Hey everybody!
I should start off by saying I'm just here to give my honest opinion about the ASG gearbox and let you in on some of the problems I've been experiencing. The up has been around for 6 years, so maybe there's some kind of fix that I don't know of yet? I really hope to find some solutions here, or to listen to other forum member's problems or find out how they deal with it.
It might turn into a rant. If you don't like that or think the ASG was the best thing since sliced bread, this topic might not be for you. Not trying to start a discussion, just need this off my chest.
I should warn you this post might get veeeeeery long.
I haven't had any experience with many cars before this, and only drove an automatic car once (5.7 V8, 8 speed ZF).
---
My parents recently bought me a VW up!. It's my first car. I'm 18. It's a cute car, surprisingly roomy inside, an automatic and pretty well built (doesn't make any noise going down the road at all, whereas some cars would squeak or something plastic could rattle, ...) ""” I'd say it's a worthy VW product.
Except for the gearbox...
is that?! How did VW ever get away with putting a horrible gearbox like this in their cars? It literally feels like they spend like ‚¬5 on R&D and called it a day.
I just can't believe a world leading car company that came up with direct injected turbo- or twin charged engines mated to dual clutches in the most basic cars, comes up with a piece of crap like this.
The problem's I've been having:
<ul style="list-style-: disc">
<li style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; color: rgb69, 69, 69;">when getting moving from a stop, it stutters a little and jumps forward when the clutch is released. Then it's fine. I feel like it tries to release the clutch with as little throttle as possible, causing the stuttering.[/list]<ul style="list-style-: disc">
<li style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; color: rgb69, 69, 69;">you can do the laundry in between gear shifts, especially 1st to 2nd and 2nd to 3rd. Sometimes, you can see the speedometer drop a little before it engages the next gear... I still drive manuals all the time (I've driven over 15k km in manuals last year when I need to drive for my parents (who can't drive themselves anymore because of disabilities) or family members), and my gear changes are faster and smoother (none of the passengers are thrown around the vehicle). You'd expect a computer to be better than a human, right?[/list]<ul style="list-style-: disc">
<li style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; color: rgb69, 69, 69;">it stay in the lower rev range for way too long. It does 50 km/h in 5th, which is probably economical and environmentally-friendly and everything, but it's lugging the engine and when there's just the slightest incline, it doesn't know what to do anymore... Even a turbo wouldn't be smooth at 1,1k rpm anymore, but a naturally aspirated 1 liter 3 cyl. When coming to a stop, it'll always try to stay in the slowest rev range, which doesn't make sense... For example, if you slowed down to 40 km/h (25mph), it's still in 5th (maybe with the clutch in? I don't know) and obviously it's not going to accelerate, it needs to downshift to 3rd first, while really it already should've been in 3rd. This must be a software thing, right? Uphill, it always tries to stay in a gear that's not appropriate, so it just downshifts in the least comfortable way possible.[/list]<ul style="list-style-: disc">
<li style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; color: rgb69, 69, 69;">sometimes, it just doesn't shift. This could happen uphill, after it's been driving slowly, or at roundabouts, and it's terrifying. You just press the accelerator, and nothing happens. It's like the engine is off. It's a combination of the up! cruising at way too low rpm's again (while slowing down), having to shift when you try to accelerate and the fact that it sometimes takes a ridiculously long time to engage the next gear. It could be like 3-ish seconds, but the worst time was when I was on a roundabout and I just rolled for almost half the roundabout (it was a very large one) without accelerating. I was pumping the pedal, praying to Jesus and it said it was in D2 but clearly the clutch was not engaging for like 5 to 6-ish seconds. Just rolling at 10 km/h. That's dangerous.[/list]<ul style="list-style-: disc">
<li style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; color: rgb69, 69, 69;">it clunks into reverse... but only like once every 5 times. It sounds and feels like it's destroying itself. There's a loud clunk inside and the entire car shakes. Pretty embarrassing when you're out with friends, and from the outside it sounds like an even louder, short, sharp grinding noise. I know it doesn't have synchro's, but so do most manuals, and I've never had this happen in a manual, except if you were still rolling forward a bit when engaging first (which the up! can't do, it always happens when it's came to a complete stop). Manoeuvring in reverse almost requires driving with two feet. I know that's not good for an automatic with (a) clutch(es), but it's just not very refined or precise.
