- VW said it dropped the dual-clutch transmission on the Taos because drivers “think their car is breaking.”
- The Taos 4Motion previously used a DSG, but now has a classic 8-speed auto, like FWD models.
- Earlier this month, a BMW X1 owner launched a lawsuit over its jerky, hesitant dual-clutch transmission.
“You’ll love zipping around in your Taos thanks to the dynamic capability of the available 7-speed DSG dual-clutch automatic transmission that readies each gear for fast, smooth, and efficient shifting.“
So claimed VW in its marketing blurb for the 2024 Taos 4Motion. But buyers didn’t love it, and they didn’t think it was smooth, either. They thought it was broken. Which is why, as part of the 2025 facelift, the all-wheel drive Taos swaps its DSG ’box for a conventional eight-speed epicyclic automatic, much like the hardware front-drive Taos models were already using.
Related: 2025 VW Taos Arrives With Sleeker Face And More Power, Ditches DSG
The move means that more than two decades after VW revolutionized two-pedal cars with its original DSG dual-clutch transmission, the only VWs now sold in the US still using the tech are the 2025 Golf GTI and R.
“There is a bit of hesitation [in response to driver inputs] on a DSG, and American customers, unless they’re performance customers, don’t like that,” a VW spokesperson told the media during the presentation of the refreshed Taos earlier this week.
“They think their car is breaking, it’s not being responsive,” the rep added, contrasting the driving experience with the more familiar one drivers know from driving old-school autos in which a torque converter fluid coupling smoothly converts engine power to forward motion.
“When we want to start [stealing sales from rivals], we’re going to give owners the same feeling they’re used to in mainstream SUVs and that’s the [eight-speed] automatic transmission.”
The now DSG-less Taos made its debut around the same time a BMW X1-owning couple in Virginia are bringing a class action lawsuit against the German automaker because they’re so unhappy with the way the X1’s dual-clutch transmission performs.
The lawsuit alleges that the current X1, which in the reverse of the Taos situation switched from an auto to a twin-clutch with its 2023 refresh, is jerky and that the hesitation in engaging gear and taking up drive makes the SUV dangerous.
More: Why Volkswagen Is Shrinking Grilles Across Its Lineup
Dual-clutch transmissions became increasingly popular through the 2000s and 2010s, liked by drivers for their fast, smooth gear changes, and by automakers for their efficiency. They were light years more technologically sophisticated and refined in use than the automated single-clutch gearboxes that predated them, but as anyone who has tried one will know, they’re nowhere near as slick in stop-go traffic as conventional automatics, which have also become far more efficient over the last 20 years.
Are you a fan of twin-clutch transmissions or do you prefer a ‘real’ auto?
