1.6 diesels in larger saloons

_Brian

Herself looking to change her car.
Currently driving a 2.0tdci 140bhp Mondeo, been a great motor.

Finding online that most of the larger saloon cars are running the 1.6Diesels.

Mondeo, Octavia, Passat, Superb.
Most seem to be 105bhp.

It’s hard to believe this is a nice drive in the likes of a superb, we use it as a back up to tow the caravan and I’d be really worried about towing capacity.

Anyone with feedback on the likes of how the Superb with a 1.6 Diesel drives and economy, car does 30-35k miles a year. Are they a reliable engine.

Heres Johnny

I drove the 1.6 diesel superb one day it belonged to a friend. Drove it across the country and found it fine. This was a 2012 model car. I thought I'd hate it but I didn't. No real overtaking like in it but just driving along normally it was fine. Did have to work it a bit to get up to speed but bear in mind i was driving an e39 BMW 525i with 192bhp at the time and i still found the superb ok.

Would I buy one? No, not a hope. Would I recommend one to a friend or family member not really into cars just wanted something reliable and economical? Yes I probably would.

Just to note that car left him stranded in Kerry one day the clutch went completely. Was only about a year old at the time but I'd treat that as an isolated incident.

Toyotafanboi

Yeah, in all reality they are perfectly competent. Good gearing helps them. They drive every bit as well as a 1.9/ 2.0 diesel from the previous decade would.

colm_mcm

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

Yeah, in all reality they are perfectly competent. Good gearing helps them. They drive every bit as well as a 1.9/ 2.0 diesel from the previous decade would.

I wouldn't go that far! Even say a 100bhp 1.9 B5.5 or even B6 Passat will feel like a race car compared to a current model Passat 1.6 TDI, Mondeo 1.5, 1.7 i40 etc.

I would agree that they're not as bad as you'd imagine though. I was driving a 1.5 Mondeo for a few months and it was surprisingly good for what it was. There's no low down power though, so say in an older diesel where it would just pull from 800rpm, it won't do that. The engine even revs up itself when you let the clutch out so it won't stall. Very annoying if there's someone crossing the road and you let the clutch up, sounds like you're revving the car up!

They're engineered to drive just fine, but it's down to careful selection of gear ratios and mapping, I think these engines are actually under a lot of extra stress once you throw extra passengers, back roads or a hard right foot into the equation. This wouldn't have been as much of an issue on older cars.
If you're not in a hurry and your needs are basic enough, then there's nothing wrong with them, in the same way that a 1.6 petrol Passat/Avensis was grand a few years ago.

_Brian

colm_mcm wrote: »

I wouldn't go that far! Even say a 100bhp 1.9 B5.5 or even B6 Passat will feel like a race car compared to a current model Passat 1.6 TDI, Mondeo 1.5, 1.7 i40 etc.

I would agree that they're not as bad as you'd imagine though. I was driving a 1.5 Mondeo for a few months and it was surprisingly good for what it was. There's no low down power though, so say in an older diesel where it would just pull from 800rpm, it won't do that. The engine even revs up itself when you let the clutch out so it won't stall. Very annoying if there's someone crossing the road and you let the clutch up, sounds like you're revving the car up!

They're engineered to drive just fine, but it's down to careful selection of gear ratios and mapping, I think these engines are actually under a lot of extra stress once you throw extra passengers, back roads or a hard right foot into the equation. This wouldn't have been as much of an issue on older cars.
If you're not in a hurry and your needs are basic enough, then there's nothing wrong with them, in the same way that a 1.6 petrol Passat/Avensis was grand a few years ago.

I drove a 1.7 i40 to Sligo and back and it was the most awful drive of my life, pure dead and a car that wallowed about the roads. The worst driving experience ever

colm_mcm

The Passat is worse again, in terms of power anyway.
Again it's all relative. When your Mondeo was a thing you could have gotten a 1.6/1.8 TDCI version too which would have been slower than your 2.0

_Brian

I had been hoping to move to a Superb but realised when we started researching that 2.0 Diesels are really rare, it’s awfully disappointing.

She’s still considering a VW Tiguan 2wd, I’ve a 4motion version myself and while the boot space is tight she likes the drive otherwise.

bazz26

Plenty of them in the UK.

ianobrien

I had the pleasure of driving a Seat Leon (hire car) with the 1.6 diesel (smaller than the Superb, but same engine) and it was bloody terrible. It had no low down grunt, top end grunt and drank diesel (as it had to be driven with very wide throttle openings all the time to make progress). It was almost impossible to overtake unless you had LOTS of space due to the lack of grunt.


