Hi

I thought I'd share a few thoughts about the 1.6CR in a Roomster.

With the Roomster hitting 4k miles and a lot of town use recently, I must say VW really do design diesel engines now just to pass emissions tests.

My (realistic) expectation when we bought the Roomie was that it will use same fuel as the Mk1 Octy. Octavia was heavier, but the 1.9 engine was more efficient. Keep in mind official CO2 figures claim Roomster should be 20% more efficient...not.

1.6CR in the Roomster uses noticeably more fuel than 1.9TDI did in the Mk1 Octavia when used around town. The difference is about 10%. Octy would use 6.6l/100km, Roomster uses 7.2l/100km, or 43.5mpg vs 39.5mpg. All measured full tank to full tank (really full to the brim, both tanks had ventectomy as we need max range).

Out of town Roomie is indeed more efficient, though from ~90mph onwards (autobahn) it again matches Mk1 1.9 Octy fuel consumption, mostly due to air drag.

I looked a little bit into why the CR engines are so fuel thirsty around town, when mostly idling/low load, and it seems that even without regen light on the dashboard, extra fuel is injected at ~35deg ATDC in order to vaporize and only get burnt at the DPF and raise temperature there so that the soot burns off. What a waste of fuel.

DPF itself has not been much problem so far. Despite town intensive / short trip use in the last 6 weeks, only one regeneration was called for, and it was completed in town in around 5min, and under 40mph normally advised. But the car exhaust frequently stinks of burning plastic (that's the soot burnt), so I guess the silent regeneration by injecting extra fuel is frequently used.

Hopefully the economy will still improve a little with time, I guess the engine won't be fully run in until 20k+ miles.

Our next cars will still likely be diesels for reasons of safety and Europe fuel pricing, but if VW/Skoda keeps misleading about the fuel consumption as they do now, I am not sure they will get more business from us.

Edited 26 July, 201213 yr by dieselV6

What did you expect? Diesels are not designed for "around town" and short trips, that´s the best way of destroying such an engine

^{The 1.6Tdi CR is a great engine!! It takes a few thousand miles to run in but I now have 20'000+ miles on my Fabia and regularly over 60mpg and sometimes 70+ on A roads. However it is definately an engine that prefers long journeys to reap the benefits of fuel consumption.}

What did you expect? Diesels are not designed for "around town" and short trips, that´s the best way of destroying such an engine

Nearly 10 years of mixed use on the Mk1 Octy says otherwise , last 6 years in exclusively the use I described earlier.

Outside inner city areas, even DPF equipped diesel is a winner on economy, safety and maintenance costs as soon as you drive more than ~9000 miles a year. I am still happy with the 1.6CR and its 130k belt interval.

The point is, VW could have put a DPF level reading on MFD, and let user decide if they want to burn extra fuel at idle, or if they prefer to plan a motorway trip instead. As it stands, likely around 10% -20% of fuel used around town is burned in the DPF in the name of cleaner air. More like cleaner, emptier wallet...

Edited 29 July, 201213 yr by dieselV6

I told you weeks ago that the diesel wasn't suitable for your intended use, however you said you'd ordered a diesel Roomster for the school run etc. If you must use it that way, don't go above 3rd gear is the best advice I've heard.

Are you certain the belt interval is 130k?

Edited 26 July, 201213 yr by bryanb

Wow, hold the horses, no one said 1.6CR is not suitable, it just uses 20%+ more fuel than its stated consumption around town. In mixed use, it still works out at least 1l/100km better than petrol turbo firecrackers, and on any trip abroad the cost difference is 40%+ (lower consumption AND cheap fuel).

Am I the only person who thinks VW treats customers as muppets not being able to adapt their trip schedule to DPF level indication? The DPF soot level is reported live by the ECU, it would cost nothing to simply put it as MFD reading and then set the idle mode injections to start above say 40% loading. The car goes on motorway at least twice a week, so the DPF would be clean. I am sure it is more sensible than burning 20% extra fuel just in case DPF clogs.

And yes, the belt interval is 130k miles, it is a new belt / gear design, Continental seems to be quite proud of it.

Edited 26 July, 201213 yr by dieselV6

A bit difficult to read the schedule you posted, but it appears to say change the toothed belt at 240,000km on the Citigo. Have you a reference for the Roomster 1.6 CR TDI 105hp?

GaSelle and myself are both saying the Diesel 1.6 Roomster isn't suitable for round town/shopping trip/school run type of driving. Also the dealer I bought from advised buying a petrol model if that was my intention. Obviously Skoda are not publishing that advice, but it's not hard to find similar opinions if you read a few reviews/forums.

Anyway, enjoy you car - keep the revs up!

Edited 27 July, 201213 yr by bryanb

If you click on the photo link, it gets bigger

It's the same schedule for Citigo, Fabia, Roomster and Praktik, equipped with CR diesel engines. And it's for my CR 1.6 105bhp, made in May 2012.

More pics of the belt, and you can see same 210000km interval quoted for Golf 6 and 2.0CR engine:

http://www.contitech.../presse_en.html

And earlier thread on briskoda:

http://www.briskoda....belt-intervals/

Other service items are equally infrequent, air and fuel filters are 4 years/40k miles.

The only thing worth watching is frequent oil changes, strictly VW507 oil. Frequent because you can have diesel in oil (some regen fuel hits cylinder walls when injected), and 507 because some oil ends up in exhaust and burns leaving some ash (507 is ashless, non 507 are not). Long term DPF is clogged by ash, not by soot. Soot clogging usually only occurs if people ignore regens or never go out of town centre.

