Question: What seems to be the trouble with the automatics? I bought one this spring with 178km, and tranny-wise it's been fine. We did swap the oil though upon purchase and it was expected black. I've heard a majority of the issues were due to running VW's "lifetime oil" but the oil is only rated for 150-200km or something (far less than the true lifetime of a TDI). Any experiences?
If you search and read the known issues/problems they're there in their full glory. While environment/driving conditions and maintenance have a significant effect there seems to be some mysteries as to why some of these transmissions last far longer than the majority of them (on the whole it seems like 125k to 150k is the average lifespan).
"We did swap the oil though upon purchase and it was expected black."
You expected it to be black and found that it wasn't, or it was as [you] expected, black? Did you change the filter?
Color is one thing, what's IN the fluid is another. If you have a bunch of crap, especially metallic bits, then that's a red flag.
Look around for CoolAirVW's threads on the 01m. Should be mandatory reading for anyone who has an 01m.