Viewing 27 posts - 1 through 27 (of 27 total)
  • 1.4TSi engines – worth avoiding?
  • legend
    Free Member

    Been thinking recently about buying a Skokda Fabia VRS circa 2011/2012 as I could do with a 5-door run around whilst trying to be tight with the budget and still sticking to me boy-racer/chav/ned ways.

    There are a few of these for sale (reasonably) nearby and I was thinking about having a look. Then I started seeing all the stuff about oil consumption and the twin-charger engine. However…. this may have been fixed by the second lot of engines, and its just the ones with serial numbers starting “CAVE” that are to be avoided. Seems like quite a few of the early ones have actually been re-engined under warranty!

    Cars are at dealers, so there is always the messy possibilty of rejecting it if it’s drinking oil. It would definitely be better to buy a car not expecting to have to try and send it back though.

    Any expertise/thoughts/scare-stories on these engines here?

    Cheers

    simon_g
    Full Member

    I had one for a couple of years (CAVE engine) and it was fine. If you look at briskoda you’d think they’re all terrible but plenty are still running OK.

    The combination of that engine and the DSG gearbox would have me thinking about a 3rd party warranty though.

    andybrad
    Full Member

    got the turbo tsi golf.

    its ok.

    09 plate single owner 45k and things are starting to drop off it.

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    arcing
    Free Member

    I wouldn’t go near one again with a barge pole. We had a 1.4Tsi in a 2006 Tiguan. We bought it with 60k on the clock, fullVWsh and one lady owner. In two years of ownership we had a headbolt sheer (£1700), clutch slave cylinder problems (£250), new water pump (£700), and when we got rid the valve seals where on their way out.

    They feel like overpowered fragile engines.

    allthegear
    Free Member

    Mine was fab – amazing car! Fabia VRS.

    I had one with the engine number starting CTHE. Didn’t use any more oil than any other modern engine. Around 40mpg on mostly long runs and plenty of performance for me.

    Rachel

    theteaboy
    Free Member

    We’ve had one in a 2011 Octavia for the last 5 years with no problems at all.

    big_scot_nanny
    Full Member

    Had one for 4 years in a Touran, was absolutely fine most of the time, except under abnorammly heavy loads and strain it would have a fit and go into that get home safe mode thingy.

    Which is of course ironic, as having the engine cut most power whilst on an uphill gradient on a motorway with bloody great trucks battering up behind you is anything but bloody safe.

    Stop. Turn everything off. Start again with no problems. Odd, and never diagnosed.

    Three times it happened were with a very full car (bikes on back, roof box on top, kids, dog, holiday luggage etc or similar) trying to get up a steep is motorway hill at 70mph.

    plyphon
    Free Member

    Prior to 2009 (iirc) there were a lot of issues with the 1.4TSI from Vag group that I believe (again, iirc) culminated in some lawsuits and a statement from head of the UK at VW.

    But I believe they made amendments to the engine that fixed most issues for the 59 plate onwards.

    Again, this is as far as I can recall. I can’t remember specifics, or if any of this is true.

    FWIW, we have a 09 plate 1.4TSI for a year with DSG – the mechatronics went on the DSG but VW covered the price (£1800!) as it was a well documented fault with statements from VW on etc etc …

    I had a ’59 2.0 TSI DSG and it was flawless for the year I had it.

    Cars are cars init, you roll the dice every time

    glenh
    Free Member

    I’ve heard that the twin charger engines have proven quite unreliable.

    However, I’ve had 4 cars with various versions of the single charged (turbo only) 1.4tsi and all have been faultless.

    p.s. I went to my local garage to get my tyres changed last week and they had a fabia VRS (twin charger 1.4) there with the the engine in pieces, and it didn’t look like it had moved in a while….

    munrobiker
    Free Member

    You are right to be a bit wary of the CAVE age engines (2010-2013) but it shouldn’t put you off buying one – they’re the best value way to get into a good hot supermini of that era (the Fiesta ST pre 2010 is not a great car).

    CAVE engines can drink oil, do your research about the car you are looking at, check the service history carefully and avoid anything without FSH. Check to see if any warranty work has been done, by calling Skoda if necessary.

    Evo did a good buyer’s guide in their May 2017 issue that really nicely explains the things to look for and the things to avoid.

    https://www.magzter.com/GB/Dennis-Publishing/Evo/Automotive/216127

    It’s a much more balanced view than you would get from Briskoda (there’s a few posters on there who seem to think buying a Fabia VRS will see the world grind to a halt).

    I had a CTHE engined 63 plate one in meteor grey that I really liked, with the caveat that compared to the latest hot superminis like the current Fiesta ST and Peugeot 208 GTI it isn’t as good to drive. The automatic is very divisive but with paddle shift you have as much control over the gears as you want. They’re massive for the size of car they are – we could fit a tandem and three folk in it. The supercharger means it feels much faster than similar cars from take off – there’s no lag like in a turbo car. Steering is a bit lacking in feel. They’re well built, though, and you can explore the limits in them relatively easily.

    Mine was written off in June and I replaced it with a Peugeot 208 GTI, despite looking at more VRSs. The Peugeot is a nice place to sit, it feels like a much more expensive car, and it handles better than the VRS. It has a few French quirks that annoy me and doesn’t feel as high quality in terms of fit and finish but it is the better car. If the VRSs you’re looking at are over £7k this is what I’d look at. You certainly don’t have to do anywhere near as much investigation when you buy one as you do with a VRS.

    legend
    Free Member

    Thanks folks, some very useful info so far!

