Hi all,

 

Im looking at changing my car and have seen a few 2l diesel Octavia VRS's that have caught my eye, the only issue is my budget is tight, and only flagging up ones with around 100,000+ miles on the clock. Can anyone tell me if this would be an issue? and what to look out for? I've also seen a few people mention the DPF being a bit off a big issue on these, is this true or do a few good blast and system cleaning additives keep it under check?

 

Cheers

Chris

It depends which engine you are looking at, the older PD170 is notoriously bad with regards to it's DPF.

 

The later CR170 engine is much, much improved.

 

The PD170 was only in the pre-facelift vRS (2006 to 2009), although there are some late 2008 / 2009 pre-FL vRS's with the new CR170 engine fitted floating around.

 

 

FL (top) and Pre-FL (bottom)...

 

 

Welcome to Briskoda by the way  :sun:

Edited 14 April, 201511 yr by silver1011

Useful pics above, I will add the following:-

 

I have had both engines  PD in my Fabia vRS, & the CR in my FL Octy vRS so points to note

 

PD

As long as you do not do only short journeys then the DPF should not be an issue as it will have time to complete its Regen, plenty of M/Way & Dual carriageway miles are best for this engine.

The torque in this engine is lots better than the newer CR & if you like a nudge in the back when the turbo kicks in around 1800 RPM then you will be a happy person.

 

CR

This engine is smoother & quieter, although not necessarily more economical.

Smooth delivery does not give you that shove in the back along with the sense of rapid progress.

Looking at the figures in brochures the torque in this engine was disappointing when compared to the PD130 i had in my fabia vRS.

 

Like all diesel engines, if you look after them then you will get some really decent miles out of them, alongside the usual lookout for any 2nd hand car, these MUST have had cam belt change between 60 -80K miles ( some dealers would change the water pump as well at the time & this runs the cost close to £500, prob cheaper from an indie garage).

Make sure you get evidence of belt change, and FSH should come with these. Any car you are considering that is at around 120 - 160k miles then you will need to factor in cam belt change cost in the near future.

 

If you are doing short journeys and less than 16K miles a year, then do not buy a diesel, i personally have found it is not an economical way to run a car, & the risk of having to do 30 mile runs at 3000+ RPM so you can complete a DPF regen, or even have a forced regen at a dealers does not help the wallet or frustrations 

 

Welcome & I hope you find what you want.

I'd agree with the above - although it does pain me being an Evertonian!!

 

Lots of people will probably have had their DPF removed on the PD engines, so you dont need worry quite so much about that, although if you are planning on doing lots of small journeys then diesel might not be the right option, i do wonder if i'd do the same again sometimes.

 

Wasn't sure to mention this or not....do a quick search for "PD stutter" on the forums.

I'm not really sure if anyone's gotten to the bottom of this, or how real a problem it is specific to PD engines.

Mine does suffer from this intermittently, hence the reason for not being sure whether or not to post, not sure how easy it'd be to pick up on a test drive.

I've read it being described differently, but my experience is a pretty noticeable stutter at about 1800rpm when acclerating hard in 3rd say, or accelerating slowly through the same range in higher gears.

 

The other thing to look for in the service history is related to the ABS/ESP system.

Seem that this gets gunged up nicely and needs replacing, happily because its such a common problem a repair kit has been marketed bringing down cost to about £150-£200. So, not a disaster if it hasnt been done, but id expect it to need doing.

 

Massive recall for injectors on the PDs - dont be alarmed by this in service history.

Otherwise if everything else is equal try to get one with a maxidot display, perhaps columbus head unit.

 

But, do it, get one.

I've just bought one less than a fortnight ago. I don't do 16k per year so i am a little worried regarding dpf problems its already regen'd once. I think i would consider having it removed if it failed but that would also need a remap. Luckily i enjoy driving it so much it's a good excuse to take it for a spin!!

I do know what you mean regarding mileage though, trying to find one with less than 100k is difficult. Luckily mine came up for sale just 2 miles away and came with only 69k on the clock a fsh cambelt done and injector recall carried out. It even had a new abs unit fitted last year. I havnt regretted it yet and i sold my mk1 vrs which i loved to buy it.

Go for it!!

One thing people constantly forget is its not the distance you drive, its the kind of driving. If you do 20k of town driving it wont be happy, it will be happy of 10k or less of motorway driving. This advice is given all the time and it totally wrong. 

 

You can drive sub 16k and be perfectly find with a diesel. I bought my vrs derv on 67k, now on 97k in 2 1/2 years. The maintenance costs and general running costs are both lower than my old civic vti-s was.

