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Petrol or Diesel

offshore

New member
Location
lincolnshire
I POSTED THIS QUESTION PREVIOUSLY, BUT THINK I MAY GET MORE RESPONSE IN THIS SECTION. THANK YOU

I am thinking of buying the new estate. I know nothing about cars.

The mechanic who services my current Fiesta told me several years ago that the Golf petrol engines have timing problems, and can be a lot of expensive trouble; but that the diesel engines are excellent.

But I have started reading motoring forums, and most of the engine complaints seem to relate to diesel tubo and cold running problems.

I only do approx 12,000 miles so I assume a petrol would make more sense; have these engines improved????

Any thoughts appreciated. Thanks
 

DW58

Go Kart Champion
Not aware of any problems with Golf petrol engines of late - my almost 3-yo 1.4TSi runs like a Swiss watch, never a hiccup. My Mother recently sold her Mk.5 1.6FSi after six years with no problems whatsoever.

IMO, choosing petrol over diesel is more a case of the type of journeys you do rather than the mileage over the year. The majority of my journeys are relatively short, therefore the diesel wouldn't be suitable for me because of DPF regeneration issues etc.

I certainly wouldn't be influenced by what you heard several years ago by the bloke who services your Fiesta, there's a fair chance there's an element of both pro-Ford bias and gossip involved - remember there are a lot of VW-haters out there, 95% of whom have absolutely no experience of them whatsoever. Remember, the Golf is one if if not the most popular car sold Worldwide today.
 

dadu

Ready to race!
Location
RO
Both TSI and TDI had some minor problems (and quite expensive) but these are new generations so we can't tell much. In fact, this Golf is the only new car in the past 5-10 years...
If I'd had to choose, I'd go for the TSI (which I did). No matter the engine, bad quality diesel, low-rev rolling and DPF will always bring trouble. Not the case on TSI.
 

ept

Ready to race!
Location
Whitworth
I got the 1.4 ACT GT because I don,t do the mileage I did in my Scirocco 2.0 TDI. Anyway the new petrol engine has been a real treat to drive 2000 miles in and it,s smooth,quiet, responsive and as for the MPG is showing an excellent 47 on the MFD. So I,m one happy chappie.
 

Gerry

Ready to race!
Location
London
Hi Offshore, your mechanic was correct about costly Tsi timing issues in the past but it was mostly the twin charged engines.
The Tsi 1.4 122 only gave bother if the oil was allowed to get too low....operator fault IMHO.

Like others.....my Tsi 122 has been faultless and still sounds as sweet as a nut after 3 years in punishing City traffic.
 

Avanti

Go Kart Champion
Location
UK
I POSTED THIS QUESTION PREVIOUSLY, BUT THINK I MAY GET MORE RESPONSE IN THIS SECTION. THANK YOU

I am thinking of buying the new estate. I know nothing about cars.

The mechanic who services my current Fiesta told me several years ago that the Golf petrol engines have timing problems, and can be a lot of expensive trouble; but that the diesel engines are excellent.

But I have started reading motoring forums, and most of the engine complaints seem to relate to diesel tubo and cold running problems.

I only do approx 12,000 miles so I assume a petrol would make more sense; have these engines improved????

Any thoughts appreciated. Thanks

I'm sure I saw this post in another forum, IIRC you were asking about a 1.2 litre engine?

As for petrol vs diesel, the debate will long run on, however it is not alone that diesel have improved, petrol have improved a long way too, I would imagine that as you are talking estate, then the vehicle may often be loaded and hence the pulling power is going to 'overide' the economy in that you may find the larger more powerful engine more economical than the weaker 1.2 as you may have to labour the smaller engine more often.
 

JAT

Ready to race!
Location
Scotland
I remember back in the mid '70s when diesel cars were starting to become more common the price of diesel was around half the cost of petrol. I think it costs around half as much to refine diesel but oil companies and successive governments saw a easy way of making money and we the motorists are done yet again.
 

rawbdog

Go Kart Champion
The new diesel motor is very complex and has a new Diesel Particulate Filter design. I feel that it is just room for more problems. But it seems that VW takes very good care of its EU enthusiasts. I would recommend the diesel if you do a lot of long trips, only because if you do not the particulate filter is prone to clogging from short trips/city driving. I would definitely recommend doing some research before buying one to see if it suits your needs.
 

dipth

Ready to race!
Location
Denmark
Hi,
Do you mind telling me the price of petrol per litre you pay. Yesterday ours was £1.389.

In Denmark the prices are currently around £1.4 per litre.
I actually thought there was a bigger difference between the UK and Denmark.
 

dickt

Ready to race!
Location
Earth
The petrol vs diesel choice for a Golf Mk 7 depends on your typical journeys. If you do lots of high mileage motorway journeys, go for the diesel. If you tend to potter around towns with only 2 or 3 long journeys each year, go for the petrol. The only exception might be if you do mainly local driving, but drive to, say, the South of France each year. That might swing it to diesel.
As far as I can tell from the literature, the modern/new engines appear to be equally reliable.
 

DW58

Go Kart Champion
For me it's a bit of a no brainer to opt for petrol - I'm medically retired, live four miles out of town and most of our milage is to/from town for shopping/errands and to visit my aged mother. Occasional trips to Aberdeen/Inverness on what can't be described as good roads - it's not often we go further afield and, nearest motorway is 160 miles away, and the nearest (short) stretch of dual carriageway is 35 miles.

I think we'd struggle to get full DPF regeneration on our normal use, the 1.4TSi 122PS engine has served us well over the past three years (Mk.6) and I hope will continue for the next three (Mk.7).
 

JohnV1

Ready to race!
Location
Midlands
I'm driving over 18,000 / year so I always opt for a diesel. It's a no brainer for economy on long distance commuting. My previous Mk6 GT 140 TDi never skipped a beat, no DPF issues whatsoever over 66,000 miles and ran on bog standard supermarket diesel. The MFD regularly registered 60 - 69 mpg, briefly dropping to 51mpg when there was a foot of snow outside and -10c.

I've only driven 250 miles in my new Mk7 GT 150 TDi and there has not been a single DPF issue - there have been some terrible exaggerations about this. MFD currently registers between 56 - 62mpg so far on a tight engine. Road tax just 20 quid / year.
 

DW58

Go Kart Champion
Clearly the diesel suits you well, but imagine the 2.0TDi in my situation - I quite fancied the performance of it, but I just can't see it being practical in my situation.
 
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