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Tough choice. DSG vs Manual

which transmission?

  • DSG

    Votes: 186 38.1%
  • 6 speed

    Votes: 256 52.5%
  • obligatory 3rd option - its your car pick

    Votes: 46 9.4%

  • Total voters
    488

bigshoulders

Ready to race!
I've driven manuals all my life and love them, but this car is shared with my wife who only drives auto.

My girlfriend can't drive a stick, and has no desire to learn.
That is one reason I ordered a MT. :D
I've put almost 223,000 miles in a manual Jetta TDI, and only had to replace the clutch just a year ago. Try getting that kind of maintenance-free service out of any DSG or Auto!
 

AntGTIMKVI

New member
I went with the MT for personal preference, but the DSG is a very good alternative. I don't care what the traffic is like I've never been happy with an automatic. Yes...the DSG is an automatic. I don't care how quick it shifts. I'm sure you're not going to be driving every day in sport mode and racing it. With that said....I sprained my left ankle yesterday playing basketball (I'm getting old) and now I can't drive my new GTI. DSG would have come in handy but I still wouldn't change.
 

MkVi_Ian

Ready to race!
Hey, quit picking on us old guys, I am almost 60 and I prefer the manual:laugh:

oops, haha no offense

mocking those of us who never had that kind of thing with our cars is immature. if you just tell us how good it is, that's mature...

youre taking this manual vs. dsg thing awefully personal

If you've never driven a stick, learning that skill might improve your driving a bit.

However the OP has driven a stick for many years -- he's mastered that skill.

After that point, driving a stick doesn't make you better. If it did some F1 drivers would use a stick and blow by their paddle-shifting opponents, empowered by the vast additional skills than only a manual transmission could give them.

This obviously doesn't happen. The highest performance cars on earth use paddle-shifted automated manual transmissions, similar to the DSG. The drivers are the best in the world. If using a manual transmission made them better, they'd use it. They don't.

i wasnt talking about racing skills. i was talking about daily driving skills. like being alert of whats around you and what gear your in. etc.
 

GTI-VI

Ready to race!
honestly manual is more fun , but dsg is so much better in other ways . example say well in newyork theres always traffic specially i get off work during rush hour and i work in the city on the highway if i was driving manual my left ankle would be broken by the time i got home . but on the real side manual sounds better and is more fun but dsg u can not really say theres anything wrong with it . anyways its up to you ur gonna love the gti whatever u choose :p
 

joema2

Ready to race!
...i wasnt talking about racing skills. i was talking about daily driving skills. like being alert of whats around you and what gear your in. etc.
The OP was *already* skilled in using a manual transmission, and had many years experience using that.

There's no basis for saying the transmission type he *subsequently* drives will make him a better or worse driver.
 
It's your car and your money, get what you want! I laugh at all these threads - for me personally, it's a manual. When I drove a DSG versus a manual Mk 5 GTI it was no contest for me. The DSG was faster, smoother and just incredibly impressive with how it worked. It also bored the hell out of me in 30 seconds flat and I thought the manual was 1,000 X more fun. Guess which one I chose for my Mk 6? :laugh: And I'm 45 with a bad left knee (literally an old partially torn lateral meniscus from playing lacrosse) driving in some of the funnest traffic in the US (Baltimore, DC area). Plus, the stick in the GTI is just so easy and smooth - great transmission IMHO. It makes my wife's TSX feel clunky which is saying a lot!
 

MkVi_Ian

Ready to race!
The OP was *already* skilled in using a manual transmission, and had many years experience using that.

There's no basis for saying the transmission type he *subsequently* drives will make him a better or worse driver.

ok joema thats *your* own opinion and i have *my* own opinion. we'll leave it at that
 

Mk6golfer

Ready to race!
 

Mk6golfer

Ready to race!
I find the clutch pedal to be easier to depress than any car I've driven. Almost to a fault, like a video game. So your leg shouldn't get tired in traffic.
 

StreetSpeed2000

Passed Driver's Ed
I do agree driving a manual makes you a better driver, but ive driven it for 6 years. theres nothing more i can learn.

Unless you are a heel and toe superhero, I doubt that very much. But I digress...
 

jjkh

Passed Driver's Ed
I had DSG on my MKV and 95% of the time I had it in Drive. But what is cool is whenever I needed power I would just paddle shift down 1 or 2 gears down while in Drive and wow what power!! But one thing I would have liked was to know what gear the car was in shown on the MIDI but the MKVI does show the gear now. Very useful. True you don't the control or connection like on a manual but you get rev-match downshifts and cool sounding upshifts.

I have a 6 speed on my MKVI now its great but there are times when I wish I had DSG. I felt the same thing when I had the DSG. As many have posted you probably will regret whichever you choice but you can't go wrong with either.

If you really can't decide flip a coin.
 

n2oinferno

Ready to race!
So you went with the DSG? I had one in my MKV. It was a good transmission and still pretty fun to drive. The downside (other than not a stick) was it was ridiculously expensive to service.

I drove manuals all my life until I bought my MKV with DSG. My wife had an automatic Jetta. After the dealership crashed my GTI and bought it from me I inherited a Bonneville with an automatic. And in the beginning of last year we traded the Jetta for a used Yaris with an automatic.

I'm so sick of automatics now that I'm sure my next car will be a manual, haha.
 

MrClean

Go Kart Champion
It is really hard to be convinced by reading posted opinions on the Internet, mainly, IMHO, because people are going to say what they have is the best!

You really need to go drive both and see what suits your preferences.

For me, the DSG was the best fit for the 2.0T and the intended purpose for the car.
This is my daily driver and is a family/fun car. I bought the GTI for its handling and its versatility.
For some reason, I feel DSG in a TT or GTI is fine, but I would never want it in my Porsche.

Does that make any sense?

I think it does, but find it tough to explain.
 

subacpw

Ready to race!
I ended up getting the car I had looked at.

2 door carbon gray steel.
DSG
pretty much everything but navi.

personally i love the DSG. Im 23 i love manual trannys but the DSG was just as much fun to me. maybe i wont feel the same in 2 months maybe ill love it more. but so far im extremely happy. except for the power, i need more. its a lil slower than my wrx but APR will change that.


id like to think im pretty darn good at heel an toe. while i might miss a manual at times ill jus take my dads vette out for a spin.
 
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