A long time ago, a buddy of mine that raced on the track told me that brake parts are a LOT less expensive to replace than drive train parts, so he slowed down on the race track accordingly.

Make your own decision, but diesels, in general have very very poor compression braking, there is nothing to restrict the air intake, since the motor doesn't run stoichiometrically, like a gasser does.

Brakes and rotors are cheap, transmissions, intake and exhaust valves, timing chains and such from sudden acceleration of the engine rpms down shifting, are not. A diesel is basically a low RPM motor.

Hope that helps with your braking decisions, choose wisely.

Answer is No.

Based on your driving patterns, I think you should have bought a V6 3.6 gasser. Sport mode is pretty much a waste in a TDI, it completely defeats what a diesel motor is designed for and does best, it's a gimmick. Fine on a sports car, not so much a 5000 # SUV on a truck chassis.

Put it in Drive and let the 8 speed gear box do it's job the way the german engineers envisioned. Save Sport mode for track days.

 

A long time ago, a buddy of mine that raced on the track told me that brake parts are a LOT less expensive to replace than drive train parts, so he slowed down on the race track accordingly.

No offense, but no idea what kind of 'racing' your buddy did but I have an inkling he might have been an armchair driver. The old "brakes are cheaper than engine parts" is a classic of the uninformed. Downshifting is a required skill and technique to be successful on the track, no one is wringing their hands about engine wear from increasing the RPMs on a downshift in a race car.

You should visit Pikes Peak sometime, I would love to be there as you explain to the Ranger at the brake check that your rotors are glowing red and pads melting off because pads are cheaper than your engine. :grin:

Now, if your idea of a downshift is dumping 4 gears at a time and pegging redline then yeah, I would worry about the "sudden acceleration" of the engine, but then I would also suggest you learn how to properly downshift as well. Proper downshifting is a much safer way to operate on the roads as well by maintaining idle engine power at all times, by downshifting as you brake and decelerating naturally if you need to apply the power to avoid an accident the engine is at the right level to accelerate. By "leaving the 8-speed to do as it was designed" if you had to apply power you would be faced with lag and delay as the transmission attempts to find a gear, and it still won't be a power gear, it'll just drop into a gear at cruise RPM usually.

I do agree that doing as the OP wants in skipping gears is not a good idea nor proper downshifting, but that's because I would recommend the correct downshifting procedure that keeps the vehicle settled and in the proper powerband.

Just because these are SUVs doesn't mean we have to drive them like clueless soccer moms, there's no excuse not to drive properly no matter what vehicle you are in.

My 2c

 

I just found it annoying that downshifting through 8 gears takes 3-4 downshift to even notice the start of engine braking. Also brakes are cheaper, but sometimes you want to use the brakes AND have the engine down shift at the same time. If you've ever driven a GM Duramax truck the auto downshift and gear hold on a downhill is nice. The Touareg doesn't offer such smart shifting as far as I know. And I think it's sort of silly to have to downshift three times to even get the engine into an RPM band where it creates some braking effect. I notice on my 5 speed TDI going down a hill with no throttle spools the turbo to make boost. It's a nice driving experience, and in a way how it should be. If I'm on the brakes going down a hill the turbo should be near peak boost (probably bleeding excess pressure) and it should be about in the middle of the RPM band so on the other side of the hill I can just add throttle. Sport mode is close... hence my question.



I understand transmission parts are expensive. But there are certain times where driving the vehicle as a system makes sense.


Are the engines and transmissions on the T3s really that fragile that they can't be downshifted? How many miles should I expect to get before I need to replace timing chain/belt and overhaul the trans clutches...



Also sport mode is nice because it holds a gear so it behaves more like a manual gearbox and, as far as I know that is less wear on trans clutch parts than constantly up shifting and down shifting.. its the slipping of the clutches between shifts that causes the real wear, unless we are talking about fatigue of metal gears and shafts. Around town its almost pointless to be in D because response time is long to get above 4th gear and as bad downshifting again. Around town it seems especially at low speeds I spend more time waiting for gear shifts than actually applying the power (my town has A LOT of stop signs). For this reason sometimes I simply drive in S mode; that way there's less time spent waiting for a shift and I can simply let off the throttle to start slowing down... like a manual.

 

Nothing personal... I think you bought the wrong vehicle for your needs. I don't foresee you having a happy ownership experience with your Common Rail Diesel TDI Touareg. IMHO..... This isn't your 5 speed TDI. Sorry. You need to adapt to your new to you Touareg diesel TDI.... the vehicle doesn't adapt to you.

 

Get the cayanne TCM strategy in it as it has a reportedly sportier feel.

