Driving 6 speed manual transmissions

Go onto any VW enthusiast forum or Facebook group, and the arguments of transmission superiority are both venomous and frequent. Read and learn. Volkswagen and Audi have had some variation of 6-speed manual transmission available in their transverse platform vehicles since around With the introduction of the Mk5 PQ35 platform and direct-injected power plants in , the 02Q was introduced and utilized up through the MQB platform.

For the MQB platform, the 02Q received a small update that featured various reinforcements. One of the more confusing aspects of the VW transmissions is their naming scheme. You will often hear these transmissions called either 02M, 02Q, or 0FB, you might also hear them referred to as the MQ Technically either way is correct, as MQ encompasses all three of these 6-speed manual transmissions.

As a reference, MQ refers to the 5-speed manual transmissions found in base model cars such as the VW Golf. The 02M is a compact gearbox specially developed to offer sporty driving characteristics and maximum efficiency in a small space.

The same location designed for a 5-speed manual could then be used for the 6-speed manual without any other changes. VW achieved this by taking a standard gearbox design, which features a single input shaft and single output shaft, and split the output shaft into two separate units. This creates a slightly taller but significantly shorter in length design.

Similar to all other modern manual transmissions from VW and Audi , such as the 02A, 02J, and 01E models, the 02M is cable-shifted, and power is sent through a hydraulically-actuated clutch.

While the 02M has gradually been refined since its introduction, the fundamental design and operation are unchanged since it was first introduced. The 02M is available in both front-wheel drive and all-wheel drive variants, with the all-wheel drive models utilizing an outboard transfer case driven by the passenger side output of the final drive and differential.

Flywheels are either a 6-bolt or bolt design, depending on the engine. The 02Q is primarily the same as the 02M, with a few small changes. Mechanically, there was a change in bearing design on the input shaft from taper bearings on the 02M to ball bearings on the 02Q. Some small changes in the bellhousing design and spacing mean that a clutch and flywheel kit for an 02M transmission vehicle will not work on one for an 02Q. Despite the difference in clutch specifications, the identical clutch release bearing is used on both the 02M and 02Q.

There is also the inclusion of an access window for the input shaft in the outer case half. In order to shim the input shaft on many older 02M transmissions, the transmission has to be removed, and the entire case has to be split and disassembled to make an adjustment. With the access window added in the late 02M and 02Q, the main case halves are untouched. This makes the 02Q transmission easier, faster, and more cost-effective to work on than the 02M.

The shift forks, which are the pieces inside the transmission responsible for physically engaging or disengaging gears when you move the shift lever, were also changed during the production of the 02Q gearbox. On the majority of 02M boxes and early 02Q boxes, these were multi-piece units made of steel and brass. During the production of the 02Q, the one-piece steel units from the high-performance R32 were made standard on all 02Q transmissions.

Lastly, because of vehicle electronics changes, the 02Q does away with the vehicle speed sensor in the transmission, as used in the 02M. Despite their similarities, the two transmissions are generally not considered to be interchangeable without several required changes.

Since Audi is no longer offering manual transmissions in their entry-level and smaller sporty models, like the A3 and TT, we only see this on the and up Golf R in the USA. The 0FB remains more or less mechanically identical to the 02Q, even down to the same differential applying to the same gearboxes.

Similarly to the 02M to 02Q, VW once again refined the bellhousing spacing and design. The same clutch and flywheel packages are generally used on the 0FB as on the 02Q, but VW adds a bonded plastic shim to the clutch release bearing to ensure complete disengagement of the clutch. There are a few issues that can occur on the 6-speed manual 02M, 02Q, or MQ transmissions.

Typically, these result from high mileage, heavy use or abuse, or related damage due to some other part failing. The clutch on 2. Early 1. The clutch design on 2. While the TSI clutch is typically able to cope with factory power levels, any increase in horsepower will often result in a slipping clutch.

The most typical issue on nearly every manual transmission is worn or damaged gear synchros causing difficulty with shifting. A worn synchro set will most often result in a specific gear being hard to select or grinding when you make the change. Worn synchros can result from shifting without the clutch fully disengaged, either from not pressing the clutch pedal all the way to the floor, a mechanical clutch issue, or a hydraulic clutch issue.

Short-throw shift kits, a common modification for these transmissions, can accelerate synchro wear, but they are rarely enough to cause damage themselves. Most 02M and early 02Q transmission can suffer from the soft brass shift forks bending due to aggressive shifting or a missed shift. This usually comes down to use or driver error. When a shift fork bends, it feels like you are trying to force the shift lever into the wrong gate.