 

I'm doing near on double the miles to a tank on the same cost of fuel, tyres cost the same and last just as long, servicing costs the same (i do it every 10k), tax is about £30 more, insurance is less,  So I fail to see why people say under x miles and a diesel is wrong. 

Is there any difference regarding diesel? I just filled up at tesco but wondered if the car(and dpf) might benefit from maybe shell super duper diesel or is that just a myth?

Well fate bit me on the arse the other night after saying that I'd not had the DPF light come on in 3 years of ownership and only done 15,000 in those 3 years. Mostly short journeys too. Light took less than 5 minutes to put out anyway,with a nice blast out along a coastal road. I only use supermarket fuel but I always put 50ml of millers ecomax in as well,just to keep things clean. I service it every year too.

 

I wouldn't be in too much of a rush to get the DPF chopped out either.It's now part of the MOT (OK only visual check at the moment) and the rules/checks for it will only get more and more stringent.

Ive never seen any difference bar it being more expensive to fill up.

There must be some tests being done with results to show if it will make any difference

Ive never seen any difference bar it being more expensive to fill up.

There must be some tests being done with results to show if it will make any difference

I never had any issues with tesco fuel on my old car so i will carry on using it.

133k miles on supermarket diesel here with no issues, dpf has not yet caused a problem.

I used  supermarket derv for 50k miles but switched to Vpower after car developed very intermittant hesitation on light acceleration , i did notice a difference after a few tankfulls  , car felt smoother and more urgent in response also got slightly better fuel consumption , done last 40K on Vpower only never had hesitation problems again .

 

As to DPF problems , my car does a lot of short runs 2-3 miles during the week and a blast up the motorway to the coast at weekends with no problems , car is running Shark remap and that was done at 20k .

One thing people constantly forget is its not the distance you drive, its the kind of driving. If you do 20k of town driving it wont be happy, it will be happy of 10k or less of motorway driving. This advice is given all the time and it totally wrong.

You can drive sub 16k and be perfectly find with a diesel. I bought my vrs derv on 67k, now on 97k in 2 1/2 years. The maintenance costs and general running costs are both lower than my old civic vti-s was.

I'm doing near on double the miles to a tank on the same cost of fuel, tyres cost the same and last just as long, servicing costs the same (i do it every 10k), tax is about £30 more, insurance is less, So I fail to see why people say under x miles and a diesel is wrong.

I think the reason here is that people who cover a low annual mileage generally cover short distances which isn't ideal for DPF equipped cars.

I would imagine those who spend most of their time at higher speeds and on faster roads will be higher mileage drivers.

This is the basis behind recommending a certain fuel type for a given annual mileage.

It isn't always black and white but most of the time the recommendations are valid.

The ratio between the higher purchase price of a diesel engined car and the higher cost of the fuel itself needs to balanced against the ability to recoup that extra up front outlay through the increased fuel efficiency. The higher the mileage the quicker the cost is recouped.

I'd therefore support the general advice of sitting down and doing your sums before deciding on petrol versus diesel.

I Only do around 10k a year of mixed driving, But I bought a diesel because I prefer the way they drive ( low down Torque ) And better in my view as a Tow car because of this ( If you Need to )

 

As people here have said, look after your diesel with regular oil + filter changes, Get cam belt & water pump done in good time, and once warmed up of course, Don't be shy of the loud pedal now and again! :p

 

Happy PD Owner ( Non-DPF ) :peek:

I bought a 57 octavia vrs 10 months ago with some real trepidation because of the PD engine scare stories and considered selling it soon after. But I had a DPF delete and remap done for £350.00. The car is an amazing family car, and very quick for dad alone journeys! Plus side to DPF delete is over 40 MPG around town and 55 plus on motorway journeys. The negative side (if you have a conscience?) is the fumes that come out the back smells like the back of a 70s bus or a dump truck! Mine had over 100,000 but full skoda service history. 

Its a real shame that a single component can ruin the reputation of a car. I would love to try a PD170 without its DPF.

All the DPF on my vRS was doing was spoiling an otherwise great car.

If the dpf does cause issues i would consider removing it but after doing some net research I'm still confused about these new laws for m.o.t pass. Does anyone know how strict they are about it?

Its a real shame that a single component can ruin the reputation of a car. I would love to try a PD170 without its DPF.

All the DPF on my vRS was doing was spoiling an otherwise great car.

What issues were you having with yours buddy if you don't mind me asking?

Not sure if you've read much on the injector recall but there were quite a few early cases of cars suffering lots of problems immediately afterwards, mine was one of them.

 

Poor cold starting, random stalling, increased oil consumption, reduced fuel economy, regular DPF lights, rough idle, three turbo failures and a dyeing DPF.

