Hi,

 

As mentioned in another topic, i’m looking to buy a secondhand Mk3 Fabia SE L but i’m not sure whether to go for the 1.4 TDi or the 1.2 TSi. 

Of the ones i’ve looked at, they both offer around 90BHP and have 6 gears. I’ve been in a diesel for nearly 16 years now, having owned my Mk1 Fabia vRS from new, so i am leaning towards staying with diesel but what are people’s opinions of the two engines mentioned??

 

Thanks,

John

Edited 1 June, 20206 yr by vRS19TD

Both engines have been discontinued.

 

The 1.2 TSI did change about 2012 and the later ones were well sorted in my opinion.  Have that engine in our Roomster (105 version) and never given any trouble.

 

The diesel depends on how you use it, over time as more emissions equipment was added, it became problematic (or more strictly bits like EPC and DPF).  It is not as tolerant of poor fuel, or clogged filters unlike older diesels.  Some of these parts are very expensive to replace if they fail.

 

If you do lots of short journeys, town driving or cold starts, get the petrol.  If you do lots of steady longer journeys, consider the diesel, but if you do check the service history well.

 

I had the same dilemma when I change cars a couple of years back. I was a fan of diesels too having had Fabia 1.9, Octavia 1.6 and Yeti 2L (all DSG). Having read about the problems with the 1.4 diesel, we went for the 1.2 Tsi 110 with DSG because we are mostly short distance users and wanted to cut down on our emissions.

 

We were pleasantly surprised at the performance of the 1.2 Tsi engine. It is spritely, especially in Sports Mode, and moderately economical (45 - 55 mpg).

 

We were aware of the problems reported with the 7-speed DSG, but we now don't stop with the foot on the brake whilst Drive selected. If we are going to be at stop for more than a few seconds, we push the selector into N until we can move off, pull it back in D and release the footbrake. I might add that we also disabled start/stop and the hopeless battery control module by unplugging the sensor from the negative battery terminal. (It takes less than a minute so can quickly be reconnected when taking it in for service.)

I guess it depends on priorities and how you use your car.

 

The petrols are way more economical than older versions, but on a run you will struggle to get close to what you could from the diesel (see my post on your other thread). 

 

There are all sorts of emissions. Mostly it isn't explained properly. Diesels use less fuel so are theoretically more climate friendly. However they have a hotter exhaust so produce more nitrogen oxides which are bad in a different way to carbon dioxide ( as in one causes poor air quality locally, the other is a greenhouse gas). That's still a massive oversimplification so do some more reading!

 

We moved from diesel to petrol on our furby. We had started to do less miles, and in any case we could no longer get a diesel of the age we wanted. On the other hand I had no problems when I bought the Kodi going for a diesel with the useage it had. Given my new situation (retired a few weeks ago) I might have chosen differently, but it will still be doing long non-urban journeys for the most part, even if it's going out a lot less.

It is easier for me to pick between them as I've never liked Diesels in domestic transport, brilliant elsewhere, so yes, these 1.2TSI 16V engines are quite good on fuel, we would be hard pressed to drop below 50MPG 3/4 of the year, winter as always means slightly lower MPG for many reasons. Even going shopping locally which means suburbs to out of town returns over 50MPG over a 10 mile round trip right now. My wife's Polo 6C 1.2TSI 16V 110PS has a 6 speed manual gearbox and not DSG so as you might expect in real world situations and driven with a bit of thought and care, the 6 speed manual gearbox will always give better overall MPG.

Edited 1 June, 20206 yr by rum4mo

Just to add. The only ways you'll get less than 50mpg from the diesel is to drive like a tit or only ever do very short start stop journeys.

If I was doing more town start stop I'd buy the petrol, more longer journeys the diesel.

8 hours ago, rum4mo said:

 so as you might expect in real world situations and driven with a bit of thought and care, the 6 speed manual gearbox will always give better overall MPG.

To be honest, I wouldn't expect it neccesarily. What is it about DSGs that makes them less economical? After all it has 7 gears rather than six, so ought to be able to operate in the most economical range more of the time. 

There's always the temptation to slip the DSG into sports mode. 😉

The DQ200 DSG is not less economical in the real world with an average driver driving a TSI or a TDI. 

 I’m going to lock this thread for now as i might be going for an Octavia instead now. 

Many thanks to everyone for your valuable input. 
 

*edit* Okay, it’s been a while since i was last online before yesterday but i can’t seem to lock my own threads anymore. 🤔

Edited 1 June, 20206 yr by vRS19TD

A mod can lock it, i sent a report.

I always thought we were able to lock our own threads in the past.

 

Cheers. 

50 minutes ago, vRS19TD said:

I always thought we were able to lock our own threads in the past.

That's just reminded me - it was something that had been discussed and then forgotten. ⌨️

I'll raise the matter again.

 

Edited 1 June, 20206 yr by john999boy

@vRS19TD

The ability to lock and unlock threads has now been re-instated to full Freedom members.

Can you please check if you are able to unlock this thread?

Yeah, able to unlock, thank you. 👍🏻