Petrol or Diesel vrs ?

[renton]

In a bit of a quandary now. We have a s max that we are selling to buy something more economical with a manual box.

I was considering a diesel Octavia but now thinking about it I'm not sure if we would do the mileage to justify it.

I've heard the tsi is quite economical on fuel.

Can you tsi owners give me an honest run down on your average mpg and also your mpg on a 70mph motorway run.

Also what sort of miles are you getting to a tank.

I'm doing around 10k a year. Most of it short runs around town with the odd 1000 mile round trip to the in-laws around 3 or 4 times a year.

What do you think ?

[ryan-re]

Before I got my vrs derv I had a civic vti-s which returns similar mpg to the vrs petrol.

 

Since getting the vrs derv my fuel bill per month has halved. Previously I wasnt able to visit friends in crew as it cost £60+ in fuel, now it only costs about £30.

 

Normal use is the misses taking it to work which isnt ideal as the trip is only about 15 minutes but ive seen no bad affects from it.

 

From my experience of owning a vrs derv I think all this "you need to so X miles a year to justify it" is complete bs. As long as you dont only drive in town over short distances and dont go above 40mph there is no reason not to get the diesel

[philbes]

If you are concerned about comparing the total cost of ownership of a CR against a tsi then its the total mileage that you will cover during your ownership that is important not just your annual mileage.  I cover around 10-12K miles a year but keep my cars for at least 5 years (the last for 7 years) so the total cost over 5 years/60K miles is what I calculate.

 

It is also rather nice to be spending less on fuel day to day.  My vRS has averaged 44mpg over 17K miles and 18 months as opposed to my last car, a 2-litre 160hp Civic that averaged 33mpg.  And the vRS is faster when required.

[Cyberstaff]

Tdi more expensive to buy but cheaper to run.

I have a re mapped tdi and a heavy foot. 38-42 on v short trips, 45-50 on steady trips.

Done 200 miles today sat at 90-110 got 43.8mpg!

I live in cornwall so loads of hills aswell.

[littleade]

It does depend on what you want and where your priorities lie. The oiler will do most things the tsi will do, all be it a bit noisier and a bit slower and ultimately the tsi is the better car but the tdi is still no slouch and the touque wave is fun to ride. For most people most of the time the diesel ticks the boxes. The downside is you will have to pay more for a diesel of similar spec, age and milage than the petrol, but the upside is it'll be cheaper to run and will depreciate less. I only do 6k a year and don't pay much attention to the argument about having to do x miles a year to make the diesel pay as most forget depreciation when making the statement, plus the cost newbetween the 2 was £800 IIRC which is far less than some other diesel/petrol differentials I'm averaging around 48 mpg long term in mine, petrol you'd be lucky to get 35, round town you'll probably get somewhere in the 20's. Probably the best idea is to get a decent test drive in both to see which you like and resetting the maxidot so you can see what sort of mpg you get.

[renton]

What about the diesels doing dpf rengerations and egr valves blocking.

[Bullit]

In my petrol Vrs I have never reset the OBC and it shows 36.7mpg over 21k miles.........all with a massive smile.

If mpg is your goal buy the diesel, if it is smiles per gallon buy the petrol. The diesel at 170bhp is a 'routine' car and if that is in any way in your thoughts it will disappoint you quickly when you cannot get someone off your rear bumper on the motorway.

My last 5 cars were diesel, however with the newer turbocharged petrol engines doubt I will ever go back.

[littleade]

Dpf issues in the CR engine is nor a known problem - any problems that come to light are generally sensor related with the odd ecu problem, but both are scarce and I've not seen any problems mentioned with the egr valve on this forum. The pd engine in older vRS' does have dpf issues but it was never designed to have one. As long as you don't just do short urban trips you shouldn't have any problems. Most of my trips are between 5 and 10 miles and I've had no problems in the 2 years I've had mine. The dpf will do an active regen either when enough soot has built up or you've done around 600 miles which ever is sooner, but in 12,500 miles its done at least 20 by now but I've noticed it doing only around 5.

[Gobsheene]

I have a Petrol 2010 Vrs and a 2007 PD170 Leon. 

 

On a long trip they're as economical as each other, around town the Leon edges it. 

 

I prefer the Leon to drive hard however, seems a little more chuckable. 

 

Both seem to be as good as each other really  

[Johnny_BoomBoom]

When I got my petrol vRS it showed 34.5 mpg  from the previous owner, I typically get between 32 and 35 mpg  when I calculate it all out based on brimming the tank. My typical run to work and home is 10 miles each way, about 3/4 of this is 60 mph dual carriageway the rest 30 and 40mph roads. Weirdly I get about 40mpg going to work and about 32mpg coming home (but I guess going to work  is more downhill, coming home is more uphill!)

 

I have managed to get about 40 mpg on long, steady 70mph runs on the motorway. I bought this car 2 year ago after owning a Mondeo ST TDCI for 5 years before that, which seriously made me doubt I'd ever go back to a petrol - I really enjoyed the typical 42 mpg and over 50mpg on Motorway runs. However, not being able to afford the vRS with a  diesel engine and noting a significant drop in my annual mileage due to moving house (from about 20K miles per year to about 13-14K miles per year), I went for the petrol ('cos I really wanted a vRS Octavia....). I do visit the petrol station more regularly now with the petrol Octavia......but totally love the car (oh ,I typically fill up having done 360-380 miles....and there's still some in the tank.....I have managed about 420 before filling before though!)

 

Good luck with choosing which way to go!!

[StreetHawk]

There is no right or wrong answer, it's all down to your own preference. If someone else was paying my fuel bill I'd probably have got the petrol but as I pay it I went for the diesel. I also have quite a lazy driving style so the DSG box and low down power of the diesel suits me.

