To be honest is a slight change and you need to be search for Timing chain issue that are know to be a issues with tsi engines.

I have 2 tsi engined cars, one is a late 2011 1.2 tsi 105ps variant, the other a late 2013 1.2 tsi 86ps.

The earlier car suffers from chronic camchain rattle on cold starts. 3 years of pestering the Skoda dealer during warranty and eventually at end of year 3 they checked the tensioner position according to one of the many tpi's issued on this subject. It was just within spec by 1mm so no warranty fix!! Anyway I've come to realise that the main problem is leakdown from the top mounted filter when stood. There is a drain back arrangement for when the filter is removed to stop spillage, but this leaks when the engine is stood, emptying the filter and releasing the tensioner. On engines built after around June 2011 the top sprocket cover has a guide to stop the chain lifting too high and skipping the sprocket.

If the engine is built before jun 2011, many had defective chains fitted that stretched and eventually jumped the sprockets and trashed the engine.

Back to the earlier car, and its just suffered a no.3 ignition lead failure which took the expensive coil pack with it. Cost to repair in excess of £400. Its a common failure as the lead goes over the exhaust manifold, but Skoda don't accept "social media reports" and even if the dealer say they changed quite a few on certain models, again no action from VAG.

The newer engine has revised leads with trunking to protect the leads.

Briskoda has all the detail you need on Skoda fitted tsi engines. By all accounts the 1.4tsi twin charger fitted to the vrs is a disaster for many, drinking almost as much oil as fuel, and getting trashed when sparkplugs fails.

AFAIK the 1.8tsi also has some history of terminal chain failures.

Other than that they seem fine. I'll be looking at Kia next time round.

I have a 2014 Skoda Superb 1.4 tsi with a later version of the EA111 cam chain engine and:-

1) Economy great - www.spritmonitor.de/en/detail/720963.html

2) No DPF/SCR

3) No DMF

4) No concentric slave cylinder (external)

5) 2000 rpm @ 60mph

6) Performance OK (127 mph & 0-60 10.2)

7) Pulls from 1400 -6000 rpm

8) Very very quiet (silent at tickover)

However:-

Early ones (2009/10) had cam chain issues (tensioner and chain)

Regular oil changes essential (10k max - true of any cam chain) ensuring correct oil filter fitted correctly to avoid oil drain back

NEVER allow engine to turn backwards (If parking on a hill where you leave in gear - always ensure if you roll back slightly engine rotates in the running direction eg 1st pointing downhill, reverse pointing uphill)

I always run modern stressed petrol engines on higher octane fuel (light the blue touch paper and stand back!!)

Edited by Big John on 08/03/2016 at 22:22

If you look at the car warranty direct website you will see that for what ever reason Skoda rank average for cost of repairs while VW are near the bottom. Infact the bottom of the list is mainly german cars while Japan is at the top. This is partly due to costly servicing and the good will offerings when things go wrong i.e. goodwil prevents claims.

I think there's enough evidence that Japanese cars (petrol-powered at least) are generally more reliable. More of the cost goes into engineering than into cosmetics, as you can see for example in the cheaper (but perfectly sound) plastics used in the interiors of the cars.

>So are you saying that because Japanese manufacturers tend to give goodwill repairs >they are no more reliable it's just because they have less claims recorded.