VW Golf (manual v DSG)

Jimmy Bottles

Hi all.

Thinking of buying a second hand golf. Seems to be a fairly even split between manual and DSG gearboxes out there. Little or no price difference in the second hand market.

Would anyone advise one over the other. Expecting to do a fair bit of city driving so the DSG would be attractive.

Any issues with the DSG? Additional servicing costs? Reliability issues over a manual?

How does the semi auto setup compare to a full manual when on the open road?

Toyotafanboi

The only people who dislike DSG are people who have never driven DSG

To be fair though they are not trouble free and only some recent additions are maintenance free. Generally they need an oil and filter change every 60k kms which isn't particularly cheap.

I wouldn't let it put me off one though. If you are slightly lazy, enjoy driving quickly or or do a lot of city driving they are nicer than a manual IMO.

bop1977

Oil change every 60k costs about €200. Given the choice manual vs auto, it’s auto all the way.

Philb76

I wud highly recommend the dsg especially for city driving they are really smooth as said they wer dodgy once upon a time but very reliable the filter and oil change think every 60000 costs about 150 to 200euro depends which dealer father in law has the new superb with it wud take it over manual now and i always said i wud never have an auto

Damien360

I just got my new superb dsg last Friday. Had a manual superb before that.

The Dsg is a dream in M50 stop start traffic. But on the twisty stuff the manual felt better or more lively. Granted I changed gears later in revs in manual compared to the Dsg. My driving style is far more relaxed in Dsg. Overtakes are a breeze as before but toying with S mode for those.

I find it doesn't know what to do on a hill climb, even a small incline. Goes to too high a gear and runs out of puff. I tend to drop to S mode for those to compensate.

Put it into manual mode and it feels livelier than my old manual one. That was fun on twisty stuff.

It feels slower off the blocks but once you plant it, you wouldn't feel the gear change at all. Still learning it and struggling to stop it jumping slightly with engine stop start to taking off again. Outside wouldn't see it but I feel it.

I had a rental 1.6 trendline diesel golf for a day and it felt heavy to get going. Had to drive it like a petrol with higher revs to get life out of it. I am not sure the Dsg is available for that engine but I wouldn't mate it to that.

Old car 2.0 superb 140bhp estate.
New car 2.0 superb 150bhp estate Dsg.

Turbohymac

We've got 2 vw passats at work. A 162 dsg and a 2 years older manual both 2 litre. And although the dsg seems much lighter on fuel. As it cruises on the motorway at 120kph its reving much lower ie 1200. Compared to around 2000rpm on the manual passat in sixth.
But as the previous poster pointed out the dsg is crap on back roads &hills.
Definitely for me the manual wins hands down. And gearchange on the dsg isn't very smooth either. Like being in a car with a learner driving.

Philb76

Turbohymac wrote: »

We've got 2 vw passats at work. A 162 dsg and a 2 years older manual both 2 litre. And although the dsg seems much lighter on fuel. As it cruises on the motorway at 120kph its reving much lower ie 1200. Compared to around 2000rpm on the manual passat in sixth.
But as the previous poster pointed out the dsg is crap on back roads &hills.
Definitely for me the manual wins hands down. And gearchange on the dsg isn't very smooth either. Like being in a car with a learner driving.

Wud suit op though if he's mostly city

homer90

Turbohymac wrote: »

But as the previous poster pointed out the dsg is crap on back roads &hills.
Definitely for me the manual wins hands down. And gearchange on the dsg isn't very smooth either. Like being in a car with a learner driving.

Must admit have not experienced any of the above, although I have the older 6 speed set up.
Kick down is always on point on hills, overtaking etc. Rarely use sport option !

IMO in city driving DSG is great. No issues experienced yet, but servicing on time / milage is a must.

Damien360

Turbohymac wrote: »

We've got 2 vw passats at work. A 162 dsg and a 2 years older manual both 2 litre. And although the dsg seems much lighter on fuel. As it cruises on the motorway at 120kph its reving much lower ie 1200. Compared to around 2000rpm on the manual passat in sixth.
But as the previous poster pointed out the dsg is crap on back roads &hills.
Definitely for me the manual wins hands down. And gearchange on the dsg isn't very smooth either. Like being in a car with a learner driving.

Mine is 7 speed dry clutch Dsg and I don't feel gear changes at all. I do a lot of motorway and M50 stop start stuff so I'm happy enough with the Dsg.

Zurbaran

When did the dsg’s become reliable? Would the on in the mark v gti be alright?

Jimmy Bottles

Thanks everyone for the replies. Most helpful.

Sounds like it will be good for city driving but a mixed bag on the open road. Aiming for the 1.2 turbo petrol. Presume if I’m on the open road, going into manual mode would remove any of the down sides over the manual.

Is it a feeling of not being in control as my understand is the car can change up or down faster than you can in a manual?

DaveyDave

I'm speaking as a driver of a 110hp 7 speed Golf here so nothing fast but I wouldn't say a DSG isn't fun. It's definitely more lively in sport mode. Not just higher revs but also sharper acceleration and in normal drive mode they're just really enjoyable to drive.

I drive some s-bends on the commute to work and it's fun going through them but that's more of a handling thing than a gearbox thing. I've never felt the need to interfere and use manual mode.

I see some people will say manual is better and that's a preference really. Personally I love the way DSG seamlessly shifts through the gears and will always be faster than a manual.

Personally I don't think a €200 service is a huge cost every 60,000km. For me that would be every 4 years.

