Hi guys,

First of all a big hello to you all, as you can see from my number of posts i am new to this forum.

After a lot of searching for a new car I have finally decided to purchase an Octivia VRS deisel - great looking car. However i am torn between going for the DSG or manual. Always had manuals in the past and considered them to be more of a drivers car- however was impressed with the DSG on a test drive last week., very smooth.

With regards to extras was thinking of going for the Xeons, parking sensors , Leather, and maxi-dot (if i went for the maunal as i believe its standard on the DSG), am i missing anything off that i might regret ?????????

Thanks

Riggs

Get the DSG.

.In addition to having a fantastic gearbox, you get Maxidot and a multifunction steering wheel.

Specify a spare wheel.....its only £40 ish... and rear parking sensors too and you get a diagram on the radio as well as audio signals

Hi guys,

First of all a big hello to you all, as you can see from my number of posts i am new to this forum.

After a lot of searching for a new car I have finally decided to purchase an Octivia VRS deisel - great looking car. However i am torn between going for the DSG or manual. Always had manuals in the past and considered them to be more of a drivers car- however was impressed with the DSG on a test drive last week., very smooth.

With regards to extras was thinking of going for the Xeons, parking sensors , Leather, and maxi-dot (if i went for the maunal as i believe its standard on the DSG), am i missing anything off that i might regret ?????????

Thanks

Riggs

If you cant find fault with the DSG then go for it (I certainly did but I stuck to petrol). I think some people find that it doesn't do exactly what they want it to do but that probably depends very much on ones own particular driving style. You should ask yourself whether you test drove the car in a similar way to how you would normally drive. If you think you didn't go and have another drive. I think if I were buying a diesel I would find it a tough choice even allowing for the ease of driving in traffic.

Hi Riggs. I'm a newbie too. I went for the DSG and after a month of use I think it's great - a much more relaxed style of driving if you want it to be, or you can play at F1 with the paddles. I do a lot of motorway travel, so stop/start traffic is inevitable and DSG is a real boon in those conditions.

I thought about leather but decided I liked the standard seats enough to get by. One thing I miss from my old A3 is the autodimming mirror - I'm kicking myself a bit for not having ordered that for the relatively low option cost that it represents. I hope this helps, and whichever route you choose I'm sure you'll enjoy what is a cracking car.

Cheers.

TC

I added leather and heated seats to mine............................................ really good in this cold weather! Only 3 options I did not go for sunroof, met paint and the satnav other than that everything was ticked xenons are brill too.

Forgot to add mine is the DSG and I love driving it, its so relaxed and yet if you want to have fun you can. Have to say DSG cars will be it from now on as I rarely get a chance to drive it where the manual makes it worth while.

Not had a chance to put much on mine yet just under 1000 miles so I've not put the box to full test and yes sometimes it can change up when you dont want it to or change down when you dont want it to BUT I think at the moment I'm still gettin used to it and its gettin used to me.

Edited 12 February, 201016 yr by polocoupe

Ditto on heated seats - get them - in this country they're a no brainer!

On the gearbox question I ordered manual and am pleased I did. The 6 speed box is superb and the ratios spot on, and it makes it a lot of fun to drive "enthusiastically" on A roads. I know the DSG box is also excellent (I've driven my sister's DSG Elegance a few times) but I just think "Performance" "driver's cars" should be manual.

Down to personal preference at the end of the day.....

Do spec heated seats though.

With regards to the seats, i do like the standard seats, but no sure how they would wear as they are pretty light in colour, and would show up any dirt, although i have heard you can get them treated and do clean easily.

Think the leather looks good ( especially on the Anthracite), just a shame its not the same standard as the leather that came on the limited edition version, which seemed very good.

Hi,

I currently have a petrol manual VRS which is is very very good but I am one of those lucky ones who gets to drive fast cars hard for a living and recently we have taken delivery of a Oct VRS dsg . After driving it on the first day I fell in love but waited until I had a good feww goes in it and my smile got bigger so I ordered one it gives you a great range to suit your mood D is relaxed, S is punchy and quick and then you have the tiptronic ( or what ever you call it) and not forgetting the paddels too.

So having experineced both I would say you have a tough call but its got to be the right one for you .

Good Luck

I went for a manual vrs diesel. Far better if you like to 'push' the car on

Hi,

I currently have a petrol manual VRS which is is very very good but I am one of those lucky ones who gets to drive fast cars hard for a living and recently we have taken delivery of a Oct VRS dsg . After driving it on the first day I fell in love but waited until I had a good feww goes in it and my smile got bigger so I ordered one it gives you a great range to suit your mood D is relaxed, S is punchy and quick and then you have the tiptronic ( or what ever you call it) and not forgetting the paddels too.

So having experineced both I would say you have a tough call but its got to be the right one for you .

Good Luck

Ditto, dsg is sooooo much fun..you can choose your box to suit your mood/road

DSG - Yes

80% of the reason I got a Scud, was just for the DSG!!!

With regards to the seats, i do like the standard seats, but no sure how they would wear as they are pretty light in colour, and would show up any dirt, although i have heard you can get them treated and do clean easily.

Think the leather looks good ( especially on the Anthracite), just a shame its not the same standard as the leather that came on the limited edition version, which seemed very good.

