Dear all,

I'm orienting for a replacement for my Golf 6. Candidates are the Octavia 5E (bigger booth for my doggie) or the Leon 5F. Apart from that, there's the choice for the 1.8TSI or the 1.5TSI. Last there's the choice for the manual gearbox or the DSG. My main question is regarding the gearbox-choice.

If I check gearboxes available for the 1.5 and 1.8 engine, only the DQ200 (DSG-7) is available. Who hasn't heard about that one? As I want to remap the car, whatever engine it's gonna be, in the end, I'm going to destroy the DQ200 gearbox because of the increased torque if I don't remap the gearbox too. 

Now my questions:

1. What's the problem with the DQ200? Is it the increased torque or is it just a crappy gearbox?

2. Is the DQ200 getting more reliable if I have the engine AND the gearbox remapped?
3. Isn't the problem as big as it seems and I'm worrying without a reason?

 

If the DQ200 is just crap and prone to failure, I'll just go look around for a 1.8TSI with manual gearbox.

 

I recently drove in an Ibiza with a remapped 1.5TSI with a manual gearbox and I was pretty impressed how that was moving forward considering I before had a Focus 1.5 EcoBoost Automatic.

 

I hope my questions are a bit clear.
 

Thanks for taking the time to read my "problem of choices".

 

Best regards,

Mischa

Plenty with MK2 Fabia vRS have remapped to stage 1 or 2 and 200,bhp plus / 320 Nm with the DQ200 left standard, or uprated the clutch packs and software.  I have ran ones without upgrading the DQ200 because only driving and not sprinting / drag racing.  When I was sprinting / hill climbing and stage 2 I upgraded the DQ200. 

Thanks for the reply.

This will only be a different story when having it connected to the 1.8TSI after a remap. Then it will have about 240HP and 370NM of torque. For the DQ200 they limit the torque on this remap to 330NM. I found a nice Octavia 1.8TSI with a manual gearbox and low milage that I'll go check this week. I'm not obliged or limited to have an automatic as I drive manual for about 30 years now and only had the comfort of an automatic for roughly 3 years now. Don't mind manuals and can drive them.

 

Thanks again, I'll keep this nice forum posted with an update after I purchased. 😉

Really?   A 1.8tsi just from a remap. Or what more are you doing.  Coils, intercooler, plugs, and running 100+ race fuel?   A 188/195ps TSI / tfsi twin charger upgraded to 210 ps was / is quite hard on the DSG.     But really so from standing starts, or dropping 2 gears and booting it. 

Edited 2 December, 20241 yr by Ootohere

On 01/12/2024 at 17:32, mischami said:

1. What's the problem with the DQ200? Is it the increased torque or is it just a crappy gearbox?

My local tuning & remapping guy won't touch them. Straight-off said so and didn't want my business, so possibly both could apply. I think the box can only handle 250N/m of torque and is nearly max'd out in standard form.

Edited 2 December, 20241 yr by Gammyleg
final sentence added.

14 hours ago, Ootohere said:

Really?   A 1.8tsi just from a remap. Or what more are you doing.  Coils, intercooler, plugs, and running 100+ race fuel?   A 188/195ps TSI / tfsi twin charger upgraded to 210 ps was / is quite hard on the DSG.     But really so from standing starts, or dropping 2 gears and booting it. 

Yeap, that's what several tuners around here state. It's also not really such a surprise. An increase of power and torque in the range of 25-30% is pretty normal.

 

Thanks guys !

 

I found a very nice 1.8tsi manual, but these people don't want to sell it to me as I don't live near them, so they won't benefit from my service-visits. ****ed as hell I started calculating on the difference to my previous favorite and the 1.8 and the differences are minimal. I'll probably step op a notch and get me a vRS with a manual transmission 😉

Overall, to my understanding performance tcu tunes (dsg) make gear boxes less reliable. The components have to work harder to make the faster shifts etc. Basically just like stage 1 ecu tunes make turbos work harder etc. However, it still might be worth it. Subjective things.

