Just bought a 2013 X6 40d - changed from RR Sport

[soupdragon]

[quote="X5Sport"]
Seems to be a common issue then, and I use my paddle shifters far more often than I feel I should need to for the same reason, the blasted DSG is constantly in the wrong gear unless in Sport!  The ZF box on the X6 is a dream in comparison 
[/quote]
The RRS that was replaced by the x6 was a ZF and prior to the Alltrack, I had a Jaguar S Type which also has a ZF gearbox (V6 twin turbo diesel)

The Dsg is butter smooth changing, don't get me wrong, but any ZF I've had is not only butter smooth, but also has that cany knack of being in the right gear. I think the way they are programmed and the way the torque convertor works means that you're driving style is 'learned' and the gearbox is in the right gear more often than not and quicker on throttle response.

Twin turbos always help with the diesel engines as the turbo lag doesn't come into play very much and it was my experience with my previous cars with single and twin turbos that made me think the 40d was a good choice for me and how I like to drive. It certainly feels very responsive.

The Dsg is also very good in its own right but maybe just tuned for economy rather than performance? Once it's in sport mode it's really nice but I think the ZF just shades it overall - just seems to have an edge. Both are great gearboxes to be fair though

[graemeX5]

Hi

That is interesting about the DSG box as I had an older Audi TT 3.2 petrol with a dsg and I found the opposite it was always had the knack of being in the correct gear whether it knew I was going to go up or down the box and shifted quickly and it never seemed to be be in the wrong gear.

Even when going for an overtake it would know to drop two gears or not and it was instant, maybe is was because the dsg was mated to a pertrol engine and the characteristic of the engine and mapping/settings of the gearbox would be different to those on a diesel car.

In fact when I changed over to the 135i auto what I found that the auto was a bit lazy in normal mode but came alive with sport mode, but again this was a petrol engine but with a turbo and again possibly due to the mapping of the engine and spooling of the turbo made the difference in their characteristics.

I haven't found any prob with my current E70 and on my previous E53 it was fine but sometimes a little less smooth when changing from 2nd to 1st so I had the gearbox settings re mappped by Jason at BWchiptune and it improved the tipping point when shifting down from 2nd to 1st.

So I guess that would be the same with the dsg box, and there is a good Indy Audi VAG specialist in Bedford, the TT shop, I used to look after the dsg box on my TT as a lot say the box is prone to probs buangain maintenance is the key with them.

Graeme

[X5Sport]

From reading the forums it seems the current (and fairly new) EA288 diesel engine in its 190BHP PS (170BHP) is not well suited to the DSG.  The EA188/189 (Dieselgate unit) in its 150 or 170BHP version is fine.  Something that VW have done with the newer engines' map means the unit wants to run at 1100rpm all the time and as that is well off the turbo range the system needs to go from 6th to 4th just to get the power 'in band' and there lies the problem.  It also means power comes in too late or too suddenly due to drivers having to add more right foot forcing a shift to 3rd or lower.

Because of this the box is constantly in the wrong gear and needs manual intervention.  Whether is is an emissions control issue, bad engine map, bad engine-transmission interface map, or something else is as yet not clear.

[soupdragon]

[quote="X5Sport"]
From reading the forums it seems the current (and fairly new) EA288 diesel engine in its 190BHP PS (170BHP) is not well suited to the DSG.  The EA188/189 (Dieselgate unit) in its 150 or 170BHP version is fine.  Something that VW have done with the newer engines' map means the unit wants to run at 1100rpm all the time and as that is well off the turbo range the system needs to go from 6th to 4th just to get the power 'in band' and there lies the problem.  It also means power comes in too late or too suddenly due to drivers having to add more right foot forcing a shift to 3rd or lower.

Because of this the box is constantly in the wrong gear and needs manual intervention.  Whether is is an emissions control issue, bad engine map, bad engine-transmission interface map, or something else is as yet not clear.
[/quote]

My particular engine is the 190PS 187BHP engine so this may be a different one again?

The engine itself is good, and so is the gearbox in terms of shifting, so presumably its software/mapping issue?

I guess a lot of people will like to tootle along and will welcome decent MPG's but to actually get it to perform in a more direct manner, might need a custom remap. With that said, my particular car has eco-normal-sport-offroad-individual options. I don't know what individual actually means but maybe you can customise some settings....I would need to read the manual (although reading the manual means I probably need to hand in my man card )

[X5Sport]

Off topic I know, but it's the same engine.

The 'fix' is apparently to use the VW programming software and change the Car type from '01 VW/Seat/Skoda' to '02 Audi' in the ECU coding for Manufacturer.  Makes a world of difference according to those who have just discovered it and made the change. 

[mark hamster 28]

My new shape X1 maybe a little like this BUT when ive got my mad head on every now and then, i just put it in sports mode and whoooooosh. Cos everybody wants good MPGthese days, i thought this was the way every manufacturer seems to be going these days ?? Even my new little 1.5 diesel Juke has 3 settings and it does make i difference in this also  O:-)