Octavia 1.6 CR TDi ownership and reliability

[jonny123456]

Hi everyone.

I'm considering replacing my current car with an 2010-2011 Octavia 1.6 CR TDi (I have no preference between hatchback or estate, manual or auto).  

I figured here would be the perfect place to ask about it!

My main concerns are actual fuel economy (which on paper at least looks great), reliability, cost of repairs for 'common' problems etc.  I'm ideally looking to buy something that I can keep until it dies (I'd like to get another 8-10 years and 150K miles out of it without too much trouble).

I'm doing 12.5-15K miles per year, mainly motorway trips of 25-35 miles each way (which I assume will avoid DPF problems).  I realise this is on the borderline of justifying a diesel, though hope keeping it for a long time will go some way to make up for this.  

I'm posting to get views on what other 1.6 TDi owners think of their Octavia's?

 

What real MPG are people getting (real, or computer indicated? town driving or motorway?)

What are the common things to go wrong and at what expense to repair?

Are trouble free, high mileages in modern (Skoda) diesels achievable?  
 

[pikpilot]

I was having a discussion with a service guy in the local Skoda dealership recently and without knowing what engine I have, said that the 1.6CR engine is now the highest usage engine across the VAG range of engines.

That gives me some confidence as it would be a disaster if it proved to be unreliable.

[tupray]

I went from a Roomsters tsi , 1.2 105 bhp to 12 plate Octavia 1.6 TDI , should have stayed with the Roomser , had the Octy 6 weeks , ( it felt like a car from by-gone -days ) sold it for a Yeti 2.0 TDI , heaven . I found that the Octy was under powered and not a smooth drive , go for a 2.0 tdi

[Taxi_G]

1.6TDI TAXI Octavia here,

No major faults, I run mines on BP ultimate and have done for the last 20k, no DPF/EGR faults , mines gets serviced every 10k without fail.

Front Shockers are common 80/100k

Secondary water pump again common but £120 supplied n fitted

Over the last 1900 miles I've averaged 48.8 mpg with 60% town work..... I'd consider that great in my opinion

Negatives

My previous taxis have been 2.0 140's with the 6 speed box, miss the power, however easily cured with a remap which I'll do at first signs of DPF/EGR problems and I'll also have them removed.

Mines is an estate and I find when there's any kind of weight in the back it catches speed bumps and sounds really bad. Dunno if the rear shockers are needing replaced or if this is common.

Overall I'm happy with it, would recommend the engine

G

[Hingysaid]

I've only had my 11 plate a short while, but can say that's it's a pleasure to own. Getting mid 50s mpg with 50/50 town and motorway driving..... Others say no grunt etc... It has enough to pull you along at a good rate.... It's not a sports engine is it. Recommended

Sent from my D5803 using Tapatalk

[GrahamWade]

Hi

I've had 1.6 Tdi auto 60 plate for 1 year now. Travelling 30 miles (10miles dual carriageway/motorway) each way for work am getting 60mph. No faults so far just replaced the cheap tyres(Hi-li) with Goodyear Effecient Grip which made an unbelievable difference.

[jonny123456]

Thanks for the replies, and reassuing to hear mostly positive reviews. 

 

It looks like I need to do some spreadsheet work to see if the fuel savings, and common/expected repairs will make up for the loss I'll have when trading my current car in. 

 

I went from a Roomsters tsi , 1.2 105 bhp to 12 plate Octavia 1.6 TDI , should have stayed with the Roomser , had the Octy 6 weeks , ( it felt like a car from by-gone -days ) sold it for a Yeti 2.0 TDI , heaven . I found that the Octy was under powered and not a smooth drive , go for a 2.0 tdi

 

Slightly off topic, but out of interest, did you not take a massive cost hit selling the Octavia back to the dealership after just 6 weeks?

[cmcm789]

Have a 2010 1.6 estate with 32k on clock. Daily commute is 20mile round trip on mixed roads (no motorways). Car returns 55-60mpg on average based on fill to fill. Had DPF issues while the wife drove the car for the first couple of years doing constant short journeys. Haven't had any problems or lights on dash since I started using it.

 

Coming from a 1.9 110bhp with loads of torque low down, the 1.6 is well underpowered. Gearing (5 speed) is long compared to the 1.9 and therefore it needs to be kept higher up the revs or it dies. I'm getting used to it a bit, but seriously looking into tuning boxes which I had on my previous Octy 110bph and my Mk3 Golf TDI before that. Don't care what people say about tuning boxes, if used properly they are excellent bang for buck and have never caused me a problem yet in 15 years of use and over 250k miles. 

Edited 4 August, 2015 by cmcm789

[silver1011]

Some more comments here...

