My 2.0 TDi is nowhere near as nippy, instant acceleration as my past 1.9 & 2.0 VW's and not a patch on my 2.0 Volvo S40 ( also all TDi's)

Example, joining a duel carriageway via a slip road doing around 35-40 in Norm, put foot down a bit so as to filter in, nothing, foot hard down still nothing ended up having to back off and tuck in behind the slow moving truck.

For those own South I had to change down to 3rd to get up Bury Hill in Eco, hit the Accelerator button mentioned on another thread to get it out of Eco but it did help but far from instant. My old Volvo would cruise up it in 5th. Hoping things will improve over time as not clocked up 500mls yet. Tried sport mode not that impressed, plus it seems to be missing the point of buying an economical car. Yet to achive over 40mpg urban yet,

What fuel are you using? My first couple were with Shell and recently used Sainsbury's and my car is definitely more sluggish at the lower end of the rev range, less than 1500 rpm. Going try a tank of shell next to see if it definitely was that.

What fuel are you using? My first couple were with Shell and recently used Sainsbury's and my car is definitely more sluggish at the lower end of the rev range, less than 1500 rpm. Going try a tank of shell next to see if it definitely was that.

Interesting, thanks. I've only put Sainsburys in mine so far. I use S'burys as it's local and there's always the Nector points. I will try the Super Dooper BP Diesel next time and see if that helps. It will help with the Nector Points as it a lot dearer, unless better fuel improves the MPG.

Dunno about super duper diesel but perhaps just try BP or Shell's regular diesel?

 

I'll be honest I've always been sceptical about differences in fuel but there is definitely more grumbling and sluggishness in the lower rev range since I filled up the last couple of times at Sainsbury's, mostly because it's cheaper... just filled up today at Shell with their regular fuelsave so will see how that goes.

Agricultural vehicle, what did you expect !

Many diesel engined cars can run 50/50 diesel/vegetable oil with little or no modification so I doubt whether using different diesel brands will make much difference to performance. Diesel engines are much more tolerant than petrol.

If the car is running sluggish the most likely causes will be too low revs (driving around or below 1700rpm) or mechanical fault. If you experience lack if go above 2000rpm take it to the dealers. One other thing to remember is that the Octy has extremely long gearing. 4th in my Octy has a similar ratio to 5th in many other cars I have driven. 6th is generally too long to have any real poke whatsoever.

Definitely sounds like something is amiss.  A TDI should run on the cheap crap no problem - all the tuners use the safety margin VAG builds in to accommodate the sometimes 5hite fuels you ocasionally get in parts of the old Soviet block to extract more welly from the motor, so any UK diesel should be OK. 

Edited 26 June, 201411 yr by Smeghead

My current VRS runs better on Sainsbury's than my last BMW. It was better on Esso!

Its not doing a regen is it? Response is noticeably different when its doing that.

Many diesel engined cars can run 50/50 diesel/vegetable oil with little or no modification so I doubt whether using different diesel brands will make much difference to performance. Diesel engines are much more tolerant than petrol.

If the car is running sluggish the most likely causes will be too low revs (driving around or below 1700rpm) or mechanical fault. If you experience lack if go above 2000rpm take it to the dealers. One other thing to remember is that the Octy has extremely long gearing. 4th in my Octy has a similar ratio to 5th in many other cars I have driven. 6th is generally too long to have any real poke whatsoever.

I'm beginning to believe the problem could be me trying to drive economically! Watching all the displays telling me how much fuel I'm using/used trying to get it over the 43mpg I used get from thrashing my 10yr old Volvo around. Yesterday I had to pull out of a junction a bit nippy and was pleasantly surprised how quick the car is when pushed, still had some lag though.

Spend a week (or a tankfull) in each driving mode so you get a real comparisson between them.

 

You may find that sport mode gives you the response you're missing from the engine and doesn't hurt your mpg much.