Stallingrad

DaveyDave wrote: »

Personally I don't think a €200 service is a huge cost every 60,000km. For me that would be every 4 years.

Where are people geting these €200 DSG services? We have a Superb that will need one soon.

DaveyDave

Stallingrad wrote: »

Where are people geting these €200 DSG services? We have a Superb that will need one soon.

I saw it mentioned in previous posts. Sounds like that's indie prices, €280 from Skoda I think.

bop1977

DaveyDave wrote: »

I saw it mentioned in previous posts. Sounds like that's indie prices, €280 from Skoda I think.

€200 is what I was charged by Skoda for the DSG oil change.

kerten

1.2 turbo will have dry clutch 7 gear DSG. DSG is a fragile thing especially if it is abused by previous owners or used in stop/start traffic heavily. 6 gears wet clutch version coming with larger engine(2.0 tdi/tsi) is much more resistant to usage related issues.

Those issues look like less common in Ireland due to mild climate and less traffic in general, so take my warning with a pinch of salt

1.2 turbo doesn't have so much torque and less issues with that engine as far as I know but I would aim for larger engine with wet clutch if buying used. Buying brand new is no problem with any combination as VW was improving it from beginnin to address issues above and you will have a warranty.

Neilw

Turbohymac wrote: »

But as the previous poster pointed out the dsg is crap on back roads &hills.
Definitely for me the manual wins hands down. And gearchange on the dsg isn't very smooth either. Like being in a car with a learner driving.

Never experienced that, dsg always felt smooth. Not as smooth as an old style torque converter auto but not far off.
Might be something wrong if the gear changes are that bad.

Toyotafanboi

Yeah, DSG trades off of being a seamless gearchange, if you are nothing the gearchange at all of getting poor selection or juddering then there is probably a fault.

Mooooo

With these automatics is there a way for it to hold gear to run at higher revs etc? If looking to give a diesel engine a bit of a workout for example

DaveyDave

Mooooo wrote: »

With these automatics is there a way for it to hold gear to run at higher revs etc? If looking to give a diesel engine a bit of a workout for example

Do you mean a way to have it not upshift? Then yes, manual mode will hold revs. It will change at the red line though, but you can hold the revs wherever you want.

up3mxn8s9l4fr2

I didn't want to start a thread for this question but figured this thread might help.

A local dealer I've used before has got in a Scirocco 2.0 tdi 2013 DSG which I took for a spin and I really liked. I noticed that it is 140BHP while the 2015 is 150BHP.
Is there much difference in performance and reliability in the engines?

Rusky rusky

I have a new 1.0 tsi golf estate with a 7 speed DSG and my wife has a 3year old polo 1.2 tsi 7speed DSG from new. Both cars a dream to drive when compared to manual cars as god works well with turbo engines. My car is more relaxed due to max torque on a 1.0 tsi avalable from 2000 rpm while my wife’s car is small rocket as the torque is available from 1400 rpm. The gear changes are smooth and hardly noticeable although changes down of more than 2 gears will be felt. Sometimes my gearbox switches from 2nd to 1st gear after going over a car park speed bumps which is not too comfortable. I also use manual or sports mode when I drive uphill to stop the gearbox going into higher gears as it will switch down a gear only a few seconds later. One recommendation for the slow start stop traffic when you only need to crawl a few meters - switch to manual when in the 1st gear to stop it going to second gear. This will preclude the overheating of the gear box and will reduce the clutch wear.
Btw, I drove a manual 1.2 tsi golf for 3 years prior to buying a 1.0 tsi dsg

bazz26

Rosemary Putrid Fish wrote: »

I didn't want to start a thread for this question but figured this thread might help.

A local dealer I've used before has got in a Scirocco 2.0 tdi 2013 DSG which I took for a spin and I really liked. I noticed that it is 140BHP while the 2015 is 150BHP.
Is there much difference in performance and reliability in the engines?

They changed to newer cleaner engines in 2015. Some people feel the newer engines feel a bit less powerful than the older ones due to having slightly lower emissions and tweaked gearing.

up3mxn8s9l4fr2

bazz26 wrote: »

They changed to newer cleaner engines in 2015. Some people feel the newer engines feel a bit less powerful than the older ones due to having slightly lower emissions and tweaked gearing.

Literally figured out the difference early today when I was watching the VW episode of Dirty Money on Netflix, thanks.

kerten

Rusky rusky wrote: »

I have a new 1.0 tsi golf estate with a 7 speed DSG and my wife has a 3year old polo 1.2 tsi 7speed DSG from new. Both cars a dream to drive when compared to manual cars as god works well with turbo engines. My car is more relaxed due to max torque on a 1.0 tsi avalable from 2000 rpm while my wife’s car is small rocket as the torque is available from 1400 rpm. The gear changes are smooth and hardly noticeable although changes down of more than 2 gears will be felt. Sometimes my gearbox switches from 2nd to 1st gear after going over a car park speed bumps which is not too comfortable. I also use manual or sports mode when I drive uphill to stop the gearbox going into higher gears as it will switch down a gear only a few seconds later. One recommendation for the slow start stop traffic when you only need to crawl a few meters - switch to manual when in the 1st gear to stop it going to second gear. This will preclude the overheating of the gear box and will reduce the clutch wear.
Btw, I drove a manual 1.2 tsi golf for 3 years prior to buying a 1.0 tsi dsg

I remember switching to sport mode was another recommendation for stop start traffic and 1->2->1 gear changes heating up the clutches. It just doesn't change gear to 2 as quick as normal mode