearboxes (we have one in our A6), but with such a sweet gearbox in the Polo, it makes the £1,375 extra seem unnecessary (though that might change if you do a lot of driving in traffic).

Have you seen how testers drive cars to achieve those figures? You or I would never subject our car to such abuse. The fact that with an auto box you can achieve those figures without torturing the oily bits means that in a real world situation the manual underachieves. The Metropolitan Police switched from manual to automatic Rovers simply because their class 1 drivers regularly knackered their transmission during the red mist of pursuit.

At the end of the day it's what you prefer, I remember people who refused to consider cars with synchromesh gearboxes!

I suspect that in the heat of a pursuit anything that enables the driver to keep both hands on the wheel is a benefit to not only themselves but the general public in the vicinity.

Beat cars are still virtually all manual though (probably due to cost reasons) and most larger pursuit cars don't come with a manual option these days anyway.

Lol its all subjective, I test drove the polo blue gt equipped with dsg, didnt like it much, a little jerky and indecisive at times... In the Mk7 golf R that i test drove with dsg however, i loved it, in my opinion, dsgs can only really be fully appreciated in higher powered cars.

As for changing gear fast in a manual, changing fast doesnt mean changing aggressively, unless youre incapable of selecting gears efficiently. I often ''subject'' the car to quick acceleration, not abuse.

Im not suggesting that you or I am unable to avoid mangling a car when pushing on but I'm sure you are familiar with the assertion that the fastest cars on the road are hired or stolen cars. If you get the chance to watch a car being performance tested by a journalist or factory tester jump at it. Max revs, dump the clutch bang the changes through, with or without the clutch which ever is fastest etc etc, not the way we would treat our own car.

You are right fast changing is not necessarily destructive, brutality and suspension of all mechanical sympathy is and at the end of the day the twin clutch widgets will always be able to move quicker than your hand.

Ricmondo wrote:Im not suggesting that you or I am unable to avoid mangling a car when pushing on but I'm sure you are familiar with the assertion that the fastest cars on the road are hired or stolen cars. If you get the chance to watch a car being performance tested by a journalist or factory tester jump at it.

Hire cars are definitely the fastest and they don't require running in either!