Its a pretty straightforward debate really.

Petrol is cheaper to buy (just) and is a nicer powerchain plain and simple....its a turbo petrol with 36ps more power and stacks of torque (peak not much less than the TDI) after all so will be noticeably quicker.

But....you use that performance and it will realistically be a high 20's/low 30's mpg car which is good for its performance but you cant classify it economical. Its also a bit more expensive to tax and would imagine to insure also. Also you PCP one you'll pay more monthly than a TDI due to poorer residuals.

The TDI is still a relatively quick car with great in gear mid range performance....truthfully on UK roads probably has all the performance you could ever need or sensibly use. It will also return 40+ mpg pretty much however it is driven and will return high 40's/low 50's even in keen mixed driving. Its cheaper to PCP, tax and probably insure too.

But yes....its noisier, perhaps takes a little longer to warm up than a petrol (though hardly, mine is warm within a minute or two of leaving home) and it does not offer the performance of the petrol car and like most things petrol v diesel its a different ownership proposition in many ways. Also yes it has a DPF which is a service item and will likely need replacing sometime after 100k miles but how long it lasts rather depends on how well the car is treated....you could see 200k miles without issue given the tight conditions.

All I will say is that if cost is a main factor in your decision making then frankly the level headed answer is diesel. Its considerably more frugal in real world conditions IMHO the higher fuel costs dont really matter a squat when you'll probably be getting a good 100-150 mile per tank extra range. I'd expect most people on here that went petrol will agree they didnt care much about the extra cost and are prepared to stomach it for the improved performance and reduced noise. TBF if I couls run one as my company xar id probably do the same but with an emissions cap of 120g I cant. Still a TDI will hardly be slumming it.

I'm doing around 25k-30k miles a year, in a TSI VRS DSG,....yep you read right.

 

This is largely down to the mileage rates from work as I get a fair bit more pence per mile on a petrol than I do a diesel. I'm on a cash opt out scheme so Co2 doesn't come in to it.

 

Best I've seen pre my remap on a journey from Bournemouth to Manchester and back was 50.3mpg!! Best post remap has been 47mpg!!

 

Long term average pre remap was 40mpg and now it sits at 37mpg.

 

I do enjoy my car a lot, however I have the benefit of very long journeys to help on the mpg front. When I drive for work, due to being able to make money on my mileage, I drive like Miss Daisy, when I drive in my own time, that's when the fun factor comes in!! I did once have to charge at speed across country from Bournemouth to Bristol and still managed 34mpg.

 

My last car was a bi turbo insignia and the best I ever achieved in that was 53mpg, just 3 more than my TSI, long term average in the siggy also came in at 44mpg.

 

The TSI is a cracking engine with lots of potential, I'm running well over 300bhp and 368flbt now which makes for effortless driving.

 

What did it for me though was the TSI was the engine that gave me the closest match to the diesel like torque shove that I had grown to love in my past diesels with the performance to match my petrol turbo GTI ED30.

 

My only concern would be running a diesel for low mileages, however as others have rightly said, take them both for a spin and reflect!

Edited 4 April, 201511 yr by Telboy5

I think telboyis either an amazingly smooth driver or science needs to study his engine.

I think telboyis either an amazingly smooth driver or science needs to study his engine.

Skoda are welcome to study my car, as long as they replace it with a brand new TSI VRS DSG 4x4, then and only then can they have my car for study duty   

 

In all seriousness, the TSI can be economical, however to do so your weekly mileage and type of journey plays a big factor, with me I do at least 600 miles a week and some journeys over long distances/motorway.

 

I have the DSG and take my foot off the go pedal whilst going down hill in eco mode which does a great job of assisting with the economy. If I do sprint in the car, again once I've finished my run, I'll let the car coast in eco mode which is also aiding in better mpg.

 

I make sure I look ahead by some distance and time my overtakes accordingly, I'm coasting up to roundabouts and also ensuring I'm not sitting too close to other vehicles so that it doesn't become too much of a 'brake accelerate brake accelerate'.

 

Checking the tyre pressures twice a month and generally not driving like so many people of late seem to be driving, like they've stolen their cars!

 

It's hard, don't get me wrong, especially with the extra power I now have, however to me I'd rather enjoy my car when I want to and not turn up to meetings feeling like I need a heart transplant!

Edited 4 April, 201511 yr by Telboy5

I'm a fan of that, plan ahead, no need to rush to a stop,driving. I adopt it myself.  You do it far better then me though clearly.  I must be wasteful somewhere but not sure where.  Do you give lessons? 

I'm a fan of that, plan ahead, no need to rush to a stop,driving. I adopt it myself.  You do it far better then me though clearly.  I must be wasteful somewhere but not sure where.  Do you give lessons? 

Giving lessons eh,...hmmm could help me save towards the VRS R if ever that gets built!

 

As mentioned, really does help with the distances I'm doing.

 

I also believe the DSG helps in some respects, especially on the motorway when you can just lift off your foot and let the car coast down the long slow declines in the road.

 

Like you've said, it must be something to do with the engine as even when I've gone sprinting across country at speed, it still achieves over 33mpg!

