Volkswagen DSG – First gearbox in the world with double-clutch in the passenger car series
With the Golf R32, Volkswagen presents a technical world novelty: the sporty and easy-to-use Direct Shift Gearbox “DSG”.

The DSG engineers brought the agility and the fun of a manual transmission in harmony with the comfort of a conventional automatic transmission. At DSG, it was the question of two gears placed in parallel in one. The result of this complex clutch management: On engaging, there is no break in the traction power – typical for automatic manual transmission. Subsequently, a disparate, dynamic feeling of change is conveyed under high comfort features.

Example: While the car is driven in third gear, the fourth gear is already applied, but is not yet “active”. As soon as the ideal shift point is obtained, the clutch responsible for the third gear opens, while the other one closes and thus the fourth gear “engages sharply”. This results in an overlapping between opening and closing both clutches and subsequently in the convenient engaging already described. The complete engaging process is completed within a few hundredths of a second.

Together with the DSG, Volkswagen is the first manufacturer to bring a double-clutch gearbox to the production stage. Besides the Golf R 32, this particularly dynamic type of power transmission will be extended to other assembly lines over the course of time.