Why is the 'floor' shifter on the DSG car reversed?

[Scharf1]

the reason is quite practical. Under the g-forces of deceleration, when your body is being forced forward, tapping the shifter forward becomes the easiest and most intuitive movement. Same for pulling back on the shifter when your being pushed into the seat under accelerating. If you look at footage from various racing series that use(d) sequential floor shifters, it is pretty much always this way (CART/INDYCAR, Touring cars, GT Porsches etc.)

This is all true. However, you are in a 200hp car. Not a F1 racer or a F16. G forces are moot in a Volkswagen.

These cars are sold to the masses. Joe Schmoe doesn't know shit about G forces. He hops in the "automatic" car and wants to up-shift. Which way is he going to push the shifter? Up.

 

[Fer312t]

Just buy a manual.. you'll have more fun

I agree, but sometimes there are other practical factors (in my case there are other family drivers that will potentially need to use this car.) We already have 2 manual cars. The DSG seems a nice compromise - fully automatic if need be, but also a nice, fairly non-intrusive semi-auto mode...

This is all true. However, you are in a 200hp car. Not a F1 racer or a F16. G forces are moot in a Volkswagen. These cars are sold to the masses. Joe Schmoe doesn't know shit about G forces. He hops in the "automatic" car and wants to up-shift. Which way is he going to push the shifter? Up.

200HP in a car of this size is nothing to sneeze at...this is a quick car, and although it's not a racecar, the fun is in the pretending Most all other cars with performance pretensions have it the other way round....

Anyway, I'd be curious if there would be a way to switch it
(or whether it would be a major warranty voiding procedure)

 

[Adem]

It's like this on all cars with auto-shifting. It is not counter intuitive, if I want to gear up I push the shifter up if I want to gear down, move the shifter down.

Makes sense to me..

I agree, i think this is much better! I like pulling back when coming into corners. Its silly the other way..

 

[Fer312t]

I agree, i think this is much better! I like pulling back when coming into corners. Its silly the other way..

NO

 

[phasmatron]

i came from driving a manual, DSG is actually my first automatic. when i first sat in my new GTI, this is what i did: i looked at the shifter and saw a plus and a minus sign.

it wasn't confusing at all :iono:

 

[daihard]

i came from driving a manual, DSG is actually my first automatic. when i first sat in my new GTI, this is what i did: i looked at the shifter and saw a plus and a minus sign.

it wasn't confusing at all :iono:

I usually don't bring back an old thread, but this one intrigued me enough...

Some people say the DSG shifter on the floor is confusing and counter-intuitive because you push it to upshift and pull it to downshift.

That's not confusing to me at all. Without reading the owner's manual, I would do exactly that. It would be much more confusing the other way 'round.

And I have been driving a manual transmission for 20+ years. I've also ridden motorcycles for a few years.

What do you guys think?

 

[Falchon]

Use the paddles. Problem solved.

 

[daihard]

Use the paddles. Problem solved.

Not when the functionality of the shifter itself is being discussed.

 

[jmblur1]

Not when the functionality of the shifter itself is being discussed.

Just be thankful the paddles are right, and not some stupid thumb rocker configuration (like on my a4) or weird push/pull paddles (like on some Porsches).

 

[Awry]

BMW is also sold to the masses and they have got the shifter the right way. I was used to the BMW shifter so for the first week with my new GTI I kept shifting the wrong way. I'm used to it now after a week but I still prefer shifting with the BMW. It's just more natural.

 

[absoluteczech]

yea thats the biggest pet peeve of mine on the car. i wish the shifter was down for upshift and up to downshift. i got so use to it on my gf's SMG that i even accidently downshifted to 1st while going 30mph+ scared the crap out of me

 

[daihard]

BMW is also sold to the masses and they have got the shifter the right way. I was used to the BMW shifter so for the first week with my new GTI I kept shifting the wrong way. I'm used to it now after a week but I still prefer shifting with the BMW. It's just more natural.

yea thats the biggest pet peeve of mine on the car. i wish the shifter was down for upshift and up to downshift. i got so use to it on my gf's SMG that i even accidently downshifted to 1st while going 30mph+ scared the crap out of me

Both of you have had experience with the SMG shifter. What if you hadn't? I'd venture to guess that you'd feel the VW way to be more natural. Look at the conventional automatic transmission. You push (up) to upshift, and pull (down) to downshift. Have you played those racing video games?

 

[fastfly]

This is the right way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kOqKB1GYP8

 

[Awry]

Both of you have had experience with the SMG shifter. What if you hadn't? I'd venture to guess that you'd feel the VW way to be more natural. Look at the conventional automatic transmission. You push (up) to upshift, and pull (down) to downshift. Have you played those racing video games?

True. I still easily learned to shift with the GTI though and would have gotten used to shift no matter which way. I just think it's better the other way around. Now that I've learned and tried both ways I feel it's was more natural to shift with the BMW. Too bad you can't use vagcom to program it the other way.

This is the right way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kOqKB1GYP8

Agreed. :thumbsup:

 

[daihard]

True. I still easily learned to shift with the GTI though and would have gotten used to shift no matter which way. I just think it's better the other way around. Now that I've learned and tried both ways I feel it's was more natural to shift with the BMW. Too bad you can't use vagcom to program it the other way.

I can agree to that. It comes down to personal preferences. I have no problem with it when a select few who have driven SMG first and/or experienced driving racing cars consider the SMG way to be more natural. I have no problem with it, either, when those who have no such experience and have only driven conventional automatic gearbox say pushing to upshift is more natural to them.

I do have a problem when some people try to tell me what the right way is.

This is the right way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kOqKB1GYP8

Please see my comment above.