103 TSI engine reliability

[woofy]

There are quite clear and not hard to follow run-in instructions in the manual, not that anyone reads them. The dealer didn't have a clue, but it tells you what to do in the first Xkms and then then next stage and not to do the usual things, eg tow anything or use CC.

I've done 200km trips on freeways/highways when new and you just don't use CC. I had a manual though so would take advantage of the fact you have 4-6th to swap between and didn't sit at a consistent speed for long.

Our 98 and 95 is fine, the 91 is crap. There would be no problems with a long trip like that. I would keep an eye on the oil to begin with but find oil usage happens in city driving and goes away with longer trips involved. I had a little bit at the start which surprised me as my Mazda 6 had nothing. But after the first 15k that went away with the oil change. My wife now sees a little bit again, but she does very short trips with it.

[brad]

This is precisely the situation -- long trips to Queensland -- that my brother reckons the 1.4 TSI will "blow up" because Europeans don't know how to build cars for Australian heat and poor fuel quality.

that's so funny mate.

Has he ever been on an Autobahn? Dozens of small engine turbos go flying past all day doing 140-160 and they stick on that speed from a full tank right down to empty, refill & do it all again. Even back in the 60s if a german car couldn't sit on 160kmh all day and last for years nobody wanted it.

Is your brother aware that in 1988 the cooling systems on Holdens were so marginal that a 2" downward extension of the number plate was causing overheating issues? Built Aussie tough LOL.

I don't know what the 1.4 is geared like but my 1.8tsi is sitting on a lazy 2400rpm at a true 110kph. Even at a true 120kph it's only 2600rpm. At that point it is on-boost & delivering 300+nm so you can just stomp on it & go. As I've said before, if the current performance & condition is an indication then I fully expect to have this car for at least 250,000km.

I think your brother needs to bring himself into the 21st century.

[woofy]

Yeah I was going to say on highways the car sits at crazy low rpms, it's hardly stressed and the economy is awesome. Heat is a factor, but with Touregs etc kicking around the Dakar rally, I think it should be OK.

Our EBII Falcon used to cook batteries under a year due to poor placement in the engine bay so Holden weren't the only ones with issues. They just replaced them until the 12mth warranty was up and then let you deal with it afterwards. Our brand new EA had some nice tricks like killing its ECUs on a regular basis.

I would fully agree with the turbo sentiment if it was the 1980s but things are very different now. The only gripe really is that Euro cars still seem to have anaemic A/C compared to cars made in hotter climates.

[VW Convert]

I think your brother needs to bring himself into the 21st century.

First things first Brad, let's get him into the 20th century first!

Cheers

George

[GTR27]

The only gripe really is that Euro cars still seem to have anaemic A/C compared to cars made in hotter climates.

Totally agree. The A/C while perfectly adequate (as in you can feel comfortable) isnt a pinch on a commodore or falcon, which appears to bring air from the antarctic circle straight into the cabin. They generally have a much higher airflow capability also. But in saying that, I live in qld and have no issues with the A/C. It just takes a little while longer to get cool than an aussie car.

[Mountainman]

This is precisely the situation -- long trips to Queensland -- that my brother reckons the 1.4 TSI will "blow up" because Europeans don't know how to build cars for Australian heat and poor fuel quality.

Just after Christmas I did a long country trip in mine with the outside temp registering 46.5C. The oil temp under those conditions constantly read 108C. The car performed faultlessly and used no oil. It also achieved its usual 5L/100km for that regular run that I do sitting on 110. And the airconditioning was still effective too. So much for fragile European cars and Aussie summers. My other car is a very reliable turbo Subaru Forester. I feel that my Golf will be no less long lived and reliable.

[Skooter]

They don't just sell cars in Europe & Australia!! How hot do you reckon it gets in parts of the US in summer? Or the Middle East???!! Get real ... and tell your brother to take his advice to someone who might listen; you can do better. As for Australian cars and aircon - my old Holden Apollo (OK, a rebadged underpowered Toyo Camry) had an atrocious aircon, even after full service & regas. The Skoda Scout worked right through Melbourne's sever heatwave last year.

