My Octy is in for a service today and I have a Roomster Diesel courtesy car. I think the spec is SE or SE Plus. The badge has TDI in black with a red square. Which diesel engine does it have?

Seems to have plenty of go whatever it is!

Here is a vin decoder. Just place car's VIN and you 'll get the answer.

Here is the options list decoder. Place the option codes found at the sticker under the boot's carpet, or at the first page of Service Book, separated by semicolons and you 'll find out the exact equipment list of the car.

Usually red square indicates the amount of Bhp power. For example mine is an 1.2Tsi 105Hp and has the red square. The 1.2Tsi 85Hp does not have the red square. It's a common VAG trick to refer to the engines and their output.

Hope i helped.

Edited 4 July, 201213 yr by stratosg

The engine code and power in kW are on the options label.

hp is approx 1.34 x kW

PS is approx 1.36 x kW

Its a 105hp

Thanks for the replies. Checked the options label on the boot floor - 66kW - so it is the 90PS version. I suspected as much when I saw one with an all red TDI on the badge that still had the red square.

Did a couple of hundred miles in it. Though 1st impressions around town were that it was quite nippy, out on the open road it was a little sluggish. Struggled to maintain 60 on rolling A roads and 5th gear acceleration was non-existent. Great little car though - SWMBO even said she would quite like one to replace her Micra for ferrying the grandkids around. Would probably go for the 105PS petrol though.

Just about to take it back to get the 1.8TSi Octavia back :-)

Ooops, sorry for the wrong info! Im surprised you couldnt maintain 60 on rolling roads though. On the CR diesels, revs is everything. You need to keep them above around 1700rpm to get anything like decent performance, and they dont really come alive until way after that. Think of them as a noisy petrol and youll do alright. Drive them like the old Tdi 1.9 PD and they will dissapoint.

The gearing for the 1.6CR Roomster is much longer than on earlier Skoda cars, 5th is really for motorway (like old style overdrive), especially on a new car it is the 4th gear you want to use on country roads.

I am quite surprised that for quite a few people it is a problem, I guess the short gearboxes of the 90s and early 00s are to blame. I actually welcomed this gearbox after having to swap a 5-spd for longer 6-speed box on the Octavia 9 years ago (saved 15% fuel at 100mph+ speeds, consistently).

Roomie's 5th gear is same as the 6th of the Golf/Octavia/etc, about 33mph/1000rpm, so lowest fully useful speed in 5th is around 65mph/70mph indicated unless you drive on a flat and do not intend to accelerate.

We test drove 90bhp Roomster for about 2hrs, and later bought 105bhp mainly for motorway top speed (we occassionally drive autobahn, and the extra 10mph on top speed does make a difference from being an obstacle to a pleasant drive). But in the UK and over a hilly/twisty country road (tested on A507 Baldock-Buntingford, bike riders would know what I mean), 90bhp was just fine as long as you stayed in 4th, within optimum rev range for most 4-cyl diesels (1800rpm - 2500rpm). VW might have improved the low rpm vibration problem, but on the 4-cyl turbo diesel the low-end torque is rising sharply only after 1700rpm, you would need twin turbo and/or supercharger and/or more cylinders to change that.

... 90bhp was just fine as long as you stayed in 4th, within optimum rev range for most 4-cyl diesels (1800rpm - 2500rpm).

Yes, 5th is a long gear. I ended up staying in 4th!

The car is probably fine - my Octavia has 160BHP and 250 torque, it leaps forward when you press the throttle helped by the DSG changing down a couple of gears. Perhaps it was a step too far down the power scale. Enjoyed the 55mpg though - or rather the next driver will! I put far too much diesel in it for the couple of hundred miles I did! 30 quid should do it I thought! Eejut!! Though I was guided by the 45mpg showing on the trip when I picked it up. Showing 30 miles to go when I picked it up, showing 130 miles to go when I took it back.

If you're planning to get a petrol, everyone seems to have good things to say about the 1.2 - try that as well as the 1.8