Last week I had my 2017 Petrol VRS in at AKS Tuning for the TVS DSG Remap and I thought it might be useful to people to get some first hand feedback (skip to the end for the summary if you can't be bothered to read all my ramblings!) as I've seen little mention of it on here, although it seems quite popular with Golf Owners.

 

After the honeymoon period I'd been pretty disappointed with the gearbox in the car. I've had previous experience with a couple of DSG cars and in comparison I found the VRS quite slow to change gear, often jerky and pretty dim witted in general. I'd already fitted a Tuning Box and Throttle Box from DTUK which had improved things slightly - particularly the throttle box which helped with the dull throttle response and being able to use the revs more easily without feeling you needed to mash the pedal so hard.

 

So I was initially all set to get the DTUK DSG Remap box to complete the set but I was swayed by a Black Friday sale on the seemingly highly regarded TVS remap. With 20% off it still came in at about £480 so not cheap but on initial impressions it's done what I wanted.

 

I left the car with AKS Tuning all day and after some fun and games with the guys at TVS changing the process over the Christmas break they eventually managed to get the new map on the car and tested. As soon as I collected the car I could feel the difference. The TVS website lists all sorts of problems it supposedly solves and improvements it makes but the big ones I've noticed so far are:

 

• Removing early Upshifts - now instead of shifting up at about 1700-1800 rpm on gentle acceleration the box holds on until about 2000 rpm. That doesn't sound much different but I always found that the boost had barely started building before the gearbox was into the next gear and so it always felt like the car was labouring. Now, even on fairly gentle acceleration it makes much better progress as it allows the turbo to spool up just that little bit more and feels like it's in the right gear for the situation without clinging onto gears for too long.
• Jerky & Slow Shifts - I'm not sure if this is common or a foible of my car but compared to all the other DSG cars I've driven in the past the changes felt jerky and with a definite pause at each change. Now the changes are silky smooth and quicker too. It feels like the briefest interruption to the acceleration at each upshift just like the 3.2 Audi TT that I had my first DSG experience with.
• Improved paddle response - I've had a quick play with Manual using the paddles and again these shifts are much cleaner, smoother and seem quicker both up and down the box.
• Sport Mode improvements - I've only had a quick go in S Mode but it does seem to be a bit more usable, in that it holds the gears but not to the same high revs as it did before. I have come from an AMG C63 which even in its most extreme sport mode could recognise when fun time was over and would shuffle back up the gears, why the DSG doesn't do the same I don't know but it's a minor annoyance as I'd rather use the paddles anyway

 

I went for the stage 2+ option to give me the extra torque protection, amongst other things, to give some headroom for any future power increases. Arguably the most of the improvements as above would be in the TVS Driveability package (which is cheaper) but I plan on keeping the car for a while outside of warranty so that little extra peace of mind was worth it if it will help avoid clutch issues further down the line.

 

Some of the other improvements such as removing kickdown in Manual and various changes to Launch control are of no interest to me but maybe to some people...

 

TL;DR - In summary, while still early days, I am very happy with the later upshifts, smoother and quicker gearchange and fingers crossed the longevity improvements promised. I'll update this thread with any more feedback as I get more miles under my belt.

 

 

Sounds good - something to consider when my car is out of warranty

@nutey Which gearbox do you have, DQ250 or DQ380?

@StealthRS245I've got the 6 spd DQ250 but they do the same for the newer box too...