 

Then there are softer tcu comfort tunes, such as TVS drivability tune, which mostly alter the gear shift points. Some of them claim also to extend life time of a dsg. Idk if longlivety terms are true in such tunes, but at least they shud not shorten the life time due to faster shifts.

I think @Gaz  had or has a VW Polo GTI from 2015 on.

The replacement for the Polo GTI 1.4 TSI Twincharger.

 

The 1.8TSI 192 PS model that has a DQ200 DSG and supposedly has 250Nm while the Manual version has 320 Nm.

VW Kidology like they often do, the supposedly heavier DSG is actually quicker than the lighter manual. 

 

As to an Octavia 1.8 TSI and remapping and going to over 210 bhp, or 220 i would be fitting a Quaife LSD.

If remaps & just remaps really get the 1.8TSI,s to the figures posted that is amazeballs. 

 

 

Edited 3 December, 20241 yr by Ootohere

1 hour ago, Ootohere said:

I think @Gaz  had or has a VW Polo GTI from 2015 on.

The replacement for the Polo GTI 1.4 TSI Twincharger.

 

The 1.8TSI 192 PS model that has a DQ200 DSG and supposedly has 250Nm while the Manual version has 320 Nm.

VW Kidology like they often do, the supposedly heavier DSG is actually quicker than the lighter manual. 

 

Well remembered, and yes, we still do.  Owned for seven years now.  It's been an absolute peach and a pleasure to own.  Would I remap it? No, I would not.  It goes well enough and I don't think it needs more power.  Would the DQ200 be more reliable after a remap?  That I doubt, and I certainly wouldn't be tempting fate    With no expert knowledge whatsoever, I'd expect a remap of the DSG would likely increase load - clamping pressures, accumulator pressure maybe.  I think increasing load will increase wear, and increase risk too on the weaker links.  I could of course be completely wrong on that.

 

The Octavia's a bigger car of course, but I thought the 1.4 went well, so I'd expect the 1.8 to be an improvement on that.  Agree completely on needing a LSD - when driving ours enthusiastically, on good PS4's, it's very easy to not be able to get the power down, or lose traction in all but ideal conditions.

 

Gaz

 

PS:  My 2015 vRS TSI (DQ250) was remapped to north of 300bhp, so I'm quite familiar with remapping.  Given that, I still wouldn't remap the Polo, engine or DSG.

 

Edited 3 December, 20241 yr by Gaz
added a comment about the vRS

Small point.

All DQ200,s are not running the same Software / Management / Mapping from the Factory. Not all are the same, and they were used in 48 VW Group applicationn

They have been used on 1.0,1.2,1.4,1.5 & 1.8 TSI,s with from 69ps - 192 ps.

  DQ200-e in the Mild Hybrids 1.0 & 1.5TSI,s.

& TDI,s 1.2, 1.4,1.6 & now 2.0 TDI,s with 115 ps / 250 Nm.

Edited 3 December, 20241 yr by Ootohere

7 hours ago, Gaz said:

 

PS:  My 2015 vRS TSI (DQ250) was remapped to north of 300bhp, so I'm quite familiar with remapping.  Given that, I still wouldn't remap the Polo, engine or DSG.

 

 

Thanks all for your contribution to this queste. I just went off the path of the dual remapped 1.8TSI DSG and am going to see a manual vRS (2018, 230hp) tomorrow. 😉

 

Sometimes you just have to be good to yourself 😜

@mischami Check for a history of the VAQ diff being serviced.

If a 7 Speed DQ381 DSG the service interval is 80,000 miles / 129,000 km.   I would want it serviced long before that. 

One lesser known trick with the Skoda DSG gearboxes is to make sure that the acceleration is set up in Audi model as opposed to Skoda/VW mode. It adjusts the acceleration profile and IMHO stops the engine fighting with the gearbox. It adjusts the acceleration profile to be linear (Audi) instead of logarithmic (Skoda/VW). Done this on all my previous DAG Cars and they have super smooth engine/gearbox action now.