Passat B8 Sedan: 2017 206TSI R-line vs 2021 162TSI Elegance

[darkrook]

Hi my new friends,

Sorry in advance if this will get a little lengthy. I am in the process of replacing my 2011 Mercedes E-class. It’s a beautiful car, I am just a little bored with it and the 5-speed automatic is thoroughly uninspiring. But I still like the idea of the traditional large German luxury sedan. I still need a family car to drive my kids around in; and my wife will also need to enjoy it.

So, I am looking at a 2017/18 Passat. There appear to be plenty of horror stories about the 7-speed DSG (the DQ200, I believe), which is used in the 132TSI; I want to avoid the Diesel, so that eliminates the 140TDI. Which leaves me with the Passat 206TSI R-line (which, I believe, uses the more reliable DQ250). And it’s beautiful; I love the look of it!

– or –

I spend about $15,000 more and get the face-lifted version. Post 2020 I won’t have to go to the 206TSI to avoid aforementioned gearbox (which is no longer available in the sedan version anyway), so I would be looking at the 162TSI Elegance – it is the top-of-the-range sedan now. And there are absolutely no reviews on the web about it; everyone appears to review the 162TSI Alltrack (Premium), but the sedan appears to be neglected by the car press – so it's hard to find out whether people like it.

I briefly flirted with the Arteon, but that’s not quite my thing. So, my choices appear to be the

• 2017/18 206TSI R-line (at or around 100,000km) or
• 2020/21 Passat 162TSI Elegance (at or around 50,000km).

I have fallen in love with the 2017/18 206TSI R-line; but rationally it feels like I should buy the 162 Elegance. (Then again, I got my brain to buy my last car, and it feels that I should get my heart to buy this one.) The 162TSI Elegance has a number of additional features, although, none of them appear particularly important or exciting (the active matrix headlights seem the most exciting feature here). On the downside, I would be missing out on the 4WD offered by the 206TSI R-line, which by most people's account appears to be somewhat useless/irrelevant anyway.

I am a little concerned about the fuel economy: The 162TSI is rated as 6.9l combined; the 206TSI R-line as 7.3l; that alone would not bother me. However, a lot of people on forums and in reviews have commented that they are getting up to 13l or even 15l in city driving – it's a powerful engine, but I find that hard to believe. Is that really the case? Or is it more than having such car just invites drivers to flooring it all the time? Somewhere on this forum some of you have also commented that the 6-speed DSG revs the 206TSI a little too high on the highway leading to bad fuel economy "similar to that of urban driving". I'd be really interested in some real-world numbers here, especially since it needs 98 fuel (in contrast to the 162TSI Elegance).

Also, I already looked at the Skoda Superb; it’s not quite up there in terms of luxury feel. I am also not a fan of the fastback 4-door coupe hatch thing (which is why I dismissed the Arteon, too) – don’t really quite understand what that is all about.


So, if anyone wants to throw their 2c in here, please be my guest.
— Malte.

Note: I originally had the DQ200 and DQ250 the wrong way around; fixed now.

[Guest001]

DQ200 7sp as in Golf/Polos was the bad one and was only rated up to a reasonably low torque/ HP level

Fuel economy. My 162 TSI Tiguan Rline averaged 9.6 around town so dont believe published figures. And thats just old man driving. Doesnt need 98 95 is fine and on the odd time I used 98 couldnt tell the difference except to the wallet.

I also had a Passat diesel and got 5.8 on a trip of 1049km but I didnt use it unless trip was 30mins or more.

[BeigeJet]

Hi my new friends,

• 2017/18 206TSI R-line (at or around 100,000km) or
• 2020/21 Passat 162TSI Elegance (at or around 50,000km).

These 2 vehicles will either have the DQ380, DQ381 or DQ500 version of the wet clutch DSG that I understand is more robust than the earlier problematic 200/250 units.

A mate of mine also has a 2023 version of a Tiguan R Line with the 162 power unit and he is getting around 11.0 to 12.0L /100km but is a lead foot. Another work mate has a 2018 162 Tiguan Allspace that spends alot of time on country roads and gets 7.5 to 8.0 L/100km

As a comparison the 2 diesel 147 Tiguans the wife and I have get around 7.5/100 around town and 6.0/100 or below on highways with a few odd tanks down below 5.5/100

Happy motoring with the choice you make.

[darkrook]

Ah, yes. Thank you Hillbilly. Looks like I had the DSGs the wrong way around. I will fix that in the original post to avoid confusion.
- DQ250: 6-speed; for high torque (up to 350Nm) applications
- DQ200: 7-speed; lighter but not rated for high torque – this is the problematic one

[nermal]

My Arteon is basically just a 206TSI Passat coupe and has a DQ381... It has a Stage 2 ECU (and TCU) tune, running 533Nm (288kW) through the DQ381 without any problems.

I'd expect the 206TSI Passat to use the same gearbox.

[petemac110]

I achieve around 8-9L/100km on freeway driving and about 12-12.5L/100km around town, with lots of short trips (often one tank of fuel every two weeks!)..

I run a Stage 1 ECU and DSG tune and a E20 blend (part 98 RON and part E85) so slightly more fuel hungry than if I ran 98 RON only, but the extra grunt and responsiveness from the increased timing means I'm generally easier on the throttle so I suspect it all balances out ;

Running 95 RON on any EA888 2L means the ECU is pulling timing and reducing power/torque.

These 2 vehicles will either have the DQ380, DQ381 or DQ500 version of the wet clutch DSG that I understand is more robust than the earlier problematic 200/250 units.