[/list]
Side note: I also think the idle is set too low for a 3 cyl. It literally shakes like crazy in neutral, except if the AC is on. In Drive, it revs up a little, but in D with AC on, it's makes like 900 rpm and then it starts shaking even more than at idle.
So if it idles at 750 rpm, it vibrates, At like 800 rpm it's fine, and at 900 it vibrates even worse, but after 1k rpm, it's gone again.
I've learned to pump the gas quickly every time you want to accelerate, it forces the car to shift to 3rd from 5th, which is the only way you'll get it to accelerate.
At highway speeds, you have to kick down to force it from 5th to 3rd, and if you press just a little harder (there's like a rest for the gas pedal, but you can push it a little beyond that), it'll go to 2nd, which you'll need for overtaking or engine braking down a steep hill.
But at this point, there are just so many foot movements, it's not better than a manual.
But the worst part is: I've been in a friends Fiat 500, which has a single-clutch automatic, too. It's just much smoother!
And a few days ago, I was in another friend's (slightly older) Peugeot, also a single-clutch automatic. you could hear a clunk every now and then when it changed gears, but it was butter smooth compared to the up!! It just shifts pretty much instantly, like the up! should.
Now, don't get me wrong. I know this is a semi-automatic, and I shouldn't expect it to drive like a Jaguar. But I feel like the software is just not optimised for this gearbox/engine. I'm just shocked that a French or Italian car's technology is just miles better than Volkswagen's. It's just crap and next to these two, it's total garbage!
It's almost impossible to believe Volkswagen has been offering this gearbox for 6 years. I just can't. They must've updated it by now, right? Is there a software update or something like that? They can't just sell a product like this and sleep at night, knowing how rubbish it is, right? They just can't?
It's just downright embarrassing to have people with you in the car or to let someone drive it. It's kinda dangerous, actually.
If anyone made it this far: thank you. I really wanted to share this with someone.
If there's people out there with an ASG as well: how does yours behave? Any tips and tricks?
Did VW, after all these years, not come up with a software update or something?
Thank you!
Edited by: mikejkklt
I should start off by saying I'm just here to give my honest opinion about the ASG gearbox and let you in on some of the problems I've been experiencing. The up has been around for 6 years, so maybe there's some kind of fix that I don't know of yet? I really hope to find some solutions here, or to listen to other forum member's problems or find out how they deal with it.
It might turn into a rant. If you don't like that or think the ASG was the best thing since sliced bread, this topic might not be for you. Not trying to start a discussion, just need this off my chest.
I should warn you this post might get veeeeeery long.
I haven't had any experience with many cars before this, and only drove an automatic car once (5.7 V8, 8 speed ZF).
---
My parents recently bought me a VW up!. It's my first car. I'm 18. It's a cute car, surprisingly roomy inside, an automatic and pretty well built (doesn't make any noise going down the road at all, whereas some cars would squeak or something plastic could rattle, ...) ""” I'd say it's a worthy VW product.
Except for the gearbox...
I just can't believe a world leading car company that came up with direct injected turbo- or twin charged engines mated to dual clutches in the most basic cars, comes up with a piece of crap like this.
