DSG reliability

[AudiSport]

Great to hear some positive comments lads. I certainly agree regarding the manual option, I'm confident it really will be a thing of the past very soon.

[catso]

To update on my earlier (6yrs ago) post, I have one of the early DSG cars; 10 yrs old now, done 77k and DSG still working fine.

[BE57 TOY]

I have a 57 plate A3 170 DSG and no issues. Car is now on 83k.

[Maxem888]

I have an A5 3.0 dsg quattro 44k miles now i never had an issue and its wonderful shifts very fast!

[Lucas Ayde]

There do seem to have been issues with the boxes but more along the lines of 'monday morning/friday evening' units. ie. Some just seem to be built wrong from the outset and problems usually manifest themselves quite quickly, as opposed to an inherent design flaw where any box is quite likely to develop the flaw at any time.

I would however be wary of buying a secondhand one without a test drive in case it does have the issues and they haven't been addressed.

Due to the potential costs of fixing them when they go wrong, for any reason, probably worth considering getting a mechanical warranty that covers the box if feasible.

Just about to hit 50k on my S-Tronic box and no problems so far (touch wood).

[Drums]

I had a 2005 A3 2.0T DSG S-line. Purchased at 53K and sold last week at 80K. Bar one exception where the display flashed P|R|N|D|S (though the car was still performing as it should) the box performed faultlessly. Fun using the paddles when making progress, and smooth in auto mode when dealing with London's traffic. The rest of the car however proved to be the most unreliable vehicle I have ever owned, despite being comprehensively looked after, both during and prior to my ownership.

[philoldsmobile]

Sorry about resurrecting an old thread...

I'm currently in a 2003 Leon auto (4 speed epicyclic) but may change it for a Leon FR DSG next year. My budget (8 - 10k) seems to currently get around 2009 / 2010 with 50,000 miles. Most of my driving Is motorway (30,000 per year) and I will be looking for a petrol, as I don't like diesel. Manual is not an option BTW

When people state the problems are with the higher powered variants would the 200bhp TFSI fall into this category?

Edited by philoldsmobile on Saturday 7th June 10:28

[va1o]

The Borg Warner 6-speed unit as paired with the 2.0 TFSI does seem pretty solid if you look after it with regular oil changes. The boxes giving problems are mainly the slightly older version paired with the 3.2 V6 and the newer 7-speed unit.

[philoldsmobile]

va1o said:

The Borg Warner 6-speed unit as paired with the 2.0 TFSI does seem pretty solid if you look after it with regular oil changes. The boxes giving problems are mainly the slightly older version paired with the 3.2 V6 and the newer 7-speed unit.

Thanks, that's good enough for me

[Dr G]

Can confirm; don't remember a single problem with one behind a 2.0T and have been surrounded by them every day for 7 years.

[JollyGrnMonster]

Pick up an a4 3.0 tdi b8.5 with stronic. Plan to do a fair mileage in it although its a 62 plate with only 5k on it now.
Best preventative for box longlife? Regular oil changes?
Done remap ?

[winshent]

Tame Technician said:

That thread was from 2008 ish. Things have moved on quite a bit. The early 3.2vr6 DSG cars 2004 ish were the ones that had mechatronic modules that wouldnt last. There was also a bad batch arround 58 plate but they were all replaced under warranty. These days the later DSG boxs are a lot more reliable. I dont think we have done a 6 speed mechatronics in the last 2 years. We used to do 4 ro 5 a year.

What year did DSG boxes become more reliable? where improved boxes rolled out across all vag brands and models around the same time?