Hey all

I am thinking of buying a facelift 2011 skoda octavia 1.6 DSG diesel in SE plus trim for my private hire which will replace my trusty 06 2.0 tdi pd octy.

Not only am I new to the 1.6 diesel unit but also new to DSG gearbox. I love manual shift but in my work I am beginning to prefer comfort. But keeping in mind that a DSG at the least is a grand more compared to a manual.

Any fellow briskodians have had a real life experience with a 1.6 DSG, what you do you think of them and what's good or not so good, regardless of whether you have used the same variant in any model.. It would help me a lot towards making my mind towards this investment.

Cheers guys

Naj

I have recently changed from a 1.6 manual to the DSG and I really like the gearbox. No idea how the 1.6 compares to the 2 litre.

Great motor, gearbox combination.

I've done 10,000 miles in 9 months without a hitch

The engine is more like a petrol in its power delivery, no all or nothing like a lot of the older diesels.

Gearbox is superb, when driving gently lovely changes that are hard to detect, when pressing on lightening quick changes that are far far smoother than the best of drivers can achieve

Non of my friends can believe it's only a 1.6 diesel, it still surprises me

I've never had any signs of a regeneration that people talk of

The only slight disappointment is the fuel consumption against that advertised

Real world average, measured not dash computer, is 57 mpg

Regards all

Juan

Sent from my iPhone using my thumbs

that's some great responses, (JUAN) I know what you mean by all or nothing, my current 2 L diesel is like that, that's why I was a little confused when I test drove the DSG caz there was no after burner sort of drama involved, old habits die young you know.

the 57 mpg real life average sounds pretty good from what I see, iam used to around 45 on my car right now.

is it right the DSG has a 7 speed gearbox as compared to the manual 5?

I have recently changed from a 1.6 manual to the DSG and I really like the gearbox. No idea how the 1.6 compares to the 2 litre.

cheers mate, don't think there would ever be a comparison between these two engines.

Hi Naj, yes, it's 7 speed, well it is on mine.....

Sent from my iPhone using my thumbs

great that means would be able to get the formula one sequential feeling with some drunkens in the back lol,, this car is looking better and better

many thanks.

Totally agree with the above comments. I've done 17000 miles in 10 months and I love the car. Its my first automatic and I wouldn't willingly go back to manual. The DSG box is brilliant in my opinion. Seemless changes and acceleration, more than enough power for real world motoring from the 1.6tdi and I too get 55mpg or more on my 50 mile motorway/city commute. As the poster said above, drive it smoothly and you don't notice the changes, drive it quick and the rev counter flicks down between changes in a split second. I've read road tests of this engine in manual form where the testers complain of the gear ratios hampering rapid progress but this simply isn't an issue in the DSG. 95% of the time you are in the right gear for whatever you want to do and shifting to sport mode (if you know you're going to need a bit of power) removes any kick down delay. Its basically an effortless, quiet, smooth car. Hope this helps!

I have various hire cars for work to do a circa 400 mile round trio. I've had things like Mondeo, Kuga, Quashqai, Galaxy, etc, and I've once had a 1.6 DSG diesel Octavia. I was very surprised at how well it went, and it was the car that made me decide to buy a DSG. It was also by far the best car on fuel I've had so far, using £46 worth of diesel rather than the usual £60 plus that other cars usually use.

Good engine and gearbox combo for Taxi-ing; a 2.0 is probably a slightly better motorway car but 1.6 will generally have enough get up and go and will be more frugal.

SE Plus spec is nice too.

thanks everyone for keeping the great feedback coming, I've already called up the dealership in question to squeeze a deal so to say, lets hope it goes my direction,

Good engine and gearbox combo for Taxi-ing; a 2.0 is probably a slightly better motorway car but 1.6 will generally have enough get up and go and will be more frugal.

SE Plus spec is nice too.

yes mate probably that was my biggest worry considering the kind of use and abuse we put a car through in my game, I don't do many long runs or airports so not that worried about motorways.

The only thing nobody has said so far, is make sure that the gearbox gets properly serviced. They aren't as reliable as a manual, and you'll have problems if you don't get oil the changed every 40k. They're OK if you look after them.

The only thing nobody has said so far, is make sure that the gearbox gets properly serviced. They aren't as reliable as a manual, and you'll have problems if you don't get oil the changed every 40k. They're OK if you look after them.

Thats not really true to be fair; lots of newer VAG manual cars suffer with DMF problems requiring a new clutch and flywheel; expensive and can happen at any age or mileage. I had to have a new clutch on my Mk5 Golf 1.9 TDi with only about 12k on the clock because of clutch judder.

Yes DSGs can fail but its not all that common and a 40k oil change isnt a masaive issue or that expensive really.

yeah iam sure I head that about mercs as well before hand, a 50 or 60 quid expense on every 40 k is better than expensive gearbox repair, on my 2 litre manual I changed DMF at 112000 and I was lucky by far since most don't last that long, bit of a lottery I guess with the manual, plus iam very hard on the engine braking both on the car and the bike.

Thats not really true to be fair; lots of newer VAG manual cars suffer with DMF problems requiring a new clutch and flywheel; expensive and can happen at any age or mileage. I had to have a new clutch on my Mk5 Golf 1.9 TDi with only about 12k on the clock because of clutch judder.

