UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

I've currently got a 6c manual GTI and now VW has put a proper DSG in the Polo GTI I'm seriously consider buying a 12 - 18 month old car.

The one thing that has always troubled me about pre owned automatics is the thought of people sitting at the lights/stationary with their foot on the brake and the gearbox left in drive. In old school conventional autos, this causes premature wear of the internal clutches, but I'm not sure if Auto technology has moved on and found a way around this allowing this to be done without causing wear/problems.

Can anyone definitively confirm if this is the case or will a DSG also suffer premature wear if it is not put into neutral when stationary

No

Next question?

PS stick with your manual Gti, DSG sucks.
Jerky clunky crap, the car would be immense in manual version.

Thanks Andy. Glad to see some people still sit on the fence LOL!

I guess I must have been having a senior moment.

To be honest my 6c manual GTI always puts a smile on my face with the same torque and only 7 BHP less than the new Polo but 80 kgs less. I guess I'll struggle on !!

you can always swap DSG to manual since current Polo GTI had manual (LHD only) for a few brief months seriously dsg should not have any additional wear nad tear if left in D. DSG have clutch (two actually) pretty much like manual. "Only computer is pressing clutch pedal insted of you". (that is very simplyfied)

@Gee40; I’m sure if there was an issue with premature wear of the internal clutches, it would be widely reported by owners of DSG equipped cars on various VAG forums. I’m on a number of VAG forums and I can’t recall reading of premature DSG internal clutch wear issues caused by holding the car on the foot brake while in ‘D’.

Of course you’re OK if you sit with your foot on the brake at the traffic light / junction / or whatever.

A hard press on the brake pedal will disengage the clutch ok.

But - you’ll be really annoying the driver behind if your blinding him/her with brake lights.

The Polo is crap as it doesn’t have proper Hill Start Assist or Hill Hold, call it what you will. You stop. You have 2 seconds of brake lock. Then the car rolls away when you take your foot off the pedal. Unlike Proper Cars.

So - you stop. You apply old fashioned hand brake. And move DSG gear lever into Neutral.

Then you’re good to go when light goes green.

^ So before electronic handbrake started getting fitted on cars with unlimited brake holding time, there were no "proper" cars? Its a cost thing. Not many cars in Polos class have an electronic handbrake. In much the same way, the DSG gearstick on my A4 is better than the one fitted to the Polo or MK7.Golf (The stick doesn't slide up or down a slot, it is on a spring loaded rocker and feels much more solid in use).

If you want Golf features then you pay the extra and buy a Golf.

LEDs aren't nearly as annoying as incandescent bulbs because they've a pretty even light output rather than an intense source that diffuses outwards. You won't get retinal burn sitting behind an LED brake light.

Just for the record, this is my first DSG and I love it, In fact I think it is one of my favourite things on the POLO GTI and I don’t think I will buy a manual again, wife also agrees! So it’s just shows it’s down to personal opinion.

On this topic I must admit dsg is a great convenience but things can and do go wrong. Nothing is perfect and it comes down to personal preferences.

TheRacingRat wrote: Sat Jan 30, 2021 11:04 am Just for the record, this is my first DSG and I love it, In fact I think it is one of my favourite things on the POLO GTI and I don’t think I will buy a manual again, wife also agrees! So it’s just shows it’s down to personal opinion.

I also don’t regret the switch from over 40 years of driving cars with manual gearboxes to my first DSG. It took me a few weeks to get used to it and it can get caught out occasionally (after all, it is a computer controlled mechanical device and not a seeing, thinking human being). I didn’t think I’d use the flappy paddles much but I find I do . My main criticism; IMO it changes up gears too soon when in ‘D’ and holds onto gears too long in ‘S’ so it feels as if it needs an intermediate setting somewhere between the two. Flappy paddles largely addresses this issue for me though.

Would I go back to a manual? I can’t say I’d never buy another manual, but I’d be more than happy to have another DSG. With the future being electric, we may soon need to get used to driving cars without a third foot pedal.

After purchasing a Polo GTI+ in September 20, it's my first DSG and it's an amazing drive around the city and pretty smooth most of the time, I probably wouldn't want to go back to manual because of how easy it is to drive around the city and then how fun it is around other roads but that being said, I can see where petrol heads get upset with the gearbox sometimes! I've had a few rare occasions where I've accelerated and it's not picked up quickly enough but we're talking seconds before it's kicked down a gear and done what I'd want it to-do.

monkeyhanger wrote: Sat Jan 30, 2021 9:49 am LEDs aren't nearly as annoying as incandescent bulbs because they've a pretty even light output rather than an intense source that diffuses outwards. You won't get retinal burn sitting behind an LED brake light.

LED bulbs may be 'technically' better than normal bulbs, but what does that matter when manufacturers insist on fitting so many of them to brake lights that you could be seen braking in another continent?
Something really needs to be done about the size and brightness of brake lights, it's getting silly.
You're talking brake lights being 4-5 feet wide on some cars now.

Andy Beats wrote: Mon Feb 01, 2021 10:15 am

monkeyhanger wrote: Sat Jan 30, 2021 9:49 am LEDs aren't nearly as annoying as incandescent bulbs because they've a pretty even light output rather than an intense source that diffuses outwards. You won't get retinal burn sitting behind an LED brake light.

LED bulbs may be 'technically' better than normal bulbs, but what does that matter when manufacturers insist on fitting so many of them to brake lights that you could be seen braking in another continent?
Something really needs to be done about the size and brightness of brake lights, it's getting silly.
You're talking brake lights being 4-5 feet wide on some cars now.

IMO Audi seem to be a master of overkill as far as ‘over the top’ light clusters are concerned. I had the ‘pleasure’ of sitting behind an Audi A7 at night at a red traffic light. While the driver held the car stationary on the brake pedal, the brake lights were so intense to the point of being painful on the eyes. Very similar to the Audi A8 in this YouTube video - scroll forward to 1mi 45sec and 2min 10sec for the full effect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7slec58xdj4

A good example of form over function? @Andy Beats; not surprisingly, that A8 has also got sweeping indicators that you’re a big fan of! .

Audis really have become very chav indeed.
They're like Breitling watches, they're for the person who likes 'bling'

Andy Beats wrote: Mon Feb 01, 2021 10:15 am

monkeyhanger wrote: Sat Jan 30, 2021 9:49 am LEDs aren't nearly as annoying as incandescent bulbs because they've a pretty even light output rather than an intense source that diffuses outwards. You won't get retinal burn sitting behind an LED brake light.

LED bulbs may be 'technically' better than normal bulbs, but what does that matter when manufacturers insist on fitting so many of them to brake lights that you could be seen braking in another continent?
Something really needs to be done about the size and brightness of brake lights, it's getting silly.
You're talking brake lights being 4-5 feet wide on some cars now.

I'm sure that when eye level brake lights (the one sat at the top of many tailgates) came in there was moaning about too much light. If there is one thing that should be (and could easily be) done WRT brake lights and our reliance to sit on the brake pedal to stop rollback on a modern car is that once you come to a stop and maintain it, a short time later (like maybe 3 seconds), the brake lights reduce intensity to something more in line with your normal rear lights.

I don't feel the need for a full 6ft wide brake light either, but its tge way many cars are going now because LEDs are cheap as chips these days and relatively reliable.