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Volkswagen DSG goes seven-speed

By Alborz Fallah |

Toyota might be talking about an eight-speed auto, but Volkswagen is not far behind with the German brand today announcing its popular DSG automatic gearbox will now be available with seven gears.

Volkswagen DSG goes 7-speed

With almost 1 million units of the DSG system sold worldwide, there is no doubt the quick and smooth shifting  twin-clutch automated manaual transmission has been popular with buyers. The first model to receive the treatment will be the Golf with the 1.4 TSI petrol and 1.9 TDI diesel engines.

Apart from the extra gear, there are some other changes. Firstly, Volkswagen describes it as the first DSG for front-traverse installation. Secondly, the clutches are no longer immersed in oil, they can now run dry, like conventional manual transmission clutch. This increases the amount of torque that can run through the gearbox, now up to 250Nm.

Fuel economy has also improved by 0.7 litres per 100 km over the six-speed DSG.

Volkswagen Australia told CarAdvice the gearbox was under consideration and would be discussed further in the new year.


 
  • Snerd

    … up to 250 Nm? The Tdi and the R32 are already good for 320Nm, and the Tdi Sport good for 350Nm.

  • Bubba Ganush

    i thought 6 gears was awesome incredible!

  • golfschwein

    Snerd, the 1.9Tdi has 77kw and 250Nm. The 2.0 Tdi is the one with 320Nm.

  • Me.

    Now I Can’t wait for a 10 speed auto!!!!

  • Duck

    6 speed Auto is good enough for australian drivining,but Australia doesnt need to have 7 speeds and 8 speeds because they are higher to reach to, but in europe on the autobarn and that it is needed because of the speed limits.

  • Watto_Cobra

    Duck, more gears does not always mean higher final drive ratio .ie. top speed. Often a four vs. five or five vs. six speed box in the same car will have the same 1:1 final drive ratio (not always). The extra gears (closer together) means the engine doesn’t have to work as hard accelerating up through the gears, meaning better fuel economy.

    If you have the power, changing your diff ratio would give you higher top speed on the “autobahn”. (I know I’m picky but it’s spelt with an H)

    Exception would be the HSV’s that had too tall a 6th gear. The VE “almost” solves that problem with a bigger donk.

    Basically more gears doesn’t always mean higher top speed, usually better fuel economy.

  • http://www.importjap.com/blog ImportJap

    The gearbox is designed specifically around economy, not performance.

  • Watto_Cobra

    Exactly ImportJap. The GTHO hit stupid speeds with a 4-speed box. 8-speed doesn’t mean twice as fast.

  • http://elfin The boss

    I hit stupid speeds in my 4 speed tiptronic and it wants to go harder go the gt but would love a 6 speed auto zf all the way from germany, bmw land now thats class right there.

  • Reckless1

    The fastest accelerating cars on earth use 2 speed autos – Powerglide for the dragsters. They also have a petty good top speed at the end of the run :)

    But economy is not part of the dragster design brief….

    The 7 speed DSG will be a great addition to the VW stable, helping to achieve their goals of more models and more sales.

    A beautiful piece of engineering development, and available to anyone who can stretch the car budget into a VW.

  • Lcat

    Probably being introduced late in this model cycle in preparation for next gen golf etc to ensure it is fully bedded down and all (if any) niggles eliminated. This one – as others have said – is aiming for maximum economy.

  • http://elfin The boss.

    Again i hit stupid speeds with a 4 speed tiptronic,lovin it hehehe.

  • chook

    Why not just use a CVT transmission????

  • Bavarian Missile

    Place is turning into a farm yard!!Chooks and Ducks!!

  • Lcat

    Good point Chook. (It is the festive season for birds B.M.!!)
    From what i’ve read CVTs do offer better fuel economy but struggle to handle the torque of larger engines. DSG transmissions, the development of which was championed by VW, cost less to manufacture and offer the driver a choice between an automatic mode or a more interactive clutchless shifting mode. DSGs are also lighter and fit more directly into space designed for a standard manual transmission. But u don’t have to go far on the blogs to find there is a raging debate re CVT v (dual clutch) DSG type systems.

  • Bavarian Missile

    hahaha……true Lcat,but also pigs,Im sure that will be next.Plenty on the site telling Porkies….hehehe

  • Reckless1

    If CVT was better, F1 cars would use it. They don’t. They use a form of DSG.

  • Lcat

    ^ Not yet…..
    On the 5th June 2007 Torotrak Plc announced a licence agreement with Xtrac Ltd to use Torotrak’s traction drive technology to develop highly efficient and compact continuously variable transmissions (CVTs) for application in a new mechanical kinetic energy recovery system (KERS) proposed for Formula 1 motor racing.