NY wrote
Andy Burns wrote
Chris Bartram wrote

if you have a DSG-equipped VAG car, and it starts refusing to change up
gears

I'm on my second such car, but have not experienced that issue, the
reason for the last one going was that the gearbox was getting "fussy"
...

Do people tend to use DSG-equipped cars in auto or manual mode mainly, I
wonder? I have always found that the big problem with automatics is that
they change down at the wrong time, eg during acceleration, especially
when half-way round a corner or when accelerating out of a roundabout. A
transmission that makes gearchanges more seamless while still allowing the
driver to choose when to change gear (eg during brief gaps in acceleration
when the change is less noticeable) sounds great. I think I'd tend to use
it in automated-manual mode - the best of both worlds - rather than
letting the transmission choose when to change.

Some time I'll have to test drive a VW with DSG and see how easy it is to
drive compared with a) a fully manual gearbox, and b) a
planetary-gear/torque-converter automatic box. At least modern VWs don't
suffer from the problem that (I think) the Mark V Golf TDI had, where the
engine was notoriously easy to stall - rather than being almost
stall-proof, as most diesels are, it seemed to stall even more easily than
a petrol. That Golf is the only car (petrol or diesel) that I have
repeatedly stalled when setting off on a test drive - and the salesman
said I was not alone. It's almost as if the ECU detects that there is
insufficient fuel and therefore insufficient engine torque to be able to
accelerate the car so it deliberately cuts the fuel altogether rather than
letting the engine labour slightly to give the driver chance to increase
the throttle a bit. I imagine that if you drive the car all the time, you
soon get used to it, but for occasional drivers it catches you out.

How easily do people find it is to control the speed accurately at very
slow speed (eg when manoeuvring or when crawling forward in a queue of
traffic).

Do you do that much ? We dont see much of that here, just a bit
of stop start moving while waiting for the lights to change at times.

It may be that I've never developed the muscle memory to be able to
control a car's speed solely on the accelerator, when in a manual car I
tend to control the speed also with the clutch, with a more constant
engine speed.

That certainly explains why you have had to replace clutches a
lot more than I have ever needed to. I have have never had to
ever replace one in will over half a century of driving every day.

For me, the best combination would be a DSG that had a clutch pedal that
was only used for finer control of speed for very slow manoeuvring and
which was not used for gear changes.

IMO it makes more sense for the automatic to be able to do that auto.

With a (conventional) automatic, I'm always scared stiff, especially if
the accelerator pedal/linkage sticks slightly as the car gets older, of
the accelerator pedal moving suddenly and the car surging forwards.

Never had that happen and the obvious way to avoid that is to design the
accelerator so that can never happen. Shouldnt be hard to ensure that.

When I have driven automatics occasionally (eg as hire cars on business
journeys) I've been very aware of this possibility when reversing out of a
parking space and the need to release the accelerator and/or touch the
footbrake the instant that I detect it happening

IMO with an automatic it makes more sense to have one foot on
the brake and one on the accelerator and just brake as required.

- a reflex which I bet elderly drivers who drive into shop fronts haven't
got.

With those the problem appears to just be they press the accelerator instead
of the brake.

It's the only time that I left-foot-brake: as a precaution when inching
forwards/backwards in a car with no manual clutch.

No reason not to do it routinely when parking so you can
always brake when required, even if its some kid running
in front of or behind the car etc.