Before testing the Octavia, wife and I went to test the Seat Altea XL also with the 1.6tdi engine.

I drove first then the wife.

Got the final price and went off to Skoda.

I drove first then wife, I sat in the back as the saleswoman sat in front as wife was driving.

Took off and not even a mile down the wife was asking if the engine was the same 1.6tdi or was she driving the 2.0tdi.

Yes the Altea was very slow compared to the Octavia, and the mpg on them runs about 6.5-7.0 liters.

My mate has a Fabia break 1.4tdi and another mate has the seat ibiza 1.4tdi, the diference is abismal, the seat is slow and harsh

sorry double post

I've been running a new 1.6TDi Elegance Estate manual since mid-May, done about 9500 miles to date.

Overall I am very impressed with the engine. I was 'down-sizing' from a 1.9CDTi Zafira and had some reservations about the smaller engine and 5-speed box the (Zafira was 6-speed). However, despite less power, it has more torque which makes it very drivable even with slightly wider gaps in teh gears. 5th is slightly lower than 6th in the Zafira but the Octy is still quiet and smooth at motorway speeds.

Even with heavy loads on board the car performs well enough (for me anyway) and I have never found it lacking when at speed. Climbing Shap on M6 through the Lake District and similar on M74 in Scotland with a full load and three bikes on the roof it coped admirably well, maintaining 70-ish mph without a problem.

Economy is great. Overall I'm getting about 60mpg - except when there are three bikes on the roof !!! A recent trip to the Loire Valley returned an overall 61mpg including several long stretches of Autoroute on which I was cruising at at a SatNav indicated 129Kmph (80mph). These had the consumption in the mid-50's but were compensated for by a couple of days pottering around the Chateaux at 74mpg.

So, in summary, I well pleased with the 1.6TDi and would strongly recommend it.

I'm wondering if the reason the Greenline cars give poorer fuel consumption is because of the gearing.

If my research is to be believed, the gearing on the GL is slightly longer so that at slower motorway speeds (60-70), it's running too few revs to get the turbo helping and be decently economical. It might well be that the GL is more economical than the standard car but less economical at low speeds. The torque curves on the revotechnik site suggest that when I'm pottering about at 1300-1500 rpm in top, I'm just far too far down the torque slope to we working nicely and I ought to be somewhere around 2000-2500 rpm to be efficient. If the standard 1.6tdi is running shorter gearing, it'll be at a better point on the torque curve at sensible motorway speeds.

This is sort of bourne out by me getting almost identical consumption running at 70 with a lightly loaded car as I did at the same speed 5-up with full boot, roofbox and bike.

Perhaps I'm just not going fast enough.

erm

I tink not

wor DSG runs at very low revs between 1250 and not exceeding 2000 of choice, generally blipping tween 1500 and 2000 as she changes up, and up , and up.

So I figger the 1.6 TDI is good at low revs.

just like I intutively drove the old trick turbo 1.9 TDI/110BHP btw

cheers

marcus

Bugger

Gyp - regarding you never getting close to 70mpg, at what speeds? My speedo at 60mph can usually indicate between 70-80mpg, I very rarely get less than 70mpg on motorway/country road runs at 60mph, and the best I've seen is 83mpg (over a level journey, however, I haven't done 60mph in any summer weather yet, I only recently lowered my speed).

Gyp - regarding you never getting close to 70mpg, at what speeds? My speedo at 60mph can usually indicate between 70-80mpg, I very rarely get less than 70mpg on motorway/country road runs at 60mph, and the best I've seen is 83mpg (over a level journey, however, I haven't done 60mph in any summer weather yet, I only recently lowered my speed).

Post #10 in this thread is a good example.

I've challenged my dealer regarding it and their response is that a lot of folk have commented that their consumption is somewhat disappointing and that my car's showing nothing wrong on the diagnostics, i.e. my car is "normal"