So far I have covered about 1700 miles in the last 2 1/2 months. MPG is disappointing at approx. 35.5 but it is winter and the cold weather doesn't help, and there is a lot of start stop in my 9 mile 35+minute each way commute every day partly down narrow muddy country lanes with passing places. Nevertheless, the car is still amazingly smooth and has plenty of poke when you put it in sport mode and put your foot down. It is a vast improvement on the Mk2 Elegance 2.0 TDI 170 4x4 that I had. Really quiet and refined.

Fuel consumption clearly is dependent on type of journey and driving style. My manual 1.4 is coming up to 1900 miles and maybe another hundred miles off its fourth fill up at the pump. Maxidot is indicating 47.5 mpg long term which from calculation is about 2mpg over optimistic.

Probably as little as 5% of my miles have been stop start commuter traffic, most are motorway and dual carriage way acquired but there is also a fair bit of rural A and B road driving. I certainly don't tear away from junctions and traffic lights as this does kill the mpg, instead try to carry speed where I can. Highest single trip mpg I've seen was a 65 mile run from Amesbury to Heathrow along A303, M3 and M25. Wasn't in any particular hurry so averaged between 65-70 once on the A303 and motorways, with a long stretch of the M3 reduced to 50, so used ACC for that bit. Maxidot average showed me at 59mpg by the time I reached T5 long stay.

My only gripe at the mo is that diesel is the same price or cheaper than unleaded around me, so no smugness to be had there!

my superb 1.4 150bhp with the dsg was at 43mpg but lately has dropped back to 37mpg but I've only done 850 miles and my old car, a vrs 170pd on the same trips was returning 32mpg.

 

this is why I switched from diesel to petrol as the dpf was always needing a run to regen it.

 

given I expect the engine to get slightly better I am happy with this.

Not the same car, but I had a test drive of the Seat Leon ST 1.4 TSI ACT today. Coming from a 2.0 140bhp diesel the Seat absolutely flew when in the sweet spot on the rev counter.

Clearly the Seat is a bit smaller, but it was a lot of fun.

I must say, I do love a good petrol - there's nothing quite as satisfying as feeling the power build as you nudge toward the redline.

It's been a few days for me now and I cannot fault this engine - very deceptively strong for such a small size in such a big car!

 

The DSG7 is smooth and enjoyable, the paddles responsive on hills and quick getaways after turns, and the Sport mode kickdown actually rockets the car forward very well!

 

My cousin, who has an EClass 220 AMG Night Edition was VERY impressed by the Superb's styling, interior quality and the engine's ability to pull the car to motorway speeds, and that was before I blew his mind and told him it was a 1.4L petrol!

Edited 1 February, 201610 yr by Dilz

After all these months with the car how is your experience with the 1.4 ?

How does it feel on a long run ?

What about the mileage ? 

Do you have some king of journal topic with the car ?

Edited 25 July, 20169 yr by kpk1

I have ordered a 150 TDI Sel. I do approx 10,000 miles a year mixed driving but try not to use the car if I am not going to be able to get the engine warm. Fortunately, my wife's ancient Bora TDI does not have a DPF so I can use that if I really must. I would have liked a 1.4 TSI but am hampered by the need for torque to tow a caravan, with a heavier one than the existing coming soon.

I have been using a Mazda 6 diesel in the same way for the past ten years. I have no problems with the DPF but change the oil every 7,000 miles and have a new fuel filter fitted every annual service. The car goes beautifully at 90,000 miles and more than once I have wondered why I am changing it.

On this and other threads people have mentioned DPF problems with the diesel. How bad have they been? I might still have time to change, perhaps to a 220 tsi.

I traded in an Octavia 2.0 150bhp diesel last week for a 1.4tsi Superb SE.

 

There's a significant difference in noise with the petrol engine being very quiet in comparison. The DSG added to the serene experience and there is a lot of power there.

 

Unfortunately, I just couldn't get myself comfortable in the manual seat which wasn't supporting my legs under the knees as much as I expected.

 

So I swapped it for a SE L Exec 190bhp diesel this week and having done three 140 mile return trips around the M25 these past three days with two more to follow, the difference is certainly noticeable.

 

The mid range torque of the diesel is great for the motorways although the trade-off is the increased noise of the engine.

 

For me, the 190 is better for my circumstances with long mileages up and down the M6 etc, allowing effortless acceleration between lanes, whereas with the 1.4Tsi I found it wasn't quite as effortless  -  perhaps the 220 petrol would have been a good mix of brawn and quietness.

 

Whatever the engine, having owned the Superb 1 (and suffered the Pollen Filter issues), the Superb 3 is simply brilliant.

