VAG 1.2 tsi reliability

Old diesel · 14-09-2014 12:27PM #1

Yes I know it should ideally be in the buying thread - but im in random ideas mode so wanted to leave the buying section free for those SERIOUSLY looking to buy.

But what do we think of the reliability of 1.2 tsi engines - the turbocharged 85 and 105 ps turbocharged petrols used in Skodas, VWs, Seats etc.

I know they had some issues - with timing chains and some part called a "shim" needing to be fitted to the turbos on some of them.

But has VAG got on top of any early reliability issues at this point - and thus they are now pretty reliable - or are the damn things to be avoided.

Will post a link later as to the sort of yoke im looking at

thank you

Miscreant · 14-09-2014 02:52PM

The new 1.2tsi now has a timing belt apparently. A mate just bought one from Skoda and the salesperson was at pains to point out that the timing chain issue is now resolved (by getting rid obviously). The shim in the turbo was being repaired as a "Service bulletin" instead of a recall so one would imagine that most of these engines will have had the work done by now as long as they are dealer serviced.

pbear007 · 14-09-2014 07:11PM

Nightmare!If it hasn't had the chain replaced in warranty you're looking at 700 ish for main dealer to do it .Or like me 2010 50k km you could spend 570 at an independent and then 3250 for a new engine after the twats cock the job up and the engine implodes two days later .Skoda will hum and haw and ask you to pay 70 ish to have car 'diagnosed' before considering 'goodwill'.
Shockingly bad treatment of customers by VAG over this engine / timing chain .And the new ones now have gone back to a belt ....Says it all really ...

ba_barabus · 14-09-2014 07:55PM

My mothers has been faultless, 105bhp 1.2TSI fitted to a Yeti. I highly recommend them.

dr.fuzzenstein · 14-09-2014 09:02PM

ba_barabus wrote: »

My mothers has been faultless, 105bhp 1.2TSI fitted to a Yeti. I highly recommend them.

I drove it, recommended if you're not in a hurry anywhere.
I was glad to get back into my diesel Ford and have a bit of power, rather than going 6 to 5o to 4 to 3 and finally at max rpm get a teeny bit of power out of the thing. Wheezy and zero torque.

ba_barabus · 14-09-2014 09:44PM

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

I drove it, recommended if you're not in a hurry anywhere.

You've said this before and we had a lengthy discussion about it. It really isn't my experience of them at all, that gear shifting, torque or wheeziness. They loose puff after 140kmh but I've really enjoyed hooning it around. They're not a sports car but they're a lot more sprightly than old 1.8's to drive. And at the end of the day they really are just a car for around town or backroads, not motorway (or autobahns iirc?)

I fully understand if you prefer you're diesel but I've often gotten out of my 159 diesel and into the Yeti and found it a very easy, sweet driver with a bit of pep.

I'd love to see that engine in an UP! however. I reckon it'd make a lovely little hot/warm hatch.

Old diesel · 15-09-2014 12:03PM

http://www.carzone.ie/search/Skoda/Fabia/COM-FL-A/74214092461868770/advert?channel=CARS

Had being pondering over something like the above - or a hatch version of the above with the dual paint - ie white roof and the rest of the car being red or blue

Something like this - but with a tsi engine

http://www.carzone.ie/search/Skoda/Fabia/Fl-Ambie/62114059677821350/advert?channel=CARS

May just go Fiat 500/Panda instead - IF I actually do something.

Never thought id see the day where one might think - ah I will go Fiat over VAG for RELIABILITY lol.

In saying that - I don't mind spending the money to have the chain changed - its the risk of the engine going bang id be concerned about.

In saying that - while the timing chain is an issue on this 1.2 tsi - I wonder how common it is - I note that pbbear007s car is a 2010 - which afaik is a VERY early example.

Obviously - another option is an UP - but sat in one at the ploughing last year and wasn't keen

bazz26 · 15-09-2014 12:54PM

What about a Fiesta, no turbo or timing chain to worry about:

media?xwm=y&id=b88da4b4-2db3-470c-a001-62d480139d3e&width=400&height=300

http://www.driving.ie/used-cars/Ford/Fiesta/STYLE-1.25/44013938623988760/

RandomAccess · 15-09-2014 12:55PM

Maybe I didn't get the memo but..
Weren't timing chains supposed to be our saviour from the supposedly satanic timing belt..

