Hi guys,

 

Looking for a little advice please!!  I currently have a 2007 Fabia Estate 1.9 TDI PD.  I'm on the verge of replacing it with a 2014 1.6 TDI CR Octavia Elegance  (promised I'd tell the dealer tomorrow whether I was buying it or not!! ), BUT, tonight I have been reading a few threads about these DPF filters and I am now quite concerned that I'm about to buy the wrong engine for my useage.

 

I recently changed my work location and as a result my daily commute has changed from a 20 minute  blast up the dual carriageway to a 15 minute commute through the town.

 

This includes a 2 minute journey through town, (traffic moving smothly), 10 minutes up a A Road, and then another few minutes through another small town to work.  In the mornings I beat the rush hour traffic as I go in to work early.  That said,  it's pretty stop start in the evenings due to higher volumes for traffic.  Usually takes me 20 - 25 mins to get home as apposed to the 15 mins it takes to get to work in the morning. 

 

I often don't even use the car at the weekends, and even then it's just driving into town for the weekly shop, or a short blast up the dual carriage way for 5 - 10 mins to go to shops a little further away.

 

 

With this kind of driving, an I likely to run into issues with the DPF filter getting clogged up?  I do have a bit of a lead foot when I get an open road, but that isn't often possible. My daily work commute is regulary restricted by "sunday drivers" with all the time in the world it seems LOL!!

 

So, am I buying the right car with the wrong engine?  Should I buy the 140 PS 1.4 TSI instead?  Am I likely to see some pretty poor MPG figures with the 1.6 TDI, compared to my 1.9 PD TDI I have just now?

 

Any advice would be most gratefully received!!

 

Thanks!!

Edited 10 April, 201511 yr by TheTokRa

Sort of borderline case really. The DPF system on the Octavia is one of the best, with three monitoring systems. Exhaust temp, exhaust pressure pre and post DPF, plus a passive regen every 460 miles to 600 miles depending on driving style. All things considered though I would go for the petrol engine in your case.

If you are scarred of DPF, buy the petroI, it wont use much more fuel than the diesel equivalent. 1.2 TSI should suffice.

Thanks for your replys guys!!  I took a new 2015  Fabia out for a test drive with the 1.2 TSI engine in it. (90 ps I think)   It's fine around town ,but when you put your foot down on the Motorway at 60 MPH, pretty much nothing happens, apart from more noise LOL!!  I've been having a look for a Octavia  1.4 140 PS TSI Elegance, but they seem to be VERY hard to find :|

Hi I've had my 1.6 oct since June last year and I do mainly short journeys and a couple of 60 mile round trips a month and so far had no problems with the DPF although have had a number of passive regenerations. Just remember if when you get out of the car you smell a burning smell means you should take the car for a run when you can. I had a Fabian 1.6 diesel and had nothing but problems with the DPF.

Probably a petrol would make more sense in terms of running costs based on your low mileage.

The 1.4 TSI is a great engine with many happy customers on these forums.

 

DPF technology has greatly improved & I think you will probably be fine with the 1.6 diesel you just wont see the real benefit of having a diesel.

I can't remember any threads on the Mk3 forum regarding short mileage & clogged DPFs.

Contrary to what people say you don't need to make any special driving conditions (unless the DPF warning light comes on).

Edited 10 April, 201511 yr by Gabbo

Its a tough decision.

Both 1.2 and 1.4 TSi engines are excellent and due to their turbocharged nature offer some of the low to mid range grunt you'd normally associate with a diesel. They are rather frugal too but only if you drive them respectfully.

If you extract the 105/140 horses from them most of the time and not just some id the time then the fuel economy wont be great. Even driven hard the diesels still return v respectable economy.

They are generally cheaper to buy than the diesel equivalents but then do also depreciate to a greater degree, its all rather academic but I feel another good point.

Overall running costs on a diesel are likely to be lower...zero road tax, perhaps slightly cheaper insurance cover and whilst you pay a few more pence per litre for diesel in the UK, I dont doubt the extra range you'll get per tank in a diesel makes up for much if not all of that.

IMHO the petrols are the nicer powerplants but certainly in my situation the diesel made more sense (more expensive car, cheaper to PCP, lower running costs...but i am doing alot of miles). I did also buy the 2.0 150 which is arguably a little more muscular than the 1.4 and makes for a better motorway car again just my opinion. The 1.6 would better the 1.2 in this regard too.