 

Before anyone asks, my calculations were based on brim to brim until I realised that my trip computer was never more than 0.75mpg out over 10k miles so I stopped doing brim to brim calcs,...

 

Friend of mine has the GTI mk7 and does same sort of distances to me and again is able to achieve long term averages of 40mpg which isn't bad for a car with this sort of performance.

You definitely achieve enviable figures. 2/3rds of my miles are long journey motorway trips.  The rest is short town journeys. Around town I am miss daisy tutting at the multitudes that accelerate hard even when red lights or stationary vehicles are just a short distance ahead. I feel smug as I coast gently up behind and admire the computer reading about  31ish mpg on average even with central London traffic.  On the motorway, where busy I cruise at same sort of speed as every one, 70, maybe 75 in patches. Even there I notice how many drivers aren't watching far ahead and brake as traffic slows where often I lift off in advance and don't need to brake or not much at least.  Yesterday the rain was heavy so like most I slowed, 60 in patches, 65 or 70 depending on how heavy the rain.  I was faster than lorries and maybe 40% of cars, the other half of the traffic was just slightly faster then me. I do often drive late at night when they motorway is empty. Then I'll go quicker. 80 mainly short stretches at 85. They do knock consumption figures a bit.  Also a common journey sees me on a roads around Crewe, nantwich and on to Chester, I'll give it beans away from round about and that has a noticeable effect on consumption, but I do lift off long before the next one and coast, so braking is light usually.

I've achieved 400+ miles on a tank 3 to 5 times, often get fill tofill mpg of 38 or 39+.  I have yet to manage 40+ though.  I hope I will, I expect I will, as the weather warms up ( my closest was last September iirc, and the engine has done 2 or 3 k more now)

I only managed 35 mpg today in my vrs TSI DSG on a 100 mile journey. That was taking it easy in Eco mode as Telboy describes...

Mind you I've only got 600 miles on the clock so it's still running in.

Still not sure I could match Telboy's mpg though!!

I didnt buy mine to worry too much about mpg Tried Eco mode and it made the throttle as responsive as the wifes Prius, wont bother with that again

OK I may manage the magic 40+ mpg.   340 miles in to a tank 40.5 on the maxidot and 30_miles of M1 to do...but then 16 miles straight through London... Hmmm

I often just manage to hit 40mpg on my way to work but the drive home offsets this (14 miles each ways) and my average is 35mpg which I'm still more than happy with

Woo who!  387 miles, 40.4mpg  :clap:it may drop a little before I pull up to the  nearest pump   tomorrow but I should stay over the magic 40. Ifelike i deserve a medal.  The swmbo speed limiter was in play for all the miles....that probably helped...no..no..that DID help.

Anyway, some experimenting. Cruise at 50 on the M1, hold instantaneous 50 to 51mpg (me, swmbo and boot full Of bags).  Cruising at 70 and its down to 44 to 45 mpg.

BTW, I almost only ever use 97+ Ron and primarily shell v power nitro.

In my TDI vrs i manage to get a average fuel consume of 52mpg from I get the car from the dealer, I have driven about 4000km in 3 weeks. I have change to summer tyres now and I gone change the tyres because the fuel consum have change drastic to a much lower mpg. The car came wit Pirelli Pzero summer tyres, I gone change to Nokian haka black because they have class C and the Pirelli have class F in rolling resistance, the tyre size is 225-35-19.

I went from a mk2 tsi fl octavia to a 184 diesel Leon St. Cover about 25k miles per year of which I have to pay for it all myself which is why I changed to the "boring" fuel! Get 150 miles more from a tank in the Leon (bear in mind it's 5l smaller than the mk2 octavia so more like 200miles more when comparing comparable tank size ). If driven gently the petrol would get closer to the diesel but the biggest difference I notice is when cruising at higher speeds or using all the performance the gap widens with the diesel barely dropping economy. Yes the petrol is quicker, handles better, quieter and more enjoyable to thrash. If doing a low mileage definitely go for the petrol!

There's only a 4% difference in cost between the two fuels

At my local, which is pretty cheap for the area, the Shell Petrol VPower is £1.199 a litre, and the Diesel VPower is £1.279 - that makes the diesel 6.67% more than the petrol, or the petrol 6.25% less than the diesel.

 

 

In all seriousness, the TSI can be economical, however to do so your weekly mileage and type of journey plays a big factor, with me I do at least 600 miles a week and some journeys over long distances/motorway.

 

I have the DSG and take my foot off the go pedal whilst going down hill in eco mode which does a great job of assisting with the economy. If I do sprint in the car, again once I've finished my run, I'll let the car coast in eco mode which is also aiding in better mpg.

 

I make sure I look ahead by some distance and time my overtakes accordingly, I'm coasting up to roundabouts and also ensuring I'm not sitting too close to other vehicles so that it doesn't become too much of a 'brake accelerate brake accelerate'.

 

Checking the tyre pressures twice a month and generally not driving like so many people of late seem to be driving, like they've stolen their cars!

