Golf R manual vs DSG long term reliabilty?

[joecc]

Hi. I am debating between a 2017 or 18 Golf R and wondering whether the manual or the DSG is more reliable, ie, less likely to have catastrophic failure over long term ownership?

Obviously I know clutches need to be replaced on a manual and Haldex needs fluid changes

 

[Dog Dad Wagon]

DSG is going to be more reliable, in general, than the manual. The DSG is arguably the most reliable, and perhaps the best performing twin-clutch on the market. The manual is the no-cost option with a zillion cheaper-out parts.

I suggest reading the “How to make your 6MT suck less” thread to see how much has to be modified for the MT to be a truly sufficient, quality trans. DQ381 DSG is great out of the box, DQ250 needs a tune.

 

[Keehs360]

I think it’s all on the end users diligence. Proactively doing service before it even needs it is a good idea. Then there’s abuse. Seems like the dsg is more than willing to take an asswhooping over and over vs the manual. But that’s just due to the stock clutch.

I’d say the dsg would take more track days than a manual. Stock for stock at least. But if you swap to a stronger clutch. I think they’d be about the same maybe?

 

[Dog Dad Wagon]

I think it’s all on the end users diligence. Proactively doing service before it even needs it is a good idea. Then there’s abuse. Seems like the dsg is more than willing to take an asswhooping over and over vs the manual. But that’s just due to the stock clutch.

I’d say the dsg would take more track days than a manual. Stock for stock at least. But if you swap to a stronger clutch. I think they’d be about the same maybe?

And then there’s crank walk on the uprated clutches...

 

[jay745]

Ehhh you're going to get a lot of subjective answers here. Daily driving is about the same for reliability. Tracking I'd say manual will be more reliable long term aside from clutches. These mechatronics units in the dsgs do not like heat at all and anyone who says otherwise simply doesn't understand how they fail.

 

[j255c]

And then there’s crank walk on the uprated clutches...

Aftermarket option that wont be so harsh on the crank? Sachs? How overblown is this issue?

 

[Dog Dad Wagon]

Aftermarket option that wont be so harsh on the crank? Sachs? How overblown is this issue?

It’s definitely overblown bc of the “vocal minority” of people who experience the issue reporting it online compared to the thousands who don’t experience it. But some decent polls have been taken on Facebook with over a thousand responses and something like 20+ people with the DKM Twin-Disk Clutch have experienced crank walk, which is hardly insignificant. Plenty others also experience it.

My car is 100% Daily Driver and my power goals are 280-300WHP so a clutch good for ~350TQ shouldn’t over stress the thrust bearing

 

[aloha_from_bradley]

OP - What do you mean by reliable?

Cheaper cost of ownership? Less work / maintenance over time?

Most of the time reliability = cost/time

In this case the DSG will likely be more expensive to fix outside of warranty than a clutch / slave / lines. Just my two cents. This is coming from a person who owns a DSG R. I will also say that if you plan on a manual trans, be prepared to upgrade the clutch with any power mods. This is also assuming you work on your own car. Either way, the DSG trans seem to last a long time. My buddy has a MK5 R32 with like 150k and his DSG is running just fine.

 

[Rtarded]

I don't have any insight to offer that isnt subjective, but I would still like to be included.

 

[Keehs360]

And then there’s crank walk on the uprated clutches...

Oh. Didn’t know that was a thing.

 

[Keehs360]

OP - What do you mean by reliable?

Cheaper cost of ownership? Less work / maintenance over time?

Most of the time reliability = cost/time

In this case the DSG will likely be more expensive to fix outside of warranty than a clutch / slave / lines. Just my two cents. This is coming from a person who owns a DSG R. I will also say that if you plan on a manual trans, be prepared to upgrade the clutch with any power mods. This is also assuming you work on your own car. Either way, the DSG trans seem to last a long time. My buddy has a MK5 R32 with like 150k and his DSG is running just fine.

This is true. A manual is a manual is a manual. They’re cheaper to maintain and fix

 

[joecc]

OP - What do you mean by reliable?

Cheaper cost of ownership? Less work / maintenance over time?

Most of the time reliability = cost/time

In this case the DSG will likely be more expensive to fix outside of warranty than a clutch / slave / lines. Just my two cents. This is coming from a person who owns a DSG R. I will also say that if you plan on a manual trans, be prepared to upgrade the clutch with any power mods. This is also assuming you work on your own car. Either way, the DSG trans seem to last a long time. My buddy has a MK5 R32 with like 150k and his DSG is running just fine.

This will just be a daily driver, and probably remain only stock.

I tend to keep cars for a long time and want to best avoid having an insanely expensive transmission replacement/repair 5-6, 8 years down the road. I'm thinking the manual may be best for that???

I

 

[JC_451]

I think it’s all on the end users diligence. Proactively doing service before it even needs it is a good idea. Then there’s abuse. Seems like the dsg is more than willing to take an asswhooping over and over vs the manual.

The manual can definitely be more easily KO'd by thrashing it.

This gearbox can be hard to master and just these last couple of weeks there has been a few moneyshift stories and one dude who banged 3rd so hard it completely destroyed the transmission.

When you just gotta mash the gas and hang on user error is much less likely to factor into reliability.

 

[sterkrazzy]

Everybody with a dsg will say dsg. Everybody with a manual will say manual. Just get the one you think you'll enjoy driving more. If it's staying stock I don't see a reason to be concerned about either transmission. Get a 2018 or 2019 for the longer warranty and don't worry about it. If you get a manual and tune it then eventually you will have to replace the clutch, but generally R's with a dsg cost a little more and with the dsg services and dsg tune the overall cost of tuning both cars is about the same.

 

[Charlotte.:R]

If you're debating between a 17 and 18 R, note that the 18 will have the 6/72 warranty.

I don't really have anything to add. I have a 6MT with Diesel Geek, heavy shift knob, etc, and it's fine. Wife has a B9 A4 with the 7 speed DSG and it's the best "automatic" transmission I've ever experienced. I don't think you can really go wrong with either transmission