DSG: have VW got it right at last??

I have 4 years' and 70,000kms experience of a 7-speed DSG gearbox on a Polo 1.4 16V and wonder how the DSG has been improved in 4 years. My dealer is convinced all problems are a thing of the past.

In principle it's fantastic and there is no way I could shift manually in a straight line from a standstill.

The main problem is DSG "jump": when the gearbox is thrown into confusion. Typical example slowing down for a roundabout. DSG remains in D4 or D5, but the way is clear and given gas there is a split second's thought and suddenly the DGS is in D2 and with the foot on the accelerator, there is a serious jolt and the car lurches forwards.

Also I had the metratronics replaced under warranty (just) after 13 months, when the box selected neutral while driving downhill although it showed it was still in D. This is apparently a "known fault" but a £1000 item plus labour to replace. The ignition needed switching of and the engine restarting to clear the problem.: far from ideal.

Thus with a Golf GTI with 6-speed DSG on order, I opted for the VW 5 year/100,000km extended warranty and live in hope that my dealer is right...

My Mother had a 2006 Mk.5 Golf 1.6FSi DSG for six years until september last year without even as much as a squeak. I drove this car a lot and it performed like a Swiss watch

She now has an Audi A1 Sport 1.4TFSi with S-Tronic and it's equally good.

I hope to take delivery of my 7-speed DSG-equipped Mk.7 in around six weeks, it'll be my first DSG and I have every confidence in the system.

I've never experienced the "DSG-Jump" as you call it. Could it have been a Polo-specific problem?

Unfortunately there is no revised version for the dsg, and good thing you got that warranty. Make sure to get your dsg flush @ the required service intervals. Also, for the D roughness, " the jump you are talking about", there is a tune for it. It makes it much more smoother. It should be the same DSG as the mk6 so, Im sure it will be quick to get one for the mk7 crowd. (a simple name change for marketing). I wish we get the dsg from the audi S3 7 speed. that thing has such a smooth DD feel. 6AT is too rough for short trips.

Bottom line: there is no improvment on bought DSG boxes. Exept a new manufacturer of the DSG7 clutches.

Vancity2Constantinople said:

Unfortunately there is no revised version for the dsg, and good thing you got that warranty. Make sure to get your dsg flush @ the required service intervals. Also, for the D roughness, " the jump you are talking about", there is a tune for it. It makes it much more smoother. It should be the same DSG as the mk6 so, Im sure it will be quick to get one for the mk7 crowd. (a simple name change for marketing). I wish we get the dsg from the audi S3 7 speed. that thing has such a smooth DD feel. 6AT is too rough for short trips.

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I don't know if the hardware is revised or not, but that new MK7's DSG is sooooo daaamn smooth!!

maybe because it's still new, but I hope it continue working the way it does now
Having driven MK5 GTI, MK6 GTI & MK6 R; the DSG in mk7 GTI is absolutely not same as mk6's DSG at least tune-wise the attitude is noticably different

dadu said:

Bottom line: there is no improvment on bought DSG boxes. Exept a new manufacturer of the DSG7 clutches.

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I thought I read something somewhere about the DSG in the mk7 being a dry-design, not requiring oil for cooling - or something like that.

gtiw7 said:

I don't know if the hardware is revised or not, but that new MK7's DSG is sooooo daaamn smooth!!

maybe because it's still new, but I hope it continue working the way it does now
Having driven MK5 GTI, MK6 GTI & MK6 R; the DSG in mk7 GTI is absolutely not same as mk6's DSG at least tune-wise the attitude is noticably different

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its the same product man. It's all in your head.

Other wise please provide a source, because If it's true what you are saying, I might get the mk7 R with DSG. I was going to get southbend stage 3 clutch and get the 6MT.

Here is my source:

dipth said:

I thought I read something somewhere about the DSG in the mk7 being a dry-design, not requiring oil for cooling - or something like that.

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The 7 speed dsg is dry clutch Only. It has been like that since they launched it in 2008.

What Im curious about is the S3. it's 7 speed. but It has too much torque for the 7 dsg equipped in the golfs/polo (all TDI and TSI engines up to 250 Nm). the Dq500 can handle alot more torque (equipped in the mk6 gti/r) but its 6 gears.
I'll look more into this.

DSG7 has, as we say, dry clutches - no oil and it's used for engines up to 250Nm (184 lb).
There is also a DSG7 with wet clutches - oil cooled on Tiguan, for off-road use.
DSG6 has always been oil cooled.

I'm not excluding some new improvments but probably nothing more than a tweak. For this, I rely most on german forums.

ahhh; the 7 spd DSG used in tiguans, I missed that. Maybe it's that one in the 2014 S3? I have to see which dq they used in the S3. Need the part number to confirm.

Vancity2Constantinople said:

its the same product man. It's all in your head.

Other wise please provide a source, because If it's true what you are saying, I might get the mk7 R with DSG. I was going to get southbend stage 3 clutch and get the 6MT.

Here is my source:



The 7 speed dsg is dry clutch Only. It has been like that since they launched it in 2008.

What Im curious about is the S3. it's 7 speed. but It has too much torque for the 7 dsg equipped in the golfs/polo (all TDI and TSI engines up to 250 Nm). the Dq500 can handle alot more torque (equipped in the mk6 gti/r) but its 6 gears.
I'll look more into this.

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I might have read wrong. It does however look like a new gearbox was introduced in 2010: http://www.volkswagenag.com/content/vwcorp/info_center/en/themes/2010/01/dsg_the_new_dq500.html

Clearly as the Golf GTI has a 6-speed DSG and the rest of the range a 7-speed, there are differences and for reasons, I'd say.

But it would be logical to have even more gears on high performance models to extract the maximum out of the engine. Jaguar's F type & BMW boast an 8-speed automatic/Steptronic. Is the VW 6-speed DSG more robust??

The GTi 7 should have an improved dsg. The torque value alone increased from 280Nm/350Nm compared to the GTi 6.

Vancity2Constantinople said:

its the same product man. It's all in your head.

Other wise please provide a source, because If it's true what you are saying, I might get the mk7 R with DSG. I was going to get southbend stage 3 clutch and get the 6MT.

Here is my source:

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Occasionally shifting from 1st to 2nd gear at 3000-4000rpm under WOT in both D & S mode is certainly not in my head it does this when it sense the tires are going to spin so it shift waaaaaaaaaaaaaay earlier than ordinary shift point (as I said between 3000-4000rpm!! and only from 1st to 2nd)

Now for the sake of being objective I have no source whether any hardware/software is upgraded

but for those who take other people's opinion into there consideration; as an ex-owner of two mk5 GTI & (mk6 R for a very short period) I FEEL something is different (better) in the software