Engineering Explained Talks About Dual Clutch Transmission Dos and Don'ts

Even though Fiat tried it and is now moving to conventional 8 and 9-speed automatics with cars like the 500X, some companies have just started offering a DSG alternative.

Engineering Explained is doing a review of the 2016 Hyundai Tucson equipped with a 1.6-liter turbo engine while at the same time explaining how to best use a dual clutch gearbox.

In this case, the Korean CUV has been equipped with a 7-speed DCT with a dry clutch pack. What kind of martini is that? Well, let's have a quick explanation. The DCT is like a manual with two sets of clutches and works like a manual too.

Engaging and disengaging creates heat, so higher output motors like the one in the Golf R use wet clutches to dissipate it, while economy cars have dry clutches because they are more efficient. The downside is the jerkiness created when they have to change gear very quickly.

We're not going to say very much about the five points brought up by Engineering Explained. You're probably here just to watch the video anyway. But we want to make a point, when he says "don't upshift while braking and downshift while accelerating.", that basically means "just let the car do what it wants because it knows best."

It's not a reliability problem, more a problem of having a delayed response because the gearbox has to do the opposite of what it expected. The same thing happens if you're running in eco mode and suddenly dump the gas all the way to the floor. In this scenario, the gearbox will try to move both sets of clutches much further down. For example, moving to third and prepping 4th.

Another thing to point out is that "don't use a dual clutch to crawl" is advice you HAVE TO follow in the Hyundai. This is, after all, a brand new 7-speed gearbox, so it could eventually develop the same problems plagued by the DSG DQ250 from Volkswagen. You don't want that headache, do you?