I am trying to decide between Petrol (tsi) or Diesel (cr)for my next car.

Love my current 2003 Superb 1.9tdi (100bhp) over 100k and alternator is the only failure - usually 46-50mpg

Love my current 2001 Octavia 1.4 (75bhp not tsi) - Excluding brakes + exhaust – only failure was coil pack(drove surprisingly well on 2cylinders!)+ oil breather&pipes can block with mayo when pottered causing high oil consumption- when new did 43 mpg on my 32 mile commute which rose to 46mpg @ 90k for the same journey - car was semi retired when I bought the Superb now only does 34mpg but just potters locally.

What to buy next? With my driving style there wasn’t much in it economy wise between the above although the Superb is a bigger car. BUT:-

New VAG Diesel – Good bits

CR drives well + quieter that PD

Economy sometimes good although from real life reports elsewhere is it as good as PD?

New VAG Diesel – Bad Bits

Diesel Particulate Filter - can cause problems – Poor fuel consumption during DPF regen, can contaminate oil with diesel during DPF regen (could cause engine damage), can require expensive regular visits to dealer to sort/replace DPF – If DPF a pain now how about when its got 100k on the clock?

Dual Mass Flywheel

Very Expensive Common rail parts if it goes wrong

Cam belt!

New VAG Petrol – Good bits

Latest tsi engines go really well (really impressed with 1.4tsi – very flexible + quiet)

Good value

Theoretical economy OK.

Cam chain

New VAG Petrol – Bad bits

Still Dual Mass Flywheel?– less torque so should be less of a problem?

Reports on mediocre real life economy – a colleague of mine has just bought an Octavia 1.4 tsi – so I’ll keep an eye on it.

Will the 1.4 be over-stressed with the turbo?

Replacement of the exhaust down pipe could be a pain as is passes between front subframe + body (On Fabia + Seat Ibiza 1.4s front sub frame has to be dropped)

I like Diesels but DPF,DMF & CR issues worry me (google AA DPF).

I think much will depend on your driving. Short runs and/or mainly town/city driving and a DPF is more likely to cause issues, plus you're less likely to see the benefit of increased diesel efficiency. If you do mostly longer runs/higher mileage then you'll get more benefit from the increased efficiency of a diesel and are less likely to suffer DPF issues.

I don't do high mileage, only around 10K per year, but I do a 20 mile commute each way on good A roads at mostly 40-60mph so a DPF shouldn't be an issue and I'm very grateful for the 50+ mpg I get from a diesel engine.

Or buy the 1.8 TSI and have performance better than the diesel but fuel consumption close too it as well and is thousands less to buy and you can the wonderful 7 speed DSG!

It really depends how long you are going to keep it. If you are going to do well over 100 miles in say 3 or 4 years I suppose the diesel makes sense but I would always miss the zing of the petrol and knowing I had comprimised performance for fuel economy and I do not like that much comprimise. Buy the 1.8 TSI and pick up a Mk 1 Fabia VRS and the best of both worlds for the same money!

Or buy the 1.8 TSI and have performance better than the diesel but fuel consumption close too it as well and is thousands less to buy and you can the wonderful 7 speed DSG!

It really depends how long you are going to keep it. If you are going to do well over 100 miles in say 3 or 4 years I suppose the diesel makes sense but I would always miss the zing of the petrol and knowing I had comprimised performance for fuel economy and I do not like that much comprimise. Buy the 1.8 TSI and pick up a Mk 1 Fabia VRS and the best of both worlds for the same money!

I tend to buy new or nearly new and then keep for a long time doing between 15k-18k / year. My old PD100 has been great - no major issues + great "real" economy

My commute is 32 miles each way every other day (I do a lift share) but its on a slowish road with 50 limit most of the way but for about a third of it you struggle to hit 30mph. Even though its a longish run from what I've read I don't think its fast enough for a DPF regen without driving in third all the way! I've heard horror stories of expensive DPF replacements or engines being lunched due to diesel contamination of the sump oil (overfuel cycle for DPF regen).

If I could buy a new Diesel without DPF I would! I think the last Skoda without one was the 1.9PD 105 on the Octavia & Superb which is no longer available.

Any feedback on tsi real life economy on this sort of run would be useful.

Thanks,

I was having the same battle before ordering mine. I ended up going for diesel because, even though I don't do mega miles I feel that I do enough of the right style of driving to alleviate any worries of DPF issues and I much preferred the driving experience of the diesel.

Or buy the 1.8 TSI and have performance better than the diesel but fuel consumption close too it as well and is thousands less to buy and you can the wonderful 7 speed DSG!

That is somewhat optimistic!

I have just changed from a 1.9TDi manual to a 1.8TSi with the 7 speed DSG. I have always recorded how much fuel I have used so the data I have is all based on fuel usage not the trip computer.

Over the 3yrs I had the 1.9TDi I covered 36,347 miles and used 3243 litres of diesel. That is fuel consumption of 50.8mpg. The best figure over a tankful was 55.9 the worst was 46.1mpg. The average from the trip computer over the whole time I had the car was 53.9mpg

I have only had the TSi for a little under 2 weeks and 600 miles. The first tank gave me 37.2mpg against a trip computer figure of 39.5. That included a mixed bag of 8 mile commutes, a few 20-30 mile A road trips and 1 return trip (with 4 adults) Leeds to Lincoln. Trip computer showed 40.4mpg for the Lincoln trip; I did the same run in August in the diesel and got a trip computer readout of 54mpg. I am currently just over half way down the 2nd tank and the TSi trip computer says 38mpg with 210 miles left.

