I was interested to see a comment from someone that their TDI had no pull below 1500 rpm. We had a Golf 1.6CR TDI 105 DSG until recently, but were very disappointed with the low rev performance below 1500 rpm, and we got rid of it for this reason mainly. It is a lovely engine, great on motorways and faster roads, and amazingly economical, but our biggest problem was roundabouts and junctions, often you would arrive at a busy roundabout or junction, and put your foot down to accelerate, and get caught out pottering across at 5mph and causing havoc until the revs reached 1500, then off you went like a rocket! It was of course made worse because being DSG you could not slip the clutch slightly to increase the revs ready.

I hope I am not being overly picky of a great engine, and we are both very experienced drivers, but it spoilt the car for us.

We now have a Yeti 1.2 DSG on order. I thought I'd bring this point up in case Skoda bring out a 1.6 TDI DSG, and would advise anyone to have a test drive first, we love the DSG box, but mated to a TDI we have reservations. We unfortunately could not find a model to have a test drive in at the time, maybe the larger diesels don't have this problem. We have owned several VW and Skodas over the years and are great fans, and wouldn't buy anything else, and didn't have this problem with the older generation of diesels before CR. Now because of a disability we have to have Auto gearboxes, so are more limited in choice.

I was interested to see a comment from someone that their TDI had no pull below 1500 rpm. We had a Golf 1.6CR TDI 105 DSG until recently, but were very disappointed with the low rev performance below 1500 rpm, and we got rid of it for this reason mainly. It is a lovely engine, great on motorways and faster roads, and amazingly economical, but our biggest problem was roundabouts and junctions, often you would arrive at a busy roundabout or junction, and put your foot down to accelerate, and get caught out pottering across at 5mph and causing havoc until the revs reached 1500, then off you went like a rocket! ........

......Now because of a disability we have to have Auto gearboxes, so are more limited in choice.

The problem you describe in the first paragraph is precisely the reason I got rid of a Ford Fusion 1.4 AMT (automated manual transmission). A single clutch solution, it was far worse than a DSG when it came to hesitation and I grew tired of playing chicken at junctions and roundabouts, never knowing whether it was going to go or not, and if it went, whether it would crawl with the engine struggling or rocket with the engine screaming. The change to the Octavia 2L TDI DSG was wonderful!

(Even though I tell them I want to test drive a 1.2 DSG I still get suggestions that I try the manual from certain dealers - I think there is a mind set that you want an automatic because you are lazy, not because your leg doesn't work well enough to operate a clutch in a controlled manner. Still, I suppose I could adopt a binary approach - clutch pedal down, change gear, clutch pedal up - be a bit jerky though.) :(

I bought a new 2009 1.6TDI Golf and found the low rev torque very disappointing ( and dangerous at times). We then ordered a 1.9PD Octavia Estate and not the 1.6 CR engine version because of this distinct lack of low torque at low revs. We are very happy with the Octavia apart from tailgate leaks .

I have a 1.2 TSI and it is a great engine. I would say though that the first gear pick up is a little limited (mine is manual) and I have a theory that the torque is limited in first gear to reduce transmisison wear. In fact, I would go so far as to say that the turbo doesn't provide boost in first gear. Don't know if this is the same in the DSG version but he doesn't get going until the turbo kicks in when I have changed into second gear.

If I recall, the poor low rev pull in the 1.6 TDI was one of the few criticisms What Car made of the Golf with that engine.

This is perhaps quite an issue as this engine in various states of tune is becoming ubiquitous throughout the VAG group, including in the Fabia and Octavia. I belive it's due to be fitted to a Yeti Greenline at some point.

Seems like the current 2.0 110 is better suited to the Yeti (can produce more torque for the 4x4), though I think this variant was probably originally intended as a stop gap between the old 1.9 and the new 1.6.