Canadian new to OZ - TDI or TSI, which is for me???

[SMOK3Y]

i quite regularly see 5.6L per hundred in my 90tsi i mainly do
highway ks at (120 indicated speed) the little petrol is good on
fuel

[rossw]

i quite regularly see 5.6L per hundred in my 90tsi i mainly do
highway ks at (120 indicated speed) the little petrol is good on
fuel

I'm finding a bit higher than that. Around 6 on the highway (90km/h limit here), but quickly goes up to 8 or so around town. Still very good for a 1200+kg vehicle. Definitely usage pattern makes a huge difference. OP's suggests that he will achieve 5.6-6.5, but the high km points to diesel IMO.

[Diesel_vert]

A prospective welcome to Oz.

To prevent further confusion, octane is labelled differently in Australia compared to North America.

In America, octane is labelled by its anti-knock index (AKI), which is derived from [RON + MON] / 2.

Australia, like the rest of the world, just uses the research octane number (RON), meaning:

89 AKI = 91 RON "Regular unleaded"
91 AKI = 95 RON "Premium unleaded"
93 AKI = 98 RON "Super unleaded"

Most European vehicles require 95 RON or higher - which automatically excludes the use of "regular unleaded" and "regular unleaded E10". The price difference between regular unleaded and premium unleaded is about 10 - 15 cents per litre, with super unleaded being an additional 5 cents per litre. But only some models require 98 RON, so check the fuel flap.

But the mention of alcohol fuel has me curious - why is it such a debatable topic?

No idea, since owners of modern VW vehicles aren't in a position to use it anyway - as I shall explain...

It's common to find 10% ethanol blends here, which adds 2 - 3 RON to whichever fuel it's blended with. However they are mostly blended with regular unleaded petrol, meaning "regular unleaded E10" is usually 93 - 94 RON. "Premium unleaded E10" or "super unleaded E10" petrol does exist, but isn't very common at all.

Most modern European vehicles are able to accept up to 10% ethanol blends, but this is a moot point in Australia (see above). Not an issue for most VW owners.

The availability of E85 blends also isn't prevalent, and only a tiny percentage of vehicles sold in Australia are compatible with this blend. Again, not an issue for VW owners.

The other comment is regarding Shell, is there something up with their diesel? They're a huge fuel company here so I'm curious if they aren't looked well upon in OZ too.

Not really, their fuels are fine.

But like all fuels, the supply chain is as only as strong as its weakest link - go for service stations that appear well mantained and don't look to grimy, if you can help it.

After reading all that, I have to say that petrol in my case would be a best bet. In all honesty, I only plan on keeping the car maybe 3-4 years, 5 tops, and although I will be traveling a fair distance at first, the distance will gradually shrink to the point where I plan on living pretty close to work. The resale will definitely be less but with respect to initial cost, it won't hurt as much I don't think.

From this point, looks like I'm leaning towards petrol.

Unless your annual mileage is high enough, you probably won't recoup the extra purchase cost of the diesel quickly enough, since you only plan to keep the vehicle for 3 - 4 years. This is mainly due to the fact that in Australia, diesel costs roughly the same as premium unleaded at the moment.

On the other hand, if you prefer the driving characteristics of a diesel, it may be possible to recoup some, if not all, of the extra cost come selling time.

For your situation, I think the argument for petrol is stronger, but all in all, drive both and just buy whatever you prefer best (what price have you on satisfaction? )

Truth be told, I'm not too concerned with performance but more so with overall reliability...

Don't buy a VW then.

[wai]

But the mention of alcohol fuel has me curious - why is it such a debatable topic? Here in North America, many cars are what we call flex-fuel and run on little to no alcohol all the way up to E85. No drama, apart from the lower MPG, cheaper cost of fuel, and much higher octane ratings. There was also mention of the 95 octane minimum for the Golf which is also curious because in Canada, you will be hard pressed to find ANY gasoline that is over 93 octane. And even that is hard to come by because there is only one station that offers it. All the rest have 92 octane max.

The reason is that the ethanol blend E10 is only around 4c/litre cheaper, however it is not sold alongside Standard ULP. E10 is available in the capital cities, but in regional centres and in rural areas, only Standard ULP is available. This means you cannot tune the engine to run on E10 as this restricts you to the capital cities. As an example, I have just done the trip from Sydney to Bendigo along the Hume Hwy, and once out of the Sydney metropolitan area, NO E10 is available.

When E10 was brought in, it was supposed to be to help the sugar cane growers because of falling sugar prices, only the vast majority of ethanol comes from the distillation of wheat (also where the MSG comes from). It was a political decision and not based on engineering. Now if the government here simply said that ALL petrol would have a minimum 10% ethanol blend (like they did with the introduction of ULP), it would be great as there would be certainty. The problem is that the government is hedging its bets and no one wants to make a "courrageous" decision.

When you say that alcohol fuels are available in North America, I will bet that this is not just in the state/province capital cities.

Sure VW can re-program the ECU, or even have the ECU capable of using any blend of ethanol, but this may not be able to be applied to existing ECU's. Software is one thing, however if additional sensors are required, the updates may not be able to be applied to existing ECU's.

There is nothing essentially wrong either way. What you have to weigh up is the cost vs benefit for each and then try and allow for government interference. Unfortunately we have governments who change the rules and this catches many out. You only have to look at what happened with the solar electricity generation schemes in the various states. When the take up got too high, they changed the rules...for everyone.

On the general availability of only 92 octane fuel in Canada, there might well be a "detune" done for Canadian vehicles to allow for this. You would have to look at the full engine specs.

