Hi,

Ive currently got a Mk1 Octavia vRS which im planning on selling soon and getting a vRS TDI 170 to replace it with, now ive never owned a diesel but I have driven my friends Golf GT TDI Sport 170 and I loved that engine, so much torque and I love the way it overtakes, plus it's as quick as my vRS but returning over 45mpg

So, are there anythings I need to be aware of with diesel ownership as ive read alot about DMF / DPF issues on diesels where owners need to replace the DMF every 20k at £700+ a time, and problems with the DPF if you dont warm the car up or only do short trips.... how serious of a problem is this as its putting me off a diesel and I dont fancy paying out to replace the DMF every 2 years.....

FYI I only do 11k a year and most of it is in town with longer drives at the weekend so am I likely to have DPF issues?

Diesel ownership for me is about the way the car drives, loads of torque with good mpg, at present I dont use all the power of my car I just dont like reving an engine to 5,000+rpm to get at the power... im lazy I guess

Any advise would be great.

Just take the DPF off. The DMF shouldn't be a concern if you don't labour it. The only thing at all that lets the car down a little bit once the DPF has been taken off is the lame Siemens ECU which causes occasional hesitations. Not enough to spoil an otherwise nice car, just a little annoying sometimes.

DMF every 20K = £700?

Excuse me?

I didn't think you had to replace them, let alone for that cost.

I went from the Mk1 VRS to the 170PD VRS and have not regretted it. I do a 10 mile each way drive to work each day and then longer runs on the weekend with no DPF problems. I do just under 10k miles a year so have done 30k with no need to change the DPF. I have also had no issues with my DMF either.

The reason I got the 170PD was again due to the power delivery which was in my mind more fun than the petrol one (just a little too smooth for me!!!!)

Never mind, I'll answer what I can.....

DPF - will need a refill if it's aided by a fluid tank, not sure the CR's are btw, normally around 70k, cost £300 to do, filter will depend on use, unlucky it will be a 40k part, lucky and it may outlive the car.

DMF - Every car firm has trouble with these, normally expect it to do 70k ish minimum, cost is £1500 at Skoda and £900 Indy for the DMF and clutch fitted.

As for ownership, if you make it your mission to nip 30 miles along the motorway @ 65 mph with the occasional blast once a week you should avoid the DPF issue, CR will be less trouble than a PD so bear that in mind, DPF for a CR was designed for a CR, DPF for a PD is an add on to an old engine, best avoided if you can, but all 170's have them iirc.

Don't deny yourself out of fear, the crucial thing is to give the filter a chance to stay clean, constant traffic jams will block it up, hth.

Taking the DPF off will cost in excess of £1k btw, and kill the warranty.

I wouldnt worry about it at all.

Doesnt bother me in the slightest

Get one.. Its awesome!!

DPF - will need a refill if it's aided by a fluid tank, not sure the CR's are btw, normally around 70k, cost £300 to do, filter will depend on use, unlucky it will be a 40k part, lucky and it may outlive the car.

Not applicable Octavia. No point in saying things like this when there are people already replying to the thread who are familiar with the car.

Taking the DPF off will cost in excess of £1k btw, and kill the warranty.

It doesn't cost anywhere near a grand and the dealership are aware of mine haven't been funny about it when it's been in. Say the engine was wrecked and they were being funny about it, I'd just put the DPF back on and reflash the original map. It's not in the dealers interest to turn down a a warranty job.

Hi,

Ive currently got a Mk1 Octavia vRS which im planning on selling soon and getting a vRS TDI 170 to replace it with, now ive never owned a diesel but I have driven my friends Golf GT TDI Sport 170 and I loved that engine, so much torque and I love the way it overtakes, plus it's as quick as my vRS but returning over 45mpg

So, are there anythings I need to be aware of with diesel ownership as ive read alot about DMF / DPF issues on diesels where owners need to replace the DMF every 20k at £700+ a time, and problems with the DPF if you dont warm the car up or only do short trips.... how serious of a problem is this as its putting me off a diesel and I dont fancy paying out to replace the DMF every 2 years.....

FYI I only do 11k a year and most of it is in town with longer drives at the weekend so am I likely to have DPF issues?

Diesel ownership for me is about the way the car drives, loads of torque with good mpg, at present I dont use all the power of my car I just dont like reving an engine to 5,000+rpm to get at the power... im lazy I guess

Any advise would be great.

Hi 888,

I am on my 3rd vRS (1x PD, 2 x CR) and do similar mileage to yourself (12k annually max) with lots of short trips.

Absolutely NO issues whatsoever......maybe I am just lucky !!

Take the plunge and enjoy !

Ive got a PD 170 and do around 20-25thousands miles a year mostly around town, mines on 17k and have suffered a few problems with my DPF where is idles at 1k to no power at all and the light coming on aswell, a short blast down the motorway sorts it all out but its very anoying and i live about 10miles away from a motorway aswell.

if your only doing 11k a year i would get the petrol youve also got to think about the price of the car aswell you will get a newer VRS in a petrol than you would in desiel.

as for the car i cant fault it the engine is brilliant and makes people in bms/mercs/lexus look twice when you fly past them

Hi 888,

I am on my 3rd vRS (1x PD, 2 x CR) and do similar mileage to yourself (12k annually max) with lots of short trips.

Absolutely NO issues whatsoever......maybe I am just lucky !!

Take the plunge and enjoy !

to be honest im not anti diesel or anything, but if your only doing 11k a year, why not go for the petrol vRS. std vRS wil still average 32-36mpg day to day, and even higher on a cruise.

its a different matter when modded but still much better on fuel than a standard focus ST.

drive both, chassis and interior wise there is no difference. i drove the pd170 on a wet day and it struggled hugely with traction. the petrol wasnt no where near hard to gain the traction. that said id love to have 40+mpg

.........................it really is just that...."fill it up once a fortnight feeling !".......and maybe a petrol next time ?

