Hi

I have a 1.9Tdi PD Fabia 2 (2008) and I'm thinking of changing to a new 1.6, I love the PD motor but its time for a change, my main problem is that I've read a lot about the DPF filter problem ( not again i hear you cry!).

The car will mainly be used inner city but will be running constantly for around 2 hours a night as i travel from door to door, it wont be spending much of its life on the motorway but will occasionally go on dual carriageways, would i be better off with the 1.2 Tsi motor?, obviously MPG is my main consideration.

By the way it will probably be a Monte Carlo

Cheers!

If mpg is the main consideration then the diesel is the way to go, running a petrol on an urban cyle will give you a big hit on mpg, you'll just have to plan your route so when you need to regenerate (!) you can do a run which will do it...

Quite honestly I've heard and seen many posts and articles about how the DPF will cause major problems, but I've seen very few where its actually caused an issue, and those that i have seen have been mainly from people who have just ignored the instructions and have ended up with problems and had to go back to a dealer to sort it out.

I also had my doubts, but the lack of "major issue" feedback on most forums would indicate that this "issue" is similar to the one we had when cats were first put onto petrol powered cars... remember the fuss then?! So i will be buying diesel without any worries next time...

BTW wouldn't the Greenline be better for mpg?

Edited 24 July, 201114 yr by The PM

Take one for a test drive the 1.6tdi is so much smoother and quieter than the old 1.9 pd.

CR's are designed with DPF's in mind I believe. They are not totally infallible, but generally there are no problems.

Thanks all, I did drive a new Monte Carlo Tdi 105bhp ,only had 8 miles on the clock so felt very tight compared to my 1.9 with 36,500 miles on it, to be honest mine felt slightly quicker, i put that down to the difference in mileage.I thought that the fact the car will be running for around 2 hours may get the exhaust hot enough to regenerate the DPF.

Thanks all, I did drive a new Monte Carlo Tdi 105bhp ,only had 8 miles on the clock so felt very tight compared to my 1.9 with 36,500 miles on it, to be honest mine felt slightly quicker, i put that down to the difference in mileage.I thought that the fact the car will be running for around 2 hours may get the exhaust hot enough to regenerate the DPF.

Kennadi, as the blokes are saying, buy with confidence. My sister has the 1.6cr 105 and during the week does just 5-6 miles per day but a decent run at the weekends. She has never had the DPF light come on in nearly one year of ownership. It will also out perform the 1.9pd engine easily but it is a shorter stroke engine and requires a slightly different driving technique to the older long stroke engines, keep the revs up slightly and she just goes. When it gets to 5k plus miles it more or less reaches optimum power although it does continue to improve for many more miles but more slowly than in the initial stages of bedding in. My sister has achieved over 80mpg now the car has 8k on the clock.

I had a CR vRS Octavia last year, never had a single problem with the DPF. After 10K the engine was starting to loosen up nicely

Get the dpf removed

I had a Fabia 1 1.9 PD and now have had the 1.6 CR for 7500 miles. It really is beginning to loosen up now, pulls vigorously and is just so quiet and smooth compared with the PD engine. I loved the Fab 1 but the Fab 2FL with this engine is a much more refined car. Many people have had poor mpg with the 1.6 engine. I was very disappointed at first but am now getting better figures than with the 1.9 PD and it is continuing to improve - easy enough to get 55+ on runs, I was getting 50-52 with Fab 1.

The 1.2 TSI is extremely economical in the city- I wouldn't just go for the diesel.

Diesel aren't particularly economical in the city, by and large they are for motorway driving.

Tried a 1.2 tsi in a 2011 Seat Leon, pretty impressive , the engine that is, i love my Skoda,s too much to change!

Tried a 1.2 tsi in a 2011 Seat Leon, pretty impressive , the engine that is, i love my Skoda,s too much to change!

oooops! dont know what ive done here, but ive double posted.

Sorry!

Edited 25 July, 201114 yr by Kennadi

The 1.2 TSI is extremely economical in the city- I wouldn't just go for the diesel.

Diesel aren't particularly economical in the city, by and large they are for motorway driving.

