Had ours at the dealer the other day to investigate noisy gearbox. Waste of time really, but fault logged. What's interesting though is that VW are aware that the boxes are noisy but it's deliberate. Apparently they made a heavier gearbox initially that was quite but was too heavy for the emissions. So they made another which was lighter than the current one which would have put the car into the free tax bracket but they wouldn't accept the noise levels. So they settled for a compromise knowing it was still noisy just not as noisy as it could have been. So there you have it. VW engineered a noisy box to keep emissions down. Surely someone without too much trouble could invent some kind of sound insulating blanket to wrap around the box that would reduce the noise? If it was done aftermarket it wouldn't effect the emissions.