Hi, I'd rather like to get myself a Roomster.

My budget ceiling constrains me to either a 1.4TDi or a 1.4 16v ...

the power levels are similar, 80 bhp or 85 bhp, but I expect they're remarkably different to drive.

I'm assuming the petrol is more spritely for town driving

I'm assumign the diesel is more pleasurable for motorway driving

Can someone with some experience of either - or, preferably, both - shed some light for me, please ?

I will be mostly travelling long distance, more often with the car empty and just me in it, but occasionaly filled to the gunnels on family holidays or camping trips.

Thx!

PS Just so you understand my frame-of-reference, I've previously driven a Ford Focus Mk1 1.8 diesel, a Fiesta mk4 1.4 petrol, a 1998 polo 1.4 petrol, Fabia Mk1 VRS diesel and BMW 3-series 2.5 petrol. Having a bucket-load of ZOOOOOM isn't that important to me, but I'd like to be able to outrun the Polo :p

Edited 4 September, 201213 yr by slump

If I was going to be doing mostly town driving I think, as you said, I would opt for the 1.4 petrol over the 1.4TDI that my folks have in theirs Roomster.

I find the 80bhp TDI my folks have a bit laggy and unrefined when initially pulling away but fine once you are up to speed.

For motorway driving and long runs the 1.4 TDI seems to bowl along fine and I would choose it over the petrol. High 50's mpg is pretty easy on a run in the 1.4TDI too.

To be honest you gotta drive both and see what you prefer. I'm not sure either is going to be much if any quicker than your old 1.4 polo once you condsider how much weight they have put on since the mid/late 90s :(

...I will be mostly travelling long distance, more often with the car empty and just me in it, but occasionaly filled to the gunnels on family holidays or camping trips.

My wife has the 80bhp TDI and, in my opinion, it'd be ideal for those types of journeys. I quite often forget to use 5th gear on A roads, the TDI is so long legged in that department.

If it was for town use, I prefer petrol, although economy obviously suffers a lot.

Thanks for the opinions, guys. In the end I decided to inflate the budget a little and get a 1.9tdi.

I pick it up on saturday, I'm soooooooooooo excited !

I figure 85-90% of my mileage is motorway or dual carriageweay, so the diesel economy wins out over the petrol's around-town comfort.

Good choice.

In my opinion, the 1.9TDI nicer to drive than the 1.4TDI - and it's almost as economical.

Mine always does more than 50mpg

Enjoy your Roomster

Cheers, Robjon

I just got it

It's far too early to be realistic about this, but so far I love it !

And it's in blue-with-cream-interior, which in my oh-so-humble opinion is one of the nicest colour combos.

I'll try and remember to post a review when I've had it a few weeks ...

... I know reviewing here is preaching to the converted, but it does help when someone not on the site is considering buying one and starts googling for opinions

I think you will find that the 1.9 tdi actually has better real world fuel economy than the 1.4, as while there is a difference of 2mpg officially, the 1.4 consumes more if you plan on getting anywhere at a reasonable pace... seems that it has to rev higher than the 1.9 to achieve a similar speed or acceleration.

My 1.9 can regularly hit over 60mpg on a daily run.