Scirocco Central

I'm picking up my Scirocco on wednesday and can't wait. It's a 2011 2.0 TSI in black.

I've test drived it (ofcourse) but only using the automatic setting. I understand that you can manually shift gears with the paddles but how does this work? Can you shift down to neutral? E.g. would it stall if I slowed down to a stop without changing it back out of manual? I'm sorry, I know it's a really dumb question but I can't get my head around it.

Also, can someone explain to me what difference comfort/sport make.

Thanks in advance

You can always click the paddles and you will enter manual mode for some seconds when it will go back to automatic. Set the gearstick to manual (+/-) and it will stay in manual.

The car will always correct your changes when you normally would stall or if you hit the red line.

Difference between normal "Drive" and "Sport" means higher shift points and faster gearbox reaction whipe hitting the gas pedal (annoying, you will always use Drive or manual)

You can't shift in to neutral with the paddles. You have a little number scale on the MFD that tells you what gear you're in. It won't let you change in to a gear that would break it, eg you couldn't change down to first while doing 70mph. It's very clever! It won't stall. If you stop at lights you just keep your foot on the brake (to prevent it creeping) or shift it to N.

With the car in D it'll select the gears for you, up and down. If you pull a paddle you instantly have manual control over the gears. If you do nothing for about 5-10 seconds or you hold in the right paddle, it'll switch itself back to auto. If you flick the gear stick left it'll go in to fully manual (paddle mode) but if you break, it'll shift down for you without needing to pull the left paddle. So downshifting up to lights and junctions is up to you. S (sport) just holds the gears for longer.

I drive in D all the time and flick across to manual when I want to make brisker progress. I've never used Sport mode in 6 years.

Comfort is in the suspension settings. You have sport, normal and comfort. There is a difference. Comfort is noticeably smoother. I use Normal in regular driving, comfort on the motorway and sport when I'm on a good A-road.

Kev - think you meant into fully manual mode by moving the gear stick to the left? Likewise on our Polo, I never use sport mode, it's just too frenetic for normal road conditions.

You're right, I did
Edited.

You can pretty much emulate Sport mode just by flooring it anyway - with practice you can control how long it holds on to gears with your right foot and can make it change gear at will just by squeezing the throttle a bit more/less. It is unbelievably clever and will very rarely do anything unexpected.

To get the best out of the DSG you have to be willing to change your driving style and learn how to use it as said above. It does have a few minor quirks but you soon learn to drive around them.

You forgot to mention that after a few days with the DSG it feels so natural that when you get into a manual car you find you're sat on the red line wondering why it hasn't changed up or juddering to a halt at traffic lights in fifth gear.

I only drive a manual now about once a year when I get a hire car for Christmas and to be honest I drop straight back in to driving a manual without any bother.

Yes - I can seem to switch from manual (my Scirocco) to DSG (wife's Polo GTI) and back again instinctively. Only once I started my Scirocco and it lurched forward, for a moment I thought I was in the Polo!

skippy wrote:Yes - I can seem to switch from manual (my Scirocco) to DSG (wife's Polo GTI) and back again instinctively. Only once I started my Scirocco and it lurched forward, for a moment I thought I was in the Polo!

Does yours not make you put your foot on the clutch to start?

selleym wrote:

skippy wrote:Yes - I can seem to switch from manual (my Scirocco) to DSG (wife's Polo GTI) and back again instinctively. Only once I started my Scirocco and it lurched forward, for a moment I thought I was in the Polo!

Does yours not make you put your foot on the clutch to start?

No, I think that is only newer models, (mine is an 09), but I always leave my car in gear, and always start the engine while depressing the clutch also.

Ahh my 59 asks me to! But I to always leave in gear. I was abroad for 6 months driving an automatic and when I came back the first few times I started in my old car I lurched forward! Embarrassing haha!

selleym wrote:Ahh my 59 asks me to! But I to always leave in gear. I was abroad for 6 months driving an automatic and when I came back the first few times I started in my old car I lurched forward! Embarrassing haha!

Yes - I can imagine having driven an automatic for 6 months a manual would take some getting used to again!

With DSG can you keep your foot on the accelerator and go up a gear with the paddle at the same time for a quick shift?

You don't need to lift off the power as you do in a manual. Just keep on the amount of throttle you want, pull the paddle and the box will do the rest for you.

Kev wrote:You don't need to lift off the power as you do in a manual. Just keep on the amount of throttle you want, pull the paddle and the box will do the rest for you.

Awesome!

I've noted (and read one in a post before) that the gear changes up are a lot quicker when you have your foot down as the gearbox readies the higher gear. If you lift off the throttle and switch up its slower as it doesn't know whether you're going up or down next.

abs_roc wrote:I've noted (and read one in a post before) that the gear changes up are a lot quicker when you have your foot down as the gearbox readies the higher gear. If you lift off the throttle and switch up its slower as it doesn't know whether you're going up or down next.

In terms of "quicker" or "slower" in changing gear we're talking differences of a microsecond or two, it's still always vastly quicker than a manual gear change.

It is possible to put it in two minds about what to do e.g. Car expects an upchange but squeeze the throttle a bit so it then wants to downchange or stay where it is. For a very brief moment, if you're deliberately trying to confuse it, you can sometimes feel it "thinking" but again it all happens in a microsecond and is totally under your control.

That's most noticeable if you're rolling up to a roundabout. The gearbox is 'seeing' that you're slowing down and will probably stop but if you see that it's clear to go and accelerate it can stutter for a split second if it was about to change down but in fact the gear you're already in is the right one.