2012 Tiguan 155tsi transmission issues

[Dani]

Hi everyone,

I'm wondering if anyone else is having the same issue with their 2012 Tiguan 155tsi as I am...

The transmission seems to shift up gears too early, for example at 60km/h it goes into 6th and if I continue to travel around 6okms the engine sounds like it's labouring - deep engine groan, slight vibration, exactly what I'd expect in a manual if you are in too higher gear.

I asked the dealer about it very early on and they said its for fuel efficiency, which makes sense but it really negatively affects the pleasure of driving the car. I just took it back to the dealer a couple of months in and the tech said they've had quite a few people complain, some with the 132tsi but moreso the 155tsi. Apparently a transmission software update is 'in progress' but sounds like it's been that way for ages... Is anyone else experiencing this issue? Have you heard anything else from dealers/VW? Everyone time I drive the car it irritates me!

Also, if anyone is hearing a high pitched sound when the car is warm, apparently there's a known issue with the water pump which they will replace under warranty. Also, a rattle from the turbo waste gate which is fixed by inserting some sort of clip.


Thanks for sharing
Dani

[team_v]

Is this with the DSG geargbox or the older style auto?
I know there is a service recall in america for the older style one.

I had heard about the water pump but am not sure if i am experiencing it or not.

[203132]

Shouldn't happen with the older style auto it it's the case. For my car it shifts too slow, I always use the tiptronic because the transmission wants to change gears at around 3k in 1st/2nd gear.
Although I did get a chance to drive a DSG. It will always want to be in a high gear as your dealer said, it was for efficiency. I'm assuming that because it is DSG it can change gears for immediate power when you need it. So my question is, will it shift down when you press the accelerator a little more?

My car can pull from 60km/hr in sixth gear slowly with a little drone. (But it is tuned)
not sure about the high pitched sound.

PS: absolute hate for the old style gear box. Fork out the extra for DSG or go manual

[Dani]

Heya,

Yep we have the 7sp DSG and understand the desire for fuel efficiency, but its so noticeable that I would definitely forego the fuel efficiency to have it fixed, it creates quite an unpleasant experience for such a lovely (and not so cheap) car There's lots of posts from people overseas with the same issue but hard to compare models etc, and I think the software for Aus is different also.

The DSG will shift down, but only if you plant your foot quite a lot, and there is a bit of a delay, so you're crawling then all of a sudden you've violently taken off.

I'm hoping because the tech said lots of people have complained that a fix will come soon, think I will write to VW also to make sure they keep getting the feedback in case it doesn't make it back through the dealers- not sure if anyone has had any luck writing to VW with similar type issues in the past?

[tigger73]

I've got a 2011 125TSI but also with 7spd DSG.

I know you've probably spent a lot of $ for the car already and think it should be right. If you read posts here and on other forums it has been the problem all along with the Tiguan/Golf DSG that it upshifts too early and runs around in too higher gear all to save 0.1l/100km on the fuel economy figures.

If you really want to change it, then I suggest you do what a number of other people on this forum have done and mod your car.

Reality is that if VW make any changes to the gearbox to rev higher then this will effect the fuel economy figures. So even though many people want the gearbox to perform better (i.e. be in the right gear at the right time), I'm sorry to say that the fuel economy nazis have won and it'll be in the highest gear possible for your road speed.

APR has a DSG tune which claims to fix a lot of these problems. There's probably a few others that will do something similar if you do a bit of digging.

Understand your frustration, but it's a common feature of the DSG and how it is set up out of the factory.

[aussietig]

It's just more of a PITA in the Tig because it's a 7 spd.

Didn't feel this bad in the Golf GTI with 6 spd DSG.

It's embarassing to admit ... but was even beaten by a Toyota Echo off the lights and up a steep incline due to Tig changing up to 3rd just before it got steep.


Anyhow, not sure about a DSG flash however and especially APR. Wouldn't imagine it'd be cheap?

My only suggestion is to get flappy paddles to making shifting when you want to a lot easier.

[Dani]

Is this with the DSG geargbox or the older style auto?
I know there is a service recall in america for the older style one.

I had heard about the water pump but am not sure if i am experiencing it or not.

Hi there - thanks for the response - the issue is with the 7spd DSG which is the only tramission available for the 155 now.

After the car has been running for a while (usually I drive for about an hour), if you leave it running and get out you should be able to hear the high pitched noise. If not, you're probably lucky to have avoided it

[Tiggy155]

Hi Dani, I also have the 155 7spd and know where your coming from... At first it bothered me a bit but as time goes by( just tick over 6k k's) I don't mind the frequent gear changes. If I'm sick of it I just put in it 's' and problem gone. There has been a DSG tune released by DNA performance. Apparently this tune eliminates the quick changes and holds the gears longer. Maybe something to look into. Cheers.

[Dani]

Thanks all for your advice. At this stage I'm not prepared to mod a 50k car when i firmly believe the issue is a bug and should be fixed by VW.
I get the impression from dealer and conversation that the issue appears in most DSG', but maybe to a much lesser extent than the specific 2012 155 tig.

The gear changes when accelarating from stationary are fine, its only when trying to maintain constant speed or increase speed by less than say 5kms. I spend lots of time in med traffic so thats most of the time.

Experience from others with this model welcome

[DoggieHowser]

Picked up my 155TSI 7sp DSG in late July.

I always treat the DSG as an economical slush box but it's ultimately a convenience feature.

If I need to get things done in a hurry, a flick of the stick to the left allows me to swap that to manual override which is IMHO very responsive.

Perhaps it's because I came from a manual box before this, but I found this far more intuitive and far more effortless than trying to find the paddles (I am using this word loosely) when I drove my in-law's MkV GTI or a cousin's MkVI R