New member

Hello, I am a new member as from today. In May I took delivery of my 2016 Golf 1.4tsi dsg estate, as a replacement for a Subaru Forester xt. I was sorry to sell the Forester, but at 27mpg and £305 VED it was getting expensive to run.
I searched high and low for a suitable replacement, but could find nothing that would give me four wheel drive, a high seating position for ease of entry, reasonable luggage capacity, good performance and low running costs. A Suzuki Vitara came close, but the cargo area was just too small.
A lot to like about the Golf. The DSG is a wonder of the age. I had no idea these boxes were so advanced. I generally have mine in Individual mode, set to normal performance but with the weighted steering. I have used sport mode a few times, but haven't experimented with eco yet. I have experimented with the direct shift, but probably won't use it much as I have driven automatics since 1988 and really like them. Good to have the option though. I use the selector nudge to engage Sport mode for the moments I feel I need it - great!
The Adaptive Cruise is another wonder. So much safer than standard cruise, and it generally works so well I don't even know it's working, just sheds one or two miles per hour to keep a safe distance.
I'm not so keen on the start-stop system. The first day or two of ownership I was waiting for traffic to clear at a junction. An approaching car slowed and flashed his lights to let me go, so I gave it a healthy measure of throttle and started to put lock on, the car then started itself and took off. This was accompanied by quite a loud clunk from the nearside drive shaft. I now disable this feature at startup, but toggle it on or off as I feel prudent.
I am surprised how lively the Golf is with a fairly modest engine, I think it does a great job. The steering and handling are both good, the seats, instruments, auto lights and wipers are good too. I didn't think I would like auto wipers, but as they only operate in intermittent mode they are just fine.
I had rear parking sensors dealer fitted. I am very surprised that these are not standard on an SE model, or weren't when my car was built. I would have liked them on the front too, but dealer can't fit them apparently. I always leave a huge gap in front of me when I park, but hopefully I'll get the hang of it eventually, without any paintwork damage.

Thanks for reading.

Hi and welcome mate.the 1.4 is a good little engine.im very happy with mine.

Glad you're enjoying the car and yes DSG is a great piece of kit which gives you so many options on driving control depending on conditions and your mood.

Stop/Start is definitely a marmite thing personally I switch it off as soon as I start and only use it if I come upon a long term holdup - accident etc.

Love my estate, it's great looking, practical and well equipped car. I intend to change my car very often, but mk7 estate I intend to keep for while.
Stop/Start can be disabled permanently with VCDS or Obdeleven.

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You have to learn how to get the best out of S/S, I have it on all the time and feel it suits the DSG 'box very well. The way to stop it activating at junctions is "anticipation", you don't fly up to the junction and brake hard but approach them gradually so that either you don't stop at all or you stop gently. If you brake to a halt gently it won't activate but hill-hold will. On my daily commute it saves me between 5 and 10% on fuel.

Auto-wipers are one of things they haven't quite got right, they work but have their moments... At 100mph on a German Autobahn in blazing hot sun... I wasn't impressed!

I’ve never found S/S to be a problem for me but if it does die unexpectedly at a junction you have to be positive with the accelerator and put it this way, it’s a very rare thing for it not to be me that’s first away from the white line even if the engine is having a nap.

It’s only a matter of time until S/S becomes compulsory on all cars IMO and disabling it will be an MOT failure in future just like it has become with diesel cars DPF because of owners taking the filter out.

Start-Stop

Hobby55 said:

You have to learn how to get the best out of S/S, I have it on all the time and feel it suits the DSG 'box very well. The way to stop it activating at junctions is "anticipation", you don't fly up to the junction and brake hard but approach them gradually so that either you don't stop at all or you stop gently. If you brake to a halt gently it won't activate but hill-hold will. On my daily commute it saves me between 5 and 10% on fuel.

Auto-wipers are one of things they haven't quite got right, they work but have their moments... At 100mph on a German Autobahn in blazing hot sun... I wasn't impressed!

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That's very interesting about the SS not cutting in if you brake to a halt very gently. I had noticed that it didn't always stop the engine, but assumed this was due to some of the technical parameters listed in the manual not being met. I don't see this explained properly in the manual, so thanks for the information.

Start Stop

ChrisK said:

I’ve never found S/S to be a problem for me but if it does die unexpectedly at a junction you have to be positive with the accelerator and put it this way, it’s a very rare thing for it not to be me that’s first away from the white line even if the engine is having a nap.

It’s only a matter of time until S/S becomes compulsory on all cars IMO and disabling it will be an MOT failure in future just like it has become with diesel cars DPF because of owners taking the filter out.

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Now that I understand better how the SS works, I think it is a Good Thing.