    The 2 cars I’m currently looking at are:

    https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201709189416922

    https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201711020896185

    The white one is 10mins away so will need to go have a chat with the garage I reckon (at least it’s not Arnold Clark, but it is white unfortunately). There’s then also the chance of doing a deal on warranty with the garage to make sure any issues are sorted. I’ve emailed the other garage about the black one, will be interesting to see if/how they respond.

    In terms of how good the car itself is, I’m not that bothered really as it’ll be better than a normal shopping car and spend most of it’s time commuting anyway. Will need to get that copy of Evo I reckon…

    allfankledup
    Full Member

    I nearly bought a car through one of Arnold’s dealers down in Linwood. Test drive was ok, asked them to check a couple of things over on the car mechanically. Paid a deposit to secure the vehicle.

    The garage checked it – decided the mechanical shortcomings were too much to repair and still return the required profit, so sent the car off to auction.

    Then took me 3 weeks to get my deposit back from the garage.

    Would not recommend them to anyone.

    munrobiker
    Free Member

    Legend – neither of those look horrendous. The oil issue tends to appear at about 30,000 miles so those cars will likely either have oil issues you’ll notice within the dealer’s warranty period or be fine.

    molgrips
    Free Member

    Worth remembering re DSG mechatronics – they can be refurbished and repaired, even if VW don’t want to do it. There’s a place in Nottingham that will do it something like £500. However you’d need an indy to remove and refit it for you if you aren’t handy with the spanners. If you are, you can even repair them yourself. Actually very well designed for fixing.

    Admittedly not what you want to hear if you want trouble-free motoring. But I don’t think that they are that unrelaible these days are they? They are probably better now than they were originally.

    munrobiker
    Free Member

    I’d make sure they’ve had the gearbox oil done at that age – it should be done at 40,000 miles.

    legend
    Free Member

    Noted, will keep an eye out thanks. Another thing that seems to lead to a bit of confusion is the timing belt. Figuring at that age and mileage is should really be done though? (aware that there is a potential can of worms to be opened from that question)

    munrobiker
    Free Member

    It’s a chain, no belt to replace.

    RichT
    Full Member

    I have had a 1.4 TSI touran for 10 years (107k miles). The timing chain has needed replacing twice and is expensive.

    legend
    Free Member

    munrobiker – Member

    It’s a chain, no belt to replace.

    That helps!

    cp
    Full Member

    Not sure what the obsession is with timing chains – I’ve had way more issues with chains than belts.

    legend
    Free Member

    I’ve not had issues with either, but its just one less thing to look for in the service book

    sidders34
    Free Member

    We’ve got a 2010 fabia vrs estate with 35k on the clock. Owned it for 2 years now as my wife’s runaround/ dog/ bike wagon. It has really surprised me and is a great little (surprisingly spacious) car.

    You do have to check the oil every couple of weeks as it does use a little bit. I think Skoda quote 1/2 litre per 1000km is normal. Ours is a cave and is under that.

    Gearbox oil does not need to be changed at 40k. It is for life though there was a recall to replace the oil for mineral oil rather than synthetic (or other way round) there should be a stamp in the book and a sticker in the spare wheel well or door jam if it has been done.

    It is definitely an eye’s wide open purchase as the engine and dsg box can be expensive if they go wrong. You can buy a warranty from Skoda website with all parts cover, we pay £18 MONTH FOR a bit more piece of mind.

    For us it is the only small powerful estate on the market and don’t know what we will replace it with when the time comes. Suspect we will run it into the ground.

    Chris

    molgrips
    Free Member

    Gearbox oil does not need to be changed at 40k. It is for life

    DSG?

    That must be the dry clutch version if so? Wet clutch one does need oil changes.

    dusterbenny
    Free Member

    I’ve owned a 13 plate ibiza 1.4tsi for around a year, it’s been pretty much spot on. Slightly higher oil consumption than other cars but not at all that bad (around a litre per 700 miles).

    I read to avoid CAVE engines so found a CTHE one which has the same map with some hardware changes.

    Run it on 98/99 unleaded and averages just under 50 to the gallon on my commute.

    Also yes the DSG boxes in these are the dry versions and do not require oil changes.

    bigdean
    Full Member

    On a similar note the vauxhall 1.4 turbo engine has problems with detonation. Load at low speed can break pistons due to detonation.
    Also there seems to be common problem with direct injection engines coking up. Aparently moveing the injector to the cylinder takes away the side effect of cleaning the reverse of the valves.

    rj2dj
    Free Member

    Have had two 1.4 TSI, both in VW Golf mk5, both in the smaller single turbo form.

    Manual 6 speed: Great engine and box. 40mpg+ without trying. No oil consumption between services. Generally quite fun to drive too, as much as FWD 120bhp family hatch could ever be.

    Auto dry-clutch 7 speed: No end of problems. Timing chain went due to manufacturing intolerances. No contribution on a 5 year old car always dealer serviced. Then the mechanatronic unit went. Painful.

    munrobiker
    Free Member

    I read to avoid CAVE engines so found a CTHE one which has the same map with some hardware changes.

    The reckoning is that the CTHE engine is more powerful than the CAVE, and both more powerful than the advertised 178bhp. Rumour has it a CTHE is around 190.

Viewing 27 posts - 1 through 27 (of 27 total)

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