If you don't need the VRS, then a 1.8t could be a good compromise.

buy the bleedin' oil burner and have a ball!

i drove the pd170 on a wet day and it struggled hugely with traction. the petrol wasnt no where near hard to gain the traction.

I'm struggling to understand why that would be the case?

@Removing the DPF

I can't believe I am hearing this all the time. Does anybody here also recognize the fact that the DPF is there for a reason....? Driving a car is not only about "fun fun fun till the daddy took the T-Bird away".....it's also about driving and where possible avoid pollution.

In my view, it should be made illegal to remove the DPF (if it isn't already).

Sorry, but that's the way I see it....

@vRS 170 TDI-buyer

I would definitely go for a CR , not a (used) PD if I were you. The PD 170 is prone to loads of problems with failing piezo injection valves the other engines do not have...

Otherwise the engine should be a great choice, but please stay responsible and keep the DPF in....

Edited 3 June, 201016 yr by ArthurDaley

@Removing the DPF

I can't believe I am hearing this all the time. Does anybody here also recognize the fact that the DPF is there for a reason....? Driving a car is not only about "fun fun fun till the daddy took the T-Bird away".....it's also about driving and where possible avoid pollution.

In my view, it should be made illegal to remove the DPF (if it isn't already).

Sorry, but that's the way I see it....

@vRS 170 TDI-buyer

I would definitely go for a CR , not a (used) PD if I were you. The PD 170 is prone to loads of problems with failing piezo injection valves the other engines do not have...

Otherwise the engine should be a great choice, but please stay responsible and keep the DPF in....

It is illegal to knowingly fit a cat-bypass pipe to an OBD 2 petrol car - carries a £5000 fine to whoever does it. Is the DPF in place of a catalyst on a diesel? If so I would imagine the same applies and I totally agree with the above by the way

It is illegal to knowingly fit a cat-bypass pipe to an OBD 2 petrol car - carries a £5000 fine to whoever does it. Is the DPF in place of a catalyst on a diesel? If so I would imagine the same applies and I totally agree with the above by the way

No, a DPF is in addtion to a cat and the DPF housing often contains the cat too (it sits above the DPF element itself), though I'm not sure about the VAG engines. The DPF is part of the emissions regulation, so removing it means the engine no longer meets those regs. Whether the MOT is good enough to measure particulate emissions I don't know, but if the DPF does contain the cat, then the MOT should pick this up..

Ive got a PD 170 and do around 20-25thousands miles a year mostly around town, mines on 17k and have suffered a few problems with my DPF where is idles at 1k to no power at all and the light coming on aswell, a short blast down the motorway sorts it all out but its very anoying and i live about 10miles away from a motorway aswell.

If I understand it correctly, PD technology is not very suited to using DPF. On CR engines, the ECU has more control on the diesel injection, and is able to inject fuel in multiple stages during the combustion. This allows it to inject some fuel at the end of the combustion to raise the temperature and aid the DPF. The PD doesn't have this ability. I believe this is one of the reasons VAG is moving away from PD engines towards CR (I'm sure there's others too), as DPF will be a legal requirement soon (if not already so)

I'm sure someone else will have better knowledge of this can can provide more details.

To the OP, if you go diesel and plan short journeys, make sure to avoid the PD engine with DPF

I'm struggling to understand why that would be the case?

why??? its all about the power delivery. in the diesel you get a huge surge of torque which makes it easy to spin the wheels when conering and when the road is wet.

i found the petrol to not only be faster but easier to get traction because the delivery is more progressive and over a longer rev range. just my opinion.

"why???" <--- Keep your hair on

not meant to read that way

why??? its all about the power delivery. in the diesel you get a huge surge of torque which makes it easy to spin the wheels when conering and when the road is wet.

i found the petrol to not only be faster but easier to get traction because the delivery is more progressive and over a longer rev range. just my opinion.

I test drove a CR VRS a while ago and couldn't believe how smooth the power delivery was. Smoother than any other car I've driven or been in. Part of the work done in the remap on my PD engine was to smooth out the sudden torque spike so even though more power and torque are delivered it's harder to break traction, but the CR is still streets ahead. I'm not sure how the petrol could be smoother again, but I've not driven one...

I test drove a CR VRS a while ago and couldn't believe how smooth the power delivery was. Smoother than any other car I've driven or been in. Part of the work done in the remap on my PD engine was to smooth out the sudden torque spike so even though more power and torque are delivered it's harder to break traction, but the CR is still streets ahead. I'm not sure how the petrol could be smoother again, but I've not driven one...

I'm on my third diesel car now...

1.9 PD 130

2.0 PD 140

2.0 CR 170

I'm still not used to having the CR power delivery - though now i've got some miles on the clock i'm not worried about giving it the beans - my word it's smooooooth

I test drove a CR VRS a while ago and couldn't believe how smooth the power delivery was. Smoother than any other car I've driven or been in. Part of the work done in the remap on my PD engine was to smooth out the sudden torque spike so even though more power and torque are delivered it's harder to break traction, but the CR is still streets ahead. I'm not sure how the petrol could be smoother again, but I've not driven one...

Agreed, the CR in the vRS is a fantastically smooth (and quiet) engine for a diesel, but the petrol is better still and if I could afford to run one I would, but my mileage is just too high. If I can get under 20000 miles a year I'd consider the petrol, and under 15000 a year wouldn't hesitate...

My PD vRS 170 was quite a handful in the wet, it's the main reason why I never had it remapped. My new one is a CR with DSG, I think the auto box helps a lot as you're straight into 2nd as soon as you're moving.