I have fallen in love with the new Octavia vRS in white estate and I plan to purchase one in the next few months however I really am struggling to decide if I should buy the diesel or the petrol...

 

My mind is telling me petrol but after speaking with a sales rep he told me on a quarter tank he gunned it on the motorway (17 miles) and had to fill up on the way back.. surely that is incorrect...

 

 

Anyone own one and has any advice?

How many miles do you travel? On a motorway etc?

This has been debated numerous times. We do a lot of miles so have gone for the diesel

How many miles do you travel? On a motorway etc?

This has been debated numerous times. We do a lot of miles so have gone for the diesel

 

I do about 10k a year.

Only reason I am thinking of the petrol is more BHP.

I plan to run this car for a good few years and not get rid either.

How is your driving pattern?

Lots of short trips or mostly long trips?

Id take the petrol, no doubt. Mostly because of my driving pattern and a diesel takes foreever to get warm in the winter.

And diesels make so much noise :p

Diesel for the last 12+ years. This time petrol, I just do not do the miles to make it worth while. At 10k a year you're around my sort of miles, but I'm mostly around town work which isn't really DPF friendly.

On the plus side (on paper) the 2.0TSi DSG isn't far off what I was getting in the 2.0CR DSG in the MK2FL, so I'll probably not be much worse of (but have much more go).

Petrol.

You neither want nor need a diesel doing 10k a year.

Diesel at pumps now cheaper too!!!

Yes. I concurr with that statement.

The fuel gague is laughable (on my petrol). The needle doesn't budge for the first 90 miles and the last quarter seems to go in about 20 miles. It did this week when I was on the motorway. I wasn't hanging about though.

They do have a small tank but I'll get 400 to 450 out of it.

On that mileage, get the petrol

Edited 31 August, 201510 yr by Mallettsmallett

I do about 10k a year.

Only reason I am thinking of the petrol is more BHP.

I plan to run this car for a good few years and not get rid either.

 

With that mileage you're probably better with the petrol. And if you're doing short-ish journeys then the mpg gains from a diesel over the petrol will be minimum.

Don't forget that diesels are slightly more expensive to buy in the first place too.

Diesel for the last 12+ years. This time petrol, I just do not do the miles to make it worth while. At 10k a year you're around my sort of miles, but I'm mostly around town work which it's really DPF friendly.

 

On the plus side (on paper) the 2.0TSi DSG isn't far off what I was getting in the 2.0CR DSG in the MK2FL, so I'll probably not be much worse of (but have much more go).

Shouldn't that be is not DPF friendly? ... thought low mileage was a killer of DPF's?

The petrol is a peach and I don't at all regret getting one despite having TDIs for over a decade beforehand. Very refined, powerful and smooth to drive, and will do 40mpg if treated nicely. It takes some serious welly to get below 20.

You say you are going to keep the car for "a good few years". To cost a diesel against the petrol use your total mileage not the annual mileage. After all more fuel cost saving if 50K over 5 years than 20K/year for 2 years.

When I bought the vRS diesel my mileage was 13K/year and I intended to keep it for 5 years. My mileage is now 8K-9K/year and I will probably be changing the car in mid-2016 - the next one will be petrol but not the Octavia vRS.

My vRS diesel produces warm air from the heater faster than my wife's 1.2T Clio, but probably slower than a 2.0TSi vRS.

LondonLes - you say your petrol vRS "will do 40mpg if treated nicely". My diesel vRS will manage 52mpg if 'treated nicely" and will easier average over 48mpg on a decent length drive. A week of short journeys totally less than 100 miles will still see 43.

I would echo most of what has been said by others already, that the nature of your usual journeys and the way you drive should determine what is best for you.

The petrol will definitely have more performance and still offer reasonable economy in normal day-to--day driving, but not both at the same time.

The diesel will offer much better economy generally but especially in more demanding circumstances, such as high speed cruising (continental motorway speeds), hilly areas and especially if towing.

The situation regarding your friend's fuel gauge should not be taken too literally as the gauges accuracy can vary considerably. Typically on x-country run I can do 900 km on a tank but  600 km for the first half tank and 125km for the last quarter tank. I work with its idiosyncrasies so no problem but it is still better than some cars I have owned with the dreaded "plummet" problem (drop a quarter tank in 5 km).

 

If you are considering the diesel then  can I make a left of field suggestion that you at least test drive a 1.4tsi model? While obviously down on pure power and torque, the better power weight ratio offers similar, on paper, acceleration performance.

