My promised 1.4TSi one month in review

[Redboy]

Yup - my PD130 had far more torque and certainly felt a LOT faster than my 1.4 but that is certainly expected.

I'm sure it'll loosen up soon or at least I'll get used to driving it, but at the moment, putting my foot down is like lighting a fuse, wait wait wait wait, bang, even in lower/suitable gears.

There's nothing wrong with your engine otherwise you'd have indications on the dashboard. Driving a TSI requires a different style from a diesel. When I changed from a diesel to a MkII VRS TFSI it felt slow at first as I drove it like a diesel, touched the throttle and changed up early even though it had a decent amount of torque. When the penny dropped and I realised that it would rapidly pull strongly all the way to the red line, it finally felt a quick car. The TSI is even stronger, you just need to rev it, it loves revs.

[vRSAnt]

Its definitely a different driving system required going to the petrols.

 

Having come from a Fabia 1 vRS its very lazy with a lot of torque coming through with very little pedal action.

 

The vRS petrol TFSI being the fastest of the bunch is no slouch, considerably quicker than the 1.4, which is why I bought it to eventually replace my Fabia 1 now aging,

but if you drive in the same way getting between cars, which I do a lot, it can really seem slow.

 

It definitely does not seem quick at first, and you have to consciously use more pedal action to drive it, then it livens up.

 

To be honest I wouldn't even call the vRS fast (it doesn't push me back in my seat but don't see much quicker around these parts probably different towards the south east)

 

I just wish people wouldn't go wild describing cars as being "fast" when they really aren't and are lukewarm production hatches - even the vRS ( on a par with the now dated Ford Siera Cosworth ) , but then I'm part coming from bikes to take this opinion.

 

"Brisk" would probably be a better description per the site :D

[ednmra]

I agree there are all different opinions on what is fast. But the way I see it is if you have a car whose maximum performance you never use, because say 2/3rds of that performance is more than enough for you, then what it does not do doesn't matter!!

 

I have never floored mine's throttle in any gear because its performance at much less throttle is very satisfactory - to me. It probably would not be so to someone who can use the full grunt of whatever hot car they have.

[Octy0GG]

Think part of it is that Diesel does not feel like it's even making an effort when extracting that 2/3 of max performance whereas the 1.4 TSI definitely does.

 

Come upon a hill, want to accelerate quickly in a diesel you may need to drop one gear - might not even need to do that.

 

Same scenario in a petrol - drop one gear, then quickly realise you need to drop another one. Just feels like it's having to try harder.

 

Why not just buy a Diesel then? 

I did.

Turned out the whole DPF regen fiasco has gotten a whole lot worse in the latest models.

 

So I am definitely not one of the pro diesel or pro petrol brigade, more the thinking that petrol is probably the least bad of the 2 options at this point in time brigade.

[Bidey]

Think part of it is that Diesel does not feel like it's even making an effort when extracting that 2/3 of max performance whereas the 1.4 TSI definitely does.

 

Come upon a hill, want to accelerate quickly in a diesel you may need to drop one gear - might not even need to do that.

 

Same scenario in a petrol - drop one gear, then quickly realise you need to drop another one. Just feels like it's having to try harder.

 

Why not just buy a Diesel then? 

I did.

Turned out the whole DPF regen fiasco has gotten a whole lot worse in the latest models.

 

So I am definitely not one of the pro diesel or pro petrol brigade, more the thinking that petrol is probably the least bad of the 2 options at this point in time brigade.

Petrol DSG does it all without thinking, computer "usually" knows best gear in my experience over last 3 years of 1.4 TSI Rapid and now 1.2 TSI Octavia, both DSG ;

Edited 15 January, 2017 by Bidey

[gregoir]

I just had an oh dear moment going up our local long steep 1/10 hill, Slack Bank, on the A632. The first time in my new Combi went up at 60mph in 6th,great- just like my PDI 2L Octavia so no problems.But the other day the speed dropped dramatically and a boy racered Toyota Yaris stormed by as I struggled at 50mph.I feel like some torque has gone in the last 2 months. Must check more carefully next time and get in the right gear for the speed.

[ednmra]

Come upon a hill, want to accelerate quickly in a diesel you may need to drop one gear - might not even need to do that.

 

Same scenario in a petrol - drop one gear, then quickly realise you need to drop another one. Just feels like it's having to try harder.

 

True to some extent in the 1.4 TSi but my Mk.2  1.8 TSi was quite different - much less gear dropping, and felt like its engine was a litre bigger than it actually was!!

[POWYSWALES]

I just had an oh dear moment going up our local long steep 1/10 hill, Slack Bank, on the A632. The first time in my new Combi went up at 60mph in 6th,great- just like my PDI 2L Octavia so no problems.But the other day the speed dropped dramatically and a boy racered Toyota Yaris stormed by as I struggled at 50mph.I feel like some torque has gone in the last 2 months. Must check more carefully next time and get in the right gear for the speed.

