[docsr]

Sudhir, the whole point of having an automatic is that we should not be shifting and choosing gears/modes etc during routine driving. It defeats the purpose of an automatic if one has to do this. Much like the elusive success formula in Bollywood, I am not sure anyone has found a sureshot way to use this DSG and say that he is never going to have a gearbox/drive train issue. I don't think driving style has got anything significant to do with it. In my instance there was absolutely no problem for 2 years- and then all of a sudden problems began- nothing had changed - same single driver, same route, same speed, same fuel, same....am sure you get the point!

It is this unpredictability that is the most worrying thing about this whole episode- it's randomness means, there is really no preventive measure- unfortunately. I would love to be corrected - alas "if wishes were horses"

[sudhir3127]

Thanks Docsr. All I'm looking for is a preferable way to drive the DSG.

@adi_petrolhead: Appreciate your 2 cents as well considering you are one of the early buyers of 1.8 TSI.

[adi_petrolhead]

Originally Posted by sudhir3127

Thanks Docsr. All I'm looking for is a preferable way to drive the DSG.



@adi_petrolhead: Appreciate your 2 cents as well considering you are one of the early buyers of 1.8 TSI.

I am with docsr here. The purpose of an automatic is defeated if it's not homologised to our conditions, and the more you drive the car, it learns your pattern. But yes, on a steep parking slope, similar situations, you can shift in to manual 1st gear, otherwise D works fine for all conditions. Changing to N while stopping at a traffic signal is to make ur right leg free from pressing the brake because it doesn't have auto hold function when car is in D, unlike Audi A3 in which it is so convenient. I sometimes don't shift to N, and only do so if I am turning the engine off. These gearboxes are made to withstand abuse from taxi drivers across the world who drive these cars for millions of miles before they need a new gearbox. What I think is that Skoda/VW has not yet found the right balance of the product in Indian conditions. DSG7 dq 200 is one of the quickest gearboxes in India, but unfortunately it comes with its gremlins.

I keep suggesting people to stay away from the Octavia but I don't know what magic spell Skoda dealers enchant new buyers with! 😵

[docsr]

Further update on my car that is lying in the workshop for about 6 weeks now.
The service engineer here had assured me that the work was completed-they have replaced the dual clutch plate, the gateway and the mechatronics unit. This was on the advice of the Skoda technicians.
The matter is stuck with them getting the sign off from the Extended Warranty providers. This has been going back and forth for 3 days now!
Am exhausted!

[adi_petrolhead]

Originally Posted by docsr

Further update on my car that is lying in the workshop for about 6 weeks now.

The service engineer here had assured me that the work was completed-they have replaced the dual clutch plate, the gateway and the mechatronics unit. This was on the advice of the Skoda technicians.

The matter is stuck with them getting the sign off from the Extended Warranty providers. This has been going back and forth for 3 days now!

Am exhausted!

It took Skoda two weeks to get approval for extended warranty. Actually they are mis-informing you. Without extended warranty approval they're not supposed to put new parts in the vehicle. They first get approval and then order the parts.

[sudhir3127]

Originally Posted by adi_petrolhead

I keep suggesting people to stay away from the Octavia but I don't know what magic spell Skoda dealers enchant new buyers with! 😵

Haha, it's not the magic spell of Skoda dealer but the addiction of a good fast drivers car. My drive would be max 150-200km in a month and I love to drive fast . Having said that I have a budget limitation of 30L OTR and need most bells and whistles in the car especially on safety side. Definitely don't want to go for a second hand car . Tried A3 petrol , a fast car with most safety features but petrol has only 1 variant (premium) and is a striped version of premium plus/technology. A4 is CVT , 320D is close to 42L , Volvo is again 38/40 X1 is 37 Q3 is dull and cramped and C is 40+ . I could go with Cruze LTZ but felt octavia much more refined and stable car. Happy to know your views though

