JustinCombi

Sorry for the much delayed update! The car was returned, and I didn't have to pay any more money. Dealer refused to admit that they had caused the timing chain slip, but waived the payment to rectify it out of courtesy The car ran faultlessly for another 7k, with no use of oil at all. The car was then sold on. Replacement was a Mazda 6, which has been utterly fault free for 45k. Coupled with the VW (Scirocco R) that had head gasket failure at 30k and the ****poor service we received from VW, I sadly have little faith in VAG engines anymore, which is a shame as otherwise my Skoda experience was, well, superb! Regards, Justin.

1.8TSI manual hatchback - 27.9 mpg calculated over the 72,000 miles I've driven it. Usually get between 330-350 miles per tank (54-55 litres).

I have not been advised of any damage. The engine did run for about half a mile, albeit very reluctant to rev and with a lumpy idle. Camchain and tensioner replacement bill was £500.00 inc VAT.

Just an update. The car had replacement pistons/conrods fitted etc along with two new water pumps and a new clutch fitted by my dealer (who remain excellent). I paid for half of the £3k bill. Two days later the car started to hesitate and run rough, before cutting out. The dealer came out with a replacement car and recovered my car from the side of the road. After a day or so, they advised that the timing chain had slipped due to tensioner failure - which seems to be known issue Stateside where these engines are more commonly used to cover reasonable mileages. VAG have issued a couple of TSB's regarding TSI engine tensioner failure over there and have changed the tensioner - it looks like it affects early TSI engines. My car now has the revised tensioner fitted and a new chain etc. etc. Skoda UK suggest that this is a wear and tear item. I am arguing that as the neither the tensioner or the chain are serviceable items they should be fit for the life of the vehicle, which should be considerably longer than 75k. I have also suggested it is a known issue/design fault with their early engines that they should address. Waiting on a call back. My faith in all things VAG is currently at a new low, having just had the head gasket let go on our 3 year old VW, just two weeks out of warranty and with 20k on the clock. Will be going back to Honda at this rate. Justin.

Ouch indeed...I am also a little concerned at the effect using so much oil may have had on the catalytic converter. Superb is on borrowed time I feel!

Hi, Just an update. The car went into my local dealer (Grey Gables) who carried checked out the PCV system and then did an oil consumption test, which, as expected, did show that the car was using excessive oil. Following correspondance with Skoda they recommended that the pistons be changed. Skoda have agreed to pay half the costs (total cost circa £2.5k). The car will be going in next week. Thumbs up to Grey Gables, who have been excellent throughout, as usual. Thanks, Justin.

Either Positive Crankcase Ventilation or Pressure Control Valve depending on what you read. Clogged/faulty PCV's seem to have been a bugbear for 2.0 TFSI's and now for the TSI units too, it appears. My car was looked at by my local dealer yesterday. They disassembled and cleaned the PCV system and could find no fault. They then levelled and weighed the amount of oil in the car. I will return to them having covered circa 300km and they will weigh the oil again to determine consumption. I do not know what th eNext step, will be replacement piston rings, in accordance with the Audi/Skoda TSB's. No charge so far - usual good service from my dealer. Thanks for your replies - I'll update the post next week when the oil gets weighed again. Justin.

Hi, Does anyone have any experience of excessive oil consumption? My 2009 Superb 1.8 TSI has always used a bit of oil, but now, with 72000 miles on the clock, it's really started using an excessive amount. I topped it up on Sunday after the low oil light came on. Drove about 150 miles on Monday and had to put another litre in on Tuesday and have just had to put another litre in 170 miles later again. There are no visible leaks and it doesn't appear to burn anything obviously out of the exhaust. Also no sign of oil in the coolant. The idle is a little lumpy from time to time but not always. It appears that there are several Audi/VW technical bulletins regarding excessive oil consumption on TSI engines which centre around rectifying problems/shortfalls with the crankcase ventilation system and if that doesn't work there's a suggestion that new (revised) piston rings may be fitted. Does anyone have any experience of this? The car has always been serviced by my local Skoda dealer but is obviously out of warranty and been topped up with the correct grade (504.00) oil. The optimist in me would hope that the dealer may be able to get some support if it's down to wear or inherent design faults. It's a shame as I am looking to buy two other cars for a couple of employees and given my cars exploding DMF at 60k and now this I'm struggling to maintain my loyalty towards Skoda. Any help/comments appreciated. Justin.

As you're only looking at doing a low annual mileage, I think the petrol makes a lot of sense. It is a lovely engine, quiet, smooth and has plenty of performance for most drivers/conditions. As has been mentioned they can be a bit heavy on fuel. I have done just over 70,000 miles in mine with a lifetime average of 27.9 mpg. Whilst I do drive enthusiastically, a lot of those miles are on motorways and dual carriageways driving at the speed of the traffic. The only other comments I would make is that mine does use a fair amount of oil now - around 1 litre per 1000 miles or so. Also, my car did suffer from a DMF failure at 61,000 miles which was replaced by the dealer FOC. The gear change is a bit "notchier" than it used to be; given a choice I'd go for DSG, which we have on our Scirocco and is lovely. Justin.

My 1.8 TSi regularly needs a top up - probably something like 1 litre every 4-5k miles I think. Obviously this kind of consumption is within the usual limits (0.5 litres/1000km?), generally I have found my turbo cars (944 and Audi TT) have used more oil than my N/A engines (including a hard driven Mazda MX-5 which never uses a drop).

From my experience, FWIW, I found it to be an issue with Dunlop Sport Maxx TT's on my Superb, but not with the current Avon's or the previous Michelin Primacy's. When the Dunlop's started to wear they became noisy and I could feel the vibrations through the steering wheel particularly when accelerating at high speed. Justin.

My October 2009 Superb has had 10 headlight bulbs blow in the 2 and a half years I've owned it. I have tried all sorts of bulbs - Bosch, Philips, Osram, Halfords, OE and they never seem to last more than a few months. I do have the early DRL - I think the headlight bulbs run at something like 85% brightness when the car is running - is this likely to contribute to their short life? I can't seem to get more than 3 months out of a bulb - another one blew at 1am this morning, which given the darkness and the driving rain wasn't great! Justin

When it is checked you will get three flashes when you press and release the indicator stalk. If unchecked (off) you only get one flash.

I guess it depends what you want from a car and what you've come from. I am the first to admit that my Superb isn't the first word in feel and handling, but in common with lots of modern cars it has very good roadholding and can be hustled along at a decent pace when conditions suit. My previous daily driver was a Volvo S40, which, unlikely as it seems was great fun and very playful compared to the Superb, although the Superb does do lift-off oversteer if you are inclined. We are also lucky enough to have an MX-5 which is lovely to drive - keen and alive as you may expect and great fun to drive hard, and a subtly modified 205 GTi which is just awesome down a B-road when you're in the mood. Incidentally, we tried a 12 month old Z4 sDrive 3.0i when considering the MX-5. Contrary to opinion it rode quite nicely and had a lovely creamy engine, but felt a bit soft and fuzzy - much more a boulevardier/GT than something you'd go for fun drive in. Will be looking at the Subaru/Toyota BRZ/GT86 very closely indeed when the Mazda's time is up. Justin.

I have done 54k in my 2009 Superb and I've probably got through 4-5 pairs of headlight bulbs, I change them in pairs as I usually try somthing differengt each time. Not too keen on Halfords own brand stuff - I've found the Philips and Bosch bulbs generally last a bit longer. I had a Volvo before which also used the headlights as DRL's and that got through h/l bulbs at a similar rate. On the Skoda I also went through a phase of getting through number plate bulbs too, but that seems to have stopped. Justin.