Kickdown

Barrington Caldbar · Sep 18, 2023

Had my Ocean since Saturday and noticed that when driving down steep hills the engine drops gear to D3 and even D2 causing overrevving. I wouldn't choose such a low gear in my manual vehicle. Do I have any control over this?

WelshGas · Sep 18, 2023

Barrington Caldbar said:
Had my Ocean since Saturday and noticed that when driving down steep hills the engine drops gear to D3 and even D2 causing overrevving. I wouldn't choose such a low gear in my manual vehicle. Do I have any control over this?

Have you tried the DSG manual function?

RedWhiteMonkey · Sep 18, 2023

You can change the gears if you want but the engine/gearbox management of the DSG system knows what it is doing, don't worry about it.

Barrington Caldbar · Sep 18, 2023

Good to know it's not a fault. Perhaps if I set the gear as M3 it will be a little better.

RockinNRollin · Sep 18, 2023

Just let the DSG box do it's thing. It's better and less wearing to use the available revs (and power) than labour the engine at low revs.

edocali · Sep 18, 2023

Barrington Caldbar said:
Had my Ocean since Saturday and noticed that when driving down steep hills the engine drops gear to D3 and even D2 causing overrevving. I wouldn't choose such a low gear in my manual vehicle. Do I have any control over this?

I actually find annoying that on steep downhills the DSG changes gears UP for me - I'd want more engine braking ... as I'm used to do with manual vehicles.

RockinNRollin · Sep 18, 2023

edocali said:
I actually find annoying that on steep downhills the DSG changes gears UP for me - I'd want more engine braking ... as I'm used to do with manual vehicles.

If you drag the brakes slightly for more than a few seconds it will start to change down to increase engine braking. What I do find irritating is the tendency for it to slip into "coasting" mode on downhills, but a quick slide of the lever to manual mode then back across forces it back into gear. On very steep roads, I often use manual mode to keep the van in the gear I want (e.g. very steep and tight hairpins I keep it locked in 1st as the box tries to climb into 2nd too quickly)

CaliforniaPhil · Sep 18, 2023

Barrington Caldbar said:
Had my Ocean since Saturday and noticed that when driving down steep hills the engine drops gear to D3 and even D2 causing overrevving. I wouldn't choose such a low gear in my manual vehicle. Do I have any control over this?

Sounds the same as my 72 plate. In auto mode down hill, the box goes down the gears to try and stop the van going too fast. Often seems to be revving hard. Only way is DSG into manual and help with a bit of braking.

If you haven't discovered coasting yet, its interesting. When you get a long downhill, tap your throttle and the gear display in the speedo changes to D and it coasts (freewheels) until you touch the brake or accelerator. Although mine sometimes doesn't go into coast and sometimes is activates when you take your foot off the accelerator. Must read the book to see if I'm doing it correctly.

Barrington Caldbar · Sep 19, 2023

Thanks all for your helpful thoughts. Last night I used the manual gears on a steep hill and set it at M4 which gave me a good balance between a low enough gear and braking to feel comfortable so that's the way forward, I think.

RockinNRollin · Sep 19, 2023

The DSG box can only react to the inputs it has; it will shift down gears when it detects excessive load in a given gear or where it detects the brakes being applied consistently but speed isn't reducing by much. It can't however see what is really going on; this is where the manual function is useful. My biggest pet hate of the DSG box is how early it shifts to 2nd gear, so much so it almost drags the clutch a bit as it does so.

Kayleigh · Sep 19, 2023

CaliforniaPhil said:
If you haven't discovered coasting yet, it’s interesting. When you get a long downhill, tap your throttle and the gear display in the speedo changes to D and it coasts (freewheels) until you touch the brake or accelerator. Although mine sometimes doesn't go into coast and sometimes is activates when you take your foot off the accelerator. Must read the book to see if I'm doing it correctly.

During my month of T6.1 ownership I found the coasting function to be very frustrating compared to the T6. Sometimes it would not coast at all regardless of tapping the accelerator. When it did engage the van seemed to lurch forward slightly.
The whole coasting experience is far better implemented in the T6 in my opinion.

B J G · Sep 19, 2023

edocali said:
I actually find annoying that on steep downhills the DSG changes gears UP for me - I'd want more engine braking ... as I'm used to do with manual vehicles.

Since having a DSG remap my T6 changes down to try to hold cruise speed rather than just previous speed build up with incline. Std cruise not ACC so no brake action .

CaliforniaPhil · Sep 19, 2023

Kayleigh said:
During my month of T6.1 ownership I found the coasting function to be very frustrating compared to the T6. Sometimes it would not coast at all regardless of tapping the accelerator. When it did engage the van seemed to lurch forward slightly.
The whole coasting experience is far better implemented in the T6 in my opinion.

It's the slight lurch I hate, if I was a passenger I would be asking if there is something wrong with the engine. Fortunately my wife hasn't got a clue about mechanical stuff, so ignores it.

