118TSI - 7dsg - are they as bad as your making out?!

[TSIfan]

Hi guys,

Just about to buy a new wagon... I've come out of the sales industry... Been out for a while back in tge car audio game! Worked in numerous Volkswagen deslerships.... Even worked at a skoda dealership at its launch and had one of the first RS demos.

Looking at a low K 118 tsi octavia wagon, 7 DSG, appears to be a ex lease/rental, which doesn't worry me I've owned ex lease and ex rental cars before.... But are these things as bad as your making out? Everyone on here has had some form of mechanical issue.

I'm a rep and do tons of klms and don't want to get stuck somewhere or with a massive bill.

Seems the VW golf wagon doesn't suffer the same problem... I know it's a 1.4 compared to a 1.8.... But even the Audi guys don't have any real issues... Can someone settle my mind and reassure me that I'm making a good purchase?

Car has factory warranty till June and I can get a full extended warranty for a further 3 years/ 200,000klms

[BluChris]

The 118 engine (1.8 litre) in the Skodas seems to be OK judging by feedback on the forum, but the 118 twincharger (1.4 litre) in the Golf has had problems - check the Golf thread. So from an engine point of view the Octavia is likely to be safer than the twincharger Golf not vice versa.

Golf and Octavia share the gearbox, and as I said in the thread on buying a used Octavia the 7 speed appears to be less robust than the 6 speed DSG. It's a different and newer design (dry clutch not wet) and it is pretty clear some have issues with it. There are some posts in the Skoda section and plenty in the VW section. Mostly seems to be clutch packs, but you should check the threads for yourself and decide how you feel about it.

The 118s are very cheap for what they offer, but like I said in the other thread, I would prefer to pick up a diesel or RS with 6 speed DSG (or a manual in any variant). Doubly so if you are doing high miles - the diesel may be harder to find but a bit of a no brainer.

[roshea]

For a novice, what would be the symptoms of DSG problems that could be picked up on a test drive?

[BluChris]

Things I remember people have reported include shuddering (especially around low gear changes), 'false neutrals' (ie losing drive temporarily) or unduly hard shifting. Hopefully others will contribute to the list if I missed something...

What's not unusual is slight hesitation when moving off and sometimes the odd clunky/slightly less than smooth shift on light throttle, rolling back on hills if it doesn't have hill holder (many don't), tricky reversing up hills - hard to get smooth power inputs. These are all pretty typical DSG behaviour.

The memory I have of driving a couple of new 118 DSGs is that they were pretty smooth, so gearbox behaviour beyond the minor issues noted above would be a concern.

[Dal]

My '12 118TSI wagon is now one year old and I have had no issues with the gearbox. Just an initial problem with stalling that was fixed with an ECU update.

It does behave as BluChris mentions. Odd hesitation when moving off but overall its pretty easy to live with. I've had no dramas on hills.

[gavs]

Faulty Mechatronics: Hard shifting up and down, rattles over rough roads especially in 2nd gear, rattles uphill in 2nd gear, hesitation to select gears, failure to select gears.

Faulty Clutches: Shuddering of any kind when taking off, good test is to slow down as much as possible in 2nd gear and take off with about 50% throttle, then repeat in 3rd gear.