Coasting/Freewheeling 2022 T6.1 Ocean 4motion

CaliforniaPhil · May 19, 2023

Hi

Not much info in the manual.

My Cali freewheels sometimes when you take your foot off the accelerator, sometimes you have to tap the throttle to activate it and sometimes it won't do it at all.

Am I missing something, is there conditions for it to work, like battery state etc?

Phil

Viktorgeorge · May 19, 2023

CaliforniaPhil said:
Hi

Not much info in the manual.

My Cali freewheels sometimes when you take your foot off the accelerator, sometimes you have to tap the throttle to activate it and sometimes it won't do it at all.

Am I missing something, is there conditions for it to work, like battery state etc?

Phil

I have have the same apparent inconsistency. I have failed to work out why. There was another similar post recently.

Californication69 · May 19, 2023

Something to do with the two gearbox’s in the DSG ?
I’ve never experienced it, it always keeps in gear of doing downhill and the engine races.
On the flat, never really felt coasting…

dspuk · May 19, 2023

I believe it’s a emissions reduction feature. My Tiguan when coasting switches to 2 cylinder mode and OEM’s have a number of tricks to reduce emissions and hit the latest Euro targets from removing spare wheels (less weight) to AdBlue to selective cylinders.

That said, never felt it on ours.

CaliforniaPhil · May 19, 2023

Californication69 said:
Something to do with the two gearbox’s in the DSG ?
I’ve never experienced it, it always keeps in gear of doing downhill and the engine races.
On the flat, never really felt coasting…

Mine does the engine racing most of the time. To stop it, give the throttle a quick, sharp tap and the freewheeling is activated. The revs drop to tickover until the break or accelerator is touched.

I will take a look in the setup to see if there is an option for it, in one of the threads it talks about activating it in setting.

Phil

MarkRubinstein · May 20, 2023

I don’t know about the T6.1 but in the T6 “Coasting” is an option you can select from the steering wheel (when stationary). Tapping the accelerator will select coasting (although not in all situations, E.g. steep downhills), tapping on the brake will disengage coasting and engage a gear. The display changes from showing a gear (E.g. D7) to just D when coasting.

BigJohn · May 20, 2023

Our 6.1 has the same behaviour - slightly randomly engaging by itself, but usually works when I tap the accelerator.

CaliforniaPhil · May 20, 2023

Can't see any options in the settings on our T6.1 for freewheeling.

I'll see if its how steep the hill is today. It does pick up speed very quickly on a good hill.

I'm still getting used to all the toys, adaptive cruise etc. I have been using the speed limiter quite a bit towing. You can keep yourself amused driving, although sitting in adaptive cruise only hits the fuel onsumption by around 2-4 mpg. So probably end up using that when I have got used to trusting it.

Not tried making a cup of tea on adaptive cruise yet! Think we are few years away from that, maybe in the T10.

Phil

Hawthorn37 · May 20, 2023

Our experience is that the van coasts with “D” showing in the gear selection when going downhill / on a straight, with no acceleration, and when the van doesn’t sense that the engine is being used to control the speed (engine braking ). So if you touch the brakes when going downhill for example, coast will turn off and the engine revs climb. I agree that if you’re on a good long downhill road speed will increase due to low rolling resistance and that often prompts braking, or shifting down a gear using the manual gear selection.

Cali Phillip · May 20, 2023

Hawthorn37 said:
Our experience is that the van coasts with “D” showing in the gear selection when going downhill / on a straight, with no acceleration, and when the van doesn’t sense that the engine is being used to control the speed (engine braking ). So if you touch the brakes when going downhill for example, coast will turn off and the engine revs climb. I agree that if you’re on a good long downhill road speed will increase due to low rolling resistance and that often prompts braking, or shifting down a gear using the manual gear selection.

Or sometime its in the auto hill decent screaming at 3k revs with a good runout and i knock it up gears manually.

chockswahay · May 20, 2023

For those that have not seen or had time to read the copious threads on this subject I can tell you that for some rather unexplained reason the whole matter of ‘coasting’ is pot luck, some models have it and some don’t! My MY20 Coast does not but others of the same year do……. That’s VW for you!

To avoid the engine running high in lower gears on long gentle slopes I just flick into manual and change up to a higher gear then accept the ’free high speed whizz’ that follows haha!

couplands · May 27, 2023

Our MY22 Ocean does it quite often - and I like it.

It’s an Eco setting somewhere, not sure if it can be turned off.

I also like the fact the DSG box will drop to a lower gear when going downhill to give some engine braking. Having an EV with regenerative braking makes me worried about the Cali running away on long descents, a 3 ton vehicle takes some slowing down. Not to mention the amount of brake dust on the wheels…!

SusiBus · May 27, 2023

The regenerative braking on our ID.Buzz was a really plus feature. First time I've experienced EV one foot driving, magic. Then driving a Cali with coasting can be, well, a completely different experience that I'm not sure i like.

Corradobrit · May 27, 2023

My MY23 Coast (quite appropriate come to think of it) switched to 'ECO' neutral freewheeling mode maybe 50% of the time in similar circumstances. Often a blip on the throttle forces it into coast mode, other times no go. It's not clear why it switches on some occasions and not others. I like it.

Hawthorn37 · May 27, 2023

couplands said:
Our MY22 Ocean does it quite often - and I like it.

It’s an Eco setting somewhere, not sure if it can be turned off.

I also like the fact the DSG box will drop to a lower gear when going downhill to give some engine braking. Having an EV with regenerative braking makes me worried about the Cali running away on long descents, a 3 ton vehicle takes some slowing down. Not to mention the amount of brake dust on the wheels…!

If youre worried, just use the manual gear selector to change down. The DSG box is good, but it doesn’t have eyes, and doesn’t know what’s coming up. That’s the drivers job (for now!).

couplands · May 28, 2023

Hawthorn37 said:
If youre worried, just use the manual gear selector to change down. The DSG box is good, but it doesn’t have eyes, and doesn’t know what’s coming up. That’s the drivers job (for now!).

I do, drop the gears down. But I’m also impressed it has the built in sensors to recognise that the vehicle is going down hill and gaining speed and therefore drops a gear or two to help slow the car down. These sensors are it’s eyes….;-)