The problem's I've been having:
<ul style="list-style-: disc">
<li style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; color: rgb69, 69, 69;">when getting moving from a stop, it stutters a little and jumps forward when the clutch is released. Then it's fine. I feel like it tries to release the clutch with as little throttle as possible, causing the stuttering.[/list]<ul style="list-style-: disc">
<li style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; color: rgb69, 69, 69;">you can do the laundry in between gear shifts, especially 1st to 2nd and 2nd to 3rd. Sometimes, you can see the speedometer drop a little before it engages the next gear... I still drive manuals all the time (I've driven over 15k km in manuals last year when I need to drive for my parents (who can't drive themselves anymore because of disabilities) or family members), and my gear changes are faster and smoother (none of the passengers are thrown around the vehicle). You'd expect a computer to be better than a human, right?[/list]<ul style="list-style-: disc">
<li style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; color: rgb69, 69, 69;">it stay in the lower rev range for way too long. It does 50 km/h in 5th, which is probably economical and environmentally-friendly and everything, but it's lugging the engine and when there's just the slightest incline, it doesn't know what to do anymore... Even a turbo wouldn't be smooth at 1,1k rpm anymore, but a naturally aspirated 1 liter 3 cyl. When coming to a stop, it'll always try to stay in the slowest rev range, which doesn't make sense... For example, if you slowed down to 40 km/h (25mph), it's still in 5th (maybe with the clutch in? I don't know) and obviously it's not going to accelerate, it needs to downshift to 3rd first, while really it already should've been in 3rd. This must be a software thing, right? Uphill, it always tries to stay in a gear that's not appropriate, so it just downshifts in the least comfortable way possible.[/list]<ul style="list-style-: disc">
<li style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; color: rgb69, 69, 69;">sometimes, it just doesn't shift. This could happen uphill, after it's been driving slowly, or at roundabouts, and it's terrifying. You just press the accelerator, and nothing happens. It's like the engine is off. It's a combination of the up! cruising at way too low rpm's again (while slowing down), having to shift when you try to accelerate and the fact that it sometimes takes a ridiculously long time to engage the next gear. It could be like 3-ish seconds, but the worst time was when I was on a roundabout and I just rolled for almost half the roundabout (it was a very large one) without accelerating. I was pumping the pedal, praying to Jesus and it said it was in D2 but clearly the clutch was not engaging for like 5 to 6-ish seconds. Just rolling at 10 km/h. That's dangerous.[/list]<ul style="list-style-: disc">
<li style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; color: rgb69, 69, 69;">it clunks into reverse... but only like once every 5 times. It sounds and feels like it's destroying itself. There's a loud clunk inside and the entire car shakes. Pretty embarrassing when you're out with friends, and from the outside it sounds like an even louder, short, sharp grinding noise. I know it doesn't have synchro's, but so do most manuals, and I've never had this happen in a manual, except if you were still rolling forward a bit when engaging first (which the up! can't do, it always happens when it's came to a complete stop). Manoeuvring in reverse almost requires driving with two feet. I know that's not good for an automatic with (a) clutch(es), but it's just not very refined or precise.
[/list]
Side note: I also think the idle is set too low for a 3 cyl. It literally shakes like crazy in neutral, except if the AC is on. In Drive, it revs up a little, but in D with AC on, it's makes like 900 rpm and then it starts shaking even more than at idle.
So if it idles at 750 rpm, it vibrates, At like 800 rpm it's fine, and at 900 it vibrates even worse, but after 1k rpm, it's gone again.
I've learned to pump the gas quickly every time you want to accelerate, it forces the car to shift to 3rd from 5th, which is the only way you'll get it to accelerate.
At highway speeds, you have to kick down to force it from 5th to 3rd, and if you press just a little harder (there's like a rest for the gas pedal, but you can push it a little beyond that), it'll go to 2nd, which you'll need for overtaking or engine braking down a steep hill.
But at this point, there are just so many foot movements, it's not better than a manual.
But the worst part is: I've been in a friends Fiat 500, which has a single-clutch automatic, too. It's just much smoother!
And a few days ago, I was in another friend's (slightly older) Peugeot, also a single-clutch automatic. you could hear a clunk every now and then when it changed gears, but it was butter smooth compared to the up!! It just shifts pretty much instantly, like the up! should.
Now, don't get me wrong. I know this is a semi-automatic, and I shouldn't expect it to drive like a Jaguar. But I feel like the software is just not optimised for this gearbox/engine. I'm just shocked that a French or Italian car's technology is just miles better than Volkswagen's. It's just crap and next to these two, it's total garbage!
It's almost impossible to believe Volkswagen has been offering this gearbox for 6 years. I just can't. They must've updated it by now, right? Is there a software update or something like that? They can't just sell a product like this and sleep at night, knowing how rubbish it is, right? They just can't?
It's just downright embarrassing to have people with you in the car or to let someone drive it. It's kinda dangerous, actually.
If anyone made it this far: thank you. I really wanted to share this with someone.
If there's people out there with an ASG as well: how does yours behave? Any tips and tricks?
Did VW, after all these years, not come up with a software update or something?
Thank you!
Edited by: mikejkklt