There are people who say you have to do high miles to make a diesel worthwhile but it's more dependant on the kind of journeys you make as someone said earlier. If you have a DPF equipped car and you're pottering around town constantly is not going to be good for it.

[pipsyp]

If you're changing the S Max mainly as an exercise to save money then do not buy a petrol vRS.

Make no mistake the TSI is a better car than the TDI version but its not an economical car....most people see high 20's/low 30's from theirs unless really nursed around.

A CR 170 is still a 140mph car, mid range go is v strong indeed even standard and in manual form you should see at least mid/high 40 mpg out of one.

Also dont worry about DPF issues, CR versions are generally fine...ive ran two 1st gen CR's for a total of 61k miles and never a problem, not even a regen light.

I even ran a notoriously bad Golf Bluemotion (PD engine with DPF) for 25k miles and never had a problem there either.

Unless you literally just stop start everywhere you shouldnt have DPF issues, to do so is generally either bad luck or some other mechanical issue with the DPf system causing it to fault, not an issue with the DPF itself (pressure sensors do go for example).

[ryan-re]

What about the diesels doing dpf rengerations and egr valves blocking.

 

the dpf issue is mainly on the PD170 as the engine was never designed for the dpf. But it doesnt need much effort to stop it from blocking up.

 

EGR's blocking is an issue on all dervs but can easilly be removed/mapped out.

 

All the common issues like those two can be easilly fixed so they are not really an issue

[neil_f]

I had a 2010 tsi vrs and could get 40mpg when doing a steady 70mph. If you do a lot of town driving expect that to fall to low thirties/high twenties. It's when you start to drive it quickly that the economy really drops. I've now got a new Leon 2.0tdi and get about 150 miles more from a tank (the tank is 5l smaller than the octavia). Do miss the power (mine was remapped) and smoothness of the tsi .

[dakar]

My vrs petrol only does short runs to the shops and back as neither myself or the mrs use the car for work,around town we seem to be at about 25mpg,on a good run i never see better than 32mpg.Tbh i think its a fairly thirsty car and yes i can get it to nearly 40mpg but have to drive like a total fairy and then i am not enjoying the car

[dsj20v]

Also bear in mind diesel is up to 8p a ltr more now than petrol, my tsi vrs does average 32mpg of mixed driving mainly traffic in mornings, cr170 also have had problems with egr coolers and in general the diesels are more expensive to maintain

[Fidget]

....and in general the diesels are more expensive to maintain

I hear this a lot about cars in general but never seen the evidence laid out (genuine question). Presume you're talking about differences to the service schedule in this case? I'm interested in a change to a vRS so this thread, among others, are all good reading

[ryan-re]

I hear this too. So far in 2 years+ of ownership my vrs diesel has been no more expensive to maintain than my old civic vti-s so imo its total garbage

[neil_f]

Service intervals are the same for petrol or diesel (fixed or variable) Diesel will require cam belt change where as tsi has a timing chain which doesn't need changed (and yes I'm aware of the thread on the possible issues with the timing chain so don't need anyone to mention it thanks).

[littleade]

Also bear in mind diesel is up to 8p a ltr more now than petrol, my tsi vrs does average 32mpg of mixed driving mainly traffic in mornings, cr170 also have had problems with egr coolers and in general the diesels are more expensive to maintain

Main dealer prices and intervals are exactly the same for both, but the tsi costs more to tax. I've not seen any threads on here about egr coolers? and my long term average is 48mpg measured brim to brim, so fuel wise I'm saving far more than a cambelt is going to cost me. I also got a free satnav, dab radio, rear parking sensors and full leather with mine and its race blue...the best colour! It cost £800 more than the tsi without the above extras, but the CR will be worth more than that difference over a similar tsi when I trade it in. There is no doubt the tsi is the better engine, but the owners certainly pay for that privelidge. Each to their own vivre le difference and all that!

[Redboy]

.......... There is no doubt the tsi is the better engine, but the owners certainly pay for that privelidge. Each to their own vivre le difference and all that!

Says it all. If you really want petrol and can afford it, get the TSI. If your pocket demands it and you prefer the power delivery then buy the diesel.

[littleade]

I never intended to get a diesel, but the Blackline was such a good deal it was hard to ignore. I actually went into the dealers looking to swap my 1.4tsi for a 1.8, but they'd stopped doing them by then. If they had offered a tsi version of the Blackline I'd have had that, but they didn't and the BL was available straight away. Probably like a few others here now I'm hoping they will do another limited edition with extra goodies thrown in in around 2 years time. If they do that in a petrol I will be down the dealers PDQ to try one out.

[BO60BYS]

I  test drove both and loved the grunt of the diesel, the petrol was that bit quicker top end but low down the diesel seemed to pull more and the power didnt disappear as much when the revs run out. 

 

 

My advice. Test drive them and see for your self. 

[Bullit]

I  test drove both and loved the grunt of the diesel, the petrol was that bit quicker top end but low down the diesel seemed to pull more and the power didnt disappear as much when the revs run out

Are you sure you drove the petrol? The revs don't die and the power doesn't fade, maybe it was broken or something

The Tsi destroys the diesel, In any gear if grunt is the measure. My friend has the diesel and we have driven each other's cars and had some spirited road tests and the Tsi is significantly quicker.

[BO60BYS]

Are you sure you drove the petrol? The revs don't die and the power doesn't fade, maybe it was broken or something

The Tsi destroys the diesel, In any gear if grunt is the measure. My friend has the diesel and we have driven each other's cars and had some spirited road tests and the Tsi is significantly quicker.

 

i did comment that the petrol was a bit more powerful but my personal opinion isn't valid on this fuuckum.