Hi coud someone who has driven both compare the overtaking capabilities? I've test driven the 1.2 but felt I could do with a little more oomph when required and wondered how much the extra torque on the 110bhp diesel actually adds?

Thanks

From driving my Dad's Octy 1.6 CR TDI, the diesel will be a bit better for overtaking. I haven't tried the 1.2 yet though and when I do it'll be in a Fabia, so it won't be a proper comparison :(

I drove the 1.2 DSG for a testdrive (about 30 minutes) and I found that the overtaking was more than adequate (at least driving at speeds between 30 and 50mph).

My personal comparisono is with my Avensis diesel which has a 300nm of torque fora 1500kg car (on paper it is between the 250nm of the 110cv and the 320nm of the 140cv engines).

But I guess that the comparison is very much conditioned by the presence of the DSG and by the speed.

Given the maximum speed of the 1.2 yeti it could suffer a little bit if you need overtaking at motorway speed.... or if you are not willing to go down a gear or two.

It all depends - of course.

The bald figures suggest that the 1.2TSi and the 110CR diesel are both capable of getting to 62mph in roughly the same time.

ie 11.5 secs approx,, therefore it's logical to assume they are equally accelerative.

However, the way the go about accelerating is very different and that is the point of the question I guess.

The diesel will be stronger between 2000 to 3000 revs as it has more torque.

It will accelerate reasonably well but as the revs climb, the accelerative urge will diminish.

The petrol on the other hand will feel weaker in the 2000 to 3000 band than the diesel, but, and this is the important thing; the petrol

engine gets more accelerative and more powerful as the revs rise - opposite to the diesel.

I personally hate the feeling when in mid overtake I have to reach for the next gear in a diesel. The acceleration reduces to zero near the redline.

This can lead to some iffy moments for those not used to a diesel.

In my petrol tsi - if I'm following a slow mover at 40-50mph I will select 3rd gear for the overtake. 3rd is good for about 80mph or so, so there's

plenty in reserve.

Doing the same in the diesel will have you reaching for 4th gear at a speed much lower than this.

I have always been a diesel man, but I prefer the way my 1.2 turbo behaves in this situation.