Following on from my recent thread asking for car advice I think I have decided that the 1.4 TFSI VAG cars offer a nice blend of performance, mpg, practicality and “niceness”.

Anybody here got anhy experience of them? Is there anything I need to look out for?

I’m torn between 140bhp and 170bhp flavours – any gotchas I should be aware of with either one?

It will most likely be a mk5 Golf, or maybe a Leon as the missus likes the way they look, doubt we will go for an A3 as they aren’t as good value. Most likely a manual, as though the DSG is fun for 5 minutes, I fear the bill if it goes wrong.

Thanks in advance.

Stu.

It will most likely be a mk5 Golf, or maybe a Leon as the missus likes the way they look, doubt we will go for an A3 as they aren’t as good value

it will when you come to sell it on, the Leon will depreciate like a citroen, the Golf will be not as good as the audi but you’ll have to deal with dealers that are behaving like they’re selling veyron’s, The Audi anyway for me but it wouldn’t be 1.4 TFSi it’d be a derv. Too thirsty.

I’m think I’m unlikely to be doing enough mileage for the Diesel to be worthwhile. Likely to be doing quite a few short trips in it too, which I am led to believe can lead to trouble in the diesels?
Happy to be corrected on this.

I have a MK 6 Golf GT 160 with that engine. I do not do enough miles to warrant a diesel. I get over 50 mpg on a run and 42 average running around locally.
It does shift when I want it to, and it has the economy as well.

The A3 is being replaced next year.

I have a 1.4FSI polo and have had a shot in a 1.4 TFSI A3, have wanted to shove a turbo on my car since. I know it is not practical to do so but the extra power in the A3 was so nice over my normal 1.4FSI.

Don’t know anything about the TFSI engine but in general my FSI has been good, oil is expensive for it if you go for the long life stuff, coil packs go as they do in every other car and can be pricy but my engine has a timing chain so no belt to change which made up for the 2 coil packs going at 50K miles.

The Audi 1.4TFSi is generally turbo only; some of the VW engines are the TSi twin-charger engines that combine supercharger and turbocharger. Worth making sure that you know what you’re looking at in each car from each brand.

We’ve had A3 1.4TFSi and an A1 1.4TFSi (the 120hp turbo rather than the 180hp twin-charger version) – both as the other half’s company cars. Both had reasonable-enough get-up-and-go to get-up-and-go if/when needed, even if they weren’t going to set the world on fire. Fuel consumption wasn’t stellar if you were making an effort (30-35mpg average on the trip computer over the time we had the A3), and typically further from the quoted figures than for the equivalent diesels. Perfectly acceptable for normal driving in something of the size of an A3/Golf/Octavia though.

I can’t comment on long-term ownership though, neither having been our responsibility, or on our driveway for an extended period.

DSG is really smart a lot of the time but frustrating at others – personal choice.

Skoda? 1.4tfsi in our yeti, got 44mpg on the French motorways recently.

Dealers I spoke to said that it was extremely difficult to get the govt mpg figures in a tfsi, even with trying. He said he was getting 35mpg in his Golf. Ok so he might’ve still been driving poorly but there you go.

if you’re buying new, there was a mass shortage of these engines earlier in the year – something like a 9 month waiting time.

reviews suggest they’re a little un-civilised, which is fine on the smaller cars, but a bit jarring on larger\smoother vehicles.

There are a few issues of Seat/Skoda issues with the DSG mated to the 1.4T engine. Noisy apparently and there is no ‘fix’.

We have a 1.4TSI touran (super and turbo), with the a 190bhp tune they sell here in CH, with the DSG box.

having owned many motors from mk2 golf, WRXs, audi 3.0 autos, big saabs, this is an absolutely brilliant car and combo.

I don,t drive much now (benefits of living in Basel), so it’s mostly for the missus, but as an engine/gearbox combo it is extemely good. Econmoical of you want, punchy when you need, gearbox is fab when you want to take control. Maybe a bit jerky when first pulling away, but apart from that, fabulous.

Kev

I’ve got a Fabia vRS which is the 1.4 TFSI. It goes like stink! It does 32-36mpg around town. It drinks oil at an alarming rate. The MPG and the oil consumption should improve the more miles I do (sub 3k at the mo…)

The DSG gearbox is unbelievable around town, you cannot tell when it changes gear, and hill starts are a breeze..Mine does have a hesitency when pulling out of from roundabouts and there are horror stories of the boxes failing. Tiptronic mode/Flappy paddles are brilliant.

Personally I wouldn’t own one outside of warranty

It drinks oil at an alarming rate

Keep an eye on that. I wouldn’t accept any modern car with an oil thirst. Regardless of what a dealership would tell you.

Even in the breaking in stage (if one such thing still exists). Oil thirst can lead to clogging of the sump(?) and ultimately a new bottom end to the engine.

Mate bought one . They leak oil from rocker cover area , and this spreads down to the ignition system and that fails.
AA recovery man said it was a common fault so back it went to VAG as it was under warranty .
Next time it did it was fixed and went on Autotrader and he bought himself a V8 quattro A6.
To be fair it was quick , but not very ,, and economical, but not very . or reliable either ( twin charged version)