Hope it's ok to revive this discussion.
Back in 2017 I got my then new GTI and I planned to change transmission oil after its first 2500 mls. Thought it's like usual - one fill plug and one for drain. Quite easy job.
When I had the car on the lift I was surprised to notice that at the place where the fill plug has been before, there's none. At that time nobody (on the internet) reported about any modification on the 02Q gearbox. So I went home with just doing the engine oil, not the MTF. Compare these two diagrams and look for item #24:
gear housing<br/>for 6 speed manual gearbox Tiguan (TIG) 2016 year Volkswagen CHINA(SVW) 301040 spare parts
volkswagen.7zap.com
switch unit<br/>selector fork<br/>for 6 speed manual gearbox Golf/Variant/4Motion (GOLF) 2016 year Volkswagen EUROPA 311090 spare parts
volkswagen.7zap.com
Back at home I registered to VW's Erwin-Online and paid the fee. On a side note, for checking for correct oil level VW suggests to drain the oil, measure volume, if neccessary add the required amount and then put the SAME OLD gear oil BACK IN. I highly doubt most mechanics are able to keep this oil that clean so that it's acceptable to put it back in. However, more importantly, VW suggest to remove a plastic locking bolt (02M301241C) which locks the shifter assembly in place and fill the oil through that hole into the gearbox. Unsurprisingly, VW recommends to replace this costly nylon bolt. As usual, ECS has nice pictures of that part:
SCREW (Mfg#02M301241C).
www.ecstuning.com
Next day I removed it and changed the oil with Castrol Syntrans V-FE 75W-80. Only marginally thicker compared to VW G 052 527, shifting is fine. I'll replace the bolt next time though when I retry OE fluid VW G 052 527, as I have it laying around for some time anyway.
All in all, some advice given in ELSA/Erwin seems crazy to me and I clearly would prefer a dedicated fill plug, though it isn't much hareder to remove this plastic bolt. Just don't damage it.
Btw, any opinions on slightly overfilling manaual gearboxes? VW specs 2,3 l and without the traditional fill plug it'd be easy to add some 200 or 300 ml.