What went wrong???

MuppetCheck · 15-09-2014 12:56PM

RandomAccess wrote: »

Maybe I didn't get the memo but..
Weren't timing chains supposed to be our saviour from the supposedly satanic timing belt..

What went wrong???

Some might say that in many cases they are performing as intended;)

Old diesel · 15-09-2014 12:59PM

bazz26 wrote: »

What about a Fiesta, no turbo or timing chain to worry about:

http://www.driving.ie/used-cars/Ford/Fiesta/STYLE-1.25/44013938623988760/

nice one - thank you - certainly wouldn't be buying anything without at least taking a Fiesta for a spin.

dr.fuzzenstein · 15-09-2014 08:47PM

RandomAccess wrote: »

Maybe I didn't get the memo but..
Weren't timing chains supposed to be our saviour from the supposedly satanic timing belt..

What went wrong???

Beancounters. Trust them to fcuk up technology that has worked for decades, nay centuries.
If 5 p can be saved, it will be done and to hell with all those engineers and their drivel of minimum tolerances and overengineering nonsense.

Jesus. · 15-09-2014 09:16PM

Grand in a Polo or something but God knows why you'd buy an Octy or something with one

jca · 15-09-2014 10:19PM

pbear007 wrote: »

Nightmare!If it hasn't had the chain replaced in warranty you're looking at 700 ish for main dealer to do it .Or like me 2010 50k km you could spend 570 at an independent and then 3250 for a new engine after the twats cock the job up and the engine implodes two days later .Skoda will hum and haw and ask you to pay 70 ish to have car 'diagnosed' before considering 'goodwill'.
Shockingly bad treatment of customers by VAG over this engine / timing chain .And the new ones now have gone back to a belt ....Says it all really ...

I thought yours was the 1.4?

Old diesel · 17-09-2014 09:06PM

Jesus. wrote: »

Grand in a Polo or something but God knows why you'd buy an Octy or something with one

A fair point - although with the turbocharging tech - it doesn't seem to matter so much that its in a bigger Octavia - performance wise.

I was thinking about a Fabia though - and I thought a 1.2 tsi 85 or 105 ps would be ideally suited to such a car.

Not sure I want to play timing chain roulette though

Leonard Hofstadter · 17-09-2014 09:58PM

Jesus. wrote: »

Grand in a Polo or something but God knows why you'd buy an Octy or something with one

Oh come on, for years people bought Octys with a 1.4 NA petrol with a measly 74 bhp (or 79 bhp as the time passed), the 1.2 TSI has a minimum of 84 bhp and I think the Octy is only available with the more powerful 103 bhp engine, which not only is 40% more powerful than the old 1.4 that was an Irish favourite, but it is actually more powerful than the non FSI 1.6 NA - that had 101 bhp.

It also has your favourite thing - lots and lots of torque;). The 1.2 TSI 105 has 40% more torque, and from 1400 rpm it delivers its maximum 129 lb ft, whereas the old 1.4 had just 92 lb ft, and doesn't deliver this until a much higher 3800 rpm.

Even the old 1.6 AVU/BFQ engine, which has only two valves per cylinder (and eight valve engines always produce more low end torque than a multi-valve 16 valve unit) can only muster 109 lb ft.

I wouldn't buy one myself, and of course, I realise that the on-paper figures never tell the full story (if they did, there would be no point in buying a six cylinder engine over a four cylinder of equivalent power), but I think it's very disingenuous to suggest that the 1.2 TSI wouldn't be able for an Octy. Even if you're like me, and recognise that torque doesn't make a car faster, the worst it can be is no quicker than the 1.6 it replaced.