 

I think I bought exactly the right Touareg for me. I wanted the 3.0 TDI. The shift schedule is a minor annoyance to me I guess... it WOULD be nice to fix it to make better sense. It seems like lazy programming in manual mode to simply have to downshift through 2 over drives to get to 5th or 6th where engine braking starts to do something. Skipping right to 4th or 5th gear would be a simple matter of calculating engine speed based on vehicle speed and incline level and then picking the right gear to conservatively put the vehicle in the right RPM band. I don't see it as a huge wear issue. But I guess perhaps for warranty reasons why encourage drivers to enjoy driving their car that much. Also as far as I can tell the 8 speed in the Touareg is rated for the Cayenne turbo V8s, so wear and tear should be minimum considering the HP and torque difference between the engines.


The same goes for sport mode recall. VW put a sport mode on it. Why not start up in sport mode if thats where it was left. If sport mode was an issue for longevity perhaps they should not have included it at all.


I think the entire point of owning the Touareg is to enjoy it as I see fit. Maybe I'll wear parts out quickly... maybe it'll need a new transmission. But isn't that my decision to make not VWs especially as I'm out of the warranty period...


I'll have to look into the Cayanne shift schedule and see whats entailed to flash that onto the trans controller... maybe that'll fix my issue. Or maybe I just need a trans tune.

 

Coding the transmission to the Cayenne map is easy with VCDS. I notice a difference from the standard Touareg map. However, engine braking was programmed out with the emissions fix. If you want a properly functioning transmission, look for the thread on here for getting your TCM flashed to original.

Also, in S, a quick blip of the accelerator pedal will cause the transmission to downshift one gear. I use that instead of manual mode when decelerating. It was much better on the T2, but still effective. Once you get the hang of it, you can come to a near stop without using the brakes.

 

How did it perform behave before the emissions fix?


I'll have to give it a try to blip the throttle. I guess I can understand why they mapped engine braking out. It's a shame though because that makes driving nicer.

 

I am confused!
NTDI, you are saying that the transmission doesn’t shift correctly? What!
These Aisin transmissions shift very well. Your tractor Duramax tranny is not even in the same ballpark. The transmission is very intuitive.
How about a reset on the transmission first before any judgment. These are not a slush box per sé.
The Aisin transmission is good for 1000Nm torque. If you are looking for a downshift by 2 gears then it will do it based on wheel speed, traction, steering angle, slip angle, load, throttle position, brake position, yaw, acceleration and deceleration and the what radio station you are listening to... (sorry, not the last one!).
If you want the transmission to stay in sport mode, then don’t put it in D but S! It will the use the different maps then.

 

I'm not understanding the pissing contest on how to shift a very well engineered vehicle with adequate measures to prevent damage to the driveline.
To answer the actual question, I'm not aware of a way to force a double down-shift without touching the intervening gear at least momentarily in the Aisin Auto 8. YRKtreg may know if it's possible. Doing a quick double downshift in manual is my method.
I agree with applying the Cayenne TCU mapping- it made a big difference on mine, with more aggressive down-shifting and more engine braking. It's a setting in VCDS, so no flash needed.

 

...

 

You in politics? Where did he mention ethnicity?

Where he mentioned Armenians. Armenian is an ethnicity.

 

And now, dear readers, we return to calmer waters discussing the shift change behaviour of VW Touaregs . . .

 

Adaptive Transmissions explained:
https://www.clubtouareg.com/forums/f43/adaptive-transmission-explained-8339.html

AFAIK, no Armenians are involved, nor persons from Glendale, nor New Century.

 

and now back to regular schedule programming.....




So... after putting many thousand miles on the TDI Touareg and switching to the Cayenne shift program (from the Q7/Touareg).... I can say I still have the same basic requests... and the following complaints (some new):


1) Hill descent is non existent. I think GM has this right on the Duramax... going down a hill with your foot off the throttle and it will downshift to maintain speed (very nice, even nicer with a trailer) With your foot lightly on the brake it also does this. Interestingly it senses the grade to apply braking. I wish the Touareg had this.


2) Up shifts are both too slow and not snappy enough. When Upshifting even with paddle shift the change interval seems longer than required.


3) Downshifts are also to slow and not snappy enough AND lack any kind of rev match to get rid of the jerk of a fast gear change


4) In Manual mode for some reason it auto up shifts early (way 500 RPM before the redline)... which makes no sense to me as I have every intention on uphifting about 200 RPM from redline. I find this sort of ruins manual mode to the point S mode has a better upshift behavior (sort of disappointing).


5) I wish it would have a 2 second lag when coming to a complete stop before switching from Manual (downshift mode) to auto mode. I downshift into M2 most of the time, and want to stay there after I come to a complete stop at a stop sign or sometimes when making a turn at a red light. Instead it drops into M1 as soon as I come to a complete stop then I have to upshift it to M2 again to pull out. I do this because M2 is fine for pulling out in normal driving and its low enough to still go as soon as the turbo does its thing. Also M1 is great for towing but really not needed on a daily driver basis.


6) I wish it would skip shift on light acceleration faster (better fuel economy).





Does anyone know if a good tune shop can adjust any of this?

 

Hi,

Did anyone work out how to have the trans default to s mode? Just curious because I would reqlly like to do this.

Thanks,
L