 

It's hard, don't get me wrong, especially with the extra power I now have, however to me I'd rather enjoy my car when I want to and not turn up to meetings feeling like I need a heart transplant!

I've got a manual petrol and am averaging a solid 35mpg over 10k, and most of my stuff is 10-15 mile journeys; of late I've also had to do a lot more urban stuff, or I suspect I'd be up around 36 mpg. I'm lucky in that my work times mean that I do tend to miss the worst of the rush hours, but as you say, a bit of forward thinking and watching can save a couple of miles a gallon. There are several stretches on my usual journey where with the level of traffic there are roundabouts that will require significant slowing or even complete stopping. The number of people who drive up to them at 40 or 50 then brake relatively heavily (even though you can see that with 3 or 4 cars stationary at the roundabout ahead of you, you're never going to have a clear run on to it. I just take my foot off the gas a lot sooner and coast down to the queue and have to brake much less, if at all. There's still a queue to get on the roundabout, so clearly I haven't lost any time, but I've saved fuel - and also saved on my brake wear as well.

I did know an advanced driver once who said that if you watched ahead and thought, you almost barely need brakes. OK, that was in times when roads were a lot less congested, and you didn't necessarily have to worry so much about queues of cars behind you, but it's still an interesting exercise to plan/predict your speed so you don't have to use your brakes as much. (and yes, I'll concede that sort of approach is pretty much a non-starter in rush hour traffic.)

Luckily nobody's told Mr Cameron yet that the diesel vrs has terrible mpg compared with Skoda's claims. Just got my tax reminder through - £30! Crazy.

Luckily nobody's told Mr Cameron yet that the diesel vrs has terrible mpg compared with Skoda's claims. Just got my tax reminder through - £30! Crazy.

 

Fuel economy is a calculated on a standard cycle, its the same for all manufacturers across Europe so you will find the a similar difference elsewhere.

A standard cycle is never going to be good for everyone.

 

What is usually most significant for fuel economy in a car like the vRS is the pedal map is very agressive (to give you the performance feel.)

This will usually lead most people to drive much harder than they would have done previously resulting in decreasing fuel economy figures.

 

Most people wont buy a vRS if they are overly concerned with fuel economy but figures close to the quoted fuel economy are definately possible.

 

 

 

For the OP, this might be useful for some impartial figures/costs of ownership:

http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/reviews/skoda/octavia/vrs/costs/

I'm sure WhatCar & AutoCar have similar information on their site.

With the warmer weather this week i've been seeing 55mpg+, and thats keeping up with other traffic too.

Thank you for all the information, i am pointing towards the petrol DSG given my miles per week and the overall ' fun ' factory which as others have said is one of the reasons for a VRS purchase in the first place.

You definitely achieve enviable figures. 2/3rds of my miles are long journey motorway trips.  The rest is short town journeys. Around town I am miss daisy tutting at the multitudes that accelerate hard even when red lights or stationary vehicles are just a short distance ahead. I feel smug as I coast gently up behind and admire the computer reading about  31ish mpg on average even with central London traffic.  On the motorway, where busy I cruise at same sort of speed as every one, 70, maybe 75 in patches. Even there I notice how many drivers aren't watching far ahead and brake as traffic slows where often I lift off in advance and don't need to brake or not much at least.  Yesterday the rain was heavy so like most I slowed, 60 in patches, 65 or 70 depending on how heavy the rain.  I was faster than lorries and maybe 40% of cars, the other half of the traffic was just slightly faster then me. I do often drive late at night when they motorway is empty. Then I'll go quicker. 80 mainly short stretches at 85. They do knock consumption figures a bit.  Also a common journey sees me on a roads around Crewe, nantwich and on to Chester, I'll give it beans away from round about and that has a noticeable effect on consumption, but I do lift off long before the next one and coast, so braking is light usually.

I've achieved 400+ miles on a tank 3 to 5 times, often get fill tofill mpg of 38 or 39+.  I have yet to manage 40+ though.  I hope I will, I expect I will, as the weather warms up ( my closest was last September iirc, and the engine has done 2 or 3 k more now)

 

Why have a vRS and then drive like an eco warrior?

I managed 42mpg on a 40 mile journey yesterday (Vrs TSI DSG), that's with only 1000 miles on the clock so not really loosened up yet I guess.

Had to drive like miss daisy to achieve that though!! Normally get low thirties with a mixture of careful and spirited driving. Not too bad as most days I only drive around 7 miles each way to work.

Edited 16 April, 201511 yr by Brooksuk

Why have a vRS and then drive like an eco warrior?

Money, my SWMBO is an accountant and like most eco warriors know only "the cost of everything and the value of nothing"

 

Yes, I HAVE drive to get places but, I LIKE driving with a liberal use of the loud pedal.

 

Nuff said ?

I ignore MPG figures (because it bores me to work it out, and the dash reading is only approximation).

 

Instead, I look at how many miles I get out of a tank... I regularly hit 450 miles from a full tank (Mainly motorway).

One related thing is that my speedo is very accurate in my vrs at 70mph its 2 mph different from gps, my Superb was at least 5mph often more, after all if your speedometer is 10% out so is your mpg readings