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Should I go for the 1.6 or 2.0 TDI Golf?

What to get, a 1.6-litre TDI Golf or 1.9/2.0-litre?

Filed under diesel - Asked by Caitriona O Donnell (Liimerck) - Thu, 16 Oct 2014 23:09

Neil Briscoe Answered by: Neil Briscoe - Complete Car Adviser - @neilmbriscoe

Answer

Hi Caitriona,

I'd go for the 1.6 Golf to be honest. It's a more modern engine and doesn't suffer the air-mass sensor issues that occasionally plague the old 1.9 TDI engine. It's also not really worth upgrading to the 2.0-litre engine, simply because, in spite of a relatively weedy-sounding 105hp and 270Nm of torque, the 1.6 TDI engine actually has very decent on-road performance and the upshot is low emissions and the potential for being able to average 60mpg if you treat it gently.

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4 responses (latest at the top)

Ha! Thanks F D.

Sadly we don't have enough time to delve deeper into every buyer's query, as we get thousands of questions and we do this as a free service for readers. If someone asks us to choose between two things then we'll do just that for them.

Posted by Shane O' Donoghue - Complete Car Adviser (Dublin) - Thu, 23 Oct 2014 10:03:07

Hi Shane,

re your "simple answer to simple question": if I came to a crossroad leading to two roads, both roads to Hell, one rocky and the other smooth, you would advise the smooth road but I would still end up in Hell. Why not tell me to turn back?

PS. Great site

Posted by F D (Dublin) - Thu, 23 Oct 2014 09:55:05

Hi F D,

We regularly advise people on the pros and cons of diesels and have been banging that drum for a long time, but in this particular case we were specifically asked which of two diesel engines we'd recommend. A simple question requiring a simple answer.

Posted by Shane O' Donoghue - Complete Car Adviser (Dublin) - Mon, 20 Oct 2014 21:09:22

I can never figure out you guys re cars. You told Catriona to buy a 1.6 diesel without finding out if her motoring was mainly local e.g short journeys, low mileage. You gave no warning on the problems with diesel filters on short trips/low mileage. What's wrong with a 1.2 or 1.4 petrol? A relation who clocked up only 30,000 miles over 10 years was sold a Golf 1.6 diesel.

Posted by F D (Dublin) - Mon, 20 Oct 2014 17:37:39

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