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by sudhir3127

Haha, it's not the magic spell of Skoda dealer but the addiction of a good fast drivers car. My drive would be max 150-200km in a month and I love to drive fast . Having said that I have a budget limitation of 30L OTR and need most bells and whistles in the car especially on safety side. Definitely don't want to go for a second hand car . Tried A3 petrol , a fast car with most safety features but petrol has only 1 variant (premium) and is a striped version of premium plus/technology. A4 is CVT , 320D is close to 42L , Volvo is again 38/40 X1 is 37 Q3 is dull and cramped and C is 40+ . I could go with Cruze LTZ but felt octavia much more refined and stable car. Happy to know your views though

Spot on. There's no other option amongst the automatic petrol sedans in that budget. The Octavia Style + TSI just blows away the competition taking all factors into account. Incidentally, I already have the Cruze as a second car :-)

[docsr]

Originally Posted by adi_petrolhead

It took Skoda two weeks to get approval for extended warranty. Actually they are mis-informing you. Without extended warranty approval they're not supposed to put new parts in the vehicle. They first get approval and then order the parts.

I too had the thought that approval would have been sought before ordering new parts under extended warranty. I have been in touch with the local service manager and also the Skoda tech for this area. Both claim that there is some issues/paperwork to be sorted out between the workshop and Cholamandalam (which covers the extended warranty for the Octavia).I have been promised that the vehicle will be delivered by monday. I guess the replacement parts have costed over 2 lakhs and the insurer is making expected noises before paying up!

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by adi_petrolhead

I keep suggesting people to stay away from the Octavia but I don't know what magic spell Skoda dealers enchant new buyers with! 😵

I recently went with a friend and did a long TD. This was the Diesel DSG. For a "buy with the heart" kind of guy like me, it is hard to say no to a car like that. Even considering the fact that I own a Vento DSG myself and have read in detail every single post/thread on DSG Issues, today if you ask me to buy a D Segmenter, I would still probably buy the 1.8 TSI DSG. There is some kind of magnetism to this car.

My friend who was buying was more the 'buy with the mind kind'. He said Skoda= Poor After Sales, Reliability issues and dropped it from his list. I did not expect him to buy it, but took him there just so that he could appreciate what a well built, feature loaded, great to drive car should feel like (within this budget of course). Which he did of course.

On a side note: The Sales guy at Vinayak Skoda Bangalore, was the best we saw across all our visits which included Mahindra, Hyundai and Toyota. He definitely knew to throw that 'Magic Spell'

[reignofchaos]

Originally Posted by sudhir3127

Haha, it's not the magic spell of Skoda dealer but the addiction of a good fast drivers car. My drive would be max 150-200km in a month and I love to drive fast . Having said that I have a budget limitation of 30L OTR and need most bells and whistles in the car especially on safety side. Definitely don't want to go for a second hand car . Tried A3 petrol , a fast car with most safety features but petrol has only 1 variant (premium) and is a striped version of premium plus/technology. A4 is CVT , 320D is close to 42L , Volvo is again 38/40 X1 is 37 Q3 is dull and cramped and C is 40+ . I could go with Cruze LTZ but felt octavia much more refined and stable car. Happy to know your views though

See if you can find a v40cc t4 somewhere. I paid just 5 odd more than the Octavia. I found it to be as good or better than the Octavia in all respects with none of the drawbacks. Only thing missing was a sun roof.

[sudhir3127]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Spot on. There's no other option amongst the automatic petrol sedans in that budget. The Octavia Style + TSI just blows away the competition taking all factors into account. Incidentally, I already have the Cruze as a second car :-)

I was randomly looking at 0-180 numbers of few cars( on autocar) and tbh I'm very surprised. 0-180 of Octavia 1.8 TSI is 23.XX secs , Cruze is 41.xx , C250 is 25.xx, and 320d M sport is 28. I know how its works but is the Octavia really that much faster than C(3 secs) and 3 series( 5 secs) to 180 ? Also the Cruze numbers look off too.