In more recent times, six-speed automatic and sequential-manual transmissions have worked themselves onto passenger cars as well. Traditionally, six-speed manual units have been reserved for high-performance cars. These transmissions feature closer gear ratios than a five-speed manual unit, allowing the driver to stay within the engine's ideal rpm range. Also, the sixth forward gear allows highway cruising without making the engine work so hard.

The Mazda RX-8 is one of many such cars that use a six-speed manual. But some years ago somebody asked me that in a big truck - why was I downshifting when I was just using fuel? Because on a big truck, you have to match rev - you have to rev the motor up to match the gear when you go down to the lower gear.

So what we're going to do today, we're going to go for drive and show you how to drive a manual transmission without downshifting.

Now just let me clarify on one point: if you're going down long downgrades, yes you do need to downshift and you need the engine braking to assist in bringing that vehicle down the steep long downgrade. And racing, yes they do downshift so they can shoot out of the corner, because they're accelerating harder in a lower gear.

We're not talking about either one of those things - we're NOT talking about braking on long downgrades and we're NOT talking about downshifting for the purpose of racing and shooting out the corner on the other side. This information is about everyday driving in a manual car. It's neither for downhill braking nor racing.

Welcome back, Rick with Smart Drive Test talking to you today about downshifting and that for most everyday driving you shouldn't do it, regardless of whether you're in a truck, car, light truck, motorcycle, or a bus. And at the end of the day in a big truck, if you're down shifting every time that you're coming to a stop, you are going to be beat up and worn out - just use the brakes.

And actually what we're going to do here today we're going to go for drive and just show you how to use the brakes and how to shift a manual transmission without downshifting. Because especially on slippery conditions like today, you are probably going to risk losing control of the vehicle.

If you downshift--and I know there's going to be a lot of people out there who are bristling and I had the same reaction when somebody said that to me. The reason that we teach you to downshift for the purposes of a road test is to demonstrate you have due care and control of the vehicle. That when you go around the corner, you're not going to stall and stop the vehicle because you can't find the correct gear for the speed the vehicle is travelling.

What downshifting teaches you for the purposes of a road test is which gear is appropriate for the speed that the vehicle is traveling. So therefore, if you go around the corner you slow down to 20 kilometers an hour or 15 miles an hour you know that the vehicle is probably either going to go into second gear or third gear, depending on the gearing in the transmission.

But most of the time, to go around the corner on the right-hand turn, you're going to shift down to second gear in a 5-speed transmission. And you need to know that, and you're going to learn that during training when your preparing for a road test.

The other problem with that however, is that when we teach students to downshift, they think they have to downshift all the time. We continue to downshift because in the s--a long long, long time ago when Grandpa drove cars--the brakes were unreliable. The problem with that is that we still continue to do it today thinking that brakes are not reliable.

If you open the cover of the master cylinder - underneath the in the engine compartment there, you'll notice that there's two chambers in there. The braking system on every vehicle regardless of whether it's air brakes or whether it's hydraulic brakes is divided into two independent subsystems.

So if one braking system fails--the front brakes on your vehicle fail--the ones on the rear are still going to work. And as well, on slippery conditions you're going to have much more control if you just use the brakes as opposed to shifting down. So again, downshifting for everyday driving - don't do it, it's just a waste of time. But if you are going down long steep downgrades, and especially the bigger the vehicle, you're going to need that extra braking power from the engine.

So we're going to go for a little drive here just show you how I drive my 5-speed manual in the snow. And just to give you some idea how to do this - just using the brakes on a 5-speed transmission, we're going to hook up the cameras, go for a drive.

You could see there on the slippery conditions that as soon as I shifted into second gear, the tires started to grab and get traction.

As soon as I shift into second gear, you can see here on the tachometer that I'm shifting into second and now I'm in 3rd gear. So I don't have to slow down to 30kph 20mph , I only have to slow down to 50 kilometers an hour 30mph. I'm just below 50kph 30mph for both hands on the steering wheel keeping good control of the vehicle because I'm in the snow here. And i'm going to make the left-hand turn here and I'm going uphill here so I can just use the hill to slow down.

You can see that the wheels are spinning in second gear - so as soon as I shift the third it gets traction again. And I get off here and the road is not plowed and I put it back into third gear to get more traction.

Again I'm staying near the center of the road because there's people walking around shovelling their driveways and those types of things.