 

My best ever mpg was in sport mode - all motorway work (of which I've done the same trip in the same conditions previously in 'normal') maybe the increased response made a culmative difference with all the little accelerations you do on a long trip (faster accel = more time at contant throttle = less fuel used overall).

 

The 4x4 will sap some power but with full torque from 1800rpm upwards if it's laggy above those revs you have an issue somewhere.

I had a similar problem with my vRS.

When I picked it up the performance was OK but it was nothing to shout about & sometimes from low-rpm the turbo would not pickup & I'd have to change down if I wanted the hard acceleration I would normally expect.

 

I hadn't actually driven the diesel before I ordered so I assumed that the engine was just calibrated this way to give a smooth feeling from the turbo (I'm had some crazy cars like the Mk2 focus TDCi when the turbo kick was like a rocket taking off).

 

However, after a couple of months driving the engine went into limp-home & the boost-pressure sensor had failed.

Afterwards, the car is much more responsive & the turbo lag much reduced.

Having said that I still notice the odd time when the engine pick-up is slow from lower revs.
 

p.s.
Please anyone don't put vegetable oil in your common rail diesel unless you want new a fuel pump fitting...

Seriously, the fly by wires throtle responce takes some getting used to, try sport mode if you like it possible get a pedalbox whilst still running in eco, it can be the best of both worlds.

I test drove a TDI vrs before I bought the TSI and found it to lack the punch of the old pd diesel, yet it was quicker and smoother and more petrol like it just wasn't as fun. my old PD140 Passat was very aggressive as it came onto boost... Maybe it was remapped by a previous owner I don't know but it had some shove!

Although before 1600rpm it was flat as a fart, possibly the easiest car to stall I've ever had

Edited 27 June, 201411 yr by V6Jules

The thing to remember with newer diesel engines is that the power delivery is more linear, with more of the torque spread over more of the rev range (that's a lot of more's!), this leads to less of a big shove in the back as your used to. This has been done for many reasons, coming on full boost mid corner in the wet can be a bit tricky, less stress on the engine and so on. I would suggest that it could just be your driving style and how you were accustomed to the Volvo' power delivery. Plus with only 500 miles under the cars belt that engine is far from loosened up yet, give it a while, you'll be surprised how well it'll get with a couple more miles on the clock. My vRS has 14000 miles on it now and pulls really strongly in the mid-range.

I'm beginning to believe the problem could be me trying to drive economically! Watching all the displays telling me how much fuel I'm using/used trying to get it over the 43mpg I used get from thrashing my 10yr old Volvo around. Yesterday I had to pull out of a junction a bit nippy and was pleasantly surprised how quick the car is when pushed, still had some lag though.

Ignore the instructions that Maxidot tells you regarding when to change up. Maxidot will have you poodling around at 1500rpm, well below the useful power band for both VRS TDI & TSI engines. I always try to keep my engine above 1800rpm whilst on the move. This provide power when needed and probably uses less fuel than at 1500rpm when you consider how long you have to press the accelerator for to get any overtaking done at low revs.

 

My opinion is that unless you are standing still, sub 1800rpm is best avoided.

 

This provide power when needed and probably uses less fuel than at 1500rpm when you consider how long you have to press the accelerator for to get any overtaking done at low revs.

 

My opinion is that unless you are standing still, sub 1800rpm is best avoided.

 

 

Sorry, but I'm going to call you on that one.  The whole point of having a gearbox in your car is so you can change gears to suit the circumstances - driving round in a lower gear all the time just so you've got the power in case you need it is only going to lead to higher fuel consumption.  It's far better to drive around in the highest gear you can (without straining the engine), and then change down a gear or two if you need to overtake.

My opinion is that unless you are standing still, sub 1800rpm is best avoided.

 

 

I'm kind of with you on that, though on a completely flat road I can get away with just over 1500rpm but need to change down for accelerating.