B J G · Sep 19, 2023

CaliforniaPhil said:
It's the slight lurch I hate, if I was a passenger I would be asking if there is something wrong with the engine. Fortunately my wife hasn't got a clue about mechanical stuff, so ignores it.

Only way that I know that it's downshifted is by the gear indication & revs.
Perhaps a remap by TVS might sort it.
Couldn't access their online site for a link?

edocali · Sep 19, 2023

RockinNRollin said:
If you drag the brakes slightly for more than a few seconds it will start to change down to increase engine braking. What I do find irritating is the tendency for it to slip into "coasting" mode on downhills, but a quick slide of the lever to manual mode then back across forces it back into gear. On very steep roads, I often use manual mode to keep the van in the gear I want (e.g. very steep and tight hairpins I keep it locked in 1st as the box tries to climb into 2nd too quickly)

I too often use manual mode - or force a downchange with the paddles - but as the van speeds up downhill, the DSG will eventually upshift forcing me to brake - I can't rely on engine braking alone. This is not the case with manual gearboxes in my experience

Viktorgeorge · Sep 20, 2023

Kayleigh said:
During my month of T6.1 ownership I found the coasting function to be very frustrating compared to the T6. Sometimes it would not coast at all regardless of tapping the accelerator. When it did engage the van seemed to lurch forward slightly.
The whole coasting experience is far better implemented in the T6 in my opinion.

My Ocean has the same inconsistency, sometime coasting sometimes not, but thankfully no lurch.

After a year I am pretty sure the inconsistency is just that: as I have failed to master a consistent response. I am now just used to its quirkiness.

RockinNRollin · Sep 20, 2023

edocali said:
I too often use manual mode - or force a downchange with the paddles - but as the van speeds up downhill, the DSG will eventually upshift forcing me to brake - I can't rely on engine braking alone. This is not the case with manual gearboxes in my experience

I think a 2 litre 4-pot engine only has so much engine braking potential in a vehicle approaching 3 tonnes!

chockswahay · Sep 20, 2023

edocali said:
I too often use manual mode - or force a downchange with the paddles - but as the van speeds up downhill, the DSG will eventually upshift forcing me to brake - I can't rely on engine braking alone. This is not the case with manual gearboxes in my experience

Paddles? Paddles! What paddles? Mine doesn’t have any

edocali · Sep 20, 2023

chockswahay said:
Paddles? Paddles! What paddles? Mine doesn’t have any

Are there no DSG paddles on the 6.1 ???

Kayleigh · Sep 20, 2023

edocali said:
Are there no DSG paddles on the 6.1 ???

Not on my T6 either

andyinluton · Sep 20, 2023

Kayleigh said:
During my month of T6.1 ownership I found the coasting function to be very frustrating compared to the T6. Sometimes it would not coast at all regardless of tapping the accelerator. When it did engage the van seemed to lurch forward slightly.
The whole coasting experience is far better implemented in the T6 in my opinion.

Tapping the accelerator (or brake) would turn off coasting, it would assume you want to go faster so would engage drive.

RockinNRollin · Sep 20, 2023

andyinluton said:
Tapping the accelerator (or brake) would turn off coasting, it would assume you want to go faster so would engage drive.

Brake yes, but accelerator often it just goes back to coasting again.

No DSG paddles on mine either but I'm not missing them - had them on my Octavia vRS and even though that was much more of a sporty vehicle than the Cali, I still didn't really use them!

larrylamb · Sep 20, 2023

Kayleigh said:
Not on my T6 either

Think they were a short lived option on the T6.

edocali · Sep 20, 2023

larrylamb said:
Think they were a short lived option on the T6.

So you are either in auto mode or in manual mode by shifting the gear-lever to the right?
With the paddles I basically override the auto for a short time, then it takes over again. I find them quite handy

Kayleigh · Sep 20, 2023

edocali said:
So you are either in auto mode or in manual mode by shifting the gear-lever to the right?
With the paddles I basically override the auto for a short time, then it takes over again. I find them quite handy

Nope, not jealous at all :headbang

Kickdown

Barrington Caldbar

WelshGas

Retired after 42 yrs and enjoying Life.

RedWhiteMonkey

Barrington Caldbar

RockinNRollin

Where to next?

edocali

RockinNRollin

Where to next?

CaliforniaPhil

Barrington Caldbar

RockinNRollin

Where to next?

Kayleigh

Back in the ‘non-leaking’ T6 Beach

B J G

CaliforniaPhil

B J G

edocali

Viktorgeorge

Starlight Blue Ocean 4Mo MY2023 older bellows

RockinNRollin

Where to next?

chockswahay

edocali

Kayleigh

Back in the ‘non-leaking’ T6 Beach

andyinluton

RockinNRollin

Where to next?

larrylamb

Cali owner.

edocali

Kayleigh

Back in the ‘non-leaking’ T6 Beach

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