DSG vs manual: MPG and total running cost

[spencetj]

I am hopefully soon to be a Passat owner, it will be a 2.0 TDI Bluemotion estate about a year old, but whether to go for manual or DSG? I just don't know!

With the price of fuel as it is, I am interested in maximising the MPG although probably not going to be doing a very high mileage so the cost of fuel may be dwarfed by depreciation in the grand scheme of things. Assuming we get on with the car the intention would be to keep it indefinitely, I have had my current BMW 328 coupe for about 14 years and it only being replaced because its not very family friendly!

I know the official average MPG is about 61 for the manual and 54 for DSG which is quite a gap, and the road tax is higher for the DSG as well. The wife and I have driven both and probably either would do, but I really like the DSG. I am just a bit concerned about the fuel economy, servicing costs, and risk of expensive repairs especially when the car gets older. On the test drive we averaged about 38MPG in the DSG and 42 in the manual, with some playing around and "enthusiastic" driving to see what it could do (especially from the wife!). Hopefully it would be better in normal driving.

The salesman said the MGP difference between the manual and DSG was very little in practice because the DSG always selects the right gear whereas the driver may not. It certainly selected a much higher gear than I would have done.

Any thoughts/experiences/words of wisdom? Is the DSG going to cost me a fortune down the line?

[bertj]

Now on my 5th diesel Passat. The last two have been DSG's and I would never consider going back to manual. My present Passat is the same as the one you are considering buying; in fact it was a 6 month old Bentley Motors management car. Now covered about 9,000 miles with no problems whatsoever. It's been averaging 50mpg including several 300 mile trips to Scotland and a mixture of short/medium trips. From what I've heard you won't do much better with a manual car. The Blue Motion stop/start works very well as does the auto hold. I can't fault the DSG box as it's always in the correct gear with outstanding acceleration available, especially in sport mode. DSG boxes are infinitely superior to old fashioned automatic boxes. It's on long life servicing and the first service is not due until December (Approx £240). Annual car tax is £125. IMO, in today's traffic, manual gear changing is a much over rated pastime! I'm afraid I can't comment on longevity as I usually keep my cars about three years/40k miles but I'm sure someone else will.