I worried myself sick for two weeks because after ordering a Cheerup! with the ASG gearbox fitted I later read very bad reviews and plenty of them. I even asked my partner to cancel the order but she refused claiming the Internet is full of people you would cross the street to avoid if you saw them in person so don'tvalue all opinions for more than the strength of the person giving it, let's drive it and make our own opinion. True to form she was right.
We collected the Cheer up! from VW HQ in Braunschweig this weekend ( 28/09/13 ), North Germany and drove it a straight 700 km ( 435 miles ) with a 15 min break halfway. Now I can very comfortably say that the gearbox is a joy to use and all my worring was for nothing. Shame on you bad reviewers, shame. ASG has proved to me itwas designed to run smoothy and save my left leg from hundreds of gear changes while saving a ton of fuel at the same time. Yes it is a slower experience, so what. Do people really expect a 1ltr car to achieve much ? Ive had 10 cars with 1 ltr engines to 3 ltr turbos with Manual and DSG gearboxes and I am happy to understand what I expect from each of them.In defence of the ASG, I drive smoothly, infact I take pride in it, always have since my driving instructor mentioned that if a cup of water was on the dashboard I should drive in a way that it would still be sitting there by the end of my journey, I still drive with this in mind 15 years later. So having jumped into this little up! and find that it delivers a super smooth driving experience with great comfort, I was over the moon. I fully recommend this ASG gearbox so long as youunderstand that it is a lazy man's ( or woman's ) manual gearboxNOT a fast sporty DSG auto gearbox costing tons more, using more fuel but without the gear changing pauses of a manual gearbox. I find the ASG to be fast enough for my use but recommend a test drive first if you are the type of person how likes use the full range of revs from your engine.
We collected the Cheer up! from VW HQ in Braunschweig this weekend ( 28/09/13 ), North Germany and drove it a straight 700 km ( 435 miles ) with a 15 min break halfway. Now I can very comfortably say that the gearbox is a joy to use and all my worring was for nothing. Shame on you bad reviewers, shame. ASG has proved to me itwas designed to run smoothy and save my left leg from hundreds of gear changes while saving a ton of fuel at the same time. Yes it is a slower experience, so what. Do people really expect a 1ltr car to achieve much ? Ive had 10 cars with 1 ltr engines to 3 ltr turbos with Manual and DSG gearboxes and I am happy to understand what I expect from each of them.In defence of the ASG, I drive smoothly, infact I take pride in it, always have since my driving instructor mentioned that if a cup of water was on the dashboard I should drive in a way that it would still be sitting there by the end of my journey, I still drive with this in mind 15 years later. So having jumped into this little up! and find that it delivers a super smooth driving experience with great comfort, I was over the moon. I fully recommend this ASG gearbox so long as youunderstand that it is a lazy man's ( or woman's ) manual gearboxNOT a fast sporty DSG auto gearbox costing tons more, using more fuel but without the gear changing pauses of a manual gearbox. I find the ASG to be fast enough for my use but recommend a test drive first if you are the type of person how likes use the full range of revs from your engine.