I know that Mod Mini covered this in his video of starter replacement, but I found that even now (2019), the parts stores have the starters identified backwards. The starter for the R53 6 spd is part #17854, the part# for the R53 CVT is 17855. I looked through the threads and didn't find anything giving a heads up on this.
NAPA, AutoZone, Rockauto all have the applications backwards. The NAPA rebuilt part number for the Manual trans is 244-6924 and the CVT is 244-6923. Don't be fooled by their descriptions, they don't know what they're talking about. BTW Autozone has the correct PNs (17854 and 17855), but their application descriptions are backwards as well, so go by the PN when at all possible.
I know that I could probably have gotten the correct one from the usual suspects, but at a 2X premium?? Rant over,