1.8 TFSI

[Tempz]

I’ve got my heart set on my next Audi - 1.8 TFSI 8V saloon. I was looking for an 8P but I’ve had my current 1.4T 8P for over 2 years now so 8V it is. Ideally I would go for a facelift 8V but they are out of my budget.

1.8 8V do seem quite rare even more so in saloon form. Just wanted to get the opinions of owners and what I should be looking out for. The 1.8 8P had issues with oil consumption and timing chain - does this also apply to the 8V? Also any general advice regarding the 8V would be appreciated.

 

[RichardT]

Why are you so set on the 1.8? The 1.4 is generally acknowledged to be a cracking engine and would probably be superior to your 8p 1.4. My advice would be to try one out. Advantages - more choice, cheaper and better fuel consumption.

 

[DJAlix]

Had a 1.8TFSI s-tronic Saloon and it was one of the best cars I have owned. The engine was great with up to 400 miles from a tank of motorway driving and smooth power on demand regardless of the amount of people or luggage in the car.

 

[Tempz]

I’m not sure if the 1.4 8V would be much of an upgrade power wise compared to what I’ve got now.

Plus the tuning potential of the 1.8 is much better.

 

[KieranJ22]

Loved my 3 door 1.8 pfl,
I now have a 1.5 saloon. The engines not bad but would have loved atleast a 1.8 in it now though (just come from a 2.1 c250d so the difference is huge)

 

[Matt Titanium]

The 1.8 is a great engine, plenty of torque and my SB used to return average 40 mpg. The only issue I had was the misfire that wasn't cured until a new set of injectors were fitted.
Too expensive when new, a bargain used if you can find one - and no cambelt.

 

[steverobertsbbc]

The 1.8 is a great engine, plenty of torque and my SB used to return average 40 mpg. The only issue I had was the misfire that wasn't cured until a new set of injectors were fitted.
Too expensive when new, a bargain used if you can find one - and no cambelt.

Explain the cambelt comment? I have one of the original (and seemingly rather rare) 8V 1.8TFSI quattros which I bought new in 2014. As far as I'm aware, it does have a timing belt, because Audi have been bugging me to go in and have it changed!

Edit: Hmmmm, After doing a bit of digging, it appears I should have an EA888 gen 3 engine, which has a timing chain rather than a belt. One wonders why Audi is so insistent that my timing belt needs changing as it's over five years old!

 

[will_0407]

Explain the cambelt comment? I have one of the original (and seemingly rather rare) 8V 1.8TFSI quattros which I bought new in 2014. As far as I'm aware, it does have a timing belt, because Audi have been bugging me to go in and have it changed!

Edit: Hmmmm, After doing a bit of digging, it appears I should have an EA888 gen 3 engine, which has a timing chain rather than a belt. One wonders why Audi is so insistent that my timing belt needs changing as it's over five years old!

I contacted my local Audi specialist this year to get my belt done on my 2014 1.8, they said what you have suggested that it has a chain so no work required.

@Tempz I'm selling my 1.8TFSI, it's posted in the for sale section (hatchback though, not saloon)

 

[Matt Titanium]

Explain the cambelt comment? I have one of the original (and seemingly rather rare) 8V 1.8TFSI quattros which I bought new in 2014. As far as I'm aware, it does have a timing belt, because Audi have been bugging me to go in and have it changed!

Edit: Hmmmm, After doing a bit of digging, it appears I should have an EA888 gen 3 engine, which has a timing chain rather than a belt. One wonders why Audi is so insistent that my timing belt needs changing as it's over five years old!

I contacted my local Audi specialist this year to get my belt done on my 2014 1.8, they said what you have suggested that it has a chain so no work required.

@Tempz I'm selling my 1.8TFSI, it's posted in the for sale section (hatchback though, not saloon)

Nice segue there!

Do people never look under the bonnet these days? It's a good job Audi fit a small hole in the filler neck to stop people filling their TFSIs with diesel.

 

[steverobertsbbc]

Do people never look under the bonnet these days? It's a good job Audi fit a small hole in the filler neck to stop people filling their TFSIs with diesel.

Not having x-ray vision, it's rather more worrying to me that Audi (who know exactly what my car is) insist that it needs the timing belt changing.