 

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/364659-octavia-16-dieselany-good/?hl=egr#entry4323632

 

There seem to be an increasing number of EGR related complaints cropping up recently across all engines but in particular the 1.6 CR105.

[tupray]

Jonny123456 , yes !! , but was glad to get rid , better to take a loss than run around in a car you dislike ( I have to say in the past I did have 2 , 1.9 Tdi , one manual and one DSG , Both great cars , must be the 1.6 TDI I had problems with

[redcupraboy]

A problem with my car. Had the yellow swirly light come on the clock set the other day, car seemed to run ok but not boosting, gone into limp mode. Got home and checked manual the light is for the coils.

Anyways started the car next day and no light and running fine. Car was fine for days until we went away for a few days and the light came back on. So pulled over and turned the car off and on and back to normal. The car has only done 63000 miles.

So iv dropped the car at a friends garage to plug it in and see what the fault codes are/where, it's a faulty EGR unit, talking around the £500 mark just for the new part + labour :(

The car is under warranty so will ring the garage tommorow to see how to proceed, that is of course if their warranty is any good :(

Will update with any more info as and when. Not impressed tbh.

I presume there is no way of doing an EGR delete on this 1.6 cr tdi engine? As I did have one fitted prior to mapping on my old 1.9tdi VRS Fabia.

I

[Taxi_G]

A problem with my car. Had the yellow swirly light come on the clock set the other day, car seemed to run ok but not boosting, gone into limp mode. Got home and checked manual the light is for the coils.

Anyways started the car next day and no light and running fine. Car was fine for days until we went away for a few days and the light came back on. So pulled over and turned the car off and on and back to normal. The car has only done 63000 miles.

So iv dropped the car at a friends garage to plug it in and see what the fault codes are/where, it's a faulty EGR unit, talking around the £500 mark just for the new part + labour :(

The car is under warranty so will ring the garage tommorow to see how to proceed, that is of course if their warranty is any good :(

Will update with any more info as and when. Not impressed tbh.

I presume there is no way of doing an EGR delete on this 1.6 cr tdi engine? As I did have one fitted prior to mapping on my old 1.9tdi VRS Fabia.

I

You have to blank it off and code it out on the 1.6 unfortunately mate

What ever you do, if the warranty isn't gonna covering don't buy another EGR, get it mapped n coded out!

G

[marcusthehat]

I have never found the 1.6TDI underpowered, even when towing.

They are too softly sprung in the back though, the official Skoda fitted towbar on our hatch bottoms out regularly.

Apart from the DSG glitchs the car with 80,000 over virtually 5 years has been quite faultless.

Though the EML light is now staying on (but no limp mode)

And the A/C compressor bearings have started to run rough, A/C still working properly after 5 years near continuious use.

Since I mostly do short runs, OF 3 TO 5 miles during the week, I only get 48 to 52 mpg, but easily in the mid to high 50's when on longer runs, even at mostly motorway speeds.

marcus

[cmcm789]

You have to blank it off and code it out on the 1.6 unfortunately mate

What ever you do, if the warranty isn't gonna covering don't buy another EGR, get it mapped n coded out!

G

Would like to hear more on this as I had considered a remap and when I asked about the EGR I was told it wouldn't need blanked off. They said it could be written out in the software and that the valve would just remain in the closed position.

[redcupraboy]

You have to blank it off and code it out on the 1.6 unfortunately mate

What ever you do, if the warranty isn't gonna covering don't buy another EGR, get it mapped n coded out!

G

Cheers for the heads up G was considering getting the car remapped by Shark anyway at some point.

Has anybody else done the above and can shed a bit more light on it? It would be much appreciated

[Rab-k]

Had ours since new, now showing 94k on the clock.

 

Only major issue was the EGR valve needed replaced around 10k ago - have been using Ultimate diesel since in the hope of ensuring a cleaner burn.

 

Mid 40s mpg, but 4x4 will keep it lower than 2WD equivalents.

 

The power of the 2.0L would be nice, but insurance costs/road tax/mpg offsets the loss IMHO.

[QuentinG]

I went from a Roomsters tsi , 1.2 105 bhp to 12 plate Octavia 1.6 TDI , should have stayed with the Roomser , had the Octy 6 weeks , ( it felt like a car from by-gone -days ) sold it for a Yeti 2.0 TDI , heaven . I found that the Octy was under powered and not a smooth drive , go for a 2.0 tdi

That might explain why I like it (except for all the nanny state commands and warnings). I was a bit worried I would find it short of power after my 2001 1.8 Turbo but have only found myself running out of accelerator travel a couple of times. I am averaging low fifties mpg but had never had a car where driving style and conditions influenced the mpg as much as this one.