[selm]

My other car is a Passat, and yesterday I was in the dealership getting it serviced and was looking at the GTI just for fun. A pretty cool car, but I noticed that the 0-60 for the manual transmission was about .4 seconds slower than the automatic paddle shifter transmission. I don't recall ever seeing a car that has better performance in the automatic than the manual. How can this be?

[Oz]

I think the GT Porsche has a faster automatic as well...

[Nikki]

It has DSG, search google to see how it works. It's also in the Audi A3.

[red_wagen]

^The girl knows her cars...

[StewtheBassman]

I test drove the manual, it's a blast!

[Nikki]

Besides the basic tech stuff you'll find online, here are a few things about DSG:

I think that the manual is still more fun to drive, but the DSG is awesome for anyone considering an automatic. It has paddle shifters if you want to use them or you can put it in auto mode. There's two auto modes, regular and sport. The sport mode is incredible, it downshifts through the gears when it comes to a stop, which I thought was pretty cool. The best thing about the sport mode is that it drives like a manual would drive but it isn't harsh at all, it actually revmatches when it shifts, which I think is unique to DSG but I could be wrong. You can hardly notice when it shifts at all even, no exaggeration. The regular auto mode will put you in 5th if you're going 35mph but the sport auto mode will keep you in 3rd or 4th like you would probably normally drive in a manual. The regular auto mode is kind of more like a gas saver.

Overall it is faster than a manual, almost as fun to drive, and is much smoother.

[E90-4life]

Originally Posted by Nikki

Besides the basic tech stuff you'll find online, here are a few things about DSG:

I think that the manual is still more fun to drive, but the DSG is awesome for anyone considering an automatic. It has paddle shifters if you want to use them or you can put it in auto mode. There's two auto modes, regular and sport. The sport mode is incredible, it downshifts through the gears when it comes to a stop, which I thought was pretty cool. The best thing about the sport mode is that it drives like a manual would drive but it isn't harsh at all, it actually revmatches when it shifts, which I think is unique to DSG but I could be wrong. You can hardly notice when it shifts at all even, no exaggeration. The regular auto mode will put you in 5th if you're going 35mph but the sport auto mode will keep you in 3rd or 4th like you would probably normally drive in a manual. The regular auto mode is kind of more like a gas saver.

Overall it is faster than a manual, almost as fun to drive, and is much smoother.

Someone's honest. You should see the guys at VWVortex arguing over stick vs. DSG.. the most ego driven debate I've ever observed.

Anyway, an explanation from Wikipedia:

The Direct-Shift Gearbox (Direktschaltgetriebe) is a dual-clutch gearbox invented by BorgWarner and initially licenced to Volkswagen (which also owns the Audi, SEAT, Bentley, Bugatti and Škoda brands). By using two clutches, fast shifts can be achieved, and the inefficient torque converter of a regular automatic transmission is eliminated.

Essentially, the engine drives two clutch packs simultaneously. The outer clutch pack drives gears 1, 3, and 5 (and reverse). The inner clutch pack drives gears 2, 4, and 6. Instead of a standard large clutch plate, each clutch pack is a collection of four smaller stacked clutch plates, due to space constraints. Because the alternate clutch pack's gearing can be pre-selected, upshifts occur in an impressive 8ms, though downshifts still take 600 to 900ms.

This type of transmission is finding increasing popularity in Europe, and apparently also in America although some say CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission) is more popular in the US. BorgWarner who call their technology "DualTronic" have just (Aug 2005) signed further agreements with two other (unnamed) European Automotive manufacturers to incorporate their gearbox. VW group vehicles available in Europe with the DSG gearbox include:

* Audi Audi TT and Audi A3
* Bugatti Veyron 16.4
* SEAT Altea, Toledo, and León
* Škoda Octavia
* Volkswagen Passat, Golf/GTI, and Jetta/Bora

[Nikki]

Originally Posted by E90-4life

Someone's honest. You should see the guys at VWVortex arguing over stick vs. DSG.. the most ego driven debate I've ever observed.

lol, my boyfriend is a technician at Champion Audi so he has to learn about the new stuff that comes out and he tells me all about it. I test drove an A3 in manual and DSG the day they came out and I loved the manual. The DSG is great, but I just couldn't give up the stick. The problem though, was that where I had to position my seat to reach the clutch, my knee hit the underside of the dash, so I opted not to get it and looked at the 3 series instead. I think I made a good decision, though it did cost about $10k more, oops lol.

[supernova]

Originally Posted by Nikki

lol, my boyfriend is a technician at Champion Audi so he has to learn about the new stuff that comes out and he tells me all about it. I test drove an A3 in manual and DSG the day they came out and I loved the manual. The DSG is great, but I just couldn't give up the stick. The problem though, was that where I had to position my seat to reach the clutch, my knee hit the underside of the dash, so I opted not to get it and looked at the 3 series instead. I think I made a good decision, though it did cost about $10k more, oops lol.

lol sounds like fun nikki.
wish someone would teach me about cars.
im car illiterate, but im trying to learn.

hey, at least i have the enthusiasm part down!