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2018 VW Golf TSI - Low RPM issue???

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jettaguy67

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Hello,

So I recently picked up a 2018 VW Golf with automatic transmission and TSI engine. I am noticing something right now that feels strange when driving and wondering if this is normal for a TSI engine and if other drivers of this car have felt the same thing.

When I get the car up to around 70km/hr and then let off the gas, when the speed drops down to around 50km/hr, there is a little growling noise in the engine. At this point, if I press on the gas, the RPM needle jumps from about 1500rpm to 2000rpm very quickly. The needle does not appear to move steadily upwards. Also when giving it a little gas, the growling noise disappears. When the noise is there, I can also feel a little vibration in the steering wheel although you can't really see the steering wheel shaking.

Just wondering if anyone else who has this type of car notices this. Or should I already take it in for a service check.

Thanks.
 
#2 · (Edited)
Sounds to me like pretty normal characteristics of the 6-speed Aisin transmission in D mode. In D, the computer is always going to try to get the car into the highest gear possible for the given speed and load, and when the car lugs along at 1500 RPM it does in fact "growl" and vibrate a bit. When you hit the gas more, the computer is sensing increasing load for your given speed and downshifts one gear, causing the sudden increase in RPM. At 2000 RPM and above, there is generally no "growl". So basically, what you are seeing and feeling is just the very normal characteristic of a downshift. If you don't like the lugging sound and feel, put the transmission in S mode. It will always keep the transmission in at least one gear lower relative to D to avoid the lugging effect, and once you're on the highway it'll eventually makes its way to 6th, just like in D. Theoretically you should get *slightly* worse mileage driving around in S, but in practical terms, it's pretty negligible, and being in a lower gear, you also get more immediate acceleration.

I leave my car in S almost all the time.
 
Discussion starter · #3 · (Edited)
southpawboston said:
Sounds to me like pretty normal characteristics of the 6-speed Aisin transmission in D mode. In D, the computer is always going to try to get the car into the highest gear possible for the given speed and load, and when the car lugs along at 1500 RPM it does in fact "growl" and vibrate a bit. When you hit the gas more, the computer is sensing increasing load for your given speed and downshifts one gear, causing the sudden increase in RPM. At 2000 RPM and above, there is generally no "growl". So basically, what you are seeing and feeling is just the very normal characteristic of a downshift. If you don't like the lugging sound and feel, put the transmission in S mode. It will always keep the transmission in at least one gear lower relative to D to avoid the lugging effect, and once you're on the highway it'll eventually makes its way to 6th, just like in D. Theoretically you should get *slightly* worse mileage driving around in S, but in practical terms, it's pretty negligible, and being in a lower gear, you also get more immediate acceleration.

I leave my car in S almost all the time.
Click to expand...
Outstanding response. Thanks a bunch Southpawboston. I do notice that the issue happens in D mode and sometimes I get annoyed and just push it to S mode. However, I was concerned that leaving it in S mode would drop my fuel efficiency. But you say it's negligible so I'll do a comparison anyways.
 
#4 ·
Sounds like youre trying to find a problem with it. on my 2016 the transmission it performs nearly identically to my honda fit in D mode now after a month of driving, which is about as good as D mode can work i think. I barely press the throttle to cruise and if i go past like 15% it instantly downshifts to try and give me power. if youre slowing down in a drop plateau drop plateau drop plateau fashion youll get a lot of pull, rumble, and high rev because its expecting you to continue slowing down and then you dont. you have to work with your auto trans, learn it, exploit it a bit to make it do what you want and after a few weeks youll start to see it improve. if youre not liking what its doing flip it into tiptronic and do it yourself. i kind of love switching in and out, and i have been in tip mode so much now that today i bumped into neutral after switching back into D. oops. i kind of love my auto even though i wish it were a DSG it's really a nice experience for me and it doesnt lose boost when you shift (i am pretty sure never had a car with more than 120hp) and the shifts are fast and very smooth. i only wish there were some way to select gears out of order and i wish it just went into neutral instead of downshifting when the revs are too low.

if you really think something is wrong take it into the dealer.
 
#5 ·
For what it's worth, 1500rpm in 5th gear in my 5MT 2017 Golf can also produce the growl/noise associated with borderline lugging the motor at too-low RPM for the load. The gear indicator still doesn't necessarily tell me to shift to 4th which I assume means that VW doesn't think it's a problem, so your AT is probably programmed similarly to not yet downshift at such an RPM and load condition either.

