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Can anybodt shift this @#*! thing smoothly?

MSchott

Go Kart Newbie
Location
Michigan
Maybe it's my car, or maybe it's because I didn't come from a Mk6, but I've never once felt that the 1-2 shift in my Mk7 was an issue. I have done nothing to the car except adding a Boomba weighted knob and their short shift kit. IMO if you are trying to rush shifts in a FWD car with a long cable linkage, you are asking for trouble. It's not like a RWD car where you have basically a direct mechanical connection to the transmission.
 

tomsyco

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
RI
I too have problems shifting from 1st to 2nd. If I watch the tach and engage when it's rev matched it's smooth, but I can't do it without focusing on it or looking at the tach. I too came from a mk6 TDI and never had issues with jerky mismatched engagement. I think I'll try that rev hang coding mod thing that was suggested.
 

robmarktoo

Ready to race!
Location
Oregon
Yay another thread that makes me feel superior because I can shift the stock trans perfectly smoothly between 1-2 with no waiting. I did add a BMS clutch stop though. My advice for smooth 1-2 shifting:
ACCELERATE through 1 and 2. Don't shift into 2nd with no gas. Act like you are intending on continued acceleration until you are off the clutch in 2nd, THEN let your foot off if you aren't wanting to continue accelerating.
 

Unreal1

Autocross Champion
Location
Pittsburgh
First to second I don't mind in the GTI because I'm used to having to finesse that gear change in my old car, Fiesta ST. What I'm not used to is also having to finesse 2nd to 3rd and 3rd to 4th. In the FiST you can just let the clutch out and get right back on the gas and it's smooth. With the GTI I feel like I have to bring it to the engagement point and wait for it to grab before fully letting the clutch out. So I find myself riding the clutch more than I'm used to, but I guess it's normal in this car based on pedal cam vids I've seen.
 

R0dzilla7

New member
Location
Virginia
Car(s)
2019 GTI SE
Just had the shop dap short shifter installed and that helped the manual driving experience incredibly. Otherwise, I’d agree that the GTI responds better when slightly riding the clutch between 1st and 2nd gear IMO. Key word being slightly.
 

Daks

Autocross Champion
Location
Toronto
Car(s)
GTI PP
I’ve never had a problem. Stock clutch, stage 3 clutch, stock shifter, diesel geek shifter, always shifted smoothly.
 

Gray_Panther

Drag Racing Champion
Location
NY
Car(s)
GTi
Change out your trans fluid to redline or oem equivalent. After I did that at 30k along with cdv my gti shifted like butter. 1-2 in winter was noticeably better but every manual suffers in subzero climates.
I will change out the trans fluid again this summer as I near 60k.
 

SnailpowerMk7

Go Kart Champion
Location
NJ
Car(s)
MK7 GTI SE 6SPD MT
Hmm, zero issues here with going from 1-2. I picked up the car with 25k miles though and appeared to be from a previous owner who did jack to the car. I had in mind already some clutch/shifting issues because I wasn't the first owner... Judging by the tow bar installation in the rear, I'm thinking they used this car as a utility vehicle, lol.

That said, as smooth as the shifts have been (minus the long throws which I just remedied with Boomba Shift Adapter), I've had about 2-3 instances total in the 5 month ownership I've had with the car where my 2nd to 3rd scratched. Like it just didn't want to click into 3rd despite me throwing it into the gear like every other hundred time I had. I'm hoping now with the shorter, more precise throws since installing the adapter that is minimalizes/removes the chance of that ever occurring again.
 

2018gti

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Massachusetts, USA
Car(s)
Golf GTI Autobahn MT
Posted about my findings with rev hang in another thread but got no response - this one is more fitting I think.

Based on some videos online of people disconnecting their upper clutch switch to get rid of the rev hang (on a Fiesta and Veloster), I figured this switch may have something to do with the rev hang. First I tried simply disconnecting it, but the gas became super sensitive and the idle weirdly got higher. I did not drive it though so need to revisit this.

I also made a circuit to change the behavior of the upper clutch switch, so that it would match the lower switch in terms of its signal. However this made the car almost undrivable and didn’t fix the rev hang.

I believe it’s really just a matter of tuning the ecu. It’s unfortunate that when I’ve asked around, no one seems to know if it’s possible, or hasn’t tried looking. I wonder if a lot of people have DSGs so there isn’t an incentive to try to cure this problem. Until someone figures it out I will be holding up traffic with my 1 to 2 shifts 💀

Anyone else have some insight? I know we can deal with it but it would be great to solve this problem at the source.
 

Mandatoryclutchpedal

Go Kart Newbie
Location
NY
Car(s)
Cbr1000rr, GTI S
Rev hang in general is pretty disappointing and on the GTI is probably the biggest negative of the car. I haven't had any problems shifting or dealing with the clutch. It's just annoying having to slow down a simple task waiting for the revs to come down. When the guy double clutching in the 1963 Morris is able to change gears faster.

 

FlyingNugget

Go Kart Newbie
Location
Toronto, Canada
My biggest complaint about the 1-2 is that the gear ratio is so far apart. My 2nd gear doesn't really need to go to 110+km/h. A 1-2-3-4 that's all nice and close is definitely the nicest to row through.

Even with the clutch delay valve delete, a SMF, and a tune, 1-2 is still awkward.
 

Unreal1

Autocross Champion
Location
Pittsburgh
To clarify, yes the GTI does shift buttery smooth. However, what I think most people are complaining about is the fact you have to be deliberately slower with your shifts than you would in other cars in order for it to be smooth. It's not that it can't shift smooth or people can't figure out how to shift it smoothly, the problem is the way you need to shift in order to be smooth in this car.

For me it feels like there's a delay to everything that you have to wait for.
 
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