2012 Tiguan "Lagging" at 28-30 mph while in drive

[hawaiivr6]

We just brought home a new Tiguan 2012 Automatic and when we are in Drive (D) and going about 26-30 mph the transmission stays in a high gear (5th) and makes a vibrating hum.

It happens on a flat road when someone is in front of us and forces us to stay in the 26-30mph range.

It feels like it wont drop back to 4th at this speed and is overloaded in 5th. When we give it some gas it will hum and lag even more then eventually downshifts.

Tiptronic and Sport seem fine but Drive does not feel normal in this range.

When we took back to dealer at 130 miles on the odometer, the tech sat in on the drive and experienced the symptom. His conclusion was that the car is in its "Adaptive Learning" phase and it should work itself out after about 600+ miles.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?
IS THERE ANYTHING I CAN DO AT THIS POINT TO GET THE CAR TO DRIVE BETTER?
PLEASE COMMENT THANK YOU

[Charlie_M]

No idea about fixing it, but yours is not the first Tiguan complaint like that:
http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthrea...gram-is-HORRID!!!!!!

I would tolerate it (in sport mode if you have to) until 600 miles, then take it back to the dealer and insist on a fix. VW should certainly know of the complaints by now, and may have a fix. Would seem to me that it is intentional behavior for better MPG, and probably won't be 'adapted out'.

[mhackett]

This annoyed me with my new Golf as well. I think this is probably just the way life is going to be with small engines and ever-taller top-gear ratios. There's likely window-sticker MPG benefits to having it work this way. And real-world MPG benefits too, I get much better mileage in D than I do in S on my commute, at least half of which is spent at 1500 rpm or less in D.

I think it got a little better after a few-thousand miles of break-in, or maybe I just don't notice it as much. If I happen to be stuck in a long 1100-1200 rpm stretch where it's bothering me I go to either S or T.

From a comment in the other thread, yes, with the cruise control on downshifting to 5th happens more aggressively, such as when hitting a slight upgrade. They seemed to think maintaining speed was the higher priority in that situation.

[hawaiivr6]

This annoyed me with my new Golf as well. I think this is probably just the way life is going to be with small engines and ever-taller top-gear ratios. There's likely window-sticker MPG benefits to having it work this way. And real-world MPG benefits too, I get much better mileage in D than I do in S on my commute, at least half of which is spent at 1500 rpm or less in D.

I think it got a little better after a few-thousand miles of break-in, or maybe I just don't notice it as much. If I happen to be stuck in a long 1100-1200 rpm stretch where it's bothering me I go to either S or T.

From a comment in the other thread, yes, with the cruise control on downshifting to 5th happens more aggressively, such as when hitting a slight upgrade. They seemed to think maintaining speed was the higher priority in that situation.

Thanks for your input. I just have a hard time witht the fact that we are bothered by our brand new cars. Driving should be enjoyable at any speed and we shouldn't have to do any extra work(like shifting around D, S, & T) just to make it comfortable.

I don't want tolerable, I want awsome, especially for 30k+.

Also, understanding the human condition, I bet we adapt to the transmission more than it adapts to us.

[mhackett]

The new Ford Focus automatic has gotten the same sort of criticism in reviews, lugging in top gear at low rpm. Until it starts affecting sales more than big MPG numbers on the window sticker improve them the behavior is probably here to stay.

I was sufficiently annoyed about this that I mentioned it in the JD Power survey. Now, a few months later, I think that was probably an overreaction. I agree with your comment about some of this being the human adapting to the car, but I do think there's more to it than that. It just seemed to get less bothersome as the miles piled up, which I think can be explained by the mechanicals in general moving a bit more freely (the same reason MPG seems to improve a few ticks after some miles). Right now the lugging only bothers me if the A/C is on as that seems to add just enough load to push it over the edge.

As to whether your car ever gets enough better to suit you, I can't say. Mine has a couple significant differences, a bit less force required to push it down the road and one more cylinder.