panic-mechanic wrote: ↑Wed Feb 06, 2019 10:53 am
The thing is though - it isn't an auto. It's a manual gearbox (with two clutches) that is operated and shifted by electro hydraulic means.
So you need to treat it a bit like a manual to make it last.
One of the first things maybe somebody taught you when driving a manual is not to ride the clutch. So if you stand at a robot - keep the clutch depressed(this has a secondary long term effect of wearing thrust bearings in the engine but let's not go there) and engage the brakes or handbrake or stick it in neutral with the brakes on. Don't 'ride' the clutch to keep the car stationary.
Well now this is the same thing for DSG. When you stand still with your foot on the brake it will disengage the clutch and basically do the equivalent of sitting in gear with you foot fully on the clutch. As soon as you release the brake the electronics will try to apply the clutch and let the car move forward. IE the equivalent of you riding the clutch. Thus at that point you are incurring clutch plate wear. Once you at the speed where the need is not there to slip the clutch it is fully engaged like a manual with your foot off the clutch. When you slow down and it has geared down to second or first and if you keep slowing it down to the point where the engine would stall it will now start slipping the clutch again to accomodate your speed and if you have come to a standstill it will disengage.
Now a genuine auto box has for the connection between the engine and the gearbox a thing called a torque converter. There is no clutches in a torque converter to make it start or stop - the clutches in there is to do lockup which only occurs in gears like 4-th onward in audi and VW products mostly.
A torque converter has two sets of 'vanes' set in very close proximity and the area around them is filled with oil. When the driven vanes(attached to the engine side) speeds up the friction effect of the oil causes the vanes on the other side to be dragged along and thus drive is created in the gearbox. There is no actual components touching and thus no wear other than some heating of the oil and with age - breakdown of the fluid itself. So allowing the vehicle to slowly creep forward with you foot lightly on the brake has no wear effect on the torque converter and you can do it all the time for no penalty. IE brake creeping is what makes auto boxes great in traffic.
Once the vehicle is moving these days the torque converter will be locked up by a set of physical clutches and will then react like a clutch car - ie power transfer is direct with no slip from the vanes.
These are the Main differences in what distinguises the 'workings' of a dsg to an auto for what we care for in terms of longevity. If you allow a dsg car to creep slowly forward with your foot partially on the brake it is wearing the clutch set for gears 1,3,5,7 and with time they will be too thin for the system to get drive and then you get all kinds of issues or get locked into 2,4,6 gears only.
So it's really at slowing down and driving in traffic that you need to consider the workings of DSG. For any other times - yes sure it's an auto for all intents and purposes. If you drive it like an auto in traffic - expect to replace a set of clutches sooner than one that doesn't or that runs long distance.