Lower purchase price, similar economy in general driving conditions, lower running and servicing costs than either vRS.

 

But then again if it is not ALL about money

The diesel is slower, buy the petrol.

 

Nuff Said?

I get roughly low 30's around town, and 40'ish on a run, keep it a steady 70 and it'll hit 43-45 (2.0TSI).

 

I don't drive like a granny but also I don't drive like I stole it, I like to drive so I "make progress"! 

If you want a tractor buy a Massey Ferguson!

No offence diesel owners. It does make sense if you do high miles.

Edited 1 September, 201510 yr by glosrich

You can get more Shell fuel  points from the Petrol Vrs as you have to spend more time at the pumps.    :yes:

Shouldn't that be is not DPF friendly? ... thought low mileage was a killer of DPF's?

Typing error due to predictive text on my phone. Now corrected.

Thanks all.

I suppose the next step is to get a test drive in both and see which really wows me

Recently got the petrol and do around the same mileage. Getting high 20's around town and then high 30's on a spin. The small tank freaked me out at the start, was filling it up a lot.

 

Coming from a 520d which had a load of issues like blocked dpf's and cat's with that mileage

Same here my mileage is about 8-10k per year the difference in real terms is about £400-£500 extra in fuel each year to drive the petrol over the diesel and that's working on the diesel getting 10mpg more than the petrol, which is generous as our 2.0cr 170 superb averaged 42-44mpg* over the time we had it and the 2.0 TSI Octavia seems to be doing 35-36mpg for me.

 

Since the petrol version is a little cheaper and you are planning to keep it I would think its the better buy , diesel wont stay cheap for long within a couple of years they will be loaded due to the emissions I reckon

 

 

*thats consistent with our PD170 MK2 Octavia , those that get better dont drive like me or on roads like I do .  

Both are excellent cars. There will always be an element of petrol v diesel in these types of posts and I wouldnt say either one is necessarily "better" than the other. It rather depends how you define "better".

Plain and simple the petrol is a touch quicker, smoother, revvier and overall probably has a nicer character. However drive it how its meant to be driven and it will not be an efficient car. Skoda might say its capable of 47mpg or something like which it probably is if you drive like a saint.....but thats not why you'd buy a 220hp car of course.

The diesel is a little less powerful, a bit noiser and a touch agricultural by comparison, runs out of puff after 4k rpm and if you really really dislike diesels its not the car for you....but its still indecently quick (I reckon it would keep a stock Mk5 Golf GTI pretty honest) and pretty much however you drive it, whilst it wont do 64mpg it will be considerably more frugal than the petrol. Thats not opinion thats fact.

Personally as a daily drive, if you do a few miles per year and you are not averse to diesel power the TDI is probably the right choice only only because in stock form it offers most of the TSI's performance with almost supermini levels of fuel economy.

If you dont do hardly any miles, dislike diesels or simply just do not care about MPG..also you rather fancy the idea of a 300+hp vRS then its probably petrol every day of the week.

I have a Golf GTD...admittedly that choice was rather forced on me as its a company car and I couldnt choose a GTI even if I wanted to but I have to say the compromise between performance and running costs with that car are just bang on.....its v quick for a 2.0 TDI as long as you are considerate of where it does its best work in the rev range and always impresses with its MPG......of course its a personal thing but I think as much as the extra hp would be nice I think is tire of the fuel economy pretty quickly.....as I did my Fabia vRS that was supposed to be able to return 45mpg....could barely get 40 driven gently and returned 32mpg average over 18 months of ownership......

Are there any real world performance comparisons between the different models?

Perhaps more the overtaking/middle acceleration than the 0-60 (wich the 1.8tsi 4x4 did in 6.9 seconds in one video :p)

Have a look on zeperfs. They coalate test stats from different magazine tests. It's a pretty handy site at times.

e.g. MK V against an O3 RS TDI:

http://www.zeperfs.com/en/duel1256-4880.htm

Edited 1 September, 201510 yr by EoinM

@Dean - You had already made up your mind (reading your 1st post), until the sales guy told you a load of guff! 1/4 tank in 17 miles

You sound like someone who prefers petrol cars, & therefore on 10k / year it ain't going to break the bank - go for it

@Dean - You had already made up your mind (reading your 1st post), until the sales guy told you a load of guff! 1/4 tank in 17 miles

I wouldn't say it's guff. Mine did almost exactly that this week. Id attribute it to low mpg during that 20 miles and a tank/gauge/sender being very far from a linear path.

Edited 1 September, 201510 yr by Mallettsmallett