Yes you are right about the special edition they are so much better and look really sporty , wanted to retro fit them to mine but was looking at over £3000 ! My car now 3 years and 5 months old , you couldn`t get leather then so standard and still look like new. I thought the fabric weave would collect dust but doesn`t

Ditto on heated seats - get them - in this country they're a no brainer!

On the gearbox question I ordered manual and am pleased I did. The 6 speed box is superb and the ratios spot on, and it makes it a lot of fun to drive "enthusiastically" on A roads. I know the DSG box is also excellent (I've driven my sister's DSG Elegance a few times) but I just think "Performance" "driver's cars" should be manual.

Down to personal preference at the end of the day.....

Do spec heated seats though.

Manual gearbox's are becoming a rarity in exotic "Performance" cars these days. Bugatti, Ferrari, Lambo, Aston, the hardcore Evo10 is available with DSG, licensed from VW. F1, WRC....................its the future.

Sorry I'm ranting on.

To the OP, it comes down to personal choice, make sure you give the DSG a good test drive even try and get it as a loaner for a day or two before you decide because a ten minute spin up the road with the salesman won't do the gearbox justice.

Manual or DSG, its a fantastic car................long may you enjoy it.

DSG can be the proverbial "double edged sword".

In traffic & on the motorway it makes for easy & relaxed driving , whilst in the snow it's utterly useless unless you have the correct tyres!

DSG ftw

DSG can be the proverbial "double edged sword".

In traffic & on the motorway it makes for easy & relaxed driving , whilst in the snow it's utterly useless unless you have the correct tyres!

have to say I didn't find the dsg that bad in the snow, it has the crawl feature so just take the foot of the brake and let it tick over and gentle apply the power. Considering its got 18 low profile tyres I dont think it was that bad........though I do live in London and the snow was not as bad there.

Try it in more than a couple of inches & see what happens. It just rocks back n'forth.

Hi,

I currently have a petrol manual VRS which is is very very good but I am one of those lucky ones who gets to drive fast cars hard for a living and recently we have taken delivery of a Oct VRS dsg . After driving it on the first day I fell in love but waited until I had a good feww goes in it and my smile got bigger so I ordered one it gives you a great range to suit your mood D is relaxed, S is punchy and quick and then you have the tiptronic ( or what ever you call it) and not forgetting the paddels too.

So having experineced both I would say you have a tough call but its got to be the right one for you .

Good Luck

I'm also one of the lucky ones and if anyone can drive a DSG VRS on our roads and say that they really needed a manual then they're kidding themsef. My petrol VRS will do virtually anything I want it to in standard drive. Sport mode for extra punch and paddles for a bit of fun on the open winding road. Day to day driving the DSG is fantastic and lets you decide what you want to do with it.

DSG gearboxes are still having issues with the ecus that are in the box but saying that the ratio of faults are not that excessive

I still would have manual as more reliable

I love my DSG

I had a dsg for 3 years and liked it. I wouldn't put anyone off getting a car with one, but this time I chose a manual gearbox because, although few and far between, there were times when it would have been handier to have a manual. Starting off in snow was one of those times. It was fine if you just let it go itself, but if it didn't, it didn't! Another example of when I wished I had a manual was reversing up a steep ramp on to a small car ferry and having to stop within a couple of inches of the car behind me. It needed quite a bit of throttle to actually reverse up, and you just don't have the same control as you would with a manual.

That said, I do miss it sometimes (but it's only been a couple of weeks) and had no problems with it for the 40k miles I did when I had it.

I think the only options missing are heated seats & auto dipping mirror.

Before I ordered the VRS I spent a lot of time driving my M-I-L's Golf GT with DSG. At first I was really impressed with the box, but the more I drove the car, the more I felt hemmed in by the box. The standard mode seemed very 'relaxed', & the sports mode felt a little 'gung ho', so I ended up using the paddles and wishing for a manual. :S

I have to say that I also read a review (Autocar I think) that said the CRD VRS doesn't suit the DSG box as well as the petrol....that, my Golf experience & the fact that the mpg & CO2 are slightly poorer with the DSG meant that it never even got on to my option list.

As you've read, people who've got DSG think it's the 'Mutts', but ask yourself what kind of driving you do...if you don't spend a lot of time in Jams, don't have physical problems changing gear, don't spend every other weekend at the 'Ring' but do enjoy driving & the satisfaction of a good gear change, save some money & get the manual!

Personally i would go for the manual. I have a DSG at the moment and i have never really liked it. Its gettin sold on Monday and i'm going back to a manual Octavia.

Mine is a taxi and i thought the DSG would be ideal but i couldn't have been more wrong. The slow speed manoeuverability is awful and a really fast take off causes a jolt, and it is so BORING.

Even in a taxi i'm bored not changing gear.

Take long test drives in both, but it's really only when using a car day to day that you find it's shortcomings.

The slow speed manoeuverability is awful

As if that would really bother a taxi driver

and a really fast take off causes a jolt

That's more likely to bother a taxi driver But I'm surprised you go so far as to call it a jolt

and it is so BORING

Horses for courses - but it certainly ain't boring

Take long test drives in both

Finally something I agree with - the manual v DSG decision is so subjective that that is the only way YOU will be able to tell if it's for you