4 replies to this topic

[MrBounce]

Have owned my 2005 TDI130 Highline Bora as a daily for several years now and it's time for a change. Budget will be about £3k plus the Bora (about £500 part ex I reckon being realistic).

I would like a Golf again. I don't want another diesel and have heard good things about the 1.4 Tsi engine, especially the GT versions in 138 & 168 bhp flavours.

Can anyone offer opinions (ideally first hand experience) as a Mk5 would certainly fall nicely into the budget. Any plusses or minusses I should look for besides normal servicing and timing chain changes?

[r3k1355]

The early Tsi engines were ******* time bombs, they put them in the Cupra Ibiza's of that era, some lads were on their third engine inside of 100,000 miles.

A guy with a 1.4 Tsi wrote a very good, but very long explanation of all the problems.

 

From what I hear the engines now are fine, but it took a long time to fix the issues.

 

Link : http://www.seatcupra...ad.php?t=407682

 

 

FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEMS WITH THESE ENGINES:

 

1. Misfiring, Oil Consumption, Engine Failure

2. PCV System

3. Turbo

4. Timing Chain

5. Radiator

6. Supercharger Magnetic Clutch

[MrBounce]

Well I'd be looking at a car of 2007/8 vintage, so going by that guide it sounds like a nightmare. However, surely if the engines were that bad (going by the Seat forum guide) then nobody would buy them? Seems strange that Parkers' guide really rates the 1.4 engine, with no mention of failures or problems. I wonder how much of the "issues" were worst case scenarios, and actually not that common?

 

However a 10-year old car is likely to have either been looked after or shot to bits by now, so... I will do some more research. Thanks.

 

Edit: Timing chain issues seem to be quite a regular occurrence, especially on the twin-charged cars - thanks for the heads up 

Edited by MrBounce, 27 June 2017 - 06:52 PM.

[r3k1355]

Just seems to be luck of the draw sometimes as they obviously changed engine specs to try and solve issues.

 

There are fundamental design fault issues with components, poorly designed pistons, poorly designed injectors and spark plug layout, poorly designed crank ventilation, software bugs in the ECU.

Ends up just being a minefield as to which parts any given engine comes with.

 

of course there then could be differences between the engines given to Seat and those VW or Audi were using??

[CityEPete]

I've got a new Scirocco with the 1.4 TSI engine, it's now called the 125 instead of the old 122, it's half a second to 62 quicker, does best part of ten mpg more and costs less to tax due to the lower emissions so it was well worth getting the face lift version over say a 63 reg, they've dropped the twin charge version totally leaving quite a gap in the range which tells me enough about that engine, I'd stay away to be honest.

Edited by CityEPete, 11 July 2017 - 04:41 PM.