Hi, needing some light shed please. I have been reading with interest of the failing petrol VRS engine which I believe is a TFSI.

Which engine would have been fitted to a pre FL 08 plate VRS, same engine? Failures seem to be FL cars? Is the later a stronger engine, how is reliability with routine servicing?

The face-lift is fitted with the TSI and is chain driven, the pre face-lift's all had TFSI's which are belt driven, except the Ltd Editions which had the TSI unit. Its the later TSI engine which have had the failures. The TSI has a better fuel pump if you're planning big mods, is more fuel efficient and therefore is in a cheaper tax bracket.

The TFSI engine is fitted to the pre FL cars built until 2008 ish & is fitted with a timing belt,its a great engine that can use a bit of oil in some case's (mine uses approx 1litre per 10k). The facelift cars & the petrol limited edition (2009 ish)  are fitted with the TSI engine which there has been some case's of the timing chain tensioner failing.