Anyone know of any substantive difference between, drive, performance and relability of these 2?.

Seems I have the 8v

I've not driven the 16V, I have the 8V Scout... and love it!

If the 16V is an improvement over the 8V then great!

Only got the V5 doc to go by for now. Maybe there are no 16v versions over here.

The PD140 16V was used in the UK in all models except the scout. If your engine code is BKD then it is the 16V engine despite what the V5 says. My old PD140 2005 Octavia had 8V on the V5 but was in fact 16V.

If your engine code is BMP then this is an 8V unit.

The 8V unit is I believe SOHC whereas the 16V is DOHC.

Wow. Thanks for the clarification. Mine is indeed the BKD, and was suspecting mistake on V5.

mistakes aren't uncommon on V5's. There are hundreds of Honda Civics going about with VTI-S written on them when they are really Jordans

The PD140 16V was used in the UK in all models except the scout. If your engine code is BKD then it is the 16V engine despite what the V5 says. My old PD140 2005 Octavia had 8V on the V5 but was in fact 16V.

If your engine code is BMP then this is an 8V unit.

The 8V unit is I believe SOHC whereas the 16V is DOHC.

Thats what I love about Briskoda - An answer to everything!

I knew my 2.0 TDI was a 16V but didn't know that there was a 8v