I know the car has a turbo but could it still have been low atmospheric air pressure.

[Gerrycan]

I just had an oh dear moment going up our local long steep 1/10 hill, Slack Bank, on the A632. The first time in my new Combi went up at 60mph in 6th,great- just like my PDI 2L Octavia so no problems.But the other day the speed dropped dramatically and a boy racered Toyota Yaris stormed by as I struggled at 50mph.I feel like some torque has gone in the last 2 months. Must check more carefully next time and get in the right gear for the speed.

The fact you are comparing a 1.4tsi to a 2.0cr is quite remarkable in itself, but what you describe does not sound quite right.

If it is not performing as it once did then there has to be a reason for the performance degradation.

We have similarly long steady gradients (about 10%) in and out of my hometown of Adelaide in South Australia, where loaded trucks and B-doubles climb in low gears at 30/60 kph. and I have no problem climbing them and accelerating up to the 110kph speed limit in top (6th) gear, although I usually show a little mechanical sympathy and use 5th.

The diesel would have significantly greater claimed engine torque but gearing and vehicle weight come into it as well.

I find the climbing performance in top gear similar to my previous 1.9pd which I considered excellent but it would not have the performance of your 2.0cr.

Quite honestly with the flexibility and smoothness of the engine there is almost an embarrassment of gears I could choose for most speeds and situations.

[gRoberts]

Just to add insult to injury - whilst it may be totally down to weight, power delivery etc, but my wife's 90 hp Dacia Sanders Stepway (0.9 tce) has more life than the 1.4 at the moment.

Is there a 3rd gear run equivalent on the petrol? I might log a few bits and make sure it's spitting out what it should.

[Lee222]

Just to add insult to injury - whilst it may be totally down to weight, power delivery etc, but my wife's 90 hp Dacia Sanders Stepway (0.9 tce) has more life than the 1.4 at the moment.

Is there a 3rd gear run equivalent on the petrol? I might log a few bits and make sure it's spitting out what it should.

Hey, I seem to recall getting my SE Sport about the same time as you and I can't say I've experienced anything like what you have :s

Even in normal mode my car will wheel spin if I boot it in 1st, 2nd and almost 3rd gear! Maybe you should get it looked at?

I've just hit 1050 miles so it's not like it's run in much more than yours either

[gRoberts]

I'm going to setup some logging and do a few pulls - just to see if things match up :)

[gregoir]

The car otherwise feels fine and nippy. Just that one difficult fast, well 60mph, and steep hill in this area. Must be more aware next time of what I'm doing.

[Dempsek]

Anyway, the car. If there is a performance difference I can't find it, forget sports mode for the moment, even using kick down to pass someone on the motorway is quite simply awesome. For a 1.4 litre engine this thing is more than quick, it's down right fast

Cannot agree with you more, I think there seems to be a big difference in performance between those who have DSG and manual.

Driving mine tonight with 3 up and I didn't have to floor my DSG just rapid acceleration and it had dropped a gear at half throttle, not changing up from 4th until 5000 rpm and 60mph+.

[themanwithnoaim]

DSG can drop 3 gears when you really go for it !!!

[Geek42]

Surely a manual can drop as many gears as needed?! I quite regularly block change up as well as down due to the nature of the engine, but there's much more available in the middle of the rev band compared to older petrol engines where you really did have to rev them.

 

I find no lack of performance in mine and there's enough torque at the bottom end, at low speeds in low gears (town driving in 2nd/3rd) it'll pick up gently from 1200rpm, but you can't expect all the beans at that point and you can't expect it to do that up hills or at speed! Up a decent gradient I'll put nearer 2000rpm on (I think), and if I am accelerating hard up bank I'll let it run to higher rpm than I would on the flat (I think), but I don't tend to watch the revs I just do it by feel, and the engine never feels screamy or like I'm thrashing it.

 

I only owned one diesel, but I had it for almost 6 years and I had no problems adjusting to this car. I'm not saying it's a sports car (it most certainly isn't) but I'd get it looked at if you think it's slow.

[ednmra]

Surely a manual can drop as many gears as needed?! I quite regularly block change up as well as down due to the nature of the engine, but there's much more available in the middle of the rev band compared to older petrol engines where you really did have to rev them.

 

 

I agree, when I'm pottering about town I usually go first, second, third, top. When I'm in top and need a bit of oomph I go down to third or fourth.

But I agree that DSG in effect does all this for you.

I still prefer manual by a long way but if I lived in somewhere like central London I'd    certainly have an automatic

rather than have all those zillion gear changes at lights and junctions and everywhere else!!