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I am considering one of these and wonder which one to get second hand. I do less than 10000 a year but am coming from a Fabia VRS with a very grunty engine so leaning towards the Diesel ( which also seems to hokd its value better than the petrol). which one though is best? Should I go for a PD model whose technology seems to be tough and dependable or buy a CR which is smoother but puts me off because of the horror stories of huge bills when cr goes wrong.Apparently it's power delivery is not as exciting as the pd either. Alternatively should I just look at a tfsi petrol?
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If i'm not mistaken, all the 170ps Octavia VRS models are CR - only early ones had the 140 PD engine - so power choice there.
I think the petrol model has a lot to commend it. Lightness, smoothness, more exciting & sonorous top-end power, ~200lb/ft of torgue from 2-4K rpm - and economy is (apparently) mid-30s.
No diesel 'worries' or DMF either (not quite sure about lack of DMF though?).
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I have simulataneousyly run a petrol and diesel vRS (2008 models) along with a 2007 BMW 320 and we service and repair VAG cars so I regularly drive all models including the Fabia vRS.
Without a doubt, with your mileage, you should go for the 2.0 TFSI petrol it knocks the spots off any diesel. Its a cracking engine (won some big engine award in 2009?). It has the torque delivery of a diesel with the wide power band and smoothness of a petrol. Not only that, but being lighter it means that the car handles a bit better too. Expect mid-20's mpg around town and mid-30's in rural or long journey work. We also find it a bit more reliable than the diesel.
Only things to watch are wear on the fuel pump follower (especially on early cars, before the hardening on the cam was improved) - DO NOT run these on long life servicing and check for evidence of regular oil changes.
other thing is the ABS/ESP unit failure which affects a whole load of cars including the Golf-chassis cars up to about 2008 (when the unit was improved).
The TFSI engine takes very well to remapping and you can easily go to 240bhp with a REVO stage 1 map.
You can also do other mods very cheaply (e.g Audi short shifter £20 from your dealer and 20 minures to fit). Whiteline rear ARB, £150 and 40 minutes to fit. Whiteline front antilift kit, about £150 and 1.2 hours to fit.
With those mods you will have an absolutely cracking and reliable car.
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Autocar ran a 170 Diesel VRS last year and had to take the car back several times to the dealer with the dreaded clogged up DPF.
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Thank you, especially to the technician who replied. I think you may well be right. I am in with the Briskoda lot and have driven early PD 170 vrs and the later cr. The PD has the fairly brutal lunging delivery of my Fabia but stronger, the cr much more civilised and rapid. The petrol seems to be a far less popular option on the site but I will have to drive one. I know the engine got a lot of praise in the Golf and I think your response has tipped me into looking out for petrol cars. I was worried about a loss of low down "whummph" but the torque looks healthy and I must admit to missing the reach of a petrol engine.
Thanks a lot!
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I ran the 170PD in an A4 and couldn't recommend this engine, the CR is significantly better IMHO. I didn't have any DPF related problems but it struggled to give 40mpg, drank expensive oil and had very peaky / narrow power delivery (which improved over the course of several ECU software updates to be fair). It's very unrefined too.
On the low-speed torque, this was perhaps its biggest failing, I often had to resort to 1st gear even from a rolling start at roundabouts to avoid stalls or being caught 'off boost' in front of other traffic - makes smooth progress difficult and tiresome. I didn't find this in the CR version or (indeed) older 1.9PDs I've driven, can't comment on the 140PD.
Edited by idle_chatterer on 09/02/2010 at 21:25
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You will not be short of torque on the TFSI trust me! The problem will be getting traction - they have plenty of torque and power and are borderline for really needing four-wheel-drive like the Impreza if you remap to 240bhp. The TFSI remaps so well its a no brainer, try REVO, about £500. I would caution against the hi-flo fuel pumps that some drivers fit, we have seen some nasty engine damage where the plunger fails.
The CR are worth it if you are racking up the miles, but frankly at 10k pa I wouldn't bother. We are also hearing they are less reliable, with a lot of injector swap-outs under warranty, not to mention the DPF problems that bug some cars.
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I've been looking at these lately so the comments interest me. I reckon to do 14k miles a year, so the fuel is a bit of an issue. My friends Golf Gti returns about 28, my Golf 2 litre Diesel 50. That's about £1100 a year. I'm sure if I were honest that I'd rather drive the petrol, and the torque argument is becoming rather invalid, the petrol now has it too, but I don't think I'd be happy at the consumption. For someone on 10k miles a year that petrol's looking very tempting indeed. Can't say I'd be banking on 30 mpg with brisk driving though, and it'd be ironic to then try and drive economically when you bought the car partly for it's performance.
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Hi, a few years ago I had a Fabia vRS chipped to 170 bhp and swapped it for an Octavia VRS TFSi. The Octavia is miles better all round - much better built, different league faster, smoother, a very good handler and fantastic brakes. That engine is a real peach with bags of torque. The Fabia is a fun car to own beacuse it constantly surprises with its eager torquey performance and it seems to ride like a bigger car on the motorway and still gives 50mpg but IMO the brakes are only adequate (see how many people on Briskoda upgrade them) and it understeers quite early on if you push it and although it feels it, it isn't that quick - but still bags of fun and cheap to own. The Octavia is a real Q car and is very well sorted. I had mine remapped by Revo up to 250 bhp and had no torque steer problems and the chassis and brakes were more than up to it. Before the inevitable rush - Yes I did inform my insurance companies - about 10% loading each time.
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they have plenty of torque and power and are borderline for really needing four-wheel-drive
Thats interesting WT. A friend of mine has a petrol VRS and is waiting for Skoda to produce a four-wheel-drive version, he thinks it could do with it, although his is not remapped.. But he loves the car, despite having a BMW 3.0D which is wife drives, and a Mercedes coupe and an Audi A5 previously. Lovely to drive, light on it's feet and light controls. He's had it about 3 years, and no problems.
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the ABS/ESP unit failure which affects a whole load of cars includingthe Golf-chassis cars up to about 2008 (when the unit was improved).
That nugget of information is much appreciated! I've tracked down plenty of references to that problem but until now no indication of when it was resolved. So I will now be looking for a post-2008 Octavia...
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I was told by our TPS agent (who supplies VAG parts to the trade) that the ABS units were modified early 2008, so cars built after about Feb/March 2008 should be OK (or at least much less likely to fail). Note that this is BUILD date, which can be 6 months or more before reg. date on a Skoda or VW. I have even seen some built a year before registration. Check build date by looking at date codes (e.g. on hoses and plastic mouldings etc).
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I agree with the comments about TFSi over TDi for 10k per annum, on the other hand the TDi will probably hold its value better.
Reckon I would rather have a Golf though.
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Reckon I would rather have a Golf though.
The Golf might be a slightly better car in absolute terms but, speaking as a very recent Octavia convert, if the mttbod's budget only allows him to get 2nd hand anyway, he'll get a MUCH newer Octavia for his money than a Golf, and surely you have to factor that in. That's what sold it to me over the Golf.
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We had a 200bhp 2.0 TFSI Leon 2 a few years ago, and thought the engine was fantastic. Economy wasn't its strong point, but that wasn't an issue on our mileage. We've never owned a diesel.
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We had a 200bhp 2.0 TFSI Leon 2 a few years ago and thought the engine was fantastic. Economy wasn't its strong point
These are 200-250PS engines that deliver no worse than 24mpg in the city and an easy 35mpg out fo town, I reckon thats pretty good compared with any other petrol engine of similar power. Jump into a Focus ST or Mazda 3MPS and see how many MPG you get.
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