 

 

I've done 6,200 miles now in my Superb mk3 1.4tsi 125PS - and have been pleasantly surprised by the performance (and the rest of the car). My last car was a Mk7 Golf GTD (company car) so was pretty worried about going from 185PS to 125! The 1.4 really is fine for normal use, never have any issues accelerating up motorway incline at 80ish etc. and overtaking not too much of an issue (the superb mk iii superb is lighter than my old golf which helps a lot!). It does do 0-62mph in 9.9 seconds, which really isn't too bad... It's in a different league to my wife's 1.2 Corsa (which always feels slow!). I'm amazed at how much low down torque there is too (the car i had before the gtd was a 2.0FSI Audi A3, and honestly there really doesn't feel that much difference between that and the 1.4 in my Superb (but used to average 34mpg in the A3, now get an actual 45mpg - trip computer says 46.5mpg so slightly optimistic!). 

The 1.6 tdi felt slower (and is slower), nosier, rougher, and was £1500 more (and given the difference in fuel economy would have taken about 3 years to pay back even at the 16k miles I do a year). And none of the DPF worries down the line... 

I'd have happily gone for the 150PS 1.4 if had been available in S trim, but prices started going up a lot as needed an SE (£2.2k extra is a lot when it's your own cash up front - just couldn't justify it!). I paid £15.1k through an internet broker in March 2016, and it really is a lot of car for the money - similar to a fairly basic ford focus! 

I have the 1.4 ACT engine , the car is estate version.

Meaning the heavyest possible combination.

For my own suprise, the car really moves fast. At first I was cautios when the car was in full load (4 grown ups and 1 child + boot fully loaded), but the car does not dissapoint.

The power is still there and under Estonian traffic regulation (110km/h on highways) I can pretty much do whatever I want.

Last car I had was 2009 A6 with 3.0. Atm (8k km on the clock) I wouldnt say that the acceleration is bad. All in all the A6 is faster and more powerful, but when it functionality , then I haven't changed the way drive.

Thumbs up for the 1.4ACT engine, it costs less than the 1.8, but in my opinion is far more better choice.

 I paid £15.1k through an internet broker in March 2016, and it really is a lot of car for the money - similar to a fairly basic ford focus! 

 

 

Blimey that's was a great price, presume that's from one of the brokers that have since had all customer superb orders cancelled

 

Can't get close to that through drivethedeal and carfile etc.

 

I'm always surprised how well the 125ps 1.4  EA111 tugs the Superb II along so the 125ps 1.4 EA211 should be even better in the lighter Superb III

Edited 29 July, 20169 yr by bigjohn

I have 1.4TSI ACT manual in SE estate version and although I did only 800 miles so far so still running it in, I have to say I'm surprised how nippy and quick this car is. Part of that might be that my previous car was Renault Megane 1.5dci which was only 11.4s to 60mph so now at 8.7s to 60mph the difference is very noticeable (word quick referring to a car is very relative). I still have to run it with fully loaded boot, but 2 adults, 2 kids in child seats and bikes/luggage in boot, the car moves quickly for me. You can get a good pull from 1800-2000 rpm, and being a petrol you can feel it moving when going all the way to 4000-5000rpm. Obviously at 60/70mph, and being in 6th gear, the acceleration is rather slowish, but drop it to 5th (or 4th) and it is ok. Also for time being there is no problem cruising in 6th on motorways and going up the hill - although that being lightly loaded for time being. I usually use cruise control set at 74mph so can't comment how it drives regularly at higher speeds - I would tend to agree that it might be not the best for people driving at much higher speeds - it is 1.4TSI after all. The only worry I have with this engine will be oil consumption (none to date) and the potential problem with carbon deposits on valves after long mileage (as it is direct injection engine) - let's wait and see. Thankfully no dpf worries for us - as we make number of short trips. As a side note I test drove the 2.0 TSI 220hp estate before buying this car and 1.4TSi felt noticeably slower (maybe also because it had only 39 miles on the clock - my car definetely feels quicker) but in terms of performance, having drove my car now for two weeks, it is more than enough for me. Still running it in so long term fuel efficiency is at around 39mpg. Hopefully this will improve. So thumbs up for the 1.4TSI from sensibly driving family man.

