gck, you have to understand that the DSG is an "automated" manual transmission. With your foot on the brake, the clutch inside the transmission is not engaged. When you let off the brake, the clutch engages. It seems that the clutch does not engage quickly enough or slips as one trys to accelerate simultaneously with the release of the brake. It seems like 5 seconds when you're turning across traffic but my experience is maybe a 1/2 -1 second hesitation / lack of quick acceleration. If it truly was 5 seconds than something is wrong.
What I do to mitigate this "hesitation" is to anticipate my left hand turn and starts by releasing the brake just prior to when I want to "take off". This is really no different than most people would do if they were driving a manual, that is, anticipate when you want to move and start to engage the clutch before you actually want to turn left or start moving. You can feel the DSG clutch engage and the car will start to creep forward when you remove your foot from the brake. Once the clutch is engaged, I have no problems accelerating briskly. Now having said the above, I did experience the following.
For the first 28k miles my DSG shifted smoothly with no bumps, jerks, or hesitation as many have described. Then, out of the blue I noticed an abrupt change in the behavior of my DSG. I decided to drive it for 2 weeks to see if the abrupt behavior would revert back to normal or stay the same. The DSG is suppose to adapt the clutches and pressures while driving. Well the behavior didn't change. So, I did a DSG Adaptation with VCDS. After the adaptation, the change in the behavior was immediately noticed when backing out the driveway and accelerating. After the test drive per the procedures, the DSG is once again operating like it did for the first 28k miles. I'm now at 42k miles.
During this 2 week period, I had harsh/abrupt clutch engagement upon releasing the brake when stopped and harsh 1-2 upshifts when accelerating from a stop. I also had considerable hesitation /delay when accelerating after coasting in a lower gear 2-4 before the car would begin to accelerate (for example, coasting up to a traffic light where the car has downshifted to say 3rd or 4th and the light changes and one then accelerates). If I gave more throttle the DSG would simply downshift but the hesitation was still there. This was especially annoying when turning across 3 lanes of traffic with the DSG in say 2nd - 3rd gear. Also, when comming to a stop, the 2-1 downshift was extremely harsh if breaking hard during the last 5 mph or so before stopping.
So bottom line, if anyone has these issues try the DSG Adaptation to caibrate and adapt the pressures and clutches. When activating the Basic Settings in VCDS for Groups 60 and 61, the DSG was banging which I assume was shifting and engaging the clutches. That's probably the reason for keeping your foot on the brake during the procedure.