Thanks

[VeyronSuperSprt]

Originally Posted by docsr

...there was absolutely no problem for 2 years- and then all of a sudden problems began- nothing had changed - same single driver, same route, same speed, same fuel, same....

Can't keep stressing this issue enough. Even as per VW / Skoda, city driving is "very high stress" on the car. Read that as high stress on the DSG, cooling systems and engine - usually in that order.

If you are confined to predominantly city driving avoid DSG's or be prepared to face these issues. It's got nothing to do with your driving style etc.

Of course VW/ Skoda aren't going to tell you this. But if you want to avoid DSG problems, use the car mainly on highway with reasonably fast driving.

Additionally follow the usual city precautions - use P while at traffic lights or jams, etc.

[adi_petrolhead]

Originally Posted by VeyronSuperSprt

Of course VW/ Skoda aren't going to tell you this. But if you want to avoid DSG problems, use the car mainly on highway with reasonably fast driving.

Additionally follow the usual city precautions - use P while at traffic lights or jams, etc.

On the contrary mine has been a strict highway driven car. I have clocked 60K kms in little over tow and a half years. 1000 kms of which has been driven by Skoda engineers while the car was at their mercy for repairs. In fact the factory technical person had specially instructed the dealer to perform a 25-30 km test on the car in heavy traffic city driving conditions after the new gearbox installation. They did, and the car worked fine for a week.

Right now again I have issues with the car. The instrument cluster shows a warning sign which according to the manual is "Exhaust Inspection Light" but in reality after VCDS scan, it revealed the error is in the Transmission control module, and Gear Selector Position. After completion of tests the light went away but keeps coming back on and off. If I start the car3-4 times, the light goes away.

They want the car at the dealership to inspect loose contact in wirings and the gear selector lever but I have asked for a loaner Octavia DSG or higher, also put a precondition that the suspected wiring must be ordered and kept ready to replace if needed along with the gear selector lever, and only technician from Pune and Aurangabad plants are allowed to touch the car. They are yet to honour any of the requests and will take the car for inspection and trial only if all of the conditions are met by Skoda.

Meanwhile I have driven almost 1000 kms since I got the car back about 3 weeks ago, there is no dip in performance, etc due to this error light in the cluster. Its very very weird.

[docsr]

Further delays in delivery of my car. The car has been in the workshop for over 6 weeks now (in their defence they have provided a Laura DSG as a loaner).
After a week spent on diagnostics, a further 1 week or so was spent in waiting for extended warranty clearance. A further 2 weeks was spent waiting for the mechatronics unit and some other stuff to arrive. Eventually, all the work was supposedly completed on the 21st may- that was 10 days ago. Since then I have been waiting for the car to be delivered. There appears to be some controversy between the dealer workshop, Skoda and Cholamandalam the insurer. Unfortunately, things are still not sorted out. I am told that the workshop is supposed to inform the insurer when they open things up; the insurer then sends somebody to take pictures and complete the paperwork. This step did not happened as, allegedly the workshop overlooked calling get insurance guys! So now there is no photos and the insurer has raised objections.
I am having no joy at all here! I really don't know what and whom to believe!

[VeyronSuperSprt]

Originally Posted by adi_petrolhead

On the contrary mine has been a strict highway driven car. I have clocked 60K kms in little over tow and a half years. 1000 kms of which has been driven by Skoda engineers while the car was at their mercy for repairs.

Some cars have continual issues and it isn't just a problem with the car but a mix of owner abuse, dealer abuse and a little bit of bad luck. For various reasons - usage pattern / dealer level mess ups etc, your car has had a chequered history. It's unfortunate but just highway driving won't help in your case.

Also, given the current status of your car, I would advise you to expect repetitive problems with the DSG and other areas of your car and accordingly decide on next steps going forward. Even if the dealership solves the current issue with your car , it will only be a temporary respite before another problem appears.