Can anyone recommend which engine I should look for in an Octavia? Looking to buy a 2-3 year old car with 15-20K on clock. Daily commute 13 miles each way on mix of A and B roads. Will drive loaded with kids and luggage 200 miles on motorway every 6 weeks or so. Unsure whether diesel or petrol, and which size. Any help gratefully appreciated!  

1.8 TSi - the best kept secret!!

Petrol, as your mileage is less than 10K per year, can't recommend one, as I'm a diesel man

I'd be thinking petrol rather than diesel with your sort of annual mileage and driving pattern. A diesel would cost more to buy, and I'd be a little apprehensive about DPF problems on a diesel without more frequent longer runs. Although I've not owned an Octavia with a DPF to know for sure, and others here are likely to have more experience to guide you in this area.

Edited 10 September, 201312 yr by Ultrasonic

If you are looking at Octavias from 2010 onwards, you have quite a choice of engines. 

 

It really depends how much you want to keep your running costs down......The 1.6 TDI is the cheapest diesel to run, but the 2.0 TDI doesn't cost much more to run and has significant extra power. You could get a 1.2TSI petrol, which will give almost diesel levels of economy, but might not be suited to hauling loads on the motorway. The 1.8TSI is a great engine from a performance point of view, but on a 13 mile commute on A and B roads, you'll be lucky to see better than 35 mpg.

 

A diesel car will cost you more to buy than a petrol, but you will get more for it when you sell/trade it compared to a petrol model, so this factor cancels out the higher purchase price.......when buying used anyway.    

Edited 10 September, 201312 yr by booke23

what trim level are you looking at and what are your priorities performance/economy/sporty/plush ride/high spec interior or not. what's you driving style like. do you just want to cruise or do you want something with some go in it at the expense of economy? the tsi petrol engines are very smooth. if you want petrol the 1.8 is probably the best to go for unless you want a vRS but they are not that common. the 1.4 tsi lacks mid range grunt IMO and you have to work it to overtake on A roads. the deisels cost more but retain their value better. I've not driven any oilers apart from the cr170, which is a hoot and had a 1.4 tsi before that. the less than x miles so don't buy a wiesel is a myth -its the type of journeys you do not your annual milage that counts but don't get 1 if your doing loads of short and/or slow stop start commuting. Have a test drive of a few and see which you prefer, but make sure you load them up and have a decent test drive so you can see whether they fit your requirements for the real world. good luck

I can strongly recommend the vrs 170 c r. Traded my fabia in for one today and very happy

Petrol 2.0 TSI all the way.... Nice engine and purrs like a kitten and roars like a tiger.... At the end of the day you need to think what other things you may use your car for. If its just a commute to work and back then think of something small and maybe not an Octavia. If its for holidaying every so often then maybe something in the diesel range. The DPF is a concern, but i am sure other members with diesels with certainly advise you that they don't have those worry problems as people keep saying. Sadly i just dont agree with diesels at all..... I like petrol's and don't mind the MPG.....

Petrol 2.0 TSI all the way.... Nice engine and purrs like a kitten and roars like a tiger.... 

 

......until the timing chain tensioner fails.......when it then sounds like a bag of spanners being chucked down a big flight of stairs!  

 

Seriously though, I really don't think DPF reliability is an issue on the Common rail diesels (all diesel octavia's sold after september 2010 are guaranteed to be common rail). The DPF issues really stem from when they were fitted to earlier PD diesel engines.

 

Just like the timing chain tensioner issue isn't really an issue on 2.0 TSI engines.....it's a very rare occurrence.   

......until the timing chain tensioner fails.......when it then sounds like a bag of spanners being chucked down a big flight of stairs!

  

 

Ha.....previous owner of my car found that one out.....now has a nice new engine in mine . :moon: (been waiting to use that one)....albeit the miles i have done in it now.....

Ha.....previous owner of my car found that one out.....now has a nice new engine in mine . :moon: (been waiting to use that one)....albeit the miles i have done in it now.....

 

Lol........well, at least you didn't have to foot the bill for that one!

I heard about the price of the engine on these......   ....i could imagine what there boss said when they heard about the bill for the new engine.....Basically car was gone after 700 miles and into my hands.....and the bonus of it all is i get 2 years warranty on the engine.....

Petrol

But drive them all I say... Thats what I did 

My 1.8 Tsi is giving me 40mpg plus every day 

 The  1.8 Tsi is  just as fast as the VR deisel too, great to drive

No DPF problems to worry about

I would agree on petrol but try a number of engines if you can.  I think the 1.8TSi is great,  I found the 1.4TSi a litle lacking when car loaded with 4 adults but then again you probably wouldn't often carry 4 adults.  I like diesels and I own a 1.9TDi PD Fabia mark 1 as well.  DPF would concern me for short journeys, I only do 8k miles a year so it had to be petrol in all honesty for me.  But I have friends with a CR 2.0 TDI 140bhp and the 170bhp in the VRS, they are fantasic and never had any issues.  Certainly much smoother than my old 1.9TDi PD. 

 

In the end you'd be very happy with either I am sure, the Octavia is a very good car for the money.

Strange - nobody has mentioned the 1.6 petrol fsi engine. I have an 08 auto and find the sport mode and kickdown good for that extra performance and in drive its a good all round motor, driven carefully can give top 40mpg.

1.8 TSI, all the way for me, I do a 10 mile round trip daily and even though I have the 'older bzb' not so econical version of the engine mines gives 36 mpg and decent performance too..

Thanks everyone - really helpful!

