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Which VAG car is best?

I am considering buying a nearly new car Volkswagen group car. I like the Golf Estate, Skoda Octavia and Superb, but I have a number of concerns regarding modern engines – DPF and DMF problems on diesels, Direct Injection related problems on petrols – and was wondering which engine(s) you would advise. I also don’t see the need for the extra complexity of a DSG box so would like to avoid that.

I plan to keep the car for about 10 years and do around 14k miles a year, about half of which is urban and half motorway. The cars regular journey will be a 20 minute commute twice a day in mixed driving (not enough for DPF regeneration I fear).

Asked on 10 May 2015 by Doug Isaacs

Answered by Honest John
VAG has re-thought its engines recently. 1.6 and 2.0 diesels are now manifold in head so less likely to have DPF problems. 1.2 and 1.4TSI were now timing belt instead of chain because poor quality timing chains were failing. The twincharger 1.4 has been dropped because overfuelling lead to high oil consumption.

The 1.8 and 2.0 litre TSIs now employ indirect as well as direct injection to overcome a problem of the inlet valves becoming coated in carbon. So, hopefully, all the problems are now fixed. The 1.4TSI 150 ACT is a lovely engine to drive. Smooth, yet with plenty of torque and the Active Cylinder Technology should give economy in the high 40s.

The current Octavia estate is an extremely solid feeling car. You wrote 'nearly new', so the excellent new Superb is probably out of reach. You could consider buying new because there are discounts on new Skodas and VWs of up to £5000 via www.drivethedeal.com/ Certainly don't pay drivethedeal prices for a used car.

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