Sorry, but I'm going to call you on that one.  The whole point of having a gearbox in your car is so you can change gears to suit the circumstances - driving round in a lower gear all the time just so you've got the power in case you need it is only going to lead to higher fuel consumption.  It's far better to drive around in the highest gear you can (without straining the engine), and then change down a gear or two if you need to overtake.

 

I agree but each to their own.

I cruise around quite often at 1200rpm & even from this engine speed accelerates quick enough for me most of the time.

If you need to accelerate more quickly you can always select 5th or 4th.

However, I accept that the driving conditions in Switzerland do lend themselves to gentle driving where the UK is far more agressive especially on the motorway.

 

Sorry, but I'm going to call you on that one.  The whole point of having a gearbox in your car is so you can change gears to suit the circumstances - driving round in a lower gear all the time just so you've got the power in case you need it is only going to lead to higher fuel consumption.  It's far better to drive around in the highest gear you can (without straining the engine), and then change down a gear or two if you need to overtake.

The best gear to use does indeed depend upon road, situation and driver mood. Op is complaining about lack of power, and barring technical fault the most likely cause for this is selecting too high a gear and running at too low rpm. The easy solutions are to run the car nearer it's torque band or havr to change down before every overtake.

 

I am sure there are scenarios where running in 5th or 6th at 1200-1500rpm will return best fuel economy, but you will likely need a very flat and clear motorway. I tend to hold revs at 1800-2000 for "general driving" because I notice little or no loss in mpg, plus adequate performance is always available. I find driving turbo powered cars at ~1500rpm or below  pretty horrible, VAG turbo cars have very long gearing, making them extremely sluggish before the point at which the turbo spools up.

 

Just my opinion of course, and everyone drives differently, but I hate pottering around at (too) low revs.

Could it be you are comparing gears to your old car where the Octavia maybe has longer gears compared to previous cars?

 

So where you would be in 4th gear in the Volvo in the Octavia the equivelant gear would be 3rd?

 

Phil

This may turn a bit technical for a Friday afternoon, but if you really want it to go then you need to target the power band rather than the torque band. What I'm about to say goes against the grain since even Clarkson and company accepted that it is torque that makes you go, but it is torque at the point of traction - where the wheel meets the road - that matters. Gearing comes into it in a large way, since the gear ratio fixes the torque multiplication factor between flywheel and road wheel, but also fixes the engine speed for a given road speed. Since power and torque are directly linked by the engine speed, it is actually the case that at any given road speed the maximum torque at the road wheel is found by choosing the gear that gives the maximum power at the flywheel. If you had a CVT box that can hold the engine speed at one single RPM point for all road speeds you find that the fastest performance is found at peak power, not peak torque as measured at the flywheel.

 

This is the reason that true racers prefer close ratio boxes and engines that peak high up the rev range. If you cane it and work the cogs it is the fastest way to get around, but it's hard work.

 

What low down torque gives you is a better spread of the power band and accessible performance that means you don't need to cane it at high revs all the time. It's not optimising out and out performance though, even if you believe that it is optimising the driving experience (which I do).

 

If the OP really wants it to get a shove on he should change down before he squirts the throttle, even in a modern turbo diesel.

Just to illustrate the point I took a look at the 150ps TDi curves (I couldn't find the vRS version) and the turbo is fully spun up at around 1700rpm. At this point you have around 50% of full power, which is very decent (in an old fashioned petrol engine with peak torque at 5000rpm and peak power at 5000-6000rpm you'd be lucky to get 20% of peak power at 2000rpm), but the best performance is still going to above 3000rpm.

 

So the car is very useable from 1700rpm if not at it's quickest, but it will be faster if you change down and below 1700rpm it's going to be a little sluggish (OK for cruising but definitely not overtaking).

Although before 1600rpm it was flat as a fart, possibly the easiest car to stall I've ever had

I can't remember the last time I stalled a car until I got this one, at least 4 times in the 2 weeks I've owned it. It's the only car I have ever driven that does not like pulling away in second when it still rolling. Note I'm not new to diesels been driving nothing else for the last 20+ yrs.