Golf 1.4 TSI 150 GT DSG

[LeoSayer]

Thanks for the post, but I think the Golf SE has 125PS engine, not the 150.

[acme]

LeoSayer said:

Thanks for the post, but I think the Golf SE has 125PS engine, not the 150.

Agreed, it also doesn't have ACT, but it will be interesting to see the difference - I think VW quote something like 0.7l/100km saved with ACT, & given their overall of MPG of 60 (DSG) & my stats on test drives I'll take this equally with a pinch of salt!

[Kell]

Interesting.

My Dad's owned a succession of Diesel hatches for as long as I can remember.

I've been talking to him about moving on to a petrol VAG 1.4 something. Especially as most of his driving is in town and it's hard to get anything in which this type of driving won't foul the DPF. He prefers Fiestas, but I reckon a Polo would suit him fine.

[LeoSayer]

The latest installation of this engine is in the Golf SV (new Golf Plus).

It's around 250kg heavier than the Golf and fuel economy drops from 60mpg to 50. 0-60 drops to 8.8 seconds.

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/volkswagen/gol...

[JackReacher]

LeoSayer said:

The latest installation of this engine is in the Golf SV (new Golf Plus).

It's around 250kg heavier than the Golf and fuel economy drops from 60mpg to 50. 0-60 drops to 8.8 seconds.

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/volkswagen/gol...

Surprised it weighs that much more. But as always with these reviews quoting the official figure isn't much help is it! If they genuinely drove it why can't they give their test mpg.

I'm finding it incredibly difficult to find a 1.4 ACT to drive in a Golf/Leon/A3. I need more than a trip round the dealers 3 mile test route too. I really want to go petrol but worried that the average economy isn't going to be up to it. Our current A1 1.6tdi averages 55-60mpg on the commute doing 20,000 miles a year. That's about 73-80% of the official combined figure. If I apply that to the 1.4 ACT I'll be looking at 44-48mpg, which will cost about £460 a year more in fuel than the 1.6tdi.

I'm trying to convince myself that's a small price to pay for a refined petrol engine with more poke

[acme]

JackReacher said:

Surprised it weighs that much more. But as always with these reviews quoting the official figure isn't much help is it! If they genuinely drove it why can't they give their test mpg.

I'm finding it incredibly difficult to find a 1.4 ACT to drive in a Golf/Leon/A3. I need more than a trip round the dealers 3 mile test route too. I really want to go petrol but worried that the average economy isn't going to be up to it. Our current A1 1.6tdi averages 55-60mpg on the commute doing 20,000 miles a year. That's about 73-80% of the official combined figure. If I apply that to the 1.4 ACT I'll be looking at 44-48mpg, which will cost about £460 a year more in fuel than the 1.6tdi.

I'm trying to convince myself that's a small price to pay for a refined petrol engine with more poke

If you read back over my posts you'll see I was in a similar position - albeit I'm off setting some of the additional cost from the cheaper BIK.

I test drove some second hand ones out of VW garages, with a few miles on them it should be more representative of what you'll get once run in. Just look on AT, there are few about - rarely do you see a petrol non-GTI Golf MK7, let alone one where the letters S & I of the TSI are red (denoting it's a 140bhp one). I'd say 44-48 based on my drives is on the good side of what you can expect if driven sensibly/sedately.

However, if you're thinking about erring on the side of caution i.e. getting the diesel do NOT do what I did & test the 2.0TDI back to back with the TSI, there's no decision to be made.

Incidentally you're not comparing like for like, the 140 TSi is comparable to the 2.0TDI, get yourself onto vwaudiforum.co.uk and read the long running post in the Golf MK7 section about 2.0TDI MPG being nothing like VW claims........

Edited by acme on Monday 18th August 22:44

Edited by acme on Monday 18th August 22:44

[the-photographer]

JackReacher said:

Surprised it weighs that much more. But as always with these reviews quoting the official figure isn't much help is it! If they genuinely drove it why can't they give their test mpg.

I'm finding it incredibly difficult to find a 1.4 ACT to drive in a Golf/Leon/A3. I need more than a trip round the dealers 3 mile test route too. I really want to go petrol but worried that the average economy isn't going to be up to it. Our current A1 1.6tdi averages 55-60mpg on the commute doing 20,000 miles a year. That's about 73-80% of the official combined figure. If I apply that to the 1.4 ACT I'll be looking at 44-48mpg, which will cost about £460 a year more in fuel than the 1.6tdi.

