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Superb 1.4 TSI performance compared to 2.0 TDI


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Hi,

 

I am hoping some 1.4 150bhp petrol owners will be able to give me some advice.  I am about to order a new Superb SE L Exec, however I am having a dilemma about whether to go with Petrol or Diesel?  My daily commute is only 10 miles each way and most weekends I do a couple of hundred miles, therefore I thought a Petrol may be better as there wont be any DPF issues or concerns.  However as I live in the Highlands of Scotland we have a LOT of hills and I am concerned by the performance of the Petrol engine in terms of Fuel economy and grunt (I know the 2.0 TDI has the same BHP, however it has more torque) with all of the steep inclines.  What sort of MPG are you getting on hilly A & B roads? 

 

We also have a lot of tourist traffic (sitting at 40 or 50mph) with lots of corners and short straights, which means you need it to be a bit nippy mid range, to allow overtaking.  Again, is the petrol gutsy enough for this, or would the added torque of the diesel be better?  I have gone to 2 different Skoda garages to test drive a superb, however one was the much more powerful petrol and the other had an auto box, and the route the driver took me on didnt give me a chance to properly test it out (I wont be going back to that garage!).

 

Hope you can help as I really dont know which way to go.  I think the Petrol may be better as I dont do a huge amount of miles (about 13,000 a year), however I dont want to buy it and find that it doesnt have the overtaking power I want and that the fuel economy in my hilly area is atrocious.

 

Cheers


Andy

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If it helps, here are my thoughts on how I went for a 1.4TFSI 150PS petrol engine albeit in my current A3 saloon. It's a bit lighter but both are based on the VAG MQB platform.

 

I do relatively low miles and for benefit in kind purposes the emissions and no 3% charge for diesel meant I'd save money. I too was used to low down torque with a diesel. Therefore I decided to try a DSG 1.4TFSI so auto change down in gear might compensate for lack of torque.

 

What I have found is the engine is really flexible and I do not miss the torque. It will happily drive around in relatively high gears at low speed. A bonus is I think it handles better than a diesel because the engine is much lighter than a diesel and you can feel this in the steering. Well I think I can.

 

When I test drove a Superb SE L there was no 1.4TSI DSG's so I got a 220PS DSG. I knew what a 1.4TSI was likely to be performance wise I thought because I have one. What I did find in the 220PS was there was a lot of accelerator pedal travel before the car really tried accelerating. This is not the case in the Audi so my  lower powered 1.4TFSI DSG car felt quicker than the 2.0! Well until you pressed the pedal a lot further and then it took off. Something the VCDS setting for throttle can change a little I believe.

 

Another bonus of the petrol is it's much quieter.  But it will probably use a lot more fuel than a diesel in your hilly environment.

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I had the same decision to make and plumped for the Petrol.

 

It's fine with hills and overtaking. Of course you need to give it a little more gas compared with a torquey diesel, but you soon adjust.

 

My daily commute is about 10 miles each way, so not too dissimilar to yours. Fuel economy since new in March (approx 4800 miles) is 42mpg, using bog standard supermarket fuel. 

 

Engine is extremely quiet and warms up in a couple of minutes.

 

All this said, you really need to drive one to be sure. Even if you drive a VAG car with a similar engine, you'll get an idea of the characteristics by comparison.

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I agree about driving another 1.4TSI equipped car. Until very recently a Passat was not available with a petrol at all apart from the GTE plugin hybrid.

 

You could try smaller cars from the VAG brands.

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Best thing to do - if possible (which I appreciate may be easier said than done given your experience of local garages!) - would be to try both and see what you think.

 

It looks like I'm the lone TDi owner on this thread. In the manual TDi (150) the drive is very torquey, and the gear-ratio is well judged to allow for effortless progress - a little shorter than in the mk2 2.0 diesel. I do much more mileage so the diesel still makes sense for me, though I have to say the engine's tone is unmistakable - you can tell it's an oil burner! I'd expected a slightly more refined sound from Skoda's flagship car.

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When I asked for an extended test drive in April Skoda UK did not have any Superb 1.4TSI cars. The fleet will have been geared towards what was popular, i.e. diesel or the more powerful petrols. 

 

Diesel sound is hard to disguise - active engine mounts and sound insulation make a difference.

 

The benefit in kind changes make it likely you'll opt for a petrol or hybrid or if possible take the money and get your own car.

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The 1.4TSi is. Lovely motor, it's smooth, quiet and more than sufficient power to get around. On hills as Walrus says, you need a bit more pressure on the accelerator. But my Piglet will sit at 70mph all day, will take in the hills (I live in Cumbria) easily. 

