2008 Volkswagen R32: harsh or hard shifting

Filed Apr 13, 2016 · Transmission · 103,000 miles · ID

I am experiencing the well known symptoms of a failing mechatronic unit in the volkswagen dsg gearbox. There was a recall from previous complaints regarding this issue. Symptoms are lurching/harsh engagement when starting from a stop. Jerky/ almost bouncy reversing. Harsh/clunky shifts between gears. Loss of drive operation at freeway speeds. This can be dangerous in many situations. My recall was completed through volkswagen at roughly 55,000 miles. I started to notice the symptoms arise again at approximately 103,000 miles. This is literally just after the vw "extended" warranty on the dsg gearbox and replaced mechatronics unit expired. (10 year/100,000 miles) I find it very odd that the first mechatronics unit lasted just 50,000 miles and it seems as if the 2nd has failed in nearly the exact same time frame. I have contacted vwoa and they refused any kind of goodwill or additional assistance regarding this issue.

Filed Apr 25, 2013 · Transmission · 54,000 miles · WA

Extreme harsh shifting up from first to second during acceleration. Also experience harsh shifting from second to first and then into reverse. Most common occurrence is during slow speeds in parking lots and coming to and from complete stops. The issues feels to be coming directly from shifting and clutch engagement.

Filed Dec 27, 2012 · Transmission · 60,129 miles · FL

2008 volkswagen r 32 is having issues with dsg transmission operation vehicle is extremely rough shifting into first from neutral and engaging into reverse from a stop. Vehicle also shift extremely rough in sport mode. The car jerks into and out of each gear at any speed. Been to vw 3 times and complained! They said that's normal. I look it up and went back and told the service rep. Why didn't he know our told me about the recall. He said that he didn't know! He has been a service rep for over 10 years?? Finally the said that the going to fix the problem! Not a new transmission. But its recommended...

Filed Aug 10, 2010 · Transmission · 39,000 miles · TX

2008 volkswagen r 32 is having issues with dsg transmission operation vehicle is extremely rough shifting into first from neutral and engaging into reverse from a stop. Vehicle also shift extremely rough in sport mode. The car jerks into and out of each gear at any speed.

Filed Jun 28, 2010 · Transmission · 22,000 miles · PA

My 2008 vw r32 is starting to have dsg transmission problems at 22,000 miles. It clunks when going in and out of reverse and drive; it feels as though it will not disengage the forward gear when coming to a stop, then suddenly disengages, jolting the whole car. This happens all the time when driving. The dealer acknowledged the problem and said they will get a part to try to solve it, but not until september (and it is june now). They said to keep driving it this way.

Filed Jan 7, 2010 · Transmission · 24,500 miles · PA

After the car gets to it's warm temps (roughly 30 mins of driving), it starts to jerk through low gears, harsh downshifting when slowing down to stop. Taking my foot off the brake from a stop the car will lurch/sputter forward rather than slowly roll forward, at times (very inconsistent, roughly 2-3 in an hours drive) the car will surge then slam into gear before I'm able to press on the gas to drive, it feels almost as though it's about to stall.

Filed Nov 5, 2009 · Transmission · 20,000 miles · CA

When the car was new it was smooth and ride was great shifting was perfect, as time and miles pass the car got really jerky with the transmission, car now rides smooth but the sifting is terrible, and tranny is making alot of noises when backing up and turning the steering wheel I always hear a clunk, loud and you can feel it, every time I take it to my dealer it magically goes away for a week or two weeks or so then its back its really frustrating that no one at the dealer ship really cares they make it seem like I'm doing something wrong please help!!

Filed Sep 15, 2009 · Transmission · 22,000 miles · FL

My 2008 golf r32 equipped with a dsg transmission is having rough shifting, rough clutch engagement, choppy reverse and power loss at highway speeds under hard acceleration. Please push vw of america to have a recall campaign done. How long do owners have to wait for this? I guess vw and the federal safety agency want someone to die before any action is taken. Thank you.

Filed Sep 2, 2009 · Transmission · 17,646 miles · NV

After coming to a complete stop and letting off the brake pedal, while the car is still in drive, it will lurch or jump forward - almost as though I've pressed the accelerator pedal. This seems to get worse as the outside ambient temps increase. In stop and go traffic the car is a nightmare to drive, as it will lurch and jerk heavily. I've actually had my starbucks coffee shoot out of the cup and spill on me because of this - yes, it lurches that much. I've almost rear-ended a few cars and hit my garage wall. All of this is actually our second go around as we've had the mechatronics unit replaced by vw with 17646 miles on the car. The car now has 21500 miles on it and the symptoms are back again. I'm not sure what to do? The first time our vw dealer had the car for about a month to get it fixed but their fix only seemed to work for a short time as we're starting to have the same problems again. The car is jerky and clunky when shifting at low speed driving. I've had the dealer tell me this is normal dsg behavior but we own (2) 2008 vw r32 - my wife and I each have our own. The other car drives much smoother and does not exhibit the behavior that these car does; however, I'm nervous that our other too will soon start having problems. I'm holding off bringing the car back to the dealer until they come up with a proper fix. Vw please remedy this problem. Our family has been a loyal vw/audi customer our entire lives.

Filed Aug 26, 2009 · Transmission · 26,000 miles · AZ

Tl*the contact owns a 2008 volkswagen r32. The contact was driving approximately 55 MPH on normal road conditions. There was pressure applied to the accelerator pedal followed by no power response. The engine began to rev excessively high. After a few seconds the transmission shifted into gear and resumed to normal operation. There were no warning lights indicator illuminated on the instrument panel. In addition, there was a hard shifting from "reverse" to "drive" and "park" to "reverse" position. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer for inspection. The technician was unable to locate the failure. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer on five separate occasions for identical failures. The technician replaced the fly wheel. The failures continued and there was no resolutions. The failure mileage was 26,000 and the current mileage was 33,000. The VIN was unavailable. Bl

Filed Aug 19, 2009 · Transmission · 1,500 miles · WA

When I purchased my 2008 vw r32 it drove and shifted smoothly and without issue. After we put about 1500 miles on the car it started jerking forward roughly as if the clutch was engaged and then slams into gear when starting from a complete stop, this behavior is intermittent and seems to be related to the relative amount of time the car has been driven, the longer it's been the more likely it is to do it. I've had cases where the dsg would also simply jerk forward and back very harshly during a quick stop/start that didn't involve wot acceleration. I've taken this car into vw specifically for this problem and was told that it was default behavior of the dsg and required some finesse to avoid these issues, I just don't think that's true and they should be responsible for fixing this without someone dying because it's difficult to handle or mechanically unreliable.

Filed Aug 10, 2009 · Transmission · 10,000 miles · VA

My vehicle is a 2008 volkswagen model r32. All of the following issues happens when the transmission is in "d" (drive) position. At low speeds (below 40 MPH) the transmission appears to go in and out and up and down the gears resulting in a "clunky" and un-smooth movement of the vehicle. Also this is often evident during slow gentle acceleration and slowing down from low speed (approx 40 MPH or less). About 75% of the time the car does not respond to a gentle acceleration, there is a very noticeable delay until the transmission shifts itself. Similar for slowing down, the engine remains at high RPM and suddenly slows, but not consistently I did notice that all of this happens more when the car is warmed up, rarely while the engine is cold.. At high speed the car acts normally including during quick acceleration. Something is definitely not right, the car should not be doing this in my opinion. Car dealer says only that all the dsg-transmission equipped cars do this and I should get used to it. Evidently there is no official fix;