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DSG in D then activating downshift paddle, bad news?
- Thread starter 65Strad
- Start date
McQueen77
Banned
Yup. It's like in the 'VS.' section of this forum, seems like the guys who are always bragging about this car or that car they beat in a straight line street race are DSG guys. That's just not impressive to me. Just knock it over to sport, mash gas and put both hands on the wheel. zzzzzz..... Although, shifting is only one element of being a 'skilled' driver.
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No one said "transmission are made of glass" or "you're going to have to rebuild your transmission." I'm referring to "wear" on manual transmissions that the clutch takes when you use engine braking. Use the brakes for slowing down, of course you'll downshift if you're slowing, but there's just no point in spinning the motor to redline because you're using the transmission to slow the car instead of the brakes.
I've been driving MT cars for over 35 years, have put well over 100K miles on every vehicle without having to replace a clutch. My 2004 Forester XT (Stage 2,) ran low 14's at the track, and had 162k miles on the original clutch when I traded it in.
McQueen77
Banned
I never said spinning the motor to redline instead of using brakes to slow down. Where did you get that from? Using your brakes all the time, excessively to slow at speeds where, if engine braking were used, you could save your brakes and not rev your engine too high is just not going to cause that much premature wear. Engine braking with an MT is happening often when not accelerating or braking. Sorry but its BS. Everything causes wear and tear on your engine, transmission etc. The implication is that they are 'made of glass' i.e. fragile (does everything need to be spelled out like we are in elementary school?) because the advice being given is to not downshift i.e use engine braking to slow down which lead to my counter argument, which was, again, in all the years I have been driving MT cars in virtually every kind of condition imaginable and all the years of using engine braking, alot, I've never had to rebuild a tranny and rarely had to replace a clutch. What is funny too is that the same guys who will dispense advice like 'don't use engine braking to slow down' will turn around and do a stage 1 tune and then try and say that that won't cause any long term wear.
AdamC
Ready to race!
:dnftt:
Seems like the only people talking about racing at all in this thread, are you.
McQueen77
Banned
Racing? We're talking about engine braking and downshifting last time I checked but you really let me have it with that emoticon, so I'll back down.
K.I.T.T
Passed Driver's Ed
Agreed. These will be the same folks complaining 5 years down the road when the car is out of warranty and their transmission gives the ghost.
No way these things are going to hold up long term like a 6 speed.
Aries Pope
Ready to race!
I leave my DSG in manual mode almost 90% of the time and enjoy shifting with paddles and/or the stick, even though this requires "no skill" as has been pointed out. It's still more fun to me than leaving it in D or S. I only pop it over to D when I get stuck in bumpertobumper or when my wife drives she uses D. The latter reasons being the main reasons why I got the DSG over the 6MT in the first place.
I also usually downshift when I brake at a light, but tend to keep it under 3K when I do, unless I feel like growling at the car next to me a little when I might downshift earlier. I noticed the S mode downshifts a little early, likes to keep the tach around 4K which surprised me a little. D is much more docile on the downshifts.
Am I weird? Do many other DSG owners leave it in manual mode most of the time?
I also usually downshift when I brake at a light, but tend to keep it under 3K when I do, unless I feel like growling at the car next to me a little when I might downshift earlier. I noticed the S mode downshifts a little early, likes to keep the tach around 4K which surprised me a little. D is much more docile on the downshifts.
Am I weird? Do many other DSG owners leave it in manual mode most of the time?
btufail
Ready to race!
I leave mine in manual mode 95% of the time. Throw in D or S when in bumper to bumper traffic or just D when cruising highway. I know you so-called "Skilled" drivers love manuals and that's great. But the DSG provides you with some many options(paddle shifters, S mode, D mode, Manual mode). I also downshift not letting the tach jump above 3k. The DSG automatically downshifts around 3k-4k in S mode so I just keep it below 3k just to be safe. As long as you do regular maintenance on the DSG(fluid change intervals) I don't see why it would last for a long time.
D Griff
Go Kart Champion
I've only driven a DSG car once, it was an Audi A3 3.2 V6, and I definitely down shifted, the guy who owned the car didn't complain. I prefer manual transmissions, but the DSG is definitely cool.
I think that downshifting in one is fine, as long as you aren't spinning it up to 5k at every light. Just like in a conventional manual, that will wear your engine, clutch(es), tranny and everything else quicker. Yes, engine breaking wears on your car. Guess what though, so does accelerating, driving on the freeway, sitting in your driveway. If you take care of your car and drive it responsibly, you should be fine down the line, DSG or manual.
I think that downshifting in one is fine, as long as you aren't spinning it up to 5k at every light. Just like in a conventional manual, that will wear your engine, clutch(es), tranny and everything else quicker. Yes, engine breaking wears on your car. Guess what though, so does accelerating, driving on the freeway, sitting in your driveway. If you take care of your car and drive it responsibly, you should be fine down the line, DSG or manual.
yes, it tries to keep the engine in the powerband, it rev matches and downshifts to do this. It doesn't engine brake for you like say when you let off the gas coming off a highway or going downhill.
ImAuthenticFTW
Go Kart Champion
mine does when i slow down.....
but i just avoid it and let it engine brake, its not hurting anything