However, if the instant MPG is to be believed, the growling/lugging really isn't optimal for fuel economy. You might do better forcing a downshift in manual mode.

Pretty much I bet the best situation for fuel economy and smoothness and engine life is the lowest RPM that the car can manage without audibly complaining.
 
#6 ·
I have a 2016 Golf S with A/T. If I drive with a light throttle, it will cruise around town/country roads at 1200 to 1400 rpm. At times there can be a low rpm rumble and even a rattle of a panel up front ( under-car aero panel?). On the other hand, the engine is silent on the highway. Driven this way, the car averages about 40 mpg in summer. I have driven the car in sport mode and the engine, of course, runs at higher rpm and smoother but never gets to high gear. Mpg suffers significantly ( more like 34 mpg). Low rpms are fine as long as you are using light throttle. This car gets amazing gas mileage. During the summer but not so hot, I will get 45 - 48 mpg driving at 50-60 mpg ( without A/C). At 70 mph with the A/C on, the car gets more like 38-40 mpg. During the winter months mpg falls by at least 2-4 mpg. I know that these on-board computers can be optimistic by 1-2 mpg ( my numerous measurements/calculations at the gas pump reveals this). VW's strategy to reduce fuel consumption by down-speeding the engine seems to work. My car is rated by the EPA at 36 mpg on the highway and the newer MY Golfs for some reason are rated at 33 mpg on the highway ( not sure why). Perhaps my numbers are so high because I have the base model with skinny 60 series tires on 15 inch rims.
 
#7 ·
VW/Porsche Fahrer said:
I know that these on-board computers can be optimistic by 1-2 mpg ( my numerous measurements/calculations at the gas pump reveals this).
Click to expand...
There is a setting you can access and change with VAGCOM (not sure if in OBD Eleven?) that is a default of "100" from the factory. Increasing this setting will in turn decrease the calculated MPG numbers. I found that on my 2017 1.8T 5MT that when I set this to 107 instead of 100 that the calculated numbers dropped and fell fairly close in-line with my hand calculations at the pump. I forget the exact channel but it's in the instrument cluster module and it's something like "display consumption factor". Pretty sure it involves the words "display" and "consumption". Might even have the word "correction" in it too.
 
#8 ·
One of the reasons why I drive my car in S mode exclusively unless I am driving down a hill. With the S mode, the car is definitely much more fun to drive and I am OK with the 1-2 MPG hit. Also, overtaking and handling on the highway is much better when I am in S mode.
 
#9 ·
vw_nc_dude said:
One of the reasons why I drive my car in S mode exclusively unless I am driving down a hill. With the S mode, the car is definitely much more fun to drive and I am OK with the 1-2 MPG hit. Also, overtaking and handling on the highway is much better when I am in S mode.
Click to expand...
I stay in S even going down hills-- I had driven stick for 35 years before getting an auto, and I liked using the engine to help brake.
 
Discussion starter · #10 ·
Thanks everyone for your responses. Just checked in and got everyone’s posts. Strange that I didn't get any email notifications. I am going to do a comparison. Full tank in D and then another full tank in S just to see what the numbers are.
 
#11 ·
VW/Porsche Fahrer said:
I have a 2016 Golf S with A/T. If I drive with a light throttle, it will cruise around town/country roads at 1200 to 1400 rpm. At times there can be a low rpm rumble and even a rattle of a panel up front ( under-car aero panel?). On the other hand, the engine is silent on the highway. Driven this way, the car averages about 40 mpg in summer. I have driven the car in sport mode and the engine, of course, runs at higher rpm and smoother but never gets to high gear. Mpg suffers significantly ( more like 34 mpg). Low rpms are fine as long as you are using light throttle. This car gets amazing gas mileage. During the summer but not so hot, I will get 45 - 48 mpg driving at 50-60 mpg ( without A/C). At 70 mph with the A/C on, the car gets more like 38-40 mpg. During the winter months mpg falls by at least 2-4 mpg. I know that these on-board computers can be optimistic by 1-2 mpg ( my numerous measurements/calculations at the gas pump reveals this). VW's strategy to reduce fuel consumption by down-speeding the engine seems to work. My car is rated by the EPA at 36 mpg on the highway and the newer MY Golfs for some reason are rated at 33 mpg on the highway ( not sure why). Perhaps my numbers are so high because I have the base model with skinny 60 series tires on 15 inch rims.
Click to expand...
Newer MY Golfs have the lower rated mileage because of changes to the EPA methodology to make the ratings more realistic. There have been no changes to the engine or engine management between 2015-2018 that would case a difference in mileage. My 2017 GSW A/T gets 38-40 going 70+ mph with A/C on.
 
