Mk1 VRS Enjoyed every minute of ownership, now on a mk1 Tdi 130bhp due to work mileage, faultless and good turn of speed.

Now in a position to purchase a Mk2 VRS diesel, thing is can only stretch to a PD engine at moment. My question is are PD's really that bad? been reading lots on here and other articles regarding particulate filter issues? Now so confused, should I keep saving and wait for a CR? Any tips would be much appreciated I.e. what goes wrong, costs etc?

Apologies if I'm posting in wrong area, solo confused! Thankyou

if your doing decent mileage then there is nothing wrong with the PD and particle filter, most issues stem from only being used for short town runs. I ran a remapped PD140 DSG DPF superb MK2 with no problem for 2 years.

The CR engine is quieter and more linear in its power delivery, very petrol like whereas the PD delivers lots of torque in one lump and feels faster as a result even though they have the same power. I prefer the way a PD drives, but that is me and others are of course different.

Thanks for reply, what would you say is a decent mileage for one, I would be doing approx 45 miles a day to work and back all motorway?

45 miles each way will be fine in a PD. / DPF.

The PD is more economical, has it’s power delivered in a big ‘shove’ and IMO is the best engine VAG have produced.

The CR is quieter, the power delivery is very much like a petrol engine and it has lower emissions (the reason the PD was dropped) but uses slightly more fuel.

I wouldn't say te PD was 'that bad'. In fact there's not much wrong with it. I like the CR better , but that doesn't make the PD 'bad'.

As for your DPF clearing - might depend on your motorway speeds (or more likely revs). If you are too sensible and not likely to see high enough revs in 6th then it might be that you could benefit from leaving it in 5th one way every now and then? I'm sure I read somewhere that there is a certain range where regeneration occurs but I have to confess that I don't know a whole lot about it.......

Edited 28 December, 201213 yr by mr_awol

In 2 years of ownership of a FL vRS CR I never had a single issue with DPF at all.

I wouldn't read too much into DPF problems if I were you.

Sorry meant 45 miles in total, petrol maybe? :-)

What's worse case scenario regarding the DPF can it cause a fail, breakdown etc, sorry all bit confusing to me!

Sorry meant 45 miles in total, petrol maybe? :-)

What's worse case scenario regarding the DPF can it cause a fail, breakdown etc, sorry all bit confusing to me!

As I understand it, if it starts packing up you'll be spending a fair whack on fuel. If it gets to the point that it needs replacing its a good couple of grand.

There is an option to have it removed for about £500 or so which would get rid of the issue and I don't believe this gives any legal Orr issues. You would need to clean the back a lot more though......

As for your commute , I do ten miles each way, plus a fair bit of running around in my own time, In fact in the last five months I've done 7k which works out at 16800 pa and changing from a TFSI to CR is saving me about £150 per month at the moment.

My 2008 PD doesn't have a DPF - Only later models seem to have them.

If you are going for a vRS diesel then they all have DPF's, however as Web Ferret posted not all PD's have a DPF.

Mk1 VRS Enjoyed every minute of ownership, now on a mk1 Tdi 130bhp due to work mileage, faultless and good turn of speed.

Now in a position to purchase a Mk2 VRS diesel, thing is can only stretch to a PD engine at moment. My question is are PD's really that bad? been reading lots on here and other articles regarding particulate filter issues? Now so confused, should I keep saving and wait for a CR? Any tips would be much appreciated I.e. what goes wrong, costs etc?

Apologies if I'm posting in wrong area, solo confused! Thankyou

I still massively prefer the power delivery on the PD variants, the CRs are much quieter but they are too petrol-like in their power delivery lacking the low and mid range go I'd associate with a decent diesel engine. Had a MK6 Golf CR 140 as a company car and always found it strangely lacking;a MK5 GT Sport PD 140 I had briefly before hand was much more fun. Cant comment for the 170 but I'm sure the story is much the same.

All I would say is to avoid a DPF car at all costs, VAG had lots of problems with them on PD engined cars and probably not worth the punt. That said I had an early Golf Bluemotion with the PD engine and covered 26k trouble free miles in it

It should be noted that heavy motorway usage is not ideal for the DPF, at least on the PD.

The engine load at 70mph in 6th isn't enough to generate sufficient heat for passive regeneration (the natural burning off of soot without the car actively inducing a regen).

