1.8T vs 2.0 petrol engines

[chrislemess]

Hi folks,

Just looking for some advice about these two engines. I imagine consumption and power better on the 1.8 but have often stayed away from turbos. Looking to find a low mileage version to put some serious miles on to every year round Europe.

Cheers for any advice.
Chris

[Mirez]

Depends what year you are looking at?

Serious miles would suit a diesel better, have you ruled them out and if so why?

[brianh]

It can depend where exactly you want to drive it - Certain areas of France for one example don't allow a lot of "older" diesels or not all the time, Petrols (or petrols converted to autogas) are much less restricted. More info needed from the op as you say.

Probabbly only a consideration if you want to drive into more built up areas, though that may change of course.

[SirDavidAlhambra]

I think u canââ,¬â,,¢t go wrong with the 1.9 Tdi diesel tbh, I have one and it is amazing. So much torque and very good fuel economy. Plus the older ones donââ,¬â,,¢t have a dpf to go wrong. Yes, u could do worse than a 1.9 Tdi Alhamb in this day and age.

[chrislemess]

Folks yup it has to be ULEZ for London, so that's why I need petrol. Would love the diesel but there you go! Miles will be put on it to and from the Balkans each year mainly. Few little weekend trips in UK each year.

[brianh]

I use mine for the same purpose (and with the ULEZ due to grow very soon to include everything inside the North/South circular area this will become more of a consideration) though mine is the 2.3 Ford rather than the 2.0/1.8T. I've owned the 2.0 Ford and found it slightly lower power than the 2.3, though the Ford lumps and the VW/Seat ones are completely different on the petrols.

[mike wilson]

Be aware that the 1.8TDCI needs belts changing well before the 125,000 miles maximum.  Note the plural - there are two belts, one inside the engine.  By the time you add gaskets, tensioner and various other parts that it makes sense to change at the time (water pump not necessary, unlike the 2 & 2.2L) your parts bill alone will be some hundreds of pounds.

On the flip side, these engines can be very economical - my Mondeo estate is currently sitting on just under 55mpg for round-the-houses driving, giving me a range of ~700miles.  On a long, continental motorway run, sticking to ~70mph and not being a hooligan, I can easily get 900miles out of a tank.  As examples, I got from Sunderland to Magdeburg en route to Poland on one tank; in 2018 I went from Sunderland to south of Strasbourg, on a circuitous route to Croatia.  If I stuck to ~65mph, I'm sure I could exceed 1000 miles per tank.  The above figures were fully loaded, with a substantial roofbox, so I suspect a Galaxy should be able to manage similar.

Another plus for the 1.8 - no DPF.

[brianh]

The 1.8 TDCI is only Euro 4 though, so would incur the daily Ã,£12.50 ULEZ charge the poster is trying to avoid. Which can be avoided with the older petrol models as they are Euro 4 standard (Diesels need to be Euro 6, petrols Euro 4).Even my early MK2 manages to qualify for exemption at this time. At the present time, the ULEZ only covers the same area as the congestion charge (though is in addition to it, making for a daily charge of Ã,£15 Plus Ã,£12.50 if you incur both, and if your there over 2 days the ULEZ starts again at midnight, so possibly 3 charges in total) but the zone is becomming larger later next year to include the whole of the area bordered by the North/South Circular roads (This may be subject to change given the state of the TFL finances as well and may end up coming in sooner).

https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/ultra-low-emission-zone/cars gives more details - I've no idea on the Euro standard of the VAG engines on the mk2 which appears to be what the op is asking about, but he can check by entering a reg on that site to see if its ok or not.

[brianh]

Also worth being aware of this if you travel to Birmingham, Bath or Leeds
https://www.gov.uk/check-clean-air-zone-charge

Birmingham is the only one currently that mine isn't compliant for.

[brianh]

The other two currenly do not apply to cars, but these aren't the end of the ones that are likely to appear.

[mike wilson]

I have the impression the OP is talking about two vehicles; one to deal with the ULEZ and another for long distance touring.

[Mirez]

Bath council are woefully in-adept at traffic planning and despise the motorist so its likely to apply to cars in the not too distant future, even though the majority of traffic is going through the city rather then into it! That said, as more and more businesses move out of city centres it's likely not to matter anyway! The question for me is, whats the reason to go into a city these days?

[mike wilson]

Same issues in the north east - it's particularly galling up here as 35 years ago (after 15 years of discussions and negotiations between a large number of bodies and organisations) we had an integrated public transport system.  You could buy one ticket and travel anywhere in the area, on virtually any form of transport.

Of course, it was at that time managed by the local authorities so she whose name must not be spoken had to smash it to pieces, 18 months after it started.  She'll be burning in Hell for that alone.

[brianh]

Too true on both the last posts there, Only reason I drive into any city is usually because work takes me there and its the most suitable option in most cases.

[KingyMAK]

@mike wilson
The public transport system in the NE is shocking at best.
Bus routes that take you to the ends of the Earth, then circle back to your destination.
When the metro (underground/tram/whatever you call it elsewhere) runs, itââ,¬â,,¢s not on time or breaks down! 

I do much prefer driving into Newcastle or Sunderland if needed.

[SirDavidAlhambra]

The difficulty these days is becoming one of parking... I often spend hours worrying about where to park

[johnnyroper]

Was looking at that clean air zone in Birmingham thatââ,¬â,,¢s supposed to come in next year, Ã,£12 a day to go in to the city,luckily my family are on outskirts and when I go to the football and drive I can avoid it.

No such issues with parking at present always loads of spaces now with all these people still working from home.
Likewise public transport our trains have virtually no one on them most of the time,weekends with leisure travellers are busiest,barely anyone on peak trains in to paddington anymore.