[SMOK3Y]

I'm finding a bit higher than that. Around 6 on the highway (90km/h limit here), but quickly goes up to 8 or so around town. Still very good for a 1200+kg vehicle. Definitely usage pattern makes a huge difference. OP's suggests that he will achieve 5.6-6.5, but the high km points to diesel IMO.

ya i do high ks (126k) round trip to work ive done 16thou in
6 months. but i pretty well get 800ks to 45/6 litres

[ParaBul]

I'm finding a bit higher than that. Around 6 on the highway (90km/h limit here), but quickly goes up to 8 or so around town. Still very good for a 1200+kg vehicle. Definitely usage pattern makes a huge difference. OP's suggests that he will achieve 5.6-6.5, but the high km points to diesel IMO.

Interesting. My GTD does around 6 on the open road (indicated 110 - 120), but can do low 5s on the flat around town - if it's not too "stop-start". My daily commute includes climbing over a ridge, which knocks a hole in the economy, but over the first 4500km my average (urban, rural & some spirited runs through the hills) is low 6s.

My boss, who has a GTI and drives it like he stole it, is (reportedly) running around 13l/100km.

[pologti18t]

More food for thought...

I'm going to go to a local VW dealer here in Canada and test both the petrol and diesel Golf and see how they perform.

The petrol engine in the Golf in Canada is a 20V 2.5L 5 cylinder. In Australia we get the 1.4 TSI twincharger (supercharged and turbo).

[MapleMan]

Really? I was wondering about that because I just saw one parked next to me this morning, and the tailgate said 2.5... I assumed (incorrectly I guess) that it was an upgraded engine. I'll have to wait to get to OZ before I make that final comparison

[ziggyboy]

There was also mention of the 95 octane minimum for the Golf which is also curious because in Canada, you will be hard pressed to find ANY gasoline that is over 93 octane. And even that is hard to come by because there is only one station that offers it. All the rest have 92 octane max.

The measurements for North America and Australia are different. I believe you guys use "AKI" ratings. The equivalent of 91 here is 87 there. Our 98 to your 94.

See: Octane rating - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Really? I was wondering about that because I just saw one parked next to me this morning, and the tailgate said 2.5... I assumed (incorrectly I guess) that it was an upgraded engine. I'll have to wait to get to OZ before I make that final comparison

The 2.5L Golf in NA are rated at 170hp. The 1.4L 118TSI in Australia are rated at 118kW. We measure engine power here using kW, not hp. Using an online kW/hp calculator they're as follows:

2.5L North America = 170hp or 126kW
1.4L Australia = 158hp or 118kW

Of course you can get the GTD, GTI or R all of which have more powerful engines.

Testing the Golf there is OK but remember that our Golfs are spec'd differently and as the engines are different, your experience may very well be. Our options will also be different. Don't know much about the differences in the Golf but I've got a Jetta and though they look identical between the two countries they're really quite different. Even the suspensions and brakes are different between Aus and the US.

But most importantly... we drive on the other side of the road!!!!

[Chubby]

Hi all! Second post here so please be kind!

Before I get to asking questions, a little background => Recently I posted this in the first post section:

"
I'm looking to buy a golf (Mk6) here in Aus and any advice would be greatly appreciated I have a few questions I need help on:

1) Considering that the Mk7 is coming soon in the near future, is this a good time to buy a new mk6 golf? I'm guessing I could get a cheap deal if I look for one now. I suppose my question should be, when is a good time to buy a new mk6 golf?

2) In terms of engine reliability, is it fair to assume that the diesel version (103kw) is a little more reliable than the petrol (118kw) version?

3) Following on from the previous question, I have noticed that VW Australia has not advertised a manual gearbox version of the diesel golf (103kw). Has this been discontinued? If not, do I just ask the dealer?
"


Since then, I have received a call from vw aus saying that there is no manual option for the 103TDI Comfortline. Is this because it is discontinued or it never existed? I'd be curious to know if anyone else has one (mk6 version).

If there isn't a manual version I was now thinking of getting a 90TSI Trendline version with this so called "Comfort Pack" so it is very similar to the 118TSI Comfortline with the exception of the engine. My question is, does anyone have a list of all the changes between the 118TSI Comfortline and the 90TSI (including the Comfort Pack)? I could be wrong but maybe the Comfort Pack is discontinued but I'm sure I saw some cars on carsales that had it.

I don't mind the smaller engine because I'm a pretty passive driver and I thought I didn't need the zippy 118TSI. I'm sure it's a great car but I just thought the diesel would probably suit my style more originally but now the 90TSI looks appealing...

[Misfit]

Everybody keeps saying that the diesel is not worth the extra money you will have to drive 200000km to break even but no one has said that at the time to sell a diesel will be worth more than any petrol so you would have get any extra money you paid for the diesel back and have had brilliant economy and they are priced about the same just my 2 cents.
Misfit

[Frankenstrat]

Since then, I have received a call from vw aus saying that there is no manual option for the 103TDI Comfortline. Is this because it is discontinued or it never existed? I'd be curious to know if anyone else has one (mk6 version).

My 2010 Golf MkVI 103TDI is manual transmission but I see on VWA's web site that the 103TDI is now only being offered with 6-speed DSG. If you want diesel with manual transmission you'll have to buy the GTD.

[ConR]

We need more Canadians In Oz. Haha. Mapleman, sent u a pm. I'm from Ottawa originally. And yes I hate the Maple Leafs

Come by for some beaver tails and poutine!

[Idle]

We need more Canadians In Oz. Haha. Mapleman, sent u a pm. I'm from Ottawa originally. And yes I hate the Maple Leafs

Come by for some beaver tails and poutine!

I used to drive Maple Leafs — never hated them, they were just like any other Chev.

[ConR]

I meant Maple Leafs as in the NHL team. Haha.