I'm looking for economy over power so I think it will be a toss up between the 1.4 petrol and 1.6 diesel

Thanks again

The diesel will obviously give you better fuel economy. The diesel will though also be more likely to suffer expensive failures (DPF and DMF) than the petrol. For your mileage and driving pattern I personally wouldn't risk the diesel.

 

Here's a Skoda leaflet about DPFs in case it is helpful:

 

http://www.skoda.co.uk/SiteCollectionDocuments/Brochures/15364_DPF_Leaflet_v2.pdf

Assuming you achieve the combined book MPG figures, a 1.6 Diesel will cost you £54 per month on fuel on your commute and the 1.4TSI Petrol £74 per month on fuel. Road tax for the diesel is £30 for the year and £140 for the 1.4TSI.

 

I'm not sure the DMF issue is that much of a problem on the CR diesels at all, and especially not on the 1.6 Diesel. And as I said in an earlier post, the DPF issue does not seem to be much of a problem at all on the CR engines.

I had a 1.4 for 12 months. mixed driving used to give me between 42 & 44 per fill up and around 50 on a run if I drove in a relaxed style. that was on the maxidot so was probably a couple of mpg below that in reality. The engine is super smooth and has good torque low down, but I ultimately got rid of mine because of it's lack of mid range go. Before any 1.4 owners get upperty that's not meant as a critisism, it's just that I like to be able to make progress, especially on nice A roads and the 1.4 didn't have to oomph to overtake when I came across road captains. If you're happy to be held up in such circumstances that's fine. In most other instances it's a capable engine. It will also be cheaper to buy than the diesel, but the diesel will cost less to run. DMF issues are normally caused by hard exceleration from low revs, which isn't the crs forte and dpf problems are normally bevause the car is used for short stop start city driving when the engine repeatably fails to complete a regen because it's not being driven for long enough at a constant speed for the dpf to complete it's cycle. this is compounded on the cr because you get no lights telling you when it's doing a regen, the tickover goes up to about 1000 rpm and it smells abit hot but thats it. The first you often know about it when you miss the increase in tickover is that both cooling fans go flat out when you switch off which is the sign you've interupted its cycle. It's repeated interupted cycles like this that cause the problems. That said I've only noticed 3 in the 11 months I've had mine, the last being about 5 months ago- they seem to do less in the summer than in winter.

What a load of "cobblers" about the 1.4 TSi "lacking mid-range grunt/ a little lacking" when loaded, what do they think it is, an RS8 or a Lambo! I've had four passengers, a guide dog and a boot full of luggage on a trip to Skeggy and back, as for overtaking use the kick-down or sport mode (DSG) box,no problem IMO!

What a load of "cobblers" about the 1.4 TSi "lacking mid-range grunt/ a little lacking" when loaded, what do they think it is, an RS8 or a Lambo! I've had four passengers, a guide dog and a boot full of luggage on a trip to Skeggy and back, as for overtaking use the kick-down or sport mode (DSG) box,no problem IMO!

 

But it might be for some people. If you've come from a torquey or powerful engined car it possibly will feel flat in comparison.

 

Different stroke for different folks as they say.  

Another vote for the 1.8tsi if driving is your only concern.

As I'm hoping to change cars next year, I've looked at partex prices and the 1.8tsi has very poor prospects of good resale value - diesels seem much more desirable.

It would seem that dcc128 is looking more for economy.  1.4TSi and 1.6 CR are both great engines.  Driven both and like both.  Petrol sweeter, more top end, diesel more torque.  Personally, if I was choosing between those two, I'd go 1.4TSi simply because petrol is cheaper to buy and the car will be cheaper to purchase, engine very quiet, no DPF issues if you do small mileage, and on these they have a timing chain so no more cambelts.  I have not heard many issues with the timing chains on the 1.4TSi.  Just change the oil regulary.

There is no "right or wrong" engine that anyone can tell you is best - just opinions based on either personal experience or rumours heard from someone else.

 

There are many that argue that a diesel is a bad choice if your annual mileage is low - good for them. My annual mileage is low but all my recent cars have been diesel engined (except a very brief dalliance with a 120i BMW). I chose diesel generally because I prefer the way that they deliver their power for 95% of the driving that I do - effortless power riding the torque without having to rev them up too much to make good progress.

 

Some prefer petrols. I know that comparing my 170hp CR vRS to the 1.2TSi loan car I had is almost like chalk & cheese but that 1.2 Octavia is a truely shocking vehicle - very underpowered (on paper the same 105hp as the 1.9 & 1.6 diesels but no torque) and it needed to be revved to make any decent progress which hammered the fuel economy. By comparison, the 1.9 & 1.6 Tdi's, because of the torque are a much more relaxed and quicker drive on a day to day basis.The extra torque is also very helpful when the car is fully loaded with family & holiday luggage!

 

To get the effortless performance I want, I would need to have a car with a large petrol engine - and the extra fuel used. That said, I may consider the petrol vRS when I eventually swap mine in a couple of years (the MkIII is starting to grow on me) although I suspect I'll end up with the diesel again.

 

The newer CR engines do not suffer from DPF issues as the engine was designed with DPF fitment in mind unlike the PD engines which can sometimes give issues.

 

 

My advice would be to have a look at various engine options in your price range, think about the type of use it will doing and try to narrow it down to two ro three engine options - then test drive them to see which you prefer. People have different requirements from a vehicle. As it's been said, some are very happy with the "performance" offered by the 1.2 & 1.4 petrols - personally I'd rather do the journey on my 125cc scooter than drive anwhere in one of them - but then I wouldn't have any car with less than 150hp!