Older VAG TDi engines

aston

The Torque Meister
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Location
South Dorset
Car
VOLVO and VW
Did I read correctly in my old 1999 Parkers buying guide that the vw 1.9 TDi engine in the Golf, Ibiza and Cordoba gives an average of 57mpg? Are these engines good?
 
The pre PD engines were excellent units and by many are regarded as being better in terms of longevity than the PD ones. A special mention goes to the 150bhp 2.5 TDi V6 which first saw the light of day in 1998.
 
interesting, are the pd engines problematic? looking pre pd it seems the 110bhp offered good power combined with economy, especially in the Seat Ibiza, under of the VAG umbrella looking back 10 to 13 years which sre regarded as the sportier drive or drivers choice, Seat, Skoda or VW (I left Audi out intentionally as I only favour the A8 from that era and from an economy point of view it just doesn't cut it)
 
I've always found the 4 cylinder PDs to be quite coarse. They're capable of remarkable fuel economy but apparently are prone to camshaft wear and cambelt changes are astonishingly frequent.
 
hi aston & HDI fun my pd engine has had the e g r manifold fail allowing water to enter the engine possibly as steam. is this something you have come across before? as for smoothness it has always felt okay with the automatic box and gentle driving ie up to 3000 revs as norm
 
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VAg egrs are water cooled so yeah... could have been a problem

2.5 tdi's used a Bosch VE system with some form of ECU control,
early 1.9 tdis use a Bosch VP37, not as reliable as the older VE's but still a very good system on the whole.
Average MPG of 57 mpg seems a little optimistic to me, I'd say more like low 50's at best.
 
A 1.9 tdi golf my mother used to have averaged about 42ish. Town driving.

Thats rubbish really, my 306 with the 1.9 in it used get 38 mpg when i was ragging it, town style stop start only... 4 mpg is nothing really, mind you my 306 is about 200kg lighter than a mk4 golf tdi
 
my 205 by comparisons gets 45-50 in town again driving like a spanner and on the motorway, I swear it runs on air....

I bought it from Exeter and I live near Cannock (look it up) its about 180 miles, I filled it to the brim when I got it (40 litres) I got back with 3/4 of a tank left.....
 

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