The 1.4TSI Elegance is a nice car and lots of owners get great mpg, I'm not one of them as I tend to use the LOUD pedal too often but, it'll warm up quicker than the diesel and if driven with respect the fuel figures will impress. Much more refined than the diesel too.

Thanks guys, that's good info to know!! :sun: ,  My Fabia Estate is in group 12 for insurance, the 1.6 TDI Octavia is group 14, so not much of a jump, but I see the 1.4 TSI is group 17.  Would I see much of a jump in insurance cost from the 1.6 tdi to the 1.4 tsi?  I live in a good area, not much car crime.  Protected no claims bonus.

 

Actually, that's another thing.  I'm currently living in central,Scotland.  It's colder and damper here so the engine takes longer to warm up, in the winter I would imaginge that the engine will only just me up to temp by the time I get to work. Surely that would mean the the diesels DPF system is going to struggle more (time wise) with completing an active regen?

 

It seems that there a number of positives and negatives with either engine, swings and roundabouts!!  I'm really struggling to find a 1.4 TSI 140 PS engine up here is Scotland, an elegance spec one that is. want the nat nav etc.

Edited 10 April, 201511 yr by TheTokRa

Sorry I am probably coming across a little pro-diesel (Im actually not) but warm up time on the new EA211 CR is very petrol like. From start up warm air is coming through the vents within a minute or two, is alot faster than my previous MK2 vRS CR.

Its a side effect of the much better DPF implementation on the newer motor.

As said already the DPF will not be journey sensitive in the way they were with the older implementations, but yes if you never warm the car through and keep interupting passive and active DPF cycles (which is actually quite difficult to do anyway) then I suppose you could have a problem.

way less sensitive than how they are typically stereotyped though.

Sorry I am probably coming across a little pro-diesel (Im actually not) but warm up time on the new EA211 CR is very petrol like. From start up warm air is coming through the vents within a minute or two, is alot faster than my previous MK2 vRS CR.

 

+1

Its also conciderably faster to blow hot air than my previous Mondeo diesel.

Know one can say you will not have DPF issues or you will be fine. You do have to bare in mind that a DPF is an serviceable item and at some stage will get full and need replacing. I used to drive a lot of 5 to 10 mile journeys with a long run at the weekend had issues with a DPF in my old 1.2 and none in my 1.6TDI. I would try and see if you can get a test drive in a 1.4 it's completely different to the 1.2s performance.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Forgot to say this the 1.4's increased insurance group is probably because the 1.6TDI is very slow compared to the 1.4.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Just as a side note:

- EA211 is the petrol engine

- EA288 is the diesel version.

If you only do a 15-minute commute to work and don't use it at weekends, why buy a car at all? :wonder:

Do a lot of short journeys in mine where the engine doesn't get to normal running temperature, never had the warning light come on yet for a 70% clogged dpf, a regeneration every now and again, but getting less and less as the car has got older, approaching 17 months old.

If you do short journeys and 10K or less miles per year then an efficient petrol will likely be the better option. You'll get a smoother, nippier, quieter, faster to warm up,  lighter (slightly less nose heavy) car for a small penalty at the pumps.

 

The 1.4TSI engine is an excellent unit. I had one when my VRS was having a fault fixed and it did not feel slow in any way.

Edited 10 April, 201511 yr by Orville

Hey guys,

 

Again, thanks for all your comments, much appreciated!!

 

I phoned the dealer and had a chat with the sales guy about the issues I've been reading about with DPF.   He told me that the issues most people have had with the DPF filters getting clogged up are more to do with the design and implimentation on the older engines, and that I might see the DPF light come on from time to time, but just to give it a good run as per the instructions in the manual and that should clear the issue.

 

  Having spent several hours trawling through threads about DPF late last night, I couldn't find any threads on 2013 - 2014 Octavias with the 1.6 TDI CR engine fitted (EA288)

 

I've taken the plunge and put a deposit on it.  Eeeeekkkk!!  Fingers crossed it will be O.K. !!

 

 

Thanks again for all your comments guys!!

Edited 10 April, 201511 yr by TheTokRa

Hey guys,

Again, thanks for all your comments, much appreciated!!

