Hi all,,,

Had my furby vrs for a while now but beginning to get tired of feeling every bump in todays crappy roads and Im thinking about saving some cash on fuel/insurance and tax by getting an octy 1.9/2.0tdi elegance.

Advice on things to look for please and views on the 2 engines and which will last the longest as this next car has to last 150k+ miles.

Found a few near me with 80k for around 5k , sounds ok

I have a 1.9 110tdi elegance estate (2001). The only thing that can be a problem is the variable vane turbo if it has not been exercise enough (or if there is a vacuum leak which causes non-complete vane movement). Otherwise, apart from replacing the shocks once in those 150k miles, the rest of the car should be good for it (along with standard service items), assuming the car has not been abused in earlier years of ownership.

When looking, check all the door electrics work (mirror movement/heating, windows up/down [on all doors], puddle light, alarm flashing LED, lights on reminder), as these not working can indicate water ingress into the window controller / broken wiring in the A pillar <-> door.

Cambelt is due at 60k, so around the 80k mark you have 40k to go before needing to get it changed.

On mine in the 186k I have changed:

- turbo (probably due to lack of knowledge)

- clutch (slipped when I bought the car)

- shocks all round

- rear bushes (to cure a tyre wear issue)

- n75 control valve (see turbo issue)

- CTS (see turbo issue)

- changed the break master cylinder

- changed the clutch slave cylinder (wasn't at fault)

- changed the hydraulic clutch pipe (union at the end failed and made me think the clutch slave was leaking)

- replaced the freewheel pulley on the alternator

Other features:

- blanked off EGR (sure from the Furby backgroud you know about this)

- elephant mod

Both of these were done to help keep the turbo side of things happy.

All in all a good workhorse, dunno what I will do when she eventually breaks.... :'(

Edited 18 August, 201114 yr by mbames

now thats a reply !!!!!!!!!!!

cheers mbames mate

With the mkI elegance you can get either the 110 tdi (old style injection pump) like mbames and I have, or the 130 bhp version (the same PD engine as in your furball), the 2 litre engine is only in the mkII.

The 130 PD lump is prone to the same problems as yours is now. Obviously it won't be as quick as yours due to the extra weight and the handling isn't brilliant.

With the mkI elegance you can get either the 110 tdi (old style injection pump) like mbames and I have, or the 130 bhp version (the same PD engine as in your furball), the 2 litre engine is only in the mkII.

The 130 PD lump is prone to the same problems as yours is now. Obviously it won't be as quick as yours due to the extra weight and the handling isn't brilliant.

exactly what im looking for mate,, im having every typical problem possible with mine at the moment.

Having owned a Mk2 2.0 litre PD Vrs for a year, prior to the current motor, and given your intended mileage and requirement for comfort, I would go for a 105/110 bhp 1.9 engine car. At £5k that is early MK2 money with the mileage your quoting.

My 2.0 PD averaged 43mpg and was at best 48mpg on a long motorway run and was the most unrefined diesel I have every driven IMHO. A colleague has a Touran 2.0 PD 140 and he gets 39mpg.

There also seems to be a fair number of issues with injector failures and alternator pulleys failing on the 2.0PD's, accross the VAG range, neither cheap to fix. Also I am 95 percent sure the Mk2 will have a DPF on it, regardless of model.

The 1.9 unit was built in the Octavia Mk1 until 2008 for Czech taxi companies, for the very reason that it's very reliable and very economical. I drove the inlaws Mk1 90bhp Tour around CZ for hundreads of km's and still found it to be reasonably pokey.

ooh, mine had the alternator pulley fail too..... To be fair I knew it was going, but put off my investigations until it was too late. Still a nice recovery driver brought me home in the rain - best I use his diesel than mine

Recent trips up the motorway (Weymouth to Farnborough and back), including some cr@ppy Dorset roads have seen the old girl returning an indicated 64mpg (average) over the 210 mile trip.

Edited 18 August, 201114 yr by mbames

ooh, mine had the alternator pulley fail too

Worth knowing. Colleague with Touran forked out £500 on a new alternator because the pulley bolt sheared off and it is not available seperately. Apparently it's part of a clutch that disengages the alternator to save fuel. While I am thinking about it, a mate owned an 07 plate A3 PD170 and recent 70k service cost another £600 because the injector pump was leaking...

Excellent MPG though - i like to think i have twice the fun for my fuel economy :think:

I picked up a new pulley for mine....

Pics: http://www.matthewames.co.uk/briskoda/index.php?loc=./20110211_alternator

Ideal is the pulley enables the alternator to keep spinning at higher revs (say when dip the clutch, or pop it out of gear on the approach to a roundabout). There were a batch of failures (all Brisky) all around the same time mine failed. I started off as a an evil "groan", and then broke off in the middle of Salisbury! In some cases the failure can also break the tensioner on the Aux belt. People then just replace that as that is the obvious broken thing (harder to spot the seized pulley), and then a few days/weeks later the tensioner breaks again - a tell tale sign the pulley isn't free-wheeling when it should be.

Company was paying my time, so I thought I was might as well drive carefully - they aren't going to pay for my speeding tickets if I go racing about though, so economy wins (more hours paid, and a better return on my mileage rate)