Throttle Pedal Lag/Dead Space

yeah ive read about those. Seems like a good way to go, im not after more power or anything just to fix that throttle delay. Also, being a company vehicle it looks easy to remove at service time... he he he

I thought I was going crazy this morning. It was my first time driving my GTI to work.

I have the manual transmission and the car was just not taking off in 1st gear, a lot of hesitation.

Problem is I was taught to engage the clutch then apply gas. This triggers this first gear slop every time.

I'm having to rev the engine before I engage the clutch to get a decent 1st gear take off. I hate to do that because it wears on the clutch.

I have the same problem, I wish I could just turn off all the electronic crap. Thtas what I loved about my 04 WRX, no tractoin control, no e-diff, no 1st gear nanny...just straight forward driving. I hope they have a flash to elimnate this problem soon...very annoying...

I think I read on the vortex that the new GIAC chip for MK6 GTI's will eliminate this problem, I am highly considering it too because of that if it actually does..

phase2 said:

I have the manual transmission and the car was just not taking off in 1st gear, a lot of hesitation.

Problem is I was taught to engage the clutch then apply gas. This triggers this first gear slop every time.

I'm having to rev the engine before I engage the clutch to get a decent 1st gear take off. I hate to do that because it wears on the clutch.

Click to expand...

+1
When I first got the car I hated the 1st gear because the clutch is so forgiving the fiction point range is pretty big. I was used to a single point fiction point and not a range. I've gotten used to the clutch now after a month of driving in traffic everyday.

APR helps a lot with this.

Very happy to report that this problem is greatly minimized with the new APR software. Can't say for sure that it's completely eliminated, as the system still probably has some inherent lag, but the problem seems like mostly a memory at this point, and what happens after the pedal is pressed with the APR software is in general so much more impressive than stock, that I must urge you to back away from the computer and proceed directly to your local APR rep. Strong, smooth, broad power band, like it should have been from the VAGtory. Seriously, go get it!

Has anyone used one of these:
http://www.ecstuning.com/Flyer-Sprint_Booster/

They claim to help reduce throttle dead space and increase throttle response?

I have the DSG but I can tell you that if I want to pull out quickly into another lane from a stop/crawl, the car barely moves... and then THRUSTS. Not very linear... and I've owned turbos and TBW before.

I am so glad I found this thread but most of all, that the chip can fix it, tough the fix should exist from VW and not from a third party. I agree that this is not only annoying but dangerous. This is my 2nd day with my new gti and I almost crashed today because the car just stood there doing nothing. Which brings another dangerous issue, when its not moving and youre trying to go, there you are, flooring the accelerator at wot and when the car decides to go forward it surges forward like crazy and you can even loose control because it wasnt expected. These cars are famous for their linear response but this is a dead spot that is really unacceptable. And yes I have driven dbw before, and honestly i dont think its a dbw issue because my 8th gen civic had DBW and while it was bad in the sense that if you floor it in neutral and let it go quickly, you'll see that the system is so slow that it wont start revving until your foot is out. I found the response times for this test to be exactly the same on both cars, the civic and the gti, they take the same ammount of time to start revving, however, when on first gear and trying to advance, the civic starts moving and doesn't hessitate, it has little torque yes but it doesnt stop moving, the gti does.

Please if someone has chipped their cars, confirm that this is indeed fixed with aftermarket solutions. Oh and both of the cars im talking about are MT. Otherwise, we might need to push for a TBS.

Woofie2 said:

Has anyone used one of these:
http://www.ecstuning.com/Flyer-Sprint_Booster/

They claim to help reduce throttle dead space and increase throttle response?

Click to expand...

Please... god one thing I can't stand about VAG is that, one needs to fork alot of cash to get a decent performing vehicle. :mad0259:

The intermittent cases aside, this almost sounds like the amount of throttle response 'dialed in' to the car. GM used to be famous for dialing in just the opposite response - the first 1/4 to 1/3 of the pedal travel used to cause the car to JUMP off the line.....and then there was very little left in the last 2/3s of the pedal travel. It gave the customer(s) the impression the cars were quicker/more powerful than they really were - a cheap marketing trick engineered into the fuel delivery.