On the other hand, sitting at a steady 85 to 90km/h, it was quiet and economical. But you can't drive at steady 90km/h all the time.........

whippet

I have about 340,000km done on a 2011 superb 1.6 and it hasn’t missed a beat. It is returning an average of 58.9mpg (as per last 150k recorded on the Fuelly app).

It is no racehorse, won’t give a thrilling drive, won’t have you looking for the back roads but it will get you around in extreme comfort with economy. It’s my daily workhorse and has had several trips to the south of France with four of us and luggage on board with no problems.

Apart from a rear brake light and a leaky water pump at 250k it has cost nothing outside of normal servicing.

All the tech still works perfectly ... hopefully I’ll put another couple of hundred thousand km on to the clock before she dies.

colm_mcm

whippet wrote: »

I have about 340,000km done on a 2011 superb 1.6 and it hasn’t missed a beat. It is returning an average of 58.9mpg (as per last 150k recorded on the Fuelly app).

It is no racehorse, won’t give a thrilling drive, won’t have you looking for the back roads but it will get you around in extreme comfort with economy. It’s my daily workhorse and has had several trips to the south of France with four of us and luggage on board with no problems.

Apart from a rear brake light and a leaky water pump at 250k it has cost nothing outside of normal servicing.

All the tech still works perfectly ... hopefully I’ll put another couple of hundred thousand km on to the clock before she dies.

Have you had the emissions fix done?

whippet

colm_mcm wrote: »

Have you had the emissions fix done?

No ... had a couple of letters .. but if it ain’t broke don’t fix it ... my yoke is serviced by the same mechanic every 15k and nothing will change

Leonard Hofstadter

I drove a brand new B7 1.6 TDI Passat a few years ago for about 1100 km around the country.

It was one of the most frustrating drives I ever had - that engine is terrifyingly slow - and it ruined what was otherwise a really nice car - it even handled surprisingly well for a large front wheel drive car.

I only got 50 mpg on a mix of country roads and 80 km/h driving as well as main roads at 100 km/h and some motorways, which wasn't great considering I got 46 mpg from a 2.0 diesel Mondeo and I drove that exclusively on motorways and at even higher speeds.

I simply wouldn't recommend such a tiny engine, now they're grand if you're not in any hurry and drive slowly, but if you're used to a 2.0 diesel you will be disappointed.

Squeaksoutloud

Interesting reading this. I have an order in for New Passat highline and in the end settled on the 1.6 engine. Really mulled over the 2.0 for a long time but from my affordability point of view the 1.6 was just where i needed to be. Hope I don't regret it in a few years time. Also with the 18 inch alloys and 2.0 it pushes the car into a higher tax bracket and vrt band..not sure if this affects the €2200 premium to move up to 2.0 though. Got confusing there.

I actually had the B8 1.6 for 3 weeks and didn't find it too bad in the end especially for motorway cruising. Was averaging around 58 mpg which is what is on honest john webpage vs 50 on the 2.0. Thought they would be more similar.

Also looked through boards and I saw some comments (R.O.R.?!) saying the B8 1.6 wasn't too bad actually so went with it. Obviously would prefer the 2.0 but think I'll have to stick with it.

Ye have me thinking now maybe I'll see if it can be changed as no build date yet! Expecting early March delivery.

Audioslaven

captainspeed wrote: »

I drove a brand new B7 1.6 TDI Passat a few years ago for about 1100 km around the country.

It was one of the most frustrating drives I ever had - that engine is terrifyingly slow - and it ruined what was otherwise a really nice car - it even handled surprisingly well for a large front wheel drive car.

I only got 50 mpg on a mix of country roads and 80 km/h driving as well as main roads at 100 km/h and some motorways, which wasn't great considering I got 46 mpg from a 2.0 diesel Mondeo and I drove that exclusively on motorways and at even higher speeds.

I simply wouldn't recommend such a tiny engine, now they're grand if you're not in any hurry and drive slowly, but if you're used to a 2.0 diesel you will be disappointed.

I would have a similar opinion to you on a C5 with the 1.6 HDI. It was fine on motorway once you had the speed up but on country roads very frustrating