Looking to swap from diesel to petrol...good choice?

[Daemon]

Hi guys, as above I'm in thoughts of considering changing to a 2.0tfsi from my 2.0tdi 140.

An instant plus point and encouragement for me is that for some reason my insurance would be cheaper on the petrol. Not to mention that the petrol will be more powerful and tuneable.
I do a lot of around town miles so can't help thinking that the petrol will be a little less costly for me. Would you say this could to be true?

Are there any points to look out for on the tfsi's when looking for one. Any major faults that should of been corrected?

Finally, would you recommend the change or do you think I'm wrong to consider it?

 

[Joe_Murphy21187]

Not sure on the economy front, but generally diesel's higher MPG figures are seen more with high mileage journeys (motorways) rather than around town.

On the tuning front, diesels respond best to an ECU remap, which is the single most effective performance mod per £ IMO, so if you're looking to modify slightly I would say TDI is better. Infinatley petrol engines are probably more tunable if you're going to put £1000's into the engine, but I know people who have heavily modified their diesel with great results. Diesel and petrol engines have different characteristics in terms of power also.

The Audi R10 Leman car was incredibly successful, as was the concept TDI R8...

 

[scotty76]

Handily in our house we have both an A4 2.0TFSI and a VW Jetta 2.0TDI 140 so I can actually help with this. I think at the end of the day, whether to swap will come down to what you are looking to get out of it. If in untuned form it's a faster car then yes, the 2.0TFSI is definitely quicker. It also has a much larger rev range (to the red line) than the TDI.

My 2.0TFSI does 30mpg pretty much all the time running on Shell V Power. I use it for a 16 mile commute which is A road, motorway then a couple of miles of traffic. I once got 37mpg on a long motorway run.

The 2.0TDI does 55-60mpg on long runs but much less than this around town.

For our house they cost about the same to insure.

I sometimes find the TDI seems more "turbo laggy". Nothing much happens until the turbo spins up. That said the TFSI needs the higher revs to really get going. I found the best way to understand it was to look at the power graph and you'll see it's only about 100bhp at 2500rpm e.g. look at the standard figures on http://www.mybluefin.co.uk/curves/vw2lfsiturbo.pdf if you compare that with the TDI http://www.mybluefin.co.uk/curves/golfmk520tdi.pdf (no connection with Bluefin BTW ).

I'd say this is how the cars feel on the road. The TDI feels faster at lower revs, the TFSI takes off at higher revs and really does seem to "sprint to the red line".

Remaps are available for both TDI and TFSI so I don't think there's much in it on that front. Beyond that is a land I don't understand, so can't comment.

If I could only keep one it would be the TFSI. I think it's a good all rounder and I don't do enough miles for economy to be a factor.

Just my 2p's worth. Hope it is of some help.

 

[OCDetails]

I'd agree, it's all to do with what you want to make out of the car...

 

[Molnboman]

My tuppence worth....I have gone back to petrol since Oct 2011...had a Rav4 petrol...not very pleasant but reliable and have had my 2.0t fsi since May 2012.....I have had no major issues thus far, however, I would be concrened about using the B7 2.0t fsi for town driving, unless you are only doing a few miles. I have noticed that my car does not like trickling around in traffic and the mileage seems to suffer quite a bit when stuck doing urban miles. Different story when cruising, it seems to be performing well....but for town driving it could prove costly compared to an oil burner. Must say on reflection I love the relatively hassle free driving compared to when I had an oil burner, and paying extra at pump is better than coughing up at the garage for repairs.
Good Luck
A