 

[Matt Titanium]

Not having x-ray vision, it's rather more worrying to me that Audi (who know exactly what my car is) insist that it needs the timing belt changing.

Roundy plastic covers on the end of the cylinder head that look like they are shaped to cover two sprockets = cambelt.
No roundy plastic cover = chain.
The cylinder head is the metal bit on the top of the engine.

If in doubt

 

[JohnM100]

@Tempz - I don’t know where you are based but in UK Audi dropped the 1.8 for MY15 (I think) so you’d only find it in a pre facelift.

I had a 1.8 Sportback and the engine was fab. Compared to a 1.4 COD it was more free revving whereas the 1.4 seemed to start to run out of puff higher up the Rev range. Could get 45mpg on a long run.

Yes the 1.8 is an EA888 Gen3 and has a timing chain, not belt

 

[Tempz]

I’m in the UK and there’s only a handful of 1.8 saloons for sale.

As I said in my first post, the 8P 1.8 had oil consumption and timing chain issues. Does anybody know if this carried on in the 8V?

 

[JohnM100]

In short, no

The engine in the 8P is different and general theme indicated some 8P had piston ring issues.

The chain in the 8V shouldn’t need replacing. Whether it stretches over time & needs adjustment (throwing a cam positioning error) is possible.

So far, the 8V 1.8 seems to be very reliable mechanically.

I sold mine approx 64k mikes and never had to top up more than a few hundred mL oil between services, if at all.

Since the 1.8 is an EA888 Gen 3 it is prone to the same issues as S3 engine:

1. turbo actuator wastegate metallic rattle under light load 1500-3000 rpm but there was a TPI to adjust it and make it less pronounced.

2. Thermostat housing / water pump leak. After several revisions to the part, there have been fewer reports of this (though not much good for those still using the old design).

Extensive threads on here for both of those issues.

 

[Tempz]

@JohnM100 thanks man very helpful.

Are the fixes for the two issues you mentioned expensive?

 

[JohnM100]

Depends if the car is still in warranty and work not yet done.

1. It’s a TPI so shouldn’t be

2. Yes. approx 450-650 if it fails and not under warranty. First symptoms are either coolant drips under car or engine check light comes on (with spike in oil temp if enabled via VCDS) and/or low coolant level warning (but there are other things that can cause this). It doesn’t always trigger the low coolant warning though.

 

[Tempz]

Sounds good.

I’m hoping the 8V as a whole is a worth it upgrade over the 8P.

For the money, I could get a F30 3 Series but I’ve heard the petrol engines aren’t very good and obviously Audi wins on the interior side of things.

 

[Sean6211]

I have a 2014 1.8 TFSI Quattro in a saloon. Day to day driving the engine is great, torquey at the low and mid range. It's only when you are really pushing it that it falls off power at higher rpms. This is due to the small IS12 turbo, which spools quickly and runs out of puff quickly too.

My personal opinion is the engine configuration is very good for normal daily driving. If you can, get the Quattro as the 1.8 TFSI will have enough torque to easily break the front wheels loose in the wet.

With the Quattro, it opens up the opportunity for an IS20 or IS38 turbo upgrade which will bring you into the high 200s to 300 hp with AWD grip levels. This will surpass a stock S3 performance.

 

[Tempz]

I’ve seen a few for sale, quite surprised how poorly specc’d they are though.

Was interested in one S Line saloon but apart from sat nav, it had no other spec! Think I’ll be searching for a while then.

Ideally would love heated seats and auto dimming mirror but at this rate even just parking sensors will do.

 

[Chris.D]

Ideally would love heated seats and auto dimming mirror but at this rate even just parking sensors will do.

Haha, I had a similar attitude when I was searching too. Good luck!

 

[Ice Kay]

i have a 1.8 Sport TFSI sportback and love it

 

[Gordon Stewart]

I’ve got my heart set on my next Audi - 1.8 TFSI 8V saloon. I was looking for an 8P but I’ve had my current 1.4T 8P for over 2 years now so 8V it is. Ideally I would go for a facelift 8V but they are out of my budget.

1.8 8V do seem quite rare even more so in saloon form. Just wanted to get the opinions of owners and what I should be looking out for. The 1.8 8P had issues with oil consumption and timing chain - does this also apply to the 8V? Also any general advice regarding the 8V would be appreciated.

