should i be afraid of the DCT ?

[gfh77665]

Originally Posted by maxdustington
VW = yes
Ford = no

Other brands = ?

VW made it work after teething pains, but Ford stopped offering DCTs because they could not fix their problems. On a sports car there is a reason for a DCT, but on normal cars where is the pay off for the risk? Slightly better fuel economy?


Really?? That is not based in reality:

https://www.autonews.com/article/20...ch-transmission-right-but-is-it-too-late

THEN:

Originally Posted by circuitsmith
I saw that ~90% of the complaints on carcomplaints.com were about the DCT.

Glad you mentioned that site. Looking up the Fiesta, I find the following, for the DCT trans:

2013 - 125
2014 - 70
2015 - 15
2016 - 5
2017 - ZERO
2018 - 1

Pretty clear to me that Ford fixed the issue and "got it right", just like the earlier site said.

THEN: Ford just put their DCT in the most powerful Mustang

https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/15/business/ford-mustang-shelby-gt500/index.html

 

[WyrTwister]

Originally Posted by WhyMe
still looking at cars for my daughter. looked at the hyundai kona but it seems too small. the tucson seems to be a better choice. one thing about the tucson is the standard DCT trans . i test drove it and the way it shifted and lack of engagement feel when moving the selector felt odd. Also , reading a lot that DCT are problematic in the long term, especially for stop and go traffic.

So those with a DCT trans. how do you like it and opinion on reliabilty of them

thanks



Ford has had a BUNCH of problems with the DCT transmissions . We ruled out buying a Focus for that reason . Never could find a straight answer as to if Ford ever got them really bixed . As opposed to band-aids .

 

[Propflux01]

Originally Posted by skyactiv
Originally Posted by Propflux01
Originally Posted by WhyMe


and that is the difficult thing. its hard to find a tucson size suv that does not have a CVT or DCT trans.


The 2018 tuscon was the last of the hyundai DCT Trannys. The 2019's went back to the 6 speed auto.


Hyundai still uses the 7 speed DCT in the 2019 Elantra Eco and as an option in the Elantra Sport.

Hyundai underrates MPG numbers because of the 100 million dollar EPA fine they got hit with. Consumers Reports got the best highway gas mileage ever in a non hybrid
gas car with the Elantra Eco when they first tested it. They are hard to find on dealer lots however.


He's not talking about the Elantra, hence why I stated tuscon.

 

[circuitsmith]

I avoided the DCT when I bought my '17 Tucson last year, after seeing so many complaints.
My last 4 cars were stickshifts BTW.
I do a lot of city & stop/go driving and also didn't want to worry about other drivers.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

The DCT is stupid. It's like Dumb and Dumber trying to drive a stick

And if you do have a DCT, then paddles are MANDATORY in order to get the most out of them. Since anything near decent driving on a DCT requires paddles, you can see why one with no paddles is awful.

They should've ordered a stop-sale on the DCT Focus and Fiesta and swapped in a real transmission. And give them a 10-mpg penalty on the EPA ratings. Ford wouldn't DARE put one of these in an Edge or Explorer.

A DCT is fine in ultra-performance sports cars, but they have NO PLACE in regular economy cars for everyday driving.

Honda has a torque converter DCT, which is better than other DCT's, but it's still not as good as a real automatic.

 

[edyvw]

Originally Posted by spk2000
Unless it has changed VW was using the same ZF transmission that BMW and Mercedes uses. We supplied parts and they told us the same one used in all these brands but each OE can program them differently.

VW used it in longitudinal engines.
However, VW management decided with B5 hitting really hard sales of Audi A4 and A6 in Europe, to separate Audi and VW more, so VW's went back to transverse engines and with that ZF was out of picture, plus it is more expensive than any other transmission manufacturer (though, they are also better than any other transmission manufacturer).
VW used 6 speed Aisin (Toyota) transmissions and now 8 speed (and they actually do much better in VW than in Toyota). Borg Warner makes DSG for VW and Audi, ZF makes PDK for Porsche and that is together with Getrag in BMW and Ferrari probably best dual clutch transmission.

 

[gfh77665]

Originally Posted by WyrTwister

Ford has had a BUNCH of problems with the DCT transmissions . We ruled out buying a Focus for that reason . Never could find a straight answer as to if Ford ever got them really bixed . As opposed to band-aids .



"Has had" is a backward looking statement. The Ford DCT is fixed.

https://www.autonews.com/article/20...ch-transmission-right-but-is-it-too-late

Look at the Fiesta repair stats (again).

DCT trans issues by model year:

2013 - 125
2014 - 70
2015 - 15
2016 - 5
2017 - ZERO
2018 - 1

 

[StevieC]

Just thought I would add a video on the subject for those that want more understanding how this transmission works, it happened to pop up in my YouTube feed this morning.

 

[PimTac]

Someone mentioned it already but I imagine a lot of owners that dislike the dct do so because they thought it was a automatic from the start so they expected a smooth operation.

While some were figuring out how to make the dct smoother operating, others focused on regular automatics and made them so they lock up much sooner thus achieving the same goal but with less complications.

The SkyActiv transmission torque converter is small and helps to get the car moving then locks up. That is one example.

 

[JTK]

I like the videos those guys do. Although my brain locks up like a Windows blue screen-o-death a few moments into a transmission one. Amazing stuff to me.

 

[edyvw]

Originally Posted by PimTac
Someone mentioned it already but I imagine a lot of owners that dislike the dct do so because they thought it was a automatic from the start so they expected a smooth operation.

While some were figuring out how to make the dct smoother operating, others focused on regular automatics and made them so they lock up much sooner thus achieving the same goal but with less complications.

The SkyActiv transmission torque converter is small and helps to get the car moving then locks up. That is one example.

Nothing comes close to DCT like BMW version of ZF8 transmission. It seriously begs the question why complexity and lack of towing capacity with DCT.

 

[kr_bitog]

Originally Posted by sloinker
The biggest issue with driving a DCT is at low speeds. You sometimes get some delay while the computer decides what you are asking and depending on how the transmission LEARNED to react to the situation. It will then react, sometimes in a strange manner compared to any other type automatic. VW DSG's do actually learn the driving traits of it's operator. If you are driving aggressively at speeds above ten miles an hour then there isn't a crisper, faster shifting transmission available. Part of VW's bad rap with DCT/DSG trannys has to do with volume. When you build millions of units and thousands have issues the volume of the complaints seems high, especially on social media. I tend to believe that the number of issues with VW DSG's as a percentage of the whole is in line with the mainstream failure rates of automatic transmissions as a whole and much likely better than many.

Vw dsg is well known due to wrong material used on mechatronic component, which they change the oil from synthetic to regular to delay the failure.