a3 on the way to NA

[Louis-Alain Richard]

>>Louis-Alain_Richard at computerhorizons.com wrote:
>>Damn Brett, you always seems to put the finger where it hurts...
>
>Then Brett Dikeman wrote:
>I'm expressing a different viewpoint, not attacking you.

I know you were not attacking me. The whole sentence was directed at me, not
you... I was not happy with the way I explained my experience with the DSG,
so I was telling myself: "Damn, I should've been more precise..."
Anyway, I think I will keep this post just to show my kids the drawbacks of
expressing feelings with words in another lanquage...

Case's closed, please accept my apologies for the rude words.
:-)


>>But what I was expecting was a kick-in-tha-butt when upshifting.
>
>The transmission varies its shifting style based on how it is being 
>driven. Chances are if you had the car for an extended period of time 
>it would shift more aggressively if you thrashed it.

About this, you are absolutely right. I didn't drive the car hard long
enough to experience its learning technique. Just over 1 hour onboard with
GF in the co-pilot seat.

>Still, you 
>won't get jerky shifts because power delivery is never interrupted. 
>Which is the -entire point- behind the double-clutch arrangement of 
>the DSG.  It is the holy grail of transmission technology for 
>performance driving.  No interruption in power delivery means (among 
>other things) no weight shift problems, so mid-turn shifting sounds 
>plausible.

That one, I didn't see it coming... but it's exactly that! The seamless
shifting was what I disliked (because I anticipated the jerky shift) about
the DSG. You are again right about the power delivery; the car always pull
no matter if you are shifting or not. The feeling however is closer to an
auto trans, because the engine has no "pause", the tach needle just drop a
little then begins another climb with each shift. Don't forget it's a 6
speed so the ratios are pretty close.


>>  You know, like the sequential gearbox we find on the small formula 
>>shool cars (Skip Barber and al).
>
>Skip Barber cars are syncro-less transmissions, or at least at the 
>school at Lime Rock. Hardly push-button shifting- they require 
>double-clutching and heel-toe techniques.

The car I drove was the "trainer car", Neon 2.0L and a Gemini sequential
5-speed. Upshifts are a no-clutch affair (just push the lever), but you
indeed need the left pedal when downshifting, to smooth the engine braking.
Heel and toe is out of my reach... I had to drive the car in bare socks
because my 13-sized shoes (46 in Euro) were too tall to clear the steering
rack... 


>>Maybe the DSG needs only a couple of iterations to perfect its behavior?
>
>  How are butter-smooth .008 second upshifts and .6 second downshifts 
>with no interruption in power delivery not perfect?  Granted the 
>downshifts could be made faster, but at a certain point you're 
>limited by how fast the engine can get to the target RPM without 
>tearing itself apart.
>
>Brett

I am sure there will be "tuner chips" available very soon to reprogram the
DSG's ECU. I guess I am not the only one who thinks the DSG lacks some bite.
Maybe not efficiency, but some bite...

Any other lister who has experienced the DSG yet?


Sorry again for the misunderstanding. I DO like it when someone show me the
weak points in my understanding of a mechanical system. 

Louis-Alain