My previous car was a Nissan V6. Was little hesitant about 1.4 initially. It only took me few kilometres to realise how good this engine is. Low end torque makes this car a breeze to drive on Highways. Had no problems passing Aussie road trains with three adults on board. Yes, it runs out of puff after 3500 rpm. But one  hardly have to rev the engine during normal driving. My car stays in the torque band most of the time. 7 speed DSG is very efficient in delivering power. 

+1 for the 1.4 I think aside from the 2l TSI in the rs, it's the pick of the engines in the range. Almost diesel like economy, with almost warm hatch performance. Smooth and quiet too.

I get slightly worse economy than Gerry can, however I have ac on all the time (hot and humid where I live) and the car is almost always loaded with 2 adults, 2 kids and half a bit or more of associated parent stuff.

In town driving, I get about 7.2l/100 which keeps improving (car has 1800k on it). On the highway it gets about 6.1 at 100 or 110kph, again that is improving too.

villa1, I'd agree with dempsek

 

I found the 1.6TDi sluggish on the test drive and felt like it would have to be driven hard.

The dealer organised a 2.0TDi test drive and the engine was a lot more responsive across the rev range (not really surprising)

It's performance figures are not far off the VRS (will confirm in Feb)

The dealer said that of the the TDis they sell, only 1 in 20 are the 2.0l

I had a 1.4tsi for 3 weeks while my 2.0tdi was being repaired after someone drove into it, and to be honest it didn't feel like it had the same amount of predictable power under acceleration and although moderately quieter you can sense it is a smaller engine, and although alot of people suggest it is more refined that the 2.0tdi I wouldn't go along with that. Didn't get as many mpg either so I would recommend the 2.0tdi over the 1.4tsi, but thats just personal preference.

The Rapid is not as fuel efficient as Octavias are when you look at the official figures.

You're right there. My Rapid has terrible fuel consumption for such a small engine [emoji19]

Powerful but sh!te economy [emoji107]

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Why the change to petrol from diesel?

 

Back to 1.2 or 1.4.

 

In my view the 1.4 is a great balance between economy, performance and cost. I combined the engine with the DSG box which makes for easy lazy driving with go when I need it.

The 1.4 is an impressive engine, but we don't get the 1.2 Octavia in Aus, so I can't really say if it's worth the cost. What I can say is that I wouldn't hesitate to take the 1.4 over the 1.8 or diesels.

We do in the polo or fabia they both weigh slightly less than the current model Octavia.

We do in the polo or fabia they both weigh slightly less than the current model Octavia.

True, also the Rapid. And the 1.2 seems well-regarded in those applications.