I phoned the dealer and had a chat with the sales guy about the issues I've been reading about with DPF. He told me that the issues most people have had with the DPF filters getting clogged up are more to do with the design and implimentation on the older engines, and that I might see the DPF light come on from time to time, but just to give it a good run as per the instructions in the manual and that should clear the issue.

Having spent several hours trawling through threads about DPF late last night, I couldn't find any threads on 2013 - 2014 Octavias with the 1.6 TDI CR engine fitted (EA288)

I've taken the plunge and put a deposit on it. Eeeeekkkk!! Fingers crossed it will be O.K. !!

Thanks again for all your comments guys!!

I am sure it will be absolutely fine, is a good engine and Elegance spec is nice too.

Dont worry about the DPF, there is truth to the fact it is a service item and will fail in time (just like a clutch or any other mechanical item can) but they are generally good for 100k+ and can go on far longer....would be plain bad luck if you ran into serious issues.

Just as a side note:

- EA211 is the petrol engine

- EA288 is the diesel version.

Cheers for correcting Genoa thats exactly what I meant :-)

I've only once noticed a regen happening and it took about 5 mins in second gear at 30 to heat it up enough to complete. I think you'll be fine, my journey to work with the 2.0CR is around half an hour thorough town, start stop. Around 6 miles.

 

Now, my mum's Golf is 5 years old (1.4CR), she does mostly short journeys in town so the engine doesn't heat up at all, she doesn't accelerate hard down slip roads etc - she had the light come on, she didn't push it, it went into limp mode. The dealers put it into a different mode and ran it, which cleared it. approx £170 for the job.

 

She doesn't drive it thinking about the DPF at all, its an older DPF design than is in the octavia (i assume), she's had one problem which £170 sorted (£34 a year?) (according to her mechanic (i spoke to him) they never need to go beyond what they did to sort it)

 

In summary - don't worry about it - unless anyone else has a worse example of a diesel owner than my mum and had the car die or cost a fortune to fix?

I am sure it will be absolutely fine, is a good engine and Elegance spec is nice too.

Dont worry about the DPF, there is truth to the fact it is a service item and will fail in time (just like a clutch or any other mechanical item can) but they are generally good for 100k+ and can go on far longer....would be plain bad luck if you ran into serious issues.

 

Ditto for above.

I kind of wish I'd bought a petrol as we have ended up doing more shorter trips in it then what we had in mind when we bought it (1.6TDI Elegance). But actually it is fine. Has the odd regen continue on the drive after getting home sometimes after I have had a run in it. Returning a healthy 55mpg after almost 9K. Still zero to tax, £150 to insure etc.

You'll be fine.

Now, my mum's Golf is 5 years old (1.4CR), she does mostly short journeys in town so the engine doesn't heat up at all, she doesn't accelerate hard down slip roads etc - she had the light come on, she didn't push it, it went into limp mode. The dealers put it into a different mode and ran it, which cleared it. approx £170 for the job.

 

Yep 5 years ago the engines were in a different ball game. The newer generation of engines are much more capable. Not that they're guaranteed not to suffer, but there is technology built into them to help them cope.

Someone once suggested that, if you want reliability above all else, look what cars the local taxi firms use. In Barnsley, there seems to be a preponderance of diesel Octavias. If anyone is going to have DPF issues from short, low speed runs, taxis would probably be the number 1 candidates, so they don't seem to see it as an issue. Following on from a separate forum thread re super v ordinary fuels, I use Shell v-power nitro+ diesel, because of its lack of sulphur (which causes most of the muck) and, when in France, LeClerc's supermarket diesel is sulphur-free and cheap. I reckon the additional cost (£50/year) is negligible compared with the costs of fettling a bunged-up engine.

I've only once noticed a regen happening and it took about 5 mins in second gear at 30 to heat it up enough to complete. I think you'll be fine, my journey to work with the 2.0CR is around half an hour thorough town, start stop. Around 6 miles.

I've had the 2.0 TDI for 3 weeks now and have driven about 1200 km. I've noticed it doing region about 4 times now, had to interrupt it on two occasions, but completed the other two by dropping to sport mode for a few minutes. It's not a huge problem, but it's something you might want to be mindful about if you, like me, prefer not to let it get to the point the light turns on.