Quote:
Originally Posted by kpkeerthi What is the logic behind putting the gear in N when stopped in traffic? Does the manual say so? Sounds more like a fallacy. Holding the brake pedal while remaining in D should put the car on neutral. No? |
I drive a Kodiaq, which has a DQ381 gearbox. After I got the car, I spent a long time figuring out driving practices that would play nice with the DSG. This
Team-BHP thread (DSG, demystified! All you need to know about VW's Direct-Shift Gearbox) was incredibly useful. However, the information that I got from this thread, Kodiaq manuals, and from various VW/Skoda groups in general, did not provide a definitive answer on whether pressing the brake pedal while in D mode would rest the clutch by engaging the right lever on the transmission. On my car, I have seen the engine RPM remaining the same in both cases (D with brakes and N), so I believe there is some merit in your position.
Here is the practice that I follow these days, for any car that has DSG:
1. If the car has Start-Stop and Auto Hold, keep these ON. Now, the car's engine will shut down when the car comes to a stop (in most cases). Take the leg off the brake pedal. At this point, the clutches should be disengaged, and the parking brake is engaged (from auto-hold). If I have to stay in stopped state for more than 30 seconds, I put the leg back on brake, specifically shift to N, engage parking brake, and take the leg off the brake. If the car is on an incline, I engage parking brake in N mode as before, and then move to P mode to engage the parking pawl.
2. If the car does not have start-stop and auto-hold (or if the start-stop is not engaging), I just keep the brake pressed while in D mode, when I have to stop. Then, if I estimate that it would take more than 20 seconds to drive off again, I will shift to Neutral, engage parking brake, and take the leg off the brake. If on incline, I will engage P mode as in the previous case.
If I am in crawling traffic, I also switch the car to manual shifting and shift to minimize clutch slippage and hunting. I also minimize the number of stop and drive instances by driving off only once I have a couple of car lengths of free space in front of me (at the cost of getting honked a lot, two-wheelers cutting in front etc.).
I believe these practices provide a decent trade-off between fuel consumption and wear, and also provides some insurance to cover my ignorance.