I'm trying to convince myself that's a small price to pay for a refined petrol engine with more poke

Are you leasing using a company car payment (through your payroll / PAYE)?

Can you eliminate the £460 overhead by getting "just" a 122PS model with a cheaper lease?

For me its worth the extra, especially because of the high mileage.

[JackReacher]

the-photographer said:

Are you leasing using a company car payment (through your payroll / PAYE)?

Can you eliminate the £460 overhead by getting "just" a 122PS model with a cheaper lease?

For me its worth the extra, especially because of the high mileage.

I'll look into that, I could use salary sacrifice but they changed the rules recently and now take annual mileage into consideration, which is not great doing 20k miles a year! I've done the maths and it's cheaper for me to get a pcp privately and take cash allowance from work. The manual Leon FR is only £17,500 through a broker with lot's of kit, although if I wanted DSG I'd have to go for an A3 or golf but would be looking at over £20k for them although offset by slightly better residuals.

[the-photographer]

JackReacher said:

the-photographer said:

Are you leasing using a company car payment (through your payroll / PAYE)?

Can you eliminate the £460 overhead by getting "just" a 122PS model with a cheaper lease?

For me its worth the extra, especially because of the high mileage.

I'll look into that, I could use salary sacrifice but they changed the rules recently and now take annual mileage into consideration, which is not great doing 20k miles a year! I've done the maths and it's cheaper for me to get a pcp privately and take cash allowance from work. The manual Leon FR is only £17,500 through a broker with lot's of kit, although if I wanted DSG I'd have to go for an A3 or golf but would be looking at over £20k for them although offset by slightly better residuals.

Or the new high spec (but probably lower spec compared to the FR) Golf Match 122PS, £17,200 on Drivethedeal £18,400 with DSG.

[JackReacher]

the-photographer said:

Or the new high spec (but probably lower spec compared to the FR) Golf Match 122PS, £17,200 on Drivethedeal £18,400 with DSG.

The match does look well specced just a shame it doesn't come with the ACT engine. On paper it has a noticeable performance and economy advantage over the 122 engine, although at a cost.

I've found a Leon ACT to test drive on Monday, and dealer has assured me that we can have a decent test drive on mixed roads. Will report back.

[Terzo123]

JackReacher said:

The match does look well specced just a shame it doesn't come with the ACT engine. On paper it has a noticeable performance and economy advantage over the 122 engine, although at a cost.

I've found a Leon ACT to test drive on Monday, and dealer has assured me that we can have a decent test drive on mixed roads. Will report back.

How did the test drive go?

[JackReacher]

Terzo123 said:

How did the test drive go?

Unfortunately I had to reschedule to this Saturday, will let you know.

[JackReacher]

So I test drove a Leon 1.4 ACT today and we've decided it's the car for us. The engine really is good! It's quiet, refined, economical but also offers punchy performance when needed. We had the car on our own for about an hour, and I took the picture below at the end of the test drive. 49mpg from a petrol car offering 150bhp, it's very impressive. The car only had 750 miles on the clock so I imagine that would get better. I should say however that the roads where pretty much ideal without much traffic, which will be similar to our useage so I think this will be achievable for us but if you were doing more urban driving I'd expect low 40's. I did give the beans a few times in sport mode and it certainly has a decent amount of power.

As for the Leon itself, we've driven one a couple of times before but this engine is my far the best suited to it. It drives very well, loads of kit included, and I prefer the external look to the A3/Golf. Most of all, we like that it's a bit more individual and not just another Golf/A3. Getting back in the A1 after we didn't feel like we were getting into a more upmarket vehicle, the Leon interior has a few cheaper plastics but on the whole it still feels a quality/Germanic item. Starting up the 1.6tdi, it felt a bit prehistoric.

We will be ordering one as soon as we decide on spec. Need to negotiate with the dealer as well, they were fantastic, very helpful and we'd like to order from them. But they will need to get closer to the DTD price of £17,500.