 

Chopped it in as a part-ex whilst it was still running!

 

Great car let down by... well I'm not sure what the actual cause was in the end.

 

 

I currently own a CR170 VRS and having driven many a PD I can safely say that the common rail is the much superior engine.

People talk about better torque with the PD.

The torque does peak around 2K when you get that shove in the back but it tails off dramatically afterwards. It's a bit like the old Honda VTEC where the power nose dived before the VTEC crossover to give the illusion of a massive surge of power. The newer iVTECs then came along and the crossover was barely noticeable but they were in fact faster.

The common rail has a nice turbo petrol-esque power delivery with power available right the way through the rev range plus it's so much smoother and quieter than the rather agricultural rattle box PD. As for looking after the fuel system, use BP ultimate diesel, throw a bottle of good fuel system cleaner in every few months, warm the car up gradually on every run, get a period of sustained highish revs at some point and stay off boost to allow the turbo to cool for the last minute or so.

I've been doing that for years and have never had a single injector / DPF / EGR problem with any of my diesel cars.

Edited 23 May, 201511 yr by gcon45

Not sure if you've read much on the injector recall but there were quite a few early cases of cars suffering lots of problems immediately afterwards, mine was one of them.

Poor cold starting, random stalling, increased oil consumption, reduced fuel economy, regular DPF lights, rough idle, three turbo failures and a dyeing DPF.

Chopped it in as a part-ex whilst it was still running!

Great car let down by... well I'm not sure what the actual cause was in the end.

It's exactly like mine only mine is 56. I'm not new to Skoda ownership having just sold my mk1 vrs after 8 years but being a Briskoda member i was aware of the injector problems. Then when this work started being done free by Skoda it no longer was the major issue that it was. In fact it was one of the first questions i asked the previous owner when i viewed the car. However, after two weeks owning the car and moving to the mk2 section I've found out about related issues post injector problems that i didn't know before. It's all a little worrying tbh i did love my mk1 and hesitated for over a year before making my decision to sell it. Unfortunately my budget didn't stretch to a later cr so pd it was but for now i love driving the car not regretting buying it as yet. The one downside is the wife loves driving it too and trying to get the keys off her is proving tricky! A couple of times on first start its cut out but started next go so i can live with this. Fuel consumption having come from a 1.8t petrol seems excellent although compared to other pd diesels it might not be. Power wise it doesn't feel quite as quick as my old one but it is a nice low down shove. At the moment I'm concerned regarding the very slight police siren whistle the car has. Some have mentioned this here. I thought they all did this so it didn't cause me any worry on the test drive. It's a real shame you suffered so many issues with your old vrs because like you've mentioned before i do believe theyre a very good car probably let down by the fact Skoda saddled the engine with a dpf that it was never designed to have. I would just like to add though as a bit of balance, my son is a trainee mechanic and he tells me quite often about Tiguans and Passats that are less than 3 years old coming into his garage with loads of engine faults. Often dpf related so the issues are still there.

I'm convinced the DPF was the route all of evil on my car, the original owner covered low mileage which I think got the DPF off to bad start in life. Despite me covering 30K a year it wasn't enough to save it.

It's early demise coincided with the injector change so my car spent a lot of time in the garage with Skoda scratching their heads.

I appreciate the DPF removal discussions are often divided (and for good reason) but if I had my time again I'd be straight down to Shark for it to be gutted and a stage 0 map.

For the 1 day out of 3 my DPF behaved the PD170 vRS was an absolute peach!

I'm convinced the DPF was the route all of evil on my car, the original owner covered low mileage which I think got the DPF off to bad start in life. Despite me covering 30K a year it wasn't enough to save it.

It's early demise coincided with the injector change so my car spent a lot of time in the garage with Skoda scratching their heads.

I appreciate the DPF removal discussions are often divided (and for good reason) but if I had my time again I'd be straight down to Shark for it to be gutted and a stage 0 map.

For the 1 day out of 3 my DPF behaved the PD170 vRS was an absolute peach!

They are a lovely thing it does sound like you've just been unlucky with yours. As for dpf removal it wouldn't be an issue for me either having it removed. If it passes an m.o.t that's good enough for me.

Best thing I ever did was getting the DPF removed from my PD170.

I do around 15k a year.... I do 200 miles a week getting to work and back all on dual carriageways but it wasn't enough to save my DPF.

My car was on 106k when I had the DPF removed so you could argue it' was maybe at the end of its life anyway.

I'd have had it removed from day 1 if I'd known how much better the car would be.

Went through an MOT last month no problem.

Is the dpf removal reversible if laws change in the future?