IMHO with today's fly-by-wire throttles, it'd be a whole lot easier to dial in whatever throttle response the engineers (or marketers) choose to, so it's more than likely purposeful. What that purpose is, however, is anybody's guess. Especially if it's peeving off the faithful.

redlulu said:

I have a new MKVI GTI ,one month old , and it is my first car with an electronic throttle and turbo. Most of my driving so far has been in the city with many stop signs. I do not get a direct response between my foot pressing and the rpms when starting out at a stop sign. Many times it's count one, two,then it responds.
Even sitting at idle in the driveway if I start "pumping" the pedal and inch or so rapidly the rpms do not change, only the pedal moves.
Is this characteristic of electronic throttles and or turbos? The old direct reponse of a mechanical link throttle may have trained me wrong and I now have to relearn how to drive or should I head to the service department?

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I think that it's a combination of turbo lag, throtle lag and DSG lag. I have the MkVI DSG, w/ APR Stage I, and at times, I notice that it's most often a throttle lag But, I'm learning to feather it right.

My '98 MBZ E300 Turbodiesel was the same way, as it had a 5 speed auto, turbo, and electronic throttle as well, and it had the same issues, and I had to learn to feather just right it as well.

But, I also notice that from a stop light of sign, I go to gas it, and the transmission will engage kinda hard (it wasnt in gear, or became indecisive), so that caused a delay. At other times, but not often, I can tell there is turbo lag and some time needed for spool up. It did/does this before, and after the APR Stage I upgrade.

Hello - Brand new to the forum. And this is my first post. I am taking a GTI and a TDI out for a test drive tomorrow at a local dealership. In most of the Consumer Reports type magazines and auto review blogs I have been reading for research there is a "long clutch-pedal travel" listed as the lone negative (well, the use of premium gas is also listed as a negative but I am already accustomed to that drawback with my current vehicles). This thread seems to be discussing this very issue. So I would like to ask two questions:
1) Has anyone gotten an official response from the dealer about this?
2 During my test drive (automatic) what is a step by step method to test to see if it is an issue?

Thanks in advance for any and all of your responses.

This is like finding out you're not the only one with a drinking problem... AAA - Accelerator Annoyance Anonymous. I had my GTI checked out by main dealer this a.m. and compared with 2 others - seems like they all have it. It is dangerous and the times I've left it with Valets and they have stalled it (they drive lots of cars) shows how bad it is.

Aside from waiting minutes for the iPod menus to referesh its the only thing I dislike about the car but I REALLY dislike it - enough for me to bail out and look for something else.

Can anyone else corrobrate the after market solutions and/or clarify if VW are planning a fix?

IanP said:

This is like finding out you're not the only one with a drinking problem... AAA - Accelerator Annoyance Anonymous. I had my GTI checked out by main dealer this a.m. and compared with 2 others - seems like they all have it. It is dangerous and the times I've left it with Valets and they have stalled it (they drive lots of cars) shows how bad it is.

Aside from waiting minutes for the iPod menus to referesh its the only thing I dislike about the car but I REALLY dislike it - enough for me to bail out and look for something else.

Can anyone else corrobrate the after market solutions and/or clarify if VW are planning a fix?

Click to expand...

Same here bro, on the test drive i didnt give it too much importance because i thought i just wasnt giving it enough gas and every car is different but after a couple of days and getting used to the car already I can see it is a hugh annoyance. And yeah, the ipod problem is driving me nuts as well. Good thing i didnt pay extra for the head unit, I did pay extra for dynaudio and it is one of the best investments in my life.. but this is out of topic, VW remove your shitty electronic limiters, it's a GTI!!!!! nobody wants them.