How many 1.4 TSIs do you reckon are circulating around the world already - if VW produced a dud, we'd all hear about it pretty quickly.

[Mountainman]

I don't know what the 1.4 is geared like but my 1.8tsi is sitting on a lazy 2400rpm at a true 110kph. Even at a true 120kph it's only 2600rpm. At that point it is on-boost & delivering 300+nm so you can just stomp on it & go. As I've said before, if the current performance & condition is an indication then I fully expect to have this car for at least 250,000km.

My mk7 90 TSI manual shows 2300rpm at an indicated 110km/h in 6th and 2800rpm in 5th. That is a true 105km/h according to my Garmin so it probably has much the same gearing as yours.

[Mountainman]

This is precisely the situation -- long trips to Queensland -- that my brother reckons the 1.4 TSI will "blow up" because Europeans don't know how to build cars for Australian heat and poor fuel quality.

Sounds like your brother has been living in the bogan "falcodore" world. My cars over the last 40 years have been a Toyota, mazda, Mazda, Toyota, Toyota, Honda, Golf Mk1, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Toyota, Subaru and now the Golf again. So you could say I've had a fair selection of Japanese cars. This present Golf is the best made, most perfectly behaved, best driving and to date (at 38,000km) the most perfectly behaved car of them all. It gets heaps of driving in conditions that are considered very Australian - long distances, very hot conditions, rough dirt roads etc. It feels like it was designed for them as well as or better any of the cars I've had. Above all it feels DURABLE.

[cbay]

Sounds like your brother has been living in the bogan "falcodore" world. My cars over the last 40 years have been a Toyota, mazda, Mazda, Toyota, Toyota, Honda, Golf Mk1, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Toyota, Subaru and now the Golf again. So you could say I've had a fair selection of Japanese cars. This present Golf is the best made, most perfectly behaved, best driving and to date (at 38,000km) the most perfectly behaved car of them all. It gets heaps of driving in conditions that are considered very Australian - long distances, very hot conditions, rough dirt roads etc. It feels like it was designed for them as well as or better any of the cars I've had. Above all it feels DURABLE.

Personal experiences hold more weight than rumours. I love forums because of this, thanks for sharing with us.

Like guys saying vw's are crazy expensive to service, then recommending a mazda......

THIS.

[DV52]

Does anyone know what the replacement intervals are for a 103 TSI engine in Australia? If its 60k I might think again, but if its 200k it wouldn't be an issue.

That's a very good question!! Hope someone here know's the answer.

It's not 60k - you can tell by the capped price services. A timing belt change is in the $1k region at a dealer and called price services go to 90k without exceeding mid $400s.

GTR27: I don't know the answer to Byron Jetta's question, but I'm prepared to bet that the answer is that the timing belt replacement period (or the kms) is marginally longer than the perod (or kms) for VW's capped price maintenance!

Prehaps I'm being too cynical but who want's to take my bet (I'm kidding)?

[GTR27]

It appears to be at 105k.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[brad]

As for Australian cars and aircon - my old Holden Apollo (OK, a rebadged underpowered Toyo Camry) had an atrocious aircon, even after full service & regas.

How odd. I used to fit AC to Camrys/Apollos (probably did a few hundred). Factory air was always <5 deg C coming out the vents.

[Mountainman]

How odd. I used to fit AC to Camrys/Apollos (probably did a few hundred). Factory air was always <5 deg C coming out the vents.

My brother's '97 Camry is now 16 years old with over 375,000km, has never had the factory air touched other than 1 new belt and it still pumps out chilled air. Never even needed re-gassing. They were considered the benchmark for aircon back then. My new mk7 can't cool as well.

[GTR27]

Anything with the old gas is much, much better than r134a. IIRC r134a they aim for ~4 deg C vent temps, the old gas (R12?) was 0 deg C. Although you did get problems of freezing over on the old stuff....havent heard of anyone having that on the new gas.