Hello all!

This, I fear, is going to be as controversial as the infamous '90bhp appalling fuel consumption' thread some time ago. So here goes, time to put my body on the railway tracks and see what happens.

I'm an expat and I live in Poland. Before the end of this week I'm going to order a new Fabia. Great. And it's going to take 8 weeks to be delivered. It's going to be a 105bhp 1.6 Tdi. Why? Because of fuel economy, ease of overtaking, lazy cruising and longevity of the diesel engine. Here's the tasty bit. I'm only going to do about 12000 miles a year, not much town driving and so will be travelling across Europe to the UK about 3 times a year with the rest around Poland and maybe Germany etc.

So now is the chance for all you TSI owners to thoroughly trash me and put me off and make me turn to the dark side. If you have a Tdi please also feel free to put in your two'penneth. Seriously though, the main thrust of this post is to see what the Tsi owners feel is great about the 1.2 tsi with 105 hp. Is it economical? In normal use, I think not. Is it going to last 200,000 miles plus? I think not. I was offered a Monte Carlo 1.2 Tsi today in red, for the same price as a diesel. Tempted? Yes, I was. So please let me know your opinions. I aim to have the Tdi for at least 4 years.

Steve M, Wroclaw, Poland

It's been debated to death already tbh. Different engines for different people's needs. You've already voted with your wallet. Mileage is obviously a key issue. TSI is arguably more fun and faster but it's down to personal choice at the end of the day......

Mum in law recently bout a Fabia Combi Scout, with the 1.6 Common rail lump. Have to say I was quite chuffed with the way it pulled, once it had learnt how to pull. Turbo lag was minimal and I felt quite happy, and safe when overtaking, when I drove it. (In Germany with about 700K's on Autobhans)

Well all I can say is I had a Passat 105bhp TDi for 18 months and then a Focus 90bhp TDCi for 2 1/2 years. Not the most thrilling cars to drive but both performed adequately and if driven moderately on the motorways could both average 50+mpg. Now I have a mk2 Fabia vRS and whilst the performance is astonishing the economy obviously suffers.

So it really is a case of horses for courses and what it's going to be used for.

Just ordered our second Fabia TSI 86 (Monte to replace an Elegance), although with our mileage a TDI might just be that bit more sensible. However neither the 1.2 or 1.6 TDI motors seem particularly smooth to me, compared to the petrol or in fact the 2.0 TDI in our Yeti.

Also less impressed with the DPF from experience to date; although I've not had warning lights, our Yeti despite 36 mile commutes, suffers from excessive regenerations in cold weather (sometimes daily). Dealer and SUK say there’s no fault but I'm as stated not that happy about it and this has put me off modern diesels. If a particular models petrol alternative has acceptable running costs, then from now on that’s the route I will be taking.

TP

Aside from the technical/drivability differences, diesel adds more weight to the front of the car but requires fewer gear changes.

It depends on prices in the area you live. In the UK for the past few years diesel has been more expensive at the pumps than petrol. You also pay a premium for a diesel engine version of a car vs the same spec petrol engine. When you factor in other costs, like road tax, insurance, servicing, mpg etc etc it usually means to get the same value from a diesel over a petrol car you have to be driving more than 10k miles a year or keep the car for a longer period of time.

This is why the choice is more down to your individual usage rather than a set of hard and fast rules.

Go Diesel - Especially if you live in a hilly area, so much more pull.

For your outlined circumstances I would say Diesel is for you. I was in Belgium on Saturday, noticed that diesel was a whopping 15 cent cheaper than petrol. with that kind of price difference in fuel it makes for a easier decision for you than us UK Briskodians have to make. Plus with long motorway drives I imagine the gearbox and engine will sit at better revs for fuel economy. Shame about DPF's in general, they do put me off diesels a little bit.

For you Diesel is the way forward

What DPF issue?

I raised this in a separate thread - I have never experienced it in 3 DPF equipped Skodas and have only seen a few complain of it on here, with many more jumping on the bandwagon. That compared to practically EVERYONE who owns a TSI VRS saying it uses too much oil (like stupid amounts - £60 a month - like another fuel fill up).

By that logic, I wouldn't touch a TSI with a barge pole (yes, it's a single charger vs twin, but the priniciples the same).

I often wonder whether I'd be better off in a petrol and nearly bought one - but then the car I was looking at fell through and my driving pattern changes to diesel friendly again - no way I'd be getting 50mpg from a TSI, driving like I do/have to for the pattern I drive.

Of course, that's back to driving style, preference, fuel cost, longevity of ownership...I had the debate when test driving (15 years ago) a rover 214SI, then a Renault 19 TD - same power, petrol had half as much torque.

Then needed a diesel for the mileage I did (shocking, Rover 420, old man's car, but comfy and cheap), then had a Golf GTI (Mk3 8v).

The Rover 214 was gutless compared to the Renault (so I bought the Renault), the 420 was almost as quick as the Golf (once rolling and until the intercooler pipe split...), the Octavia I had was WAY quicker than the Golf (98 GTI with 115bhp vs 07 2.0 PD TDI 140 - no contest), the Superb Greenline felt almost as quick as the Octy (despite losing 35bhp) and the current Monte feels somewhere around about there on performance, but is the most economical by far.

I have no doubt (after rambling on, sorry) that I would love a TSI (preferably a VRS, Kermit Green, White Roof please, although the dark metallic grey looks good), but I would inevitably thrash it a bit and suffer mid-40s on a good day, 30s on a bad day (and quite a few days here are bad...).

Have faith OP - diesel is ok. It's not that slow. It's pretty good these days and you might not notice the difference (but make sure you do - costly tank drains otherwise).

Not saying DPF's all gone wrong, but on an average mileage car they are proving to rarely have more than a 7yr lifespan to date, however they haven't been in cars for more than about 8-9yrs so it's diffiicult to tell yet. so I think of it like a clutch, for most people it will go eventually, just depends on how you use the car and the car and manufacturer iteself

I was undecided when I ordered my car, but according to the dealership the diesel model will hold its value more than the equivalent petrol. Even with the extra cost of the diesel initially it should pay for itself in the long run with PCP payments in my case of £15 a month less than the petrol model. Yes I do live in a place where there are going to be the short journeys, but as I enjoy driving I can see myself doing the miles needed to stop any DPF related issues arising.

I don't intend to keep the car longer than the 3 years, it's my first diesel car and if I don't like it then I can always go back to petrol next. I've driven an old mk1 vRS and that changed my mind about diesel cars forever - until that day I would of never even considered anything diesel.

Thanks for the replies. The 1.6tdi 105 bhp is going to set me back 10,000 pounds exactly. Not bad - 16 inch Elba alloys, trip computer, air con, cd/radio and the rear parking sensors. Colour will be standard red. Only problem is that in Poland they deliver new cars with summer tyres. So I need to invest in a set or winter tyres, which are essential here by December at the latest or try and get a set from the dealer. New car sales are down a lot here so if they want to make a sale, they might be persuaded. There are 3 Skoda dealers in my city (Wroclaw) and they all charged different prices for the same car and spec. But at the end of the day the price is the same once I showed one dealer what the other was charging. They are falling over each other to get a sale.

They are falling over each other to get a sale.

If that's the case you shouldn't have much trouble getting those winter tyres happy bargaining