Yes DSGs can fail but its not all that common and a 40k oil change isnt a masaive issue or that expensive really.

It is absolutely true. The DSG gearbox is not as reliable as the manual gearbox. On average they don't last as long. The DMF is a different thing, and the DSG had that too.

I didn't say the DSG gearbox is unreliable, just not as reliable as the manual.

The 1.2, 1.4 and 1.8 TSI as well as the 1.6 TDI has a 7 speed dry clutch DSG. The 2.0 TSI and TDI has a more sturdy wet clutch 6 speed version, which requires the beforementioned fluid changes. The dry 7 speed just has normal transmission fluid like in a manual box.

The 7 speed has had its fair share of issues, but mine has been completely trouble free so far (4400km and counting) and gearchanges are excellent once you're on the move.

The DSG's achilles heel is parking and similar situations. Having owned three conventional automatics before the Octavia I still find the automated clutch to be a bit annoying at times. It takes far longer for a DSG equipped car to get moving after you let go of the brake, since it needs to "lift the clutch pedal" and start slipping the clutch for you. This is even more noticeable in really tight spaces when you want to inch forward, brake, move another inch, brake, etc. If you press the brake pedal fully it completely disengages the clutch and takes its sweet time engaging it again. You can control clutch slip with fine movements of the brake pedal at the very tip of the pedal travel, but I've still not completely adjusted to that.

A conventional automatic is always in gear and just starts moving smoothly once you get off the brake pedal. When parking, I'd take a normal automatic any day.

The only thing nobody has said so far, is make sure that the gearbox gets properly serviced. They aren't as reliable as a manual, and you'll have problems if you don't get oil the changed every 40k.

:no: The 7 speed DSG on the 1.6 TDI doesn't need oil changes.....it's good for life. It's got dry clutch's so the oil doesn't get dirty......unlike the 6 speed DSG.

It is absolutely true. The DSG gearbox is not as reliable as the manual gearbox. On average they don't last as long. The DMF is a different thing, and the DSG had that too.

I didn't say the DSG gearbox is unreliable, just not as reliable as the manual.

Maybe, but most DSG gearboxes will last the life of the car with no trouble. So will most manual gearboxes.....but not many manual clutches last the life of the car......an expense you won't suffer with a DSG.

Edited 18 April, 201313 yr by booke23

It's just as "good for life" as any normal manual box. The car manufacturer might say it is, but we all know you can breathe new life into an old and notchy manual box by changing the fluid.

I have never changed the gearbox fluid in a manual car though. In the automatics I've owned, sure. Every one of them.

I went from a 1.9 TDI octavia to a 1.6 TDI superb and the engine pulls it fine so it will pull a Octavia no probs, i myself too are a taxi driver and i have done 10,200 miles since getting my superb in January and the engine is as strong as a 2.0 and is underestimated at times i think, as for the DSG box, i have never drove one so can't comment on that perspective but i do know another driver with a grey 1.6 tdi 11 plate octavia DSG s spec, and he says you can hardly hear the gears changing and it is very smooth, one comment he did have was that when you ask for a burst of power, E.G to overtake it would be to keen to change down a gear when in fact the gear it was in would pull the car fine, and it also happened the other way round when doodling in town it would change up a gear probably to keep revs down but it would drop the car out its turbo band but it does the job

it does feel a bit abnormal when it drops gear, I felt that during the test drive, maybe iam just too used to manual boxes, although I also tried the (semi automatic) mode which was rather different to the one I once used in a Mercedes, usually when you try to drive an automatic as semi the upshifts are for you to do and slowing down the car will downshift automatically, with this Octavia I noticed that both upshift and downshift was to the driver's discretion, which would be helpful in an overtaking situation but a little annoying as you have to look at the maxidot every time to know what gear you are in.

with this Octavia I noticed that both upshift and downshift was to the driver's discretion, which would be helpful in an overtaking situation but a little annoying as you have to look at the maxidot every time to know what gear you are in.

The box selects the best gear and if you want to overtake then use the 'kick down' as in any automatic. The selected gear is displayed on the dash, but after a few days you don't really take a lot of notice.

Just the other day I looked down a few seconds after pulling away from a traffic light and noticed I was in fifth. I would've guessed second, maybe third. It really shifts like butter once you are rolling. Taking off is a bit messy, compared to a modern conventional automatic.

The manual shifting works like most tiptronic-style boxes: you can tell the gearbox which gear to use by flipping the lever over into the manual gate. It will however upshift automatically if you approach redline and downshift as speed decreases. It also responds to kickdown even in manual mode. This is a good thing. My old Volvo didn't, and I had to abort a couple of overtaking attempts because I had forgot I had it in manual.

Mercedes version of "tiptronic" is a bit strange - if you select third on the manual mode it just means that the transmission won't go higher than third. Like automatic gearboxes of old used to do, before tiptronic was invented.

:no: The 7 speed DSG on the 1.6 TDI doesn't need oil changes.....it's good for life. It's got dry clutch's so the oil doesn't get dirty......unlike the 6 speed DSG.

I wouldn't have a manual and never change the oil for the life of the car never mind a DSG, no matter what the manufacturers say. Gearbox oil takes a right old hammering.