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With what is coming out of Europe regarding the dieselgate and cheating companies. The E.U. Is putting pressure on countries and companies to comply and to even encourage countries to prosecute cheating companies. Countries turning on diesel, prices of used diesels going down, so on and so forth. Probably be best to give diesel a wide berth for a while and see what happens. 

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If the Superb Mk3 and the current A3 saloon were mine, I'd have gone petrol without the potential backlash anyway. But resale values could be impacted for diesels I guess.

 

I could have afforded an SE L Exec as a 190PS diesel DSG or even a 280PS L&K DSG 4x4 as a company car. All within my pay up allowance... but I don't need more than the 1.4TSI DSG provides. I'd have liked the L&K (I added a lot of options) but the L&K is not (yet) available as a 1.4TSI.

Edited by rtj70
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My last car was a 1.8TSI Mk2, which is very similar to the 1.4TSI Mk3.  It was never short of power when I needed it.  0-60 in 8.5 seconds was hot hatch territory just a few years ago after all.

 

I've got a 220 TSI Mk3 now, but only because as @rtj70 said the 150 TSI isn't available as an L&K.  I would have happily ordered one if I could.

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Had diesels from 1996 to 2013. Last was a BMW 118D with 143PS, lovely torquey engine. Tried a Seat Leon with a 1.4 TSi and ordered one 2 days later, the 140 PS was simply stunning. Over almost 4 years it averaged about 2mpg less than the BMW had in the same use.

 

Replaced the Seat with a 1.4 TSi 150 PS Superb in March this year. Again its simply brilliant. Possibly not quite as quick as the Seat but it does appear to be a bit more economical on a run, managed 51.7 mpg on a trip from Scotland on Saturday without trying (from the dash display which checks out as pretty accurate - unlike some liars - BMW would say 53mpg when 47 was the truth).

 

Try one and be amazed.

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I drive a 1.4 TSi manual which I bought without a road test.  The dealer only had the 150PS TDi when I was looking so that was what I road tested.  Having driven both, I would say that the trade-offs between them are pretty marginal.

 

The diesel was noisier, had poorer turn-in than the petrol, but had more low down 'grunt'.

 

In normal driving, I felt that the diesel was better at pulling away from low speeds.  You have to make sure you are in the right gear in the petrol to accelerate smartly - and in small country lanes with steep hills this often means 1st gear - 2nd is quite long and the engine can bog down below 1500rpm.  Having said that, you soon get used to making sure you are in the right gear.  For overtaking the petrol is much better than the diesel (lighter and more speed in-gear from higher rpm).  In terms of absolute performance I would say there is little to choose between them - they both have the same power output.

 

If I were you, given your mileage, I would go for the petrol.

 

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Thanks very much for all of your input.  I still haven't made my mind up, however the consensus seems to be to go for the petrol.  I've got to get my thinking cap on!

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Maybe best to go get a road test in a 1.4TSI and see what you think, but really a petrol seems to be best for your needs.

If the 2 dealers can not let you try a car with the engine / box you are looking at they really are not trying very hard.

Even look at taking out a Octavia just to see how it's engine is. 

They must have one of those around or Skoda UK Customer Services can ensure they can have a Superb 1.4TSI in.

Plenty overtaking power what ever you get, even with 1.0TSI's in Octavias.

Edited by Headinawayoffski
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4 minutes ago, Headinawayoffski said:

Maybe best to go get a road test in a 1.4TSI and see what you think, but really a petrol seems to be best for your needs.

 

We were lucky I guess because our dealer (via broker) had a 1.4 TSi SE Superb (the model we intended to buy) as a service loan car which then lent us for the morning. But since we already had the 1.4 TSi in the Leon we knew what we should expect and were not disappointed. Also tried a 1.4 TSi in an Octavia but although its was a bit quicker (like out Seat it was well run in with 30,000 miles on it) the car was like all Octavias we have driven (we have tried 4 now) very noisy so if you drive an Octavia do not be put off a Superb because of the dreadful noise in the Octavia.

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On 27/09/2017 at 00:29, Svend said:

The 1.4TSi is. Lovely motor, it's smooth, quiet and more than sufficient power to get around. On hills as Walrus says, you need a bit more pressure on the accelerator. But my Piglet will sit at 70mph all day, will take in the hills (I live in Cumbria) easily. 

@Svend What sort of MPG are you getting from your car in the hilly A & B roads of Cumbria?

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13 minutes ago, AndyMacD said:

@Svend What sort of MPG are you getting from your car in the hilly A & B roads of Cumbria?

About 45mpg in the city and rural back roads, best is 50mpg . 

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