Here is the evidence

[va1o]

Nice write up, it is indeed an exceptionally good engine. Just hope it proves more reliable than the original TSIs over time.

[JackReacher]

va1o said:

Nice write up, it is indeed an exceptionally good engine. Just hope it proves more reliable than the original TSIs over time.

Yes indeed, and with it being such new technology it's a bit of an unknown how the ACT stuff will cope long term. We plan on keeping the car a while so will probably be opting for the 5 year extended warranty, seems decent value at £430

[acme]

JackReacher said:

So I test drove a Leon 1.4 ACT today and we've decided it's the car for us. The engine really is good! It's quiet, refined, economical but also offers punchy performance when needed. We had the car on our own for about an hour, and I took the picture below at the end of the test drive. 49mpg from a petrol car offering 150bhp, it's very impressive. The car only had 750 miles on the clock so I imagine that would get better. I should say however that the roads where pretty much ideal without much traffic, which will be similar to our useage so I think this will be achievable for us but if you were doing more urban driving I'd expect low 40's. I did give the beans a few times in sport mode and it certainly has a decent amount of power.

As for the Leon itself, we've driven one a couple of times before but this engine is my far the best suited to it. It drives very well, loads of kit included, and I prefer the external look to the A3/Golf. Most of all, we like that it's a bit more individual and not just another Golf/A3. Getting back in the A1 after we didn't feel like we were getting into a more upmarket vehicle, the Leon interior has a few cheaper plastics but on the whole it still feels a quality/Germanic item. Starting up the 1.6tdi, it felt a bit prehistoric.

We will be ordering one as soon as we decide on spec. Need to negotiate with the dealer as well, they were fantastic, very helpful and we'd like to order from them. But they will need to get closer to the DTD price of £17,500.

Here is the evidence

Great that you liked it. I totally agree, after driving it in the Golf getting back in my Audi A3 1.6TDI was quite a shock! I think 49mpg is superb, and better than I got in a DSG Golf over 40 VERY sedate miles. As for 17500, that is superb, given that the Golf with DSG is 25k without discount!

[JackReacher]

acme said:

Great that you liked it. I totally agree, after driving it in the Golf getting back in my Audi A3 1.6TDI was quite a shock! I think 49mpg is superb, and better than I got in a DSG Golf over 40 VERY sedate miles. As for 17500, that is superb, given that the Golf with DSG is 25k without discount!

Yes it seems great value, especially with all the kit it comes with. It doesn't have the independent rear suspension that the golf has, or the split level boot floor, and a sligthly lower rent interior but we can cope without these.

[Terzo123]

Sounds great.

My wife has ordered an A3 SE with the same engine as a lease car through her work. We never had a test drive, as we were limited to what we could chose, although we did have a nosey about a few showrooms. Ultimately it was between the Leon and the Audi, but the wifes vote won and anything will be better than the athsmatic Nissan Qashqai we currently run.

With the reviews the 1.4 Act engine is getting im looking forward to it getting it delivered.

[JackReacher]

Terzo123 said:

Sounds great.

My wife has ordered an A3 SE with the same engine as a lease car through her work. We never had a test drive, as we were limited to what we could chose, although we did have a nosey about a few showrooms. Ultimately it was between the Leon and the Audi, but the wifes vote won and anything will be better than the athsmatic Nissan Qashqai we currently run.

With the reviews the 1.4 Act engine is getting im looking forward to it getting it delivered.

The A3 SE is probably a more sensible choice in some ways, I'm just a sucker for the extra kit on the Leon. What I find odd is that the golf only has the engine available in GT spec, and that it costs a whacking great £4k more than the Leon with the same kit. An A3 Sport kitted to the same level would cost pretty much the same as the golf. Surely in their branding structure the golf should be somewhere between the Leon and A3?

[va1o]

JackReacher said:

The A3 SE is probably a more sensible choice in some ways, I'm just a sucker for the extra kit on the Leon. What I find odd is that the golf only has the engine available in GT spec, and that it costs a whacking great £4k more than the Leon with the same kit. An A3 Sport kitted to the same level would cost pretty much the same as the golf. Surely in their branding structure the golf should be somewhere between the Leon and A3?

This is true, VW seem to reserve that engine for GT spec. It's the same story with the Polo BlueGT costing more than an A1 COD Sport