#13 ·
im not getting anywhere near that mileage in my 2016 TSI S with no tune. I get 20-25 city and ~30 highway. until today it had jetta tires on it though. we'll see if the real tires i put on today make a difference. it basically removed 80% of the acceleration lift and now things are 100% less bouncy above 70.

i think i need an oil change, coil packs, and plugs tbh. bought at 40k should be ready for the plugs and packs.
 
Discussion starter · #14 · (Edited)
southpawboston said:
Sounds to me like pretty normal characteristics of the 6-speed Aisin transmission in D mode. In D, the computer is always going to try to get the car into the highest gear possible for the given speed and load, and when the car lugs along at 1500 RPM it does in fact "growl" and vibrate a bit. When you hit the gas more, the computer is sensing increasing load for your given speed and downshifts one gear, causing the sudden increase in RPM. At 2000 RPM and above, there is generally no "growl". So basically, what you are seeing and feeling is just the very normal characteristic of a downshift. If you don't like the lugging sound and feel, put the transmission in S mode. It will always keep the transmission in at least one gear lower relative to D to avoid the lugging effect, and once you're on the highway it'll eventually makes its way to 6th, just like in D. Theoretically you should get *slightly* worse mileage driving around in S, but in practical terms, it's pretty negligible, and being in a lower gear, you also get more immediate acceleration.

I leave my car in S almost all the time.
Click to expand...
Yes, I just read up on lugging the engine and I heard it's not good to do that, But if my car is doing that on it's own, should I be concerned. Right now, when that happens, I either switch to M mode and downshift to 4th gear or I just give the car some gas to get me over that growling noise. Not sure if giving it that extra gas is what lugging is.

How do you find your fuel economy driving in S mode all the time?
 
#15 ·
jettaguy67 said:
Yes, I just read up on lugging the engine and I heard it's not good to do that, But if my car is doing that on it's own, should I be concerned. Right now, when that happens, I either switch to M mode and downshift to 4th gear or I just give the car some gas to get me over that growling noise. Not sure if giving it that extra gas is what lugging is.

How do you find your fuel economy driving in S mode all the time?
Click to expand...
I don't find a big difference between S and D due to the types of driving I do. I'm either ALL city, creeping along from traffic light to traffic light, averaging 12mph over a tank of gas and about 19mpg, or I'm on an interstate for hours. It makes very little difference if I'm in D or S for either situation-- around town, the car is just idling at stop lights. Although, I did notice that only in D does the transmission disengage from gear when stopped. That theoretically should save gas. On the highway, the torque converter is locking up in 6th whether I'm in D or S.

When I get annoyed by the lugging when I'm driving around in D, I'll just switch to S. That always takes care of it. However, S can also be annoying around town when you're driving ~20-25 on densely populated streets. It won't shift from 2nd to 3rd until the RPMs reach 3000, and driving at those speeds, the RPMS hover around 2500-3000, which is pointless. So around town I kind of prefer D. On the other hand, I like the engine braking aspect of S better than D, where it downshifts sooner and allows more braking torque. Ultimately my favorite scenario would be a compromise between D and S.
 
Discussion starter · #16 ·
southpawboston said:
I don't find a big difference between S and D due to the types of driving I do. I'm either ALL city, creeping along from traffic light to traffic light, averaging 12mph over a tank of gas and about 19mpg, or I'm on an interstate for hours. It makes very little difference if I'm in D or S for either situation-- around town, the car is just idling at stop lights. Although, I did notice that only in D does the transmission disengage from gear when stopped. That theoretically should save gas. On the highway, the torque converter is locking up in 6th whether I'm in D or S.

When I get annoyed by the lugging when I'm driving around in D, I'll just switch to S. That always takes care of it. However, S can also be annoying around town when you're driving ~20-25 on densely populated streets. It won't shift from 2nd to 3rd until the RPMs reach 3000, and driving at those speeds, the RPMS hover around 2500-3000, which is pointless. So around town I kind of prefer D. On the other hand, I like the engine braking aspect of S better than D, where it downshifts sooner and allows more braking torque. Ultimately my favorite scenario would be a compromise between D and S.
Click to expand...
Thanks. I guess that's what I'll have to do. On my next fill up, I'm going to do the full tank on S mode and see what I can get. I've done one tank on D mode and the numbers didn't look all that great. But this is a new car so maybe the numbers will improve after more driving.
 
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