How to preserve your DSG7 gearbox?

I have been saying this for many times to many different people that ask me and also shared with me about their worries with DSG7 gearbox and how it is putting them off from buying a VW car equipped with DSG7 no matter how tempting the package might be.

Somewhat being the normal procrastinator that I am, finally I put my opinion out to a renowned automotive forum and it became a thread all by itself.

My opinion can be found here in this thread.
KCNG's Guide to Preserving VW's DSG 7-speed Transmission

Bear in mind those are purely my views since day 1 of owning and experiencing the DSG7 in multiple driving condition from heavy traffic, weekend touge and numerous track days.
I am just sharing it accordingly.

Of course your opinion and question is more then welcomed.

A big thanks to Tom from Zero-To-Hundred for giving me the chance to share.

P/S - It doesn't mean that by following my method, your DSG7 won't fail. Any mechanical parts will fail. It's just the matter of time. By using it properly, we can pro-long the lifespan.

Volkswagen Jetta MK6: Boot hinge cover

I took delivery of my Jetta MK6 in November 2012. A CBU model.

Once of the main gripe I have with the car is the "incompleteness" of the product due to Volkswagen practice of implementing product updates on the car from time to time. 

(This will be another story for another time).

My gripe with my car will be this. The boot hinges.

My car comes with "incomplete" boot hinge as shown below.

As shown in the picture, the hinge on the left is partially covered with a plastic cover and the remaining bare metal is exposed. The hinge on the right is totally naked. In my opinion, this makes the car looks "budget".

A closer look on the stock boot hinge.

The left boot hinge that comes with my car.

The right totally naked boot hinge. Just scream "budget" as you can see.

So what I did to fix this was to get a pair of complete boot hinge cover.

The part number for the boot hinge set.

 

During the installation of the boot hinge, do pay close attention to the retaining clips position as they can be quite fragile. I almost broke one of the clips. If you broke the retaining clips, do not worry as the boot hinge will install and stay in position even with a few broken retaining clips.

The D-I-Y installation took about 5 minutes. Its a simple fit and snap into position job.

The end result is as below.

The right boot hinge.

The left boot hinge.

The overall look.

Now tell me, with the boot hinge in place, it does indeed look better now right?

The cost of this "improvement"?

RM 350.

Satisfaction?

Priceless.

Volkswagen Jetta MK6: Running cost in Malaysia

Been busy lately to actually complete a few pending post / updates with regards to the VW Jetta MK6.

But one pressing needs that I have seen lately is in terms of the maintenance / running cost of VW Jetta in Malaysia.

There seems to be alot of questions with regards to the maintenance / servicing cost and when a guide is provided to them, they take it as the gospel and when the actual bill is higher, the hoo-hah started.

There is alot of reason why the bill is higher and some is lower.

So stay tuned if you want to know more.
I will be sharing the running / servicing cost of my very own VW Jetta soon.