W177 A200 Petrol - DCT Transmission juddering on hills, aggressive engagement

[Knuckle]

Hi all,

My wife recently bought an A200 1.3T AMG Premium with the 7 speed DCT gearbox - It is a Jan 2019 on 33k.

We are familiar with dual clutch gearboxes, her previous car was a 2015 Q3 with the 7 speed wet clutch DSG - We liked it.

This car however...I really need to assess if we have a bad gearbox or whether the design is just poor. We bought the car early jan and I have raised the issue with the garage, however it is not booked in till next week - I am not sure what this means for the 30 day returns window if needed but hopefully it doesn't come to that. I see that the A200 and below have a Getrag gearbox that is not highly rated.

Issue 1) When pulling away from a standstill in D1, there is a lag (widely reported) but also, it is very difficult to engage the car swiftly without wheel spinning. We are either pulling away super slowly, or pulling away with screeching tyres. There seems to be a very very small middle ground and it is inconsistent at best. I feel that the clutch(es) should slip more like you would in a manual, or like it did in the Q3. It's engaging so early that the only place that can give is the tyres and the road (they are premium tyres with plenty of thread). This is having the effect of having to be really cautious pulling out on roundabouts etc.

Issue 2) I went up a relatively steep hill that also doubles as a sort of slip road onto a 30 road, there was traffic so I had to come to a near stop, the car shifted from D2 to D1 as expected, but then as the car was hardly moving forward, it started 'slipping' the clutch like you would in a manual car if you weren't using the handbrake. It was only for a couple of seconds but the car started juddering violently - it seems that the clutches just cannot 'slip'. I think if I had stopped and used the hold function or handbrake, it would have probably been ok. It has only done this twice in 750+ miles, in the same scenario on an incline in 1st gear.

I should add that in motion, the gearbox is flawless up and down and I really like the way it drives.

I am worried about longevity and need some advice as to whether this is what others experience with theirs.

 

[alexanderfoti]

It may be due a gearbox service. They are due every 3 years on these, from memory.

It makes a big difference to how they drive usually.

 

[Smiley]

A lot of manufacturers have been moving away from traditional torque converter autos which were mostly bullet proof if maintained. I guess it is because the TC auto does not lend itself to low emissions. The problem is that the alternatives such as the Ford powershift, the VAG whatever it was called, the Toyota automated manual, the strange Honda automated manual that went in the 2010 ish Jazz have all caused problems of either poor reliability or poor driveability or both. IMHO the root cause is that they are underdeveloped and too frigging complex. The CVT boxes seem to be more reliable and the Japanese seem to have moved to those, but are terrible to drive.
I don't know anything about the MB A class auto but I guess it is some sort of automated manual and one thing is sure - if it needs fixing then it will be £££££. In your shoes I would want to make sure that I was not compromising my right to return in 30 days because you are giving them the opportunity to fix it.

 

[alexanderfoti]

It's a dct unit, so automated manual with two clutches.

An oil/filter change usually goes a long way to help shift issues with these.