Dsg?

[christopher.bro]

First Q to you guys (I'm new btw).

My current company car is a Golf 2.0TDI DSG and I'm awaiting my new A4 2.0TDI Multi.

I'm not a technical chap but what differences can I expect between my old engine/gearbox and the new one?

I love my old VW setup. good torque, slick changes (never use manual mode).

[MackemMan]

For 3 years I had a 2.0 TDI A3 Sportsback with DSG and for the past 3 weeks have had a 2.0 TDI A4 SE Multitronic, so I guess I am in a decent position to reply to your query.

The big differences between the two are that A3 DSG had the flappy paddles (which I found to be a bit of a toy, rather than high value), and the number of gears has gone up from 6 to 8 in the A4.

The A3 could be quite ferocious at times. It had tons of torque & was very responsive when accelerating in 4th or 5th gear. Also kick down worked very well. On the downside there was a bit of a lag when starting off.

DSG was very smooth between gears but you knew when the A3 was changing from one gear to another.

The A3 also had Tiptronic, but I never used it.

The A4 is a bigger & heavier(?) car. It is not as quick at accelerating as the A3, but it does not suffer the lag. Because there are 8 (rather than 6) gears the kick down is less effective. It also has Tiptronic (& again I doubt I will use it).

I imagine in the future I will be likely to use Sports mode more than I did in the A3 to overcome the drop in acceleration.

I appreciate that much of what I have written is slightly downbeat but I have left the best to last. Without doubt the A4 is the smoothest car I have ever driven. It is a dream. It actually feels as if the car does not have a gearbox at all. It is only when you look at the rev counter that you appreciate that it has changed gear.

The A4 is not for boy racers. In fact, being a bit contentious you could say that the A4 2.0 TDI S-Line, with its more aggressive styling is a bit like a "sheep in wolf's clothing".

Years ago I had a BMW 3-Series. I loved it but my wife hated the drive. Since then I have had many cars, but this is the first where we agree that I have bought a great car.

[Foringo]

You won't be disappointed Chris.

I've only driven a DSG briefly, but I've read a review that said that the Multitronic was significantly better. It's certainly superior to my previous 6-speed conventional auto and I thought that was smooth. I've had paddles in the past but can't see any point in them....(dog & bark yourself comes to mind:aargh4:). The only useful thing is being able to fix the ratios to suit certain conditions like going down steep hills etc which you can do anyway by shifting the lever over to manual mode. Most of the time it's not necessary as the Multitronic seems better at adapting to conditions than other autos. It's just like being powered by an electric motor...no gear changes...just smooth acceleration up and down the speed range with no undue revving or fuss. Would recommend this transmission to anybody but once tried you probably wouldn't want to go back to anything else :D

[christopher.bro]

Thanks for the helpful replies. Appreciate it won't be as quick as the Golf but that is almost a hot hatch.

But looking forward to the smoothness of the new one.

I also hear that the 2.0TDI is changed. Is it quieter? The Golf can be a bit rough.

[RichardCranium]

A colleague of mine has the 2.0tdi golf. Very quick, but yes, a tad noisy! I must say the 2.0tdi in my A4 is very quiet indeed

[MackemMan]

I also hear that the 2.0TDI is changed. Is it quieter? The Golf can be a bit rough.

Yes it is quieter, but part of that is down to the super smooth gearbox.

It has an extra couple of BHP, but the most noticable difference is that the "lag" has been fixed. When driving a car with the old 2.0 TDI (Golf/A3) you could be approaching a roundabout at slow speed, see a gap in the traffic & put your foot down. Except there was a short pause when the engine seemed to do nothing before roaring off in the distance.

That lag has gone, but to be fair with the A4 (& Multitronic) you are hardly likely to be roaring off into the distance either.