Stay with diesel or take the next stagecoach out of Dodge?

[spartacus68]

My 2010 Fabia 1.6 Elegance is coming up for 100k miles. It's been a good car, spending most of its life on A-class roads and motorways, the weekly commute to Dundee and even over the Cairn 'O Mount during the winters with 15" steel wheels and winter tyres before the new bypass opened.

 

I'm in a dilemma. I service my own cars, and apart from oil and filter changes, I've changed front springs and wishbone suspension on this car, had numerous issues with the rear drums including handbrake issues, and the obligatory engine management light (which was air intake exhaust sensor), goosed wiring to glow plugs, and most recently a break at the flexi pipe leading from the DFP. The suspension, rear drums and exhaust are age and mileage related, so I suppose I can't complain.

 

I'm looking to replace in next 6 months. I know diesels are taking a hit just now, but I do like them. The 1.6 was never fuel efficient for me. Does the Mk3 1.4 TDI improve? I'm probably doing 12-14k miles a year.

 

I've reviewed the 1.0 litre petrol Toyota Aygo and Hyundai i10 online, and had a Peugeot 108 petrol when the Fabia was in for its new tailgate under warranty. God they are small though. To be fair, the Peugeot was quite nice, but I didn't think it was fuel efficent either. 

 

I have VCDS, I know not a great reason to stay with VAG cars, but every little helps when it comes to clearing and reading error codes.

 

So here's the dilemma. Do I take the next stagecoach out of Dodge and forget diesels and opt for petrol, or bite the bullet, stay with Skoda and move to a 1.4 TDI? I'm spending about £8k which would get me a 15 plate with 16k miles, cruise control, air conditioning and the usual toys. I can probably reuse the winter wheels and tyres once I've refurbished them.

 

My wife has an electric car, so I know the future, but the infrastructure still isn't there plus £8k buys sweet nothing hybrid wise.

 

Any views?

[fabia88]

Hi there, out of curiosity what mpg does you 1.6tdi fabia get? I am asking because I have found my 2007 1.4 mpi fabia to be very fuel effecient, especially considering how old and simple the engine design is, I often get 47mpg on a run and if I am very careful can even break into the 50's. Also one note about elecyric cars that people seem to overlook is that if the electricity generated to charge it comes from say a gas fired power station then the overall emmissions for the electric car are the same if not higher than a deisel hatchback like a fabia.

[jamie6210]

4 hours ago, fabia88 said:

Hi there, out of curiosity what mpg does you 1.6tdi fabia get? I am asking because I have found my 2007 1.4 mpi fabia to be very fuel effecient, especially considering how old and simple the engine design is, I often get 47mpg on a run and if I am very careful can even break into the 50's. Also one note about elecyric cars that people seem to overlook is that if the electricity generated to charge it comes from say a gas fired power station then the overall emmissions for the electric car are the same if not higher than a deisel hatchback like a fabia.

That’s surprising that you get high 40s. I would expect higher to be honest. I get around 48 on runs in my 1.4 vRS. If I was OP I’d be looking into a turbo petrol as they seem to be quite good nowadays. The 1.2 tsi Monte Carlo could be an option as they’re nippy and quite efficient. 

[shyVRS245]

3 minutes ago, jamie6210 said:

That’s surprising that you get high 40s. I would expect higher to be honest. I get around 48 on runs in my 1.4 vRS. If I was OP I’d be looking into a turbo petrol as they seem to be quite good nowadays. The 1.2 tsi Monte Carlo could be an option as they’re nippy and quite efficient. 

Talking small modern petrol turbo's I have personally managed between 63-64mpg on 2015 Spaceback 1.2TSi, 2016 Superb 1.4TSi SE and 2018 Karoq 1.5TSi SEL (all manuals) on my 26 mile commute. The 1.4 and 1.5 both have ACT which really helps with economy once you learn how to maximise the benefits. Hope this helps. 28,000 miles covered in the Spaceback, 16,000 miles in the Superb and currently 15,000 miles in the Karoq.

[spartacus68]

6 hours ago, fabia88 said:

Hi there, out of curiosity what mpg does you 1.6tdi fabia get? I am asking because I have found my 2007 1.4 mpi fabia to be very fuel effecient, especially considering how old and simple the engine design is, I often get 47mpg on a run and if I am very careful can even break into the 50's. Also one note about elecyric cars that people seem to overlook is that if the electricity generated to charge it comes from say a gas fired power station then the overall emmissions for the electric car are the same if not higher than a deisel hatchback like a fabia.

 

Regards fuel efficiency on the 1.6, it's the 77Kw model, 105PS. I'm averaging 58mpg. I think that's poor. That's mostly A-class and motorway driving, sitting at 70mph, so it's not being abused through the gear range.

 

I know what you mean about electric cars, but there is a push towards renewable so it's not all gas fired power stations, but I'm sure it makes up a sizeable chunk of the energy usage.

 

I looked at my mileage last year, so 12k miles on this car. I use another car for towing, again diesel, so 5-6k miles on that one. There's probably an argument for petrol given my mileage is just on 12k, but I like the torque of diesel.

