The brake is the clutch...
Do you have any tips and tricks? Think these are Crap? Lets hear from you.
No, I don't think this thread is complete crap!
I arrived here because soon after we acquired a new Skoda Roomster with the 1.2TSI engine and the 7 speed DQ200 DSG for my wife, it became obvious that whilst you can attempt to drive the DSG like a slush box, and it will work, more or less, it clearly isn't one and there are certain habits that people who drive slush-autos have that are really not good for the DSG at all. So I have been trying to figure out the best way to use (and look after) the DSG box.
The one thing the manual does tell us, or at least ours does, is NOT to hold the car on the accelerator on a hill. Now I guess a lot of auto drivers will use the creep, and a bit of gas if necessary, for this and may well carry this habit to the DSG. Especially once they find that it overcomes the launch lag!
However the reason it's bad is obvious - the clutch is slipping all the time that this is happening, unlike the slush box which would just be churning fluid.
What the manual doesn't tell you explicitly is that
holding on the brake disengages the clutch. This also explains the lag, because
when you release the brake pedal the clutch comes to the bite point. Some power will then allow the clutch to engage fully as the car starts to move. This also means that, as already noted above, anticipating the brake release slightly will mean that when the time to launch comes the clutch is ready and off you go.
The other thing that the manual doesn't tell you in so many words is that only the footbrake has this clutch-releasing function. If you leave the car in gear, but hold it on the handbrake, the clutch is again at the bite point and slipping. Hence the value of hill hold control - when the foot is on the brake, the clutch is disengaged, release the brake pedal and the brakes stay on for up to two seconds but will gradually release as the accelerator is pressed.
This applies whether using auto or sequential - I'm pretty sure this is how it works on our car, with it's manual parking brake, but can't be sure if it also applies to cars with an automatic parking brake.
Sorry if this is blindingly obvious already - it's certainly consistent with what others have said above, but was not explained clearly in the manual.
Incidentally - the reason that the DQ200 has so little oil is that it is only in the gearbox proper - the clutches are (a) single plate, and (b) completely dry and not in any sort of oil bath. So they do need to be looked after, as you would a 'proper' clutch!