36 minutes ago, kewals said:

I have 1.4TSI ACT manual in SE estate version and although I did only 800 miles so far so still running it in, I have to say I'm surprised how nippy and quick this car is. Part of that might be that my previous car was Renault Megane 1.5dci which was only 11.4s to 60mph so now at 8.7s to 60mph the difference is very noticeable (word quick referring to a car is very relative). I still have to run it with fully loaded boot, but 2 adults, 2 kids in child seats and bikes/luggage in boot, the car moves quickly for me. You can get a good pull from 1800-2000 rpm, and being a petrol you can feel it moving when going all the way to 4000-5000rpm. Obviously at 60/70mph, and being in 6th gear, the acceleration is rather slowish, but drop it to 5th (or 4th) and it is ok. Also for time being there is no problem cruising in 6th on motorways and going up the hill - although that being lightly loaded for time being. I usually use cruise control set at 74mph so can't comment how it drives regularly at higher speeds - I would tend to agree that it might be not the best for people driving at much higher speeds - it is 1.4TSI after all. The only worry I have with this engine will be oil consumption (none to date) and the potential problem with carbon deposits on valves after long mileage (as it is direct injection engine) - let's wait and see. Thankfully no dpf worries for us - as we make number of short trips. As a side note I test drove the 2.0 TSI 220hp estate before buying this car and 1.4TSi felt noticeably slower (maybe also because it had only 39 miles on the clock - my car definetely feels quicker) but in terms of performance, having drove my car now for two weeks, it is more than enough for me. Still running it in so long term fuel efficiency is at around 39mpg. Hopefully this will improve. So thumbs up for the 1.4TSI from sensibly driving family man.

 

Nice post, and very interesting. Thank you. A few points for you: 

 

* Being turbo charged, the car will certainly feel comfortable and lively enough accelerating from motorway speeds in 6th, you're right. You did mention dropping it to 4th or 5th being OK, as though it was a bad thing. There's nothing wrong with stirring the box for acceleration, it's how a petrol engine works best. There's no problem (or shame) in dropping a couple of cogs to get maximum acceleration, especially in a lower powered car where the turbo alone might not give blistering performance from lower revs. 

 

* The 2.0 TSI (220 and 280) both have direct AND indirect/port injection, making carbon build-up on the intake valves a non-issue. Does the 1.4 TSI not have the same? It probably does, but do try to look it up to be sure. Don't ask Skoda UK, as ironically they're useless for questions like this. I wouldn't worry.

 

* I drove a Skoda Rapid 1.2 TSI (110ps, 6sp manual) for a day last week. It has a similar power to weight ratio as your 1.4 TSI Superb. In all honesty it was absolutely fine, surprisingly good in fact. I would have been perfectly happy to keep it, as it was less powerful than the 220 but fun to drive in its own way, and by no means slow. Getting 50mpg around town was a nice change, also!  It was surprisingly nice to wring out, easy to rev match on downshifts, and as you say in gear acceleration was perfectly acceptable even without changing down. There wasn't a single time I thought "Damn this needs more power" or felt worried, as I have in other low powered cars in the past. Adding a turbo really does change things, because you have the shove right from low down all the way through to the higher revs. You're never left without power.

 

* Don't worry about the fuel consumption. My 220 was averaging 28MPG for the first few tanks. You're getting 33% more than that, so I'd expect you to be well into the 40s average MPG to a tank after a few thousand miles (based on me seeing mid to late 30s MPG now the car is run in). 

 

Enjoy your car, and welcome to the forum. 

11 hours ago, Rainmaker said:

 

* The 2.0 TSI (220 and 280) both have direct AND indirect/port injection, making carbon build-up on the intake valves a non-issue. Does the 1.4 TSI not have the same? It probably does, but do try to look it up to be sure. Don't ask Skoda UK, as ironically they're useless for questions like this. I wouldn't worry.

 

The later generations of the 2.0tsi certainly have the direct and port injection as do the current 1.8tsi, but not the budget orientated 1.4tsi and smaller.

One of the more tech savvy Octavia contributors says that the current generation of smaller engine have a more sophisticated EGR system that substantially reduces the risk of intake valve fouling.

The 1.4tsi engine has been around for about 3 years now so if there were carbon fouling problems you would think they would be coming up in the forum from the high mileage users, so the claim seems valid.

Edited 19 March, 20179 yr by Gerrycan

I had a Leon 1.4 TSi 140 PS for almost 4 years, it was one of the first fitted with the then new belt drive engine but no ACT. It was without a doubt the quickest road car I have owned and that includes GTI's and several fast Fords. The pick up was astonishing from 1500 rpm, no turbo lag and no waiting for the power to arrive.

 

So I ordered the Superb 1.4 TSi 150 PS expecting more of the same and so far I am not disappointed. I expected it to be a bit slower because of the additional weight and sheer size and to be honest it is, but its still new and seems to be loosening up with every mile. In truth I never noticed the Leon loosen up, perhaps the engine in the Skoda is a bit tighter.

 

That a 1.4 engine can power such a large car is something none of would would have expected 20 years ago. 15 years ago I bought a Mondeo 130 PS TDCi and it felt like a rocket ship at the time. But the Superb is quicker, far quieter and rather surprisingly doing better MPG.