A 1.6 petrol in any small family car is a lot, lot better than the poverty spec, ultra low powered, 1.4 litre engines that were the firm favourite before the CO2 based taxation kicked in, and these new downsized petrols are at worst no better than these based on the power outputs being offered. Of course, it's not going to be what any normal country would consider fast, but this is Ireland and in Ireland a car that took nearly 16 seconds to hit 60 mph was considered fast enough, so relative to that, it should be fast enough. If I were buying an Octy, or Golf, or other VAG small family car, I'd buy the 1.4 TSI 140 with that clever cylinder deactivation technology, that would have enough power and does better mpg than the 1.2, too.

There are certainly other issues that are worth considering about small capacity units, but insufficient power (at least on paper) is not one of them.

jca · 17-09-2014 10:13PM

captainspeed wrote: »

Oh come on, for years people bought Octys with a 1.4 NA petrol with a measly 74 bhp (or 79 bhp as the time passed), the 1.2 TSI has a minimum of 84 bhp and I think the Octy is only available with the more powerful 103 bhp engine, which not only is 40% more powerful than the old 1.4 that was an Irish favourite, but it is actually more powerful than the non FSI 1.6 NA - that had 101 bhp.

It also has your favourite thing - lots and lots of torque;). The 1.2 TSI 105 has 40% more torque, and from 1400 rpm it delivers its maximum 129 lb ft, whereas the old 1.4 had just 92 lb ft, and doesn't deliver this until a much higher 3800 rpm.

Even the old 1.6 AVU/BFQ engine, which has only two valves per cylinder (and eight valve engines always produce more low end torque than a multi-valve 16 valve unit) can only muster 109 lb ft.

I wouldn't buy one myself, and of course, I realise that the on-paper figures never tell the full story (if they did, there would be no point in buying a six cylinder engine over a four cylinder of equivalent power), but I think it's very disingenuous to suggest that the 1.2 TSI wouldn't be able for an Octy. Even if you're like me, and recognise that torque doesn't make a car faster, the worst it can be is no quicker than the 1.6 it replaced.

A 1.6 petrol in any small family car is a lot, lot better than the poverty spec, ultra low powered, 1.4 litre engines that were the firm favourite before the CO2 based taxation kicked in, and these new downsized petrols are at worst no better than these based on the power outputs being offered. Of course, it's not going to be what any normal country would consider fast, but this is Ireland and in Ireland a car that took nearly 16 seconds to hit 60 mph was considered fast enough, so relative to that, it should be fast enough. If I were buying an Octy, or Golf, or other VAG small family car, I'd buy the 1.4 TSI 140 with that clever cylinder deactivation technology, that would have enough power and does better mpg than the 1.2, too.

There are certainly other issues that are worth considering about small capacity units, but insufficient power (at least on paper) is not one of them.

Very sensible post. I have a 2009 Octavia with the 1.4 TSI (122 bhp) linked to a 7 speed DSG and I'm always impressed by the amount of torque it has especially after coming from the 1.9 PD engine. I thought I was really going to struggle with it but it has a surprising turn of speed and is doing 38 mpg in terrible town driving, it easily hits the mid 40 mpg on a long journey which it rarely gets but is certainly an enjoyable car to drive:D A work colleague has a 2006 1.4 N/A petrol, a shockingly underpowered and thirsty yoke.

MuppetCheck · 17-09-2014 10:40PM

Rented a 1 litre C-Max this week, the 123bhp version. Even with 4 people and baggage there was little want in it. Only really gave up the ghost above 140 kph and one up it was lively enough.

Economy was nothing fantastic and it's not exactly silky smooth but it was driven hard and fully loaded. I honestly thought getting into it that we would be in trouble but was very pleasantly surprised.

ba_barabus · 18-09-2014 07:25AM

MuppetCheck wrote: »

Rented a 1 litre C-Max this week, the 123bhp version. Even with 4 people and baggage there was little want in it. Only really gave up the ghost above 140 kph and one up it was lively enough.

Economy was nothing fantastic and it's not exactly silky smooth but it was driven hard and fully loaded. I honestly thought getting into it that we would be in trouble but was very pleasantly surprised.

Pretty much everything I've always said about the 1.2TSI in the Yeti

VAG 1.2 tsi reliability

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