We took my partners Rapid in for its first variable service and were given a Fabia 1.4 SE diesel loan car. Initial impressions were good, then we started it up. I didn't know they still made car diesel engines this noisy. It sounded like a tractor. Setting off she found it needed plenty of revs and clutch slipping to get going. Why is it so high geared? 35mph per 1000rpm in 5th. So at 70mph it's doing 2000rpm. This means the gears are so widely spaced that the engine bogs down on changing up unless it is reved in each gear. Even when warmed up that 3 cylinder engine is noisy and sounds rough and laboured with the high gearing. A very disappointing Skoda especially at the prices these new models retail at.

Sounds just like my old Mk2 in every manner. But that one was sold as a "Greenline" (read: Eco), and meant to be low on gas (-and tax...). Working OK for city driving but is a bit painful regarding noise level on longer tours.

The petrol TSI engine is silent and do have a nice torque despite the small volume. Im quite happy for the choice.

That's why it doesn't make sense to buy the new diesel when the TSI is so smooth and quiet. It may be better on economy but a lot of the reviews had said it's a noisy and gruff engine so unless you do high miles and are partially deaf then buy a TSI and save a few quid at the same time.

 

I went from having diesels for more than 10 years when I got my first TSI, I'm now on to my second and probably would not go back to diesel unless I was using it for towing.

my old 1.2TDI GLII used to sound like a tractor at cold, but once moving used to be not to bad once warmed up

 

you needed to ignore the gear change indicator and change up at about 2500rpm  so after the gear change it was running at 1800-2000rpm so the turbo was still spinning and providing boost

 

over about 3500rpm it got very noisy

 

the £2000 premium for a diesel and loss of economy due to dpf regens etc and improved fuel economy of the new euro6 petrols / regadless of manufacturer

 

on fuel my old GLII used to cost about 11p/mile, our old citigo at 50mpg was about 12p/mile, so 200,000 miles to break even?, so after 20+ years of driving diesels, I have gone back to petrol

Can't really understand why you've gone to Hyundai. Yes they are good value, but their engines are decidedly old tech and not very economical. I agree with you about petrol and diesel with all this DPF nonsense. I'm sure you have done the figures and it works to petrol's (and Hyundai's) advantage.

There is nothing new tech in the Skoda engines Diesel or Petrol.

3 cylinder 1.4 TDI noisy and not that economical, and if Skoda or the VWG had any belief in the quality of their product they would have a 5 or 7 year Warranty as Standard.

 

At least the New Superb is getting 1.4 TSI ACT engines as an option.

There is nothing new tech in the Skoda engines Diesel or Petrol.

3 cylinder 1.4 TDI noisy and not that economical, and if Skoda or the VWG had any belief in the quality of their product they would have a 5 or 7 year Warranty as Standard.

 

At least the New Superb is getting 1.4 TSI ACT engines as an option.

They are probably the most "up-tp-date" engines available in terms of fuel economy. Whether that makes them new-tech or not is open to debate. Given the debarcle of the twincharger engine, I am happy not to have the ACT variant. ( I did however once have a Tiguan with this engine and liked it...)

 

The 1.2 is actually newish tech in that it has direct stratified fuel injection with a low pressure turbo and is Euro 6 compliant. It is also more economical that the Ford Ecoboost engine in real life economy despite higher, published CO2 emissions. At present my Suzuki Swift 1.2 Dualjet beats both in terms of economy at an average 54mpg but it feels very lethargic...

Good stuff.  

 

http://whatcar.com/car-news/real-world-mpg-efficient-small-cars/1214063

Good stuff.  

 

http://whatcar.com/car-news/real-world-mpg-efficient-small-cars/1214063

Nope.

 

Crap stuff.

 

That's all typical What Car? rubbish journalism, if one can even call it that. They are all diesels with DPF and high NOx emissions. Where are all the eco petrols? As I have said before, DPFs are a liability, as are the dual mass flywheels on diesel cars. Small low-pressure turbos are the way to go.

I think we know to take it all with a pinch of salt.

Like What Car Car of the Year 2015, before they were even on sale, 

& Skoda were all ready with the Advertising.

& What Car were able to say what good Reliability & Residuals they would have before anyone had any delivered.

Yet for some reason What Car says the identical mechanically VW Polo has lower running costs, 

and is better value & finish.

VORSPRUNG DURCH TECHNIK.

Advertising Budgets mean a lot to Motoring Magazines.

 

It is good that there are choices and people buy what they want and find out for their selves what cars are like.

http://whatcar.com/car-news/real-world-mpg-efficient-small-petrol-cars/1215224

 

PS

I thought Electric Superchargers were the way to go, 

that is the way the Volkswagen Group are going, first with Audi.

Along with Cylinder on Demand (Active Cylinder Technology.)

Edited 9 July, 201510 yr by goneoffSKi

Now that's more like it. Just had a look at Honest John's True MPG website and the 1.2 TSI seems to have varying real world mpgs. 45, 53 in the Fabia and 49 and 46 in the Polo. The diesel seems less affected by driving style, if you have a heavy right foot in a petrol turbo, then your economy will suffer!

Just as an additional comment, I used to own a 1990 Mk2 Golf Driver with a 1600cc 90bhp petrol engine. On a long drive from London to Edinburgh at motorway speeds, I measured 45 mpg using the tank brim to brim method. Maybe VWs were always relativel fuel efficient?

Maybe, and maybe you are an economical driver.

 

At motorway speeds & a bit i can do a actual 45 MPG plus in a 1.4 TSI Twincharger, 

but that has twice as much bhp and is running on 99 ron.

 

VW have never progressed much, and if everything in life was as reliable as a Volkswagen or a Skoda, 

then we would be in as bad a state as Greece thanks to Germany.