Bottom line, 1.6CR is a very suitable engine for long term mixed use (as opposed to inner city use) and start-to finish car ownership, maintenance free and frugal out of town.

It's just the DPF keeps burning an unneccessary hole in the wallet when idling around town...

Edited 27 July, 201213 yr by dieselV6

Thanks for the references.

You may be pleased to hear that mine is doing 54mpg on mixed but mainly dual carrigeway driving. 28,000 on the clock. That's brim to brim. The computer reckons between 58 and 62 mpg so it's a bit optimistic there.

The DPF seems to have little rhyme or reason to it though. I recently did 400 miles at 80mph +or- It started to regen as I drove onto the Ferry at 7mph.

Didn't get a service schedule with mine- used 2010 model. Any idea where I can download one? Dealer had enough trouble supplying an owner's manual.

Edited 27 July, 201213 yr by bryanb

What did you expect? Diesels are not designed for "around town" and short trips, that´s the best way of destroying such an engine

Around 1/3 of the taxis round where I live are diesel Octavias, most of the rest are diesels, 100% of London cabs are diesels - nobody told them that!

Around 1/3 of the taxis round where I live are diesel Octavias, most of the rest are diesels, 100% of London cabs are diesels - nobody told them that!

We are talking diesels fitted with DPF - Are you?

Reading about all these problems with DPF engines I count myself lucky that I happened to buy a 1.9 without DPF, by chance, as I had not idea when i bought it and hadn't the faintest idea where to look anyways. Somewhat wiser now, building knowledge by browsing this forum

Update to an old thread: After less than 6000 miles, DPF Exhaust Temperature Sensor 3 failed (the one between particulate filter and remainder of exhaust). This could well explain overly increased fuel consumption that I observed when idling/around town, as a faulty sensor could have under-reported DPF filter temperature, resulting in more fuel injected. Car to be repaired under warranty this weekend.

It still does not change the fact that the DPF quickly becomes an unneccessary pain to an otherwise nice engine.

Edited 26 October, 201213 yr by dieselV6

Done over 15000 miles now, fuel consumption is fantastic now and no problems with Dpf at all.

Shame as I have to sell my Roomy for financial reasons, so downsizing to a Citigo soon. Ill miss the Roomy, best car for versatility and fuel consumption Ive ever owned.

DPF Sensor 3 fixed under warranty, and fuel consumption finally regularly drops below 6l/100 in local town traffic

Let's hope it's the end of DPF problems.

Lemonvrs - Why don't you just buy an earlier model Roomster i.e: 06/07 1.9 TDI. Appear to get them for under £ 6000. which will be cheaper than a Citigo and just as cheap to run.

If the DPF causes you so much grief then why not have a bypass or replacement DPF free pipe fitted. You can only do this in conjunction with an ECU remap. The DPF isn't included in the UK MOT regs as yet but no doubt will be soon. I've noticed a few companies advertising their services in the motoring press. DPF's seem to be unpopular so thankfully now there's an alternative if you want or can afford a new diesel car but detest DPF's.

Rest assured dpf delete will happen at the first sign of problems - but only after warranty (the car is 7 months old)

I have just returned the 1.6Tdi 105 to the local dealer.

 

After purchase the mpg on the 54mile return journey to home on rural A-roads never bettered 44mpg and I drive with a very careful right foot. On Monday, the 10mile commute on rural A-roads never bettered 37.5mpg.

 

Rather than trust the MFA, I did a brim to brim calculation and it averaged 40.1mpg for 127 miles, I immediately contacted the dealer and returned the car, the mpg read-out improved to 47.5mpg for the 54 mile journey, to achieve this figure I drove at no more than 55mph and was very carefully to change gears to suit the engine.

 

Is 47,5mpg acceptable on a careful rural journey of 54 miles?

 

Edited 6 January, 201511 yr by Iblamethatcher

Is that 42k on the clock? If so I would expect 50+ mpg. These engines do not like pussyfooting. Is the car new to you?

 

PS........... I blame Blair.

Edited 6 January, 201511 yr by bryanb

I ran one for around 10k miles and averaged mid to high forties.

http://www.fuelly.com/car/skoda/roomster/2012/pinkpanther/105329

The dealer claims that the DPF needs to regenerate after a 'number' of miles on the urban cycle - not sure if this is true?

 

Would any indication be shown that the DPF was in need of regeneration, any warning lights?

 

Tim

There is no customer intervention with the day-to-day operation of the DPF. This is deliberate as the vast majority of customers don't know what a DPF is and quite frankly I'd imagine most don't want to.

If your driving style or journey types don't allow the DPF to burn off the soot (otherwise known as a regeneration) by itself then a light will appear on the dash. The car is then asking you to help it perform a regen, the criteria for which is detailed in the manual, but which involves nothing more than an extended drive at high RPM to generate the heat required to burn off the soot. The light will then extinguish.

If you aren't able to clear the light and the level of soot continues to build the car will then drop into limp-home mode and in addition to the DPF light you'll get the EML and flashing glow plugs. At this point a user-initiated regen is no longer possible, it's a dealer visit only.

Luckily the latest DPF's also have a catalyst attached to them which helps to keep the DPF hotter for longer. This then allows for more passive regens (the soot is burnt off through normal driving). Active regens (increased RPM etc.) are now needed far less than they used to be.

Ignore the existence of the DPF, in this case ignorance is bliss!

Edited 7 January, 201511 yr by silver1011

My 1.2tsi petrol does 50mpg on a run at around 60mph. It takes 40 miles of hot running to get these figures though