I'd expect the 206TSI Passat to use the same gearbox.

Nope, the 206TSI Passat uses the DQ250 6 speed. Modern inerations are very tough.

[petemac110]

I would be missing out on the 4WD offered by the 206TSI R-line, which by most people's account appears to be somewhat useless/irrelevant anyway

Depends how you drive I guess... just like with a Golf GTI, it's pretty easy to light up the front tyres if provoked - especially in the wet. Probably not an issue when putting around the place, but I do like the point-and-shoot grip of AWD.

[Guest001]

I achieve around 8-9L/100km on freeway driving and about 12-12.5L/100km around town, with lots of short trips (often one tank of fuel every two weeks!)..

I run a Stage 1 ECU and DSG tune and a E20 blend (part 98 RON and part E85) so slightly more fuel hungry than if I ran 98 RON only, but the extra grunt and responsiveness from the increased timing means I'm generally easier on the throttle so I suspect it all balances out ;

Running 95 RON on any EA888 2L means the ECU is pulling timing and reducing power/torque.





Nope, the 206TSI Passat uses the DQ250 6 speed. Modern inerations are very tough.

When I asked VW about running E anything they stated Under no circumstances should it be used


"Thank you for your email.

Volkswagen only recommend the use of 98 or 95 as minimum. We do not recommend any other type of fuel to be used, including E10."


But up to individuals I guess

[petemac110]

When I asked VW about running E anything they stated Under no circumstances should it be used


"Thank you for your email.

Volkswagen only recommend the use of 98 or 95 as minimum. We do not recommend any other type of fuel to be used, including E10."


But up to individuals I guess

Yes, it indeed depends upon individual circumstances.

It is also important to take VW's advice in context.

To be clear, they are saying that no factory tuned and configured vehicles should be filled with the ethanol fuels available in Australia from the pump - and that is correct. E10 is too low in its RON rating, and the factory hardware/tuning/fuelling cannot enough additional E85 to make it viable.

I can't speak for other VWAG engines, but the EA888 Gen 3 direct/port injection engines (CJXA), even in standard tune, can happily run an E20 blend if you're happy to use two pumps each time you fill up. I strongly suspect it would love this fuel in hotter weather.

Further, a tuned EA888 is a different kettle of fish - whether a proper flex-fuel tune, or running a blend. A properly set up and tuned VW on E85 is a thing of beauty, and in my case, running an E20 blend on my Stage 1 tune is worth the effort.

There are countless VWAG owners across Australia and around the word running ethanol fuels with no ill effects.

[smoothcall]

I achieve around 8-9L/100km on freeway driving and about 12-12.5L/100km around town, with lots of short trips (often one tank of fuel every two weeks!)..

I run a Stage 1 ECU and DSG tune and a E20 blend (part 98 RON and part E85) so slightly more fuel hungry than if I ran 98 RON only, but the extra grunt and responsiveness from the increased timing means I'm generally easier on the throttle so I suspect it all balances out ;

Running 95 RON on any EA888 2L means the ECU is pulling timing and reducing power/torque.





Nope, the 206TSI Passat uses the DQ250 6 speed. Modern inerations are very tough.

Your consumption is way higher than what I see on the freeway. Low 7s is achievable on a long trip. My 206TSI is also Stg1, but only use 98. I don’t need to commute so luckily don’t have to worry too much about city consumption.

OP - for reference I went from a STG 1 Octavia RS which has the same engine at the 162, although it also had the 6 speed.

I did test drive the 162 Passat and the performance is pretty good and refinement excellent. The turbo does spin up quicker than the 206, so city driving response is nice.

I have to say it is nice to be able to rely on the 4WD system to get the power down, regardless of the weather. You can’t hear the engine on the freeway so I’m not bothered at all by the low gearing (is lower than my Octavia was).

There are probably a few nice to haves in to facelift which you’d have to decide if you can do without.

The ‘21 will still have a warranty which is nice.

[petemac110]

Your consumption is way higher than what I see on the freeway. Low 7s is achievable on a long trip. My 206TSI is also Stg1, but only use 98. I don’t need to commute so luckily don’t have to worry too much about city consumption.

I'm the exact opposite - city driving is 99% of what I do. I'm only estimating my freeway consumption, as I very rarely do long enough drives on the freeway to provide an accurate or reliable dataset and calculation. When I do, it's a family holiday and recording the data is the last thing on my mind.

I reckon I've undercooked my city economy - my most recent fill equated to 11.3L/100km on E20. Hard to say for sure, as my driving patterns vary considerably.

What I can say with reasonable certainty is that all else being equal, fuel consumption seemed to improve slightly once tuned, and if I run an E20 blend, it's about the same as standard.

To be honest, fuel consumption is the very least of my worries. I measure the fuel consumption of my Passat in smiles per 100km which means that lovely torque surge gets exploited regularly and it's worth the effort to add that splash of corn-juice to each tank

[Lucas_R]

To be honest, fuel consumption is the very least of my worries. I measure the fuel consumption of my Passat in smiles per 100km which means that lovely torque surge gets exploited regularly and it's worth the effort to add that splash of corn-juice to each tank

Couldn't have written it better myself. Life is short - have fun. I have a reasonable idea of what my cars fuel consumption is, but I bought cars with power and use that power whenever I have the opportunity - so im watching the RPM gauge and not the fuel level gauge.

Fuel prices are currently the lowest they have been in about 3+ years so I filled up the other day with my usual BP98 for $1.88 per L which is all the more reason to enjoy that engines power whenever you can.