Hi bud, these are superb cars , I just got mine 4 weeks ago after looking/waiting for 2 weeks short of 2 years, they are very very rare and hard to get s hold off , especially if you are looking for a manual . Don’t know if your looking for s manual or an auto but I prefer a manual do took me that long to find one . I do know if a couple at the moment for sale so if you want any more info then PM me and we can talk about my car and what I think of it if that’s any help

 

[Audicfc]

Hi bud, these are superb cars , I just got mine 4 weeks ago after looking/waiting for 2 weeks short of 2 years, they are very very rare and hard to get s hold off , especially if you are looking for a manual . Don’t know if your looking for s manual or an auto but I prefer a manual do took me that long to find one . I do know if a couple at the moment for sale so if you want any more info then PM me and we can talk about my car and what I think of it if that’s any help

I have a 3 door manual in the 1.8 sline aswell, do you feel as if the clutch is hard to get a good biting point for a fast take off and what mpg are you getting for daily start/stop driving as i think i only get about 31 mpg which i think is quite poor

 

[Gordon Stewart]

Clutch seems to be fine and at the moment I am getting 37.9 mpg with daily driving mate

 

[Tempz]

Still on the hunt. Boy are these cars rare. There’s a few for sale but quite a bit above my budget.

 

[JohnM100]

I guess it’s niche market. Took me 2 months to sell my Sepang Sportback and loads of lowball offers.

 

[Audicfc]

I guess it’s niche market. Took me 2 months to sell my Sepang Sportback and loads of lowball offers.

How much did yours go for if you dont mind me asking as thinking of selling my 1.8 tfsi in 3 door sline daytona grey, but think buyers will be comparing prices to other a3’s that have the 1.4 tfsi or the 1.6 and 2.0 diesels engines in them and are cheaper than the 1.8 and might not want to pay morw for same car with faster engine, and also did the sepang blue colour allow you to charge more for the car is it an exlusive colour and dont think ive ever seen it on an a3 before, thanks

 

[JohnM100]

Most people will compare with other models as you describe, and not consider the benefits of having both direct & indirect injection, as well as higher end grunt.
That said, the masses will know more about the 1.4 CoD which is a cracking engine capable of great economy.
Sepang was always an exclusive colour for the A3 - I ordered mine 9 months before it became available on the S3.

Did any of this get me a better price? No.
It’s only worth what someone/anyone will pay for it and I got just shy of CAP clean.

 

[Audicfc]

Most people will compare with other models as you describe, and not consider the benefits of having both direct & indirect injection, as well as higher end grunt.
That said, the masses will know more about the 1.4 CoD which is a cracking engine capable of great economy.
Sepang was always an exclusive colour for the A3 - I ordered mine 9 months before it became available on the S3.

Did any of this get me a better price? No.
It’s only worth what someone/anyone will pay for it and I got just shy of CAP clean.

I think the 1.4 cod is round about the same price as the 1.8 tfsi on the used market, i paid about £400 more than the webuyanycar price for my 2015 1.8 sline but starting to wish i just paid another 4-5k and went for a 2014 TT in the 2.0 petrol 230bhp as would like it bit more speed and something a bit more fun to drive, i would love sepang on my a3 you would think there would be more demand for the exclusive colours in the used market for it

 

[Matt Titanium]

starting to wish i just paid another 4-5k and went for a 2014 TT in the 2.0 petrol 230bhp as would like it bit more speed and something a bit more fun to drive

Or an S3.
TTs are great but possibly not the most sensible design for everyday transport.

 

[Audicfc]

Or an S3.
TTs are great but possibly not the most sensible design for everyday transport.

Yes i would like an s3 but would need to buy a 13-15 plate model and i think most of them would have had remaps or been pushed to there limits by previous owners, i only really want to spent about 15k aswell and would be looking to go private sale to get cheapest price as prefer to buy outright. Would also need to be a daytona grey sline 2.0 petrol. And i also think the tt interior is top class for the price you can potentially pick them up for and most have not been owned by people who like to speed everywhere haha, and i think the tt is a lot rarer sight than an s3 on the roads but no doubt the s3 is a much more capable car.