I would say that from these figures the difference between TDi and TSi is around 13-15mpg.

I expect that to change as the engine beds in but then when I start to use a little more of that smooth, quiet TSi power...

Check out this site http://www.fleetnews.co.uk/

We use this to work out the running costs on our compant cars.

This time i went for a 1.8 TSi instead of the diesel.

For the miles i do the TSi costs around 2.5p per mile more than the diesel.

Thats total running cost not just fuel. So includes tax insurance servicing and tyres and fuel.

I tend to buy new or nearly new and then keep for a long time doing between 15k-18k / year. My old PD100 has been great - no major issues + great "real" economy

If I could buy a new Diesel without DPF I would! I think the last Skoda without one was the 1.9PD 105 on the Octavia & Superb which is no longer available.

Maybe a 1YO 1.9TDI then - should be some bargains around

The discontinued them somewhere around early 2010.

I think there is a fundamental question that needs to asked here. Namely, do you prefer driving diesel or petrol?

I think there is a fundamental question that needs to asked here. Namely, do you prefer driving diesel or petrol?

Exactly, as I say to most petrol vs. diesel threads there are pro and cons to running and living with both.

The only way you'll really know is two back-to-back test drives, one in a CR the other in a TSi.

Enjoy, because both are great!

I find the TSI petrol has a better spread of power than the diesel which is the opposite way round most people would initially think.

Now these TSI petrol engines are both direct injection and turbocharged the toque spread is better on the petrol than it is on the diesel. They both produce maximum torque from about 1700 rpm but the diesel goes on to only 4300 rpm before tailing off where the petrol goes on to 6300 rpm before tailing off.

The 160 hp petrol, despite having 10 hp less than the diesel is half a seocnd quicker to 60 and the gap grows all the way up to 140 which the petrol gets there about 2 seconds quicker despite less power and this is not just due to the petrols lower weight but more due to the accelerating of the crack shaft etc where a significant of the bhp goes during acceleration.

Now out TSI VRS has settled in, ie now has over 10,000 miles on it, it has settled down to doing 38 mpg in mixed driving, 43 mpg on motorway crusiing ie 70-78 mph. I full expect the 1.8 TSI DSG do achieve its 43 mpg overall consumption and around 50 mpg on motorway cruising although down to 35 or so if stuck in crawling traffic or city driving.

Considering the pace of petrol engine development I see no logic in buying a diesel (when diesel is up to 5p a litre more too) when I can see wanting to change my 1.8 TSI for a 1.4 TSI (super and turbo charged) which will probably do around 45 mpg average and well over 50 mpg on motorways.

I have had many diesels, love my 1.9 PD estate and our Fabia VRS SE but until VW start to develop the diesels, as BMW technically superior but expensive 3 series Efficient Dynamics I quickly dismiss Skoda diesels as not desirable. be interesting to see a 1.2 TSI with 160 hp at some point doing diesel level fuel economy but with the petrol howl and zing!

Edited 19 October, 201015 yr by lol

I think there is a fundamental question that needs to asked here. Namely, do you prefer driving diesel or petrol?

The problem is I sort of like both for different reasons. I love the sheer mid range "grunt" of Diesel but also like the upper "zipp" of Petrol.

I'm tending towards the 1.2tsi or 1.4tsi. Even for the 1.2tsi (its only 8v though) the performance figures look OK (Don't forget I'm used to a 75bhp Octavia and 100bhp Superb!). The 1.6CR is tempting but on doing a bit of research it seems to have even more DPF issues that the 2.0. It also has a cambelt which seems to be a very regular but expensive job for both my existing cars - every 2-3 years on the Superb. I know the cambelt life is supposed to be now much longer but thats what I was told when I bought my Octavia (don't worry sir 110,000 miles) which then was revised down to 40,000 miles.

P.S. Have Skoda brought back the 24hr test drive?

I picked the CR, but only because I do 20k miles or so a year.

If I did around 15k, I'd have probably picked the petrol.

I didn't test drive the petrol on the basis heart would have ruled head, I am sure of that.

As others have said, what do you prefer and can you afford the fuel cost of the petrol over the diesel (as that's the only issue you'd have with the former, I would suggest)?

Maybe a 1YO 1.9TDI then - should be some bargains around

The discontinued them somewhere around early 2010.

Now there's a thought!

I picked the CR, but only because I do 20k miles or so a year.

If I did around 15k, I'd have probably picked the petrol.

I didn't test drive the petrol on the basis heart would have ruled head, I am sure of that.

As others have said, what do you prefer and can you afford the fuel cost of the petrol over the diesel (as that's the only issue you'd have with the former, I would suggest)?

Love the economy of diesel but am worried that additional costs would more than cancel out the gains (extra purchase price, DPF issues, cam belt)

the 1.4 tsi seems to be a step in the right direction for petrol cars

i would seriously contemplate one of these when i change my car in the future

We're picking up our new 1.4TSI estate on Friday after running a 1.9TDI for 9 years (!). It's £2000 cheaper and it takes years to claw that back in lower fuel costs and lower VED...and the diesel/petrol price difference keeps widening. You don't get the diesel stench when starting the engine and the 1.4TSI is very, very quiet.

If Europe goes in to full General Strike mode then us petrol heads might be looking at those wiesel driver going by with their greater range. Mind you I think in France it is diesel that is the shortage and not diesel but then they do use more diesel than we do. Best to have both diesel and petrol I suppoose and some Jerry cans!

It is panic buying in France and we are just as panicky as the French. Looks like we all might be driving at 50 mph soon!