Al_in_Philly
Autocross Newbie
- Location
- Philadelphia USA
Every car I've ever owned has had a manual transmission--until now. I wanted a Golf R, badly, and couldn't wait until the end of summer so I jumped in line for one of the first 500 R's in the US. That meant I was going to get mine with the DSG, just like every other one getting the first 500 imported. I was a bit anxious about it, even though I'd read really good things about this transmission. Helping me with this choice was the fact that my wife would be getting (left) knee surgery soon, and a car without a clutch pedal just made more sense in this situation.
At first, I thought "hey, this isn't so bad," and just focused on all the other great things the R had to offer. And occasionally I'd be caught a gear or two too low, which didn't thrill me. But I began to "learn" the transmission a little more. Knock the shift lever into "Sport" if I was thinking about accelerating quickly--yes, that makes the gas in the tank shoot straight out of all four tailpipes, but it kept the car in just the right gear to scoot about rather nicely; you can alway put it back in "Drive" when you're just going to be chugging along in traffic. I acclimated to shifting with the paddles (rather than my old six on the floor) after a bit, and now not only do I really like doing it, it's become something that I don't even think about anymore, just like rowing a stick-shift. I've read some complaints that the paddles are too small to use effortlessly when in a turn, but then again shifting with a stick on the floor in the middle of a turn is almost impossible to do anyhow.
One thing I loved from the start is that the transmission never felt "disconnected" from the driving wheels like virtually every other automatic I've been forced to drive felt. This feels just like a manual (well, because it is, sort of): take your foot off the gas and the car slows down! Woo hoo!
For a bit, I tried throwing the shifter into "Manual Mode," banging up and down through the gears, but soon it dawned on me that as often as not, if I left the trans in "Sport" it'd shift pretty much as I would be doing by hand. And being totally honest, the transmission shifts quicker than actuating the clutch with my left foot ever could do. So now, aside from the occasion pull on the paddles, I let the engineers at VW do the shifting for me, allowing me to focus on other things.
Now I know why GP drivers opted for this set-up, dumping their clutch pedals, years ago. OK, there's not the feeling of "connection" with the drive train which a full-fledged manual gives you, but driving the R gives me enough of that anyhow, DSG or not.
And to top it all off, I don't have to listen to my car screeching before stalling out at the hands of some 18 year old valet driver who was never properly taught how to drive a stick.
Yeah, I'm not nearly as heartbroken about passing on waiting for a manual trans Golf R as I thought I'd be.
At first, I thought "hey, this isn't so bad," and just focused on all the other great things the R had to offer. And occasionally I'd be caught a gear or two too low, which didn't thrill me. But I began to "learn" the transmission a little more. Knock the shift lever into "Sport" if I was thinking about accelerating quickly--yes, that makes the gas in the tank shoot straight out of all four tailpipes, but it kept the car in just the right gear to scoot about rather nicely; you can alway put it back in "Drive" when you're just going to be chugging along in traffic. I acclimated to shifting with the paddles (rather than my old six on the floor) after a bit, and now not only do I really like doing it, it's become something that I don't even think about anymore, just like rowing a stick-shift. I've read some complaints that the paddles are too small to use effortlessly when in a turn, but then again shifting with a stick on the floor in the middle of a turn is almost impossible to do anyhow.
One thing I loved from the start is that the transmission never felt "disconnected" from the driving wheels like virtually every other automatic I've been forced to drive felt. This feels just like a manual (well, because it is, sort of): take your foot off the gas and the car slows down! Woo hoo!
For a bit, I tried throwing the shifter into "Manual Mode," banging up and down through the gears, but soon it dawned on me that as often as not, if I left the trans in "Sport" it'd shift pretty much as I would be doing by hand. And being totally honest, the transmission shifts quicker than actuating the clutch with my left foot ever could do. So now, aside from the occasion pull on the paddles, I let the engineers at VW do the shifting for me, allowing me to focus on other things.
Now I know why GP drivers opted for this set-up, dumping their clutch pedals, years ago. OK, there's not the feeling of "connection" with the drive train which a full-fledged manual gives you, but driving the R gives me enough of that anyhow, DSG or not.
And to top it all off, I don't have to listen to my car screeching before stalling out at the hands of some 18 year old valet driver who was never properly taught how to drive a stick.
Yeah, I'm not nearly as heartbroken about passing on waiting for a manual trans Golf R as I thought I'd be.