[Lucwal]

How would you find less than 58mpg (if i get that right less than 5l/100km) a poor fuel economy ? The only way to have way less than that is to either have a very small engine displacement (no power or a quite big turbo) or to be an Hybrid.

I do get on my 1.6 Tdi something like 4.7 L/100 km on my way to where i study (2h of motorway, 130 ish km/h), and i'm the one using the less fuel out of my friends.

[spartacus68]

20 hours ago, Lucwal said:

How would you find less than 58mpg (if i get that right less than 5l/100km) a poor fuel economy ? The only way to have way less than that is to either have a very small engine displacement (no power or a quite big turbo) or to be an Hybrid.

I do get on my 1.6 Tdi something like 4.7 L/100 km on my way to where i study (2h of motorway, 130 ish km/h), and i'm the one using the less fuel out of my friends.

 

20 hours ago, Lucwal said:

How would you find less than 58mpg (if i get that right less than 5l/100km) a poor fuel economy ? The only way to have way less than that is to either have a very small engine displacement (no power or a quite big turbo) or to be an Hybrid.

I eventually switched to a 15 plate Volkswagen Polo 1.4 TDI SEL BlueMotion (90ps). It averages 68 mpg, with plenty torque, rear disc brakes, LED headlights, touch-screen info-tainment, cruise control, front fogs, and the obligatory centre armrest. I'm delighted with the switch.

 

Still miss This forum, but drop by time to time if I can help others.

[Lucwal]

Yeah I do see the upsides of such an engine.

But for me fuel economy is not on the top of my priority list so when I'll change car, it won't be a diesel anymore. Because eventough my remapped Fabia has a decent enough acceleration, it still makes a diesel noise and the rpm range is still short as hell.
In fact I would already have bought a Fabia vRS if the engine was not made out of sugar.

[UrbanPanzer]

It "may" be made of sugar..............but its .......................sweeeeet!!! 🤪

 

 

[Lucwal]

I Know, I dream about a Fabia RS but I can't sell my reliable Fabia to get one that could blow any moment. I would love it if Skoda made a new Fabia RS or maybe a Scala RS. If they don't I'll go for an Octavia RS

[UrbanPanzer]

A late 2013 / 14 RS with CTHE engine should be fine

[Scoondal]

On 05/05/2019 at 08:41, spartacus68 said:

My 2010 Fabia 1.6 Elegance is coming up for 100k miles. It's been a good car, spending most of its life on A-class roads and motorways, the weekly commute to Dundee and even over the Cairn 'O Mount during the winters with 15" steel wheels and winter tyres before the new bypass opened.

 

I'm in a dilemma. I service my own cars, and apart from oil and filter changes, I've changed front springs and wishbone suspension on this car, had numerous issues with the rear drums including handbrake issues, and the obligatory engine management light (which was air intake exhaust sensor), goosed wiring to glow plugs, and most recently a break at the flexi pipe leading from the DFP. The suspension, rear drums and exhaust are age and mileage related, so I suppose I can't complain.

 

I'm looking to replace in next 6 months. I know diesels are taking a hit just now, but I do like them. The 1.6 was never fuel efficient for me. Does the Mk3 1.4 TDI improve? I'm probably doing 12-14k miles a year.

 

I've reviewed the 1.0 litre petrol Toyota Aygo and Hyundai i10 online, and had a Peugeot 108 petrol when the Fabia was in for its new tailgate under warranty. God they are small though. To be fair, the Peugeot was quite nice, but I didn't think it was fuel efficent either. 

 

I have VCDS, I know not a great reason to stay with VAG cars, but every little helps when it comes to clearing and reading error codes.

 

So here's the dilemma. Do I take the next stagecoach out of Dodge and forget diesels and opt for petrol, or bite the bullet, stay with Skoda and move to a 1.4 TDI? I'm spending about £8k which would get me a 15 plate with 16k miles, cruise control, air conditioning and the usual toys. I can probably reuse the winter wheels and tyres once I've refurbished them.

 

My wife has an electric car, so I know the future, but the infrastructure still isn't there plus £8k buys sweet nothing hybrid wise.

 

Any views?

Okay, the Seat Arona diesel is coming out cleaner than most petrol engines. I can post a source if you wish or just google it. I own a 2010 1.6 diesel Octavia with EGR. It sails through my country's emmission tests. 

[Bertie90]

On 24/06/2019 at 00:15, Scoondal said:

Okay, the Seat Arona diesel is coming out cleaner than most petrol engines. I can post a source if you wish or just google it. I own a 2010 1.6 diesel Octavia with EGR. It sails through my country's emmission tests. 

there is no such thing as a "clean" diesel. Comparing diesel and petrol on an "who's cleaner" level it's not fair. Diesels are high in NOx, high in particulate matter and low in CO2 (bad for lungs, good for the planet) and petrols are higher in CO2 and lower on NOx (bad for the planet and lungs i suppose?).

 

the Polo was a good choice

Edited 27 June, 2019 by Bertie90