The dash center display shows the currently-engaged gear.. If it also displayed the gear that's preselected, it might be useful in anticipating delays when the preselected gear is in the opposite direction you intend to pick..

Any ideas on whether or not the responsible controllers are flashable, and if anyone has the resources to reprogram it?

One tap pre-selects the gear and the second click would change the gear like it is right now. Kind of like double click and single click on windows

By the time you look at the display and perform whatever "analysis" of your potential gear selection and it's ramifications, you could just go ahead and change to whatever gear you want....

Then you can use the clutch pedal as a mouse button.....

you supposed to be watching the road when you're allegedly going to spend time analyzing what gear has been preselected, etc.

It's called "manual" tranny if you want that kind of control.

I don't buy that 600-900 ms stuff, unless that equates to .6 or .9 of a second--then I buy it.

Ok, try this test: Upshift or downshift using the paddle. Try to touch your shoulder/chest and get your hand back on the steering wheel after tapping the lever as fast as you can, and your hand will easily get back to the wheel before the shift occurs.

With a manual trans, I can perform the shift I WANT faster that that, and specifically WHEN I want!
Don't get me wrong, I love my DSG for daily use, but for ultimate performance work the manual trans seems the way to go for a competent driver. I am looking forward to track days real soon to get the REAL feeling of this DSG, not the on ramp feeling.

Also keep in mind that an UPshift is only 8 ms. That's .008 seconds. Try to beat that with a manual....

Yes, it's well known the upshift is a lot faster than the downshift with DSG. No matter how good you are with a manual, you will lose to DSG.

Try the "touch yourself" test on the upshift for me, will ya?

Lemme know your results. "I gots ta know".

clutch in, wait for the revs to drop, shift, clutch out than it would for someone with dsg to tap the paddle and wait for the tranny to shift. Now try doing this for each and every shift repeatedly. The actual shift times for DSG are untouchable.<ul><li><a href="http://forums.audiworld.com/a3/msgs/39193.phtml">http://forums.audiworld.com/a3/msgs/39193.phtml</a</li></ul>

whom otherwise is used to shifting the automatic gear lever from reverse to drive.

I like it and I think its an awesome technology but I still like having a manual for tracking because I want to improve my driving skill not just be amazed by how well the car does my work for me.

That's a good point. If someone wants to truly improve their driving skills manual would be the way to go.

On a side note, I do wish Audi was offering the DSG on the S4! Maybe have to wait 'til 2008 for that monster.

..and that simply because of the performance. F1, Rally, etc.

You can move the manual lever out of gear at the same time pushing clutch pedal, slipping in to next up or down gear and engage clutch real fast, and should the need arise to adjust that time to meet a point on the road, a manual allows that. I have driven manual for years and it is more ACCURATE than my DSG.

Also note the unreliability of the location of the paddles whilst turning the steering wheel ;)

"Oops, I meant to go up not down and didn't realize the wheel was turned 180 degrees! " Real slow shift engagement there!

of us it works just fine. If you think you can shift manually at 6ms you're not from this planet.

Go figure coming from a MT6 guy. Shouldn't MisterJJ be in this thread extolling the virtues of DSG?

Dave

Still think you can beat that, sparky? ;o)

&lt;&lt;If you think you can shift manually at 6ms &gt;&gt;

I thought we were talking .6 sec... someone set us straight please..

One thing I noticed...tell me if this is true/not. The box shifts quicker during more rapid acceleration than low-revs poking around. Got out there in the snow today and still can touch my shoulder and hand back on wheel before car shifts into higher gear....

And the remark about crack (not you Timmay) give it a break... I like the DSG but it sure is not a replacement for manual. And besides, the PADDLES NEED TO BE ON THE COLUMN NOT THE WHEEl! It is too easy to shift into the wrong gear or slam into neutral if beginning the "manual" process out of Drive and use the console shifter to change up.

"I like my DSG, my wife likes my DSG" Del Griffith, shower ring curtain guy.

That time is not "from activating the lever to gear selection to clutch engagement". It is from gear activation to clutch engagement. The delay is from the time my finger moves the paddle to the time the gear selector in the trans moves....

That is what I have been trying to explain, the delay is not in F1-rally etc etc.

So, that stuff moves pretty damn fast. LOL. You saying you are faster than that? Wow!

No.




Saying it is possible to shift faster than the delay in the system from paddle movement to clutch engagement. Especially true under normal driving situations, including while in Drive. Read.

Sometimes the car will even shift UP while in "manual mode"! What does THAT have to do with 40, 60, 600 or .6?

Steve, let me have a crack at explaining this.

Everyone's saying that it would be tough for even the most experienced and highly trained driver to shift an MT6 more quickly or more precisely than DSG, and they're probably right. And they're also right that time spent shifting is time lost on the track, especially for upshifts.

However, in timed competition, it isn't just about the speed of the shift -- it's about control over the timing, especially on downshifts. The DSG will sometimes shift for you, even in manual mode, and it's very hard to be precise about exactly when it will shift.

Those who don't have much competition experience or significant training are likely to have a harder time grasping the importance of this, but as a successful competition driver, let me tell you I wouldn't be willing to give up control over shift timing just to get a few ticks quicker on the upshifts.

Disclaimer: I've only driven a DSG car once, on the street, and didn't have much time to get familiar with it, but it was enough to tell me that I wasn't willing to spend more money to end up with a car that weighs more and gets worse mileage.

Also, it isn't hard to adapt to the "timing" of DSG . . . . hitting the paddle a split second before you want it to shift is much like deciding to shift in a manual.

Also, the DSG gets 1mpg better in city and 1mpg worse on highway . . . I'd hardly consider that "worse gas mileage" when the estimates are based on a thrifty 6MT driver.

Again, why am I defending DSG? Probably because there are glaring inaccuracies in people's statements here . . .

I seem to recall it downshifting for me as I came to a stop (again, on the street). Could easily be misremembering, and I don't know how that would map to a hard braking zone at the end of a long straight before a tight corner.

As for adapting to the timing, my understanding is that it pre-selects the gear it expects you'll need next. If it guesses wrong, it takes longer to shift. Will it always guess right in a competition situation? I don't have enough experience with it to know the answer.