Using DSG in ice and snow

[Gary_Monkey]

Hello All,

I'm due to pick up my new Scirocco in mid-November so it got my thinking. How do you drive in ice and snow using the DSG box?

Winter is approching and that means icy mornings and the occasional snow. Normally with a manual gearbox you can hold the car in 1st (whilst negotiating an a steep icy decline) and use the engine to brake and stop the car from skidding and running away with itself.

How do folks use the DSG box on icy roads without feathering the breaks? Typically one would hold off the breaks and use 1st gear to stop the car getting out of control whislt going down a steep icy hill.

Can you force the DSG to stay in first like a manual? Any tips?

Gary

[RW1]

Yeah, into manual and hold the gearing. On some VW's but not the Scirocco there is a button to change the characteristic of the electric throttle to suit winter driving, ie. makes throttle only work over a smaller opening even though the driver may floor the pedal.


.

[biggles]

By setting the suspension to comfort you soften the chassis setup which makes it slightly more forgiving too. Nothing life changing but every little helps when you have big fat tyres which aren't great on snow.

[RickG]

My Golf GTi DSG seems to cope quite well considering the wide tyres. Use the gear lever to drive it as a manual and you'll be ok.

[Gary_Monkey]

I felt pretty inexperienced asking this question. (after reading your responses)

If you use the manual function with the DSG box doesn't it want to jump into 2nd gear after a while? How long will it hold in 1st gear before wanting to slip into second (i.e. back to full auto)? 1o seconds, 30 seconds, indefinitely?

Confused.

Ta, Gaz

[kianok]

Just leave it in sport and it will be fine. Can't remember having any problems with the DSG last winter tbh, it was pretty good.

[Nobby]

Normally when driving on snow you use a higher gear than usual, this way to use the torque of the engine and are less likely to wheelspin

It's true that sometimes you need to let it spin a bit if you are trying to keep momentum even though you've lost grip, but that is more a question of disconnecting the ESP

I would think drive is far more effective than sport as it changes very early if you are light on the throttle, and as always smooth is best

[RW1]

"Met office predictions of a record breaking cold winter have stimulated unprecedented interest in the White Christmas betting. We are now confident that industry wide in-excess of £1 million will be gambled before December 25th. We are still mystified by why a Australian punter would place £1000 on snow in Aberdeen but we are happy to offer him 50/1 for it to snow in Perth (Australia) on Christmas Day." said Hills spokesman Rupert Adams.

White Christmas Rules: 'That one flake of snow will fall on the Met office monitoring stations over the 24 hr period of the 25th of December'

William Hill-Snow on Christmas Day Betting:
4/1 Aberdeen,
4/1 Glasgow,
6/1 London,
6/1 Cardiff
18/1 that the lowest recorded temperature in England will be beaten (-26.1C, Jan 10 1982, Shropshire),
16/1 that the lowest temperature in Scotland will be beaten (-27.2C, Jan 10th 1982, Aberdeenshire)
22/1 for the record in Wales to be beaten (-23.3C, 21st Jan, 1940 Powys).
100/1 that the Thames will freeze over between Westminster bridge and Tower bridge.
100/1 Big Ben Fails to chime due to being frozen solid

C.

[trix]

not exactly about using dsg in the ice & snow RW1 but very interesting all the same.

S