Automatic car 1.2 L petrol- does it make any sense?

dinneenp

Hi,

Changing car soon and looking at an automatic (Skoda Octavia petrol). Someone said to me that 1.2 is way too small to pull a large car with an auto gearbox.

Is there any truth in this? I presume what he means is that it'll be sloooooow when accelerating as it's a small engine- correct? I'm not looking for a speedy car, not bothered if overtaking on the motorway won't be extremely quick (hence the Octavia 1.2L 😄) so wouldn't be bothered by this.

Thanks,

Patrick.

marty whelan

What do you have currently? The Octavia will probably be quicker. It will be fine, go for it.

Buddy Bubs

Was this person older? There are still some hangups with older generations with auto gearboxes.

No, its not going to be a rocket by any stretch but it will be fine for day to day stuff. These smaller engines start to struggle once you are over motorway speeds, there wont be a huge kick from 100 kmph onwards but it will get you up to 120kmph and sit happily there all day. Missus has a 1.4 automatic golf and theres plenty of go in it. Day to day stuff its as usable as my 2.0 tdi Audi. Motorway stuff the Audi would eat it alive, but thats to be expected.

Test drive it though to see if its suitable for you, which is most important rather than what I, or anyone else thinks. What type of car and engine are you driving at the moment?

dinneenp

I currently have a 2009 Saab 93 1.9L diesel which goes like a bullet.

Person is same age as me (mid 40's) but is a petrol-head, I was about to dismiss what he said but posted here to double check. Thanks!

bazz26

People still have old school thinking and measure the power output of an engine by it's capacity. There are so many factors today that make that train of thought incorrect. Most modern engines have forced induction ie a turbo as well as the car construction being made from lighter materials than cars from a decade or older meaning smaller capacity engines these days are actually more powerful than larger capacity engines from yesteryear. So you cannot judge the power of an engine on capacity alone.

Also automatic gearboxes have moved on since the days of clunky 3 or 4 speed autos mostly driven by visiting American tourists. Some modern day automatics are more efficient than their manual counterparts.

Glaceon

My wife has a Kamiq and before that she had a Fabia, both 1.0 turbo automatics. She never once complained about the performance.

whippet

i've driven an octavia with that engine and it was perfectly fine .. I only had it for a couple of days as a rental.

However, in germany a few years back I had a 1l mondeo estate and it was horrendous. Not too bad pottering around the citys / towns but once out on the open road, hills or motorways it was awful.

R.O.R

Quite an interesting video on people's reactions to the 1 Litre engine that replaced the 1.2 in the Octavia - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXrjpWZFpiQ

afatbollix

The smaller petrol engines in big cars have to do more to offer the same driving style to a normal car.

Just sold my Kuga that was a 1.5L petrol the same one that's in a Fiesta ST and it really did have to work to get moving. A friend had it in the Fiesta ST and did about 45MPG, I did 30MPG. So bear that in mind.

Stallingrad

Think you would be surprised if you drove one, it's quite a perky unit and the DSG is a fine thing. For 90% of daily use it will be fine. The smaller capacity turbo units struggle somehwhat when loaded, so 4 up with luggage and it will be a bit slow and thirsty, but as you say, if you're not too bothered by that then go for it.