TBH the diesels are very very good in the city. Just look at the figures...there's quite a difference between the petrol TSI and diesel cr engine in real driving terms and on paper.

Ive had my my Fabia 1.6 TDi for 10 months and 10000 miles now and I think it has done a full re gen about 4 times. The car runs lumpy for a while and smells a bit but after a few miles is fine.

The engine is quiet and refined and I continue to be impressed by the torque of the engine. I tend to get about 470-490 miles on 40 litres. More on a good decent run.

If you are mainly running around town then I would look at the Greenline II. My GL2 spends over 70% of its time in town and 90% of that fully loaded with me and the family and as you can see I am averaging 55mpg and do not worry about the DPF.

I have the crtdi 105bhp in elegance spec black magic pearl fully loaded with toys, its amazing plenty of torque and great performance plus 64mpg , 2.500k on the clock also dont worry about dpf yeah smells a bit, then the mpg goes of the scale runs on vapours fantastic motor

Kennadi, as the blokes are saying, buy with confidence. My sister has the 1.6cr 105 and during the week does just 5-6 miles per day but a decent run at the weekends. She has never had the DPF light come on in nearly one year of ownership. It will also out perform the 1.9pd engine easily but it is a shorter stroke engine and requires a slightly different driving technique to the older long stroke engines, keep the revs up slightly and she just goes. When it gets to 5k plus miles it more or less reaches optimum power although it does continue to improve for many more miles but more slowly than in the initial stages of bedding in. My sister has achieved over 80mpg now the car has 8k on the clock.

I've now done just over 3000 miles so mine is loosening up and much smoother around town than when new plus mpg average creeping up. It is different from the 1.9PD that I had in my Audi. As well as being higher geared it does not pull as well below 2000rpm and so easy to get caught out if for example on a slip road and needing to accelerate to get into a gap.

I still think the gear change indication is at too low revs. As posted on another thread

better mpg keeping in 4th much below 60mph.

I've not triggered the DPF light yet although my daily journey is 11 miles each way and I've done a few longer runs. Time will tell if it comes on in the winter with lower temperatures, the load of lights etc and virtually no journeys longer than 11 miles.

If you are mainly running around town then I would look at the Greenline II. My GL2 spends over 70% of its time in town and 90% of that fully loaded with me and the family and as you can see I am averaging 55mpg and do not worry about the DPF.

While I've not driven one I would suggest you seriously consider it. If I leave my Maxi-dot on single journey mpg it is surprising how it drops waiting a couple of turns at traffic lights etc.

Around town its probably ok, but today I got a test drive of one and have ruled it out of my new car hunt, the engine is just not flexible enough and too "peaky"... It reminded me of the old 1.4TDi I used to have and the reason I went back to the 1.9! Great for economy but you have to change your driving style drastically from those diesels that have a broad torque band and its just not enough power to haul 4 + luggage at any speed on motorways... Not for me, I'm afraid!

BTW before I get jumped on by the GL lovers I'd better just clarify that last comment... When on motorways I drive at 70, over on the Continent at 85/90, I have a test which I find works well to test a cars' power reserves which is to drive up a local A road with a steep hill on it... If the car slows down or just holds its pace, especially if I have to change down its not good enough for me, if it can speed up then its ok... After taking the Greenline round the test route I took the Roomster round, that car was able to increase speed on that stretch which confirmed my thoughts that it would just not be good enough.

That's no criticism of the car itself, as, for the right owner that wouldn't be an issue, but it should be borne in mind by any prospective owner... Strangely the Sales Exec who let me lose in the Greenline said the same thing without any prompting... She reconned the 1.6 was a great engine once run in...

Edited 28 July, 201114 yr by The PM

Around town its probably ok, but today I got a test drive of one and have ruled it out of my new car hunt, the engine is just not flexible enough and too "peaky"... It reminded me of the old 1.4TDi I used to have and the reason I went back to the 1.9! Great for economy but you have to change your driving style drastically from those diesels that have a broad torque band and its just not enough power to haul 4 + luggage at any speed on motorways... Not for me, I'm afraid!