When I questioned Skoda UK on what type of roads I should be driving on if I shouldn't be using it around town or on the motorway there were a lot of errs and ahhs! OK I was being deliberately awkward but it does support the stance that the PD isn't best suited to a DPF.

The DPF was retrofitted to the PD engine after it was developed. The CR on the other hand was developed with the DPF in mind, it therefore has an additional catalyst that keeps more heat in the DPF for longer making passive regen much more efficient - hence less DPF issues on the CR.

Don't let the DPF put you off a PD, as above just figure in £450 for a stage 0 remap (to code out the DPF's sensors) and the removal of the DPF's insides if and when it becomes an issue.

A PD engine generates all the all the oooomph in one shove where as the CR delivers over a wider rev range.

Depends which you prefer.

My 1.9 PD bought new in 2009 came from the factory without a DPF (hooray!), so you should be able to find some good low mile recent examples without DPF and just past their first MoT.

As someone has already said, not all PDs have a DPF- especially the 140 (my Leon hasn't). If you're used a a 1.9 PD130, the 140 2.0 PD revs a bit better, but delivery is a bit smoother, so you don't get the same shove-in-the-back feeling (though in my case, the DSG probably amplifies that unless you use tiptronic). Sounds like the CR is even more that way: not driven one.

So far, my PD140 has been great. I've done almost 60k miles in it, the car has nearly 80k on the clock.

Luckily the only MkII 1.9 TDi PD105 Octavia's to get a DPF (at least in the UK) was the 4x4 so choice should be plentiful.

Yes, really that bad, either hold off or stretch further to a cr. it will bring you nothing but trouble - avoid all costs

My 2008 PD doesn't have a DPF - Only later models seem to have them.

nope, not correct at all. The PD170 has always had the DPF no matter what car (A3,A4,Octavia etc) or age it is

Edited 28 December, 201213 yr by ryan-re

Personally I prefer the CR engine as as previous it's a lot smoother and more refined than the (SWMBO's) 1.9 PD. Again as previous the PD isn't 'bad' it's just not a sophisticated as the CR engine which you may or may not like- best solution is to drive both and put your mind at rest before you go either way. I've been told by my dealer (though have no experience of driving a vRS PD) that the PD does suffer to some degree from turbo lag and to make rapid progress you have to keep it spinning. If the 170 PD is like the less powerful ones it'll produce loads or torque low down in a big lump, where as the CR gets a move on further up the rev range (strange thing to say about a deisel!)

If you do go for the PD make sure its had the VOSA directed injector recall done (properly). If the DPF can't do a successful regen it will eventually go into limp home mode when you've got to take it to a dealer to sort it out, but that'll be the same for either PD or CR and if what's reported previous that the CR is more suited to DPF then common sense would suggest DPF regens will be more frequent on a PD

Only times I use her PD by choice is when I'm going down the tip, it's pi**ing it down and the vRS is clean or I'm going to leave it in a car park. Her PD Seat doesn't have a DPF, which to be honest I'm chuffed about as it's one thing less to go wrong and as she commutes in it into Birmingham a deisel with a DPF probably wouldn't be the best option for her.

The good old manual says that when the DPF light comes on it should be purged by driving in either 4th or 5th at between 1800 and 2500 RPM for around 15 mins until the light goes out so I'm guessing if you do this on a regular basis before the light comes on it'll prevent any or limit DPF problems anyway.

Hope this helps- if not just ignore my ramblings!

Ade

nope, not correct at all. The PD170 has always had the DPF no matter what car (A3,A4,Octavia etc) or age it is

He is right, his 2.0 TDi is the PD140 without a DPF, not the PD170.

Yes, really that bad, either hold off or stretch further to a cr. it will bring you nothing but trouble - avoid all costs

A slight over reaction.

He is right, his 2.0 TDi is the PD140 without a DPF, not the PD170.

that was my point though. The OP is talking about the vrs so the pd140 has nothing to do with the topic

Here I'm only allowed to drive at 100km/h. My DPF has no problem staying clear. So I wouldn't worry about 70mph motorway not being enough.

You have the PD140 though in the Scout.

We have a PD140 Scout that rarely travels more than 40mph with a commute of around 10 miles. No DPF issues in 4 years, 40,000 miles.

My PD170 vRS though has been troublesome. It spends most of its time at 70-80mph on the motorway with a good cross country blast at either end of my daily commute.