I have both the 1.4tdi and the crtdi 1.6 and they are totally different, this is the best engine ive ever had and I have had a few!, seats, fiat and many skodas , yes definate long geared and not as responsive as the pd lump, but very happy cruising at upper 70mph with 4 people innit and 64mpg and lumping around town on shopping day 57-59 mpg, so as a all rounder much better than the 1.9pd tdi engine. but its horses for courses

If you can let the 1.2 TSI settle into a happy cruise at 70mph you can easily get on average 52-56mpg... achieved that in mine.

My daily commute consists of about 3 miles of traffic followed by 8 miles of motorway (with some traffic) and then a crawl through cardiff city centre for the final 8 miles and I get on average 45.2mpg

The TSI pulls very very well too, it drives completely like a diesel, below 1500 revs its quite sluggish and when the turbo picks up off you go exactly like in a diesel!

Edited 28 July, 201114 yr by adamc260

If you can let the 1.2 TSI settle into a happy cruise at 70mph you can easily get on average 52-56mpg... achieved that in mine.

My daily commute consists of about 3 miles of traffic followed by 8 miles of motorway (with some traffic) and then a crawl through cardiff city centre for the final 8 miles and I get on average 45.2mpg

The TSI pulls very very well too, it drives completely like a diesel, below 1500 revs its quite sluggish and when the turbo picks up off you go exactly like in a diesel!

adam, that's extremely good. Well done. I've driven the 105TSI many times and have had one for 3 days just a few weeks ago. It is the best petrol engine I've driven for a long time...and for me to say that is very difficult as I hate cars with petrol engines. I'm a total diesel head! However I failed to get more than 42mpg on a fairly lengthy run to Leeds from Colchester. I kept to 70mph where possible and followed all the other speed limits. I suspect this was due to the engine being quite tight still. She had just 3000 miles on the clock when I picked her up.

Edited 29 July, 201114 yr by Estate Man

Around town its probably ok, but today I got a test drive of one and have ruled it out of my new car hunt, the engine is just not flexible enough and too "peaky"... It reminded me of the old 1.4TDi I used to have and the reason I went back to the 1.9! Great for economy but you have to change your driving style drastically from those diesels that have a broad torque band and its just not enough power to haul 4 + luggage at any speed on motorways... Not for me, I'm afraid!

If it's the 1.6cr you are talking about your assessment is correct for a fairly new engine. Several people I know didn't like the 1.6cr when they took it out for the first time for the reasons you list but actually got a massive surprise when they drove another one with many more miles on the clock. Just be aware that the engine is completely different once it's run in, and it will outstrip the 1.9pd. Due to it's shorter stroke the 1.6cr feels a bit more peaky during the first 2-3000 miles, due to tightness and some othe factors such as the ecu learning. It doesn't overcome engine friction and inertia quite so well as the long stroke PD engine. But they do just keeps getting better and better as the mile go on. From experience of running multiple diesel engines on the dyno, I would typically expect the 1.6cr to be around 6-10% more powerful after 3000 miles if it's been run in correctly. It gets smoother and has more torque too. As Seboni says, it's very powerful. If I remember correctly it has just a tad more torque than the 1.9pd. But it just doesn't show up till you have several thousands of miles on the clock. Your assessment is correct for a fairly new engine though. But as I say, once run in the difference can be quite stark and you wonder if it's the 2.0 litre engine in it. Good luck anyway with whatever you decide to get and as ever, do keep posting with as much information about you car as possible. It all helps.

Edited 30 July, 201114 yr by Estate Man

If it's the 1.6cr you are talking about

It was the Greenline mentioned at the end of Delta's previous post. I've heard many good things about the 1.6 once it loosens up, but, for me, the 1.2 in the Greenline just wasn't up to it! Lord knows what its like in the heavier and more bulky Roomster...

It was the Greenline mentioned at the end of Delta's previous post. I've heard many good things about the 1.6 once it loosens up, but, for me, the 1.2 in the Greenline just wasn't up to it! Lord knows what its like in the heavier and more bulky Roomster...

Probably not too bad from what the guys are saying. But again it need to be well loosened up.