The little turbos do well on offical mpg tests, but tend to fall short in use.

Have to disagree. On our 2nd 1.4 TSi and the economy is outstanding. 52 ish mpg on a run and 45 mpg overall.

Looking at getting our 3rd when the wife swaps in a few months.

No more gutless N/A petrols for us that only do mediocre mpg especially when you have to thrash them to get decent performance. No need to thrash a TSi, power form 1500 rpm.

I think the VAG engines are 'more' the exception than the rule on this one, in my view, probably because they've been at it far longer than the likes of Ford & Co, whose equivalents do rather poorly in terms of real-world mpg. I'm sure though, with time and more research, they will improve, although they may find themselves still lagging (though perhaps to a lesser extent) VAG in this regard.

Given the extremely lareg sums VAG are having to shell out on lawsuits and fines (especially in the US) at present following Dieselgate, it'll be interesting to see whether their R&D budgets on their TSi engines will be cut (to cover at least some of the costs of the fines etc withough having to raise the prices of their cars), and if so, what effects on their lead in TSi-type engine development will occur.

Quote:

"You ask about the Suzuki auto, but this is a tricky one to answer!. There was a post not that long ago on hear in which this subject came up, and not only was there distinct confusion as to exactly what type of gearbox you are getting, it also seemed to be ridiculously difficult trying to find out. As far as i was aware, the 1.6 n/a petrol vitara had a torque converter auto, but i had read that the 1.4 boosterjet was going to have a dct of some kind. But it seems that the boosterjet also has a tc auto whereas the diesel (which is a fiat engine) has an automated manual."

Yes, there was discussion about which models had what... but I thought that was cleared up when I posted on here with, what seemed like, a pretty definitive answer. Maybe you didn't see it.

Monday 8th Jan @14.30hrs. www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/122051/turbo

It went ....

Just called my local Suzuki main dealer.

The definitive answer regarding which Vitaras have what gearbox:-

1.4 Turbo S Vitara (comes as 4x4 only) has a Torque Converter transmission.

The 1.6 naturally aspirated petro Vitaral is Torque Converter.

The diesel Vitara is TCSS which is Suzuki for Twin clutch

Are you asking me whether or not i had seen your post dated 8th January when i posted what you have quoted above on the 31st December?

The answer, unsurprisingly is no, i hadn't seen it, as i don't have a time machine.

But just to clarify, in the post i was referring to (which, at a guess, would have been from about October), someone said that they had been told by a suzuki dealer that the 1.6 n/a petrol had a dual clutch gearbox and that the 1.4t had a t/c gearbox. I had also read, some time previously in a motoring magazine, that the 1.4t version of the vitara was to get a dual clutch gearbox. So at the time there was no reason to assume the dealer in question actually knew which gearbox the 1.4t had if (as was clearly the case) he didn't know which the 1.6 had.

Are you sure?, because that is what it looks like. You quote this from me, typed on 31st December,

"You ask about the suzuki auto, but this is a tricky one to answer!. There was a post not that long ago on hear in which this subject came up, and not only was there distinct confusion as to exactly what type of gearbox you are getting, it also seemed to be ridiculously difficult trying to find out. As far as i was aware, the 1.6 n/a petrol vitara had a torque converter auto, but i had read that the 1.4 boosterjet was going to have a dct of some kind. But it seems that the boosterjet also has a tc auto whereas the diesel (which is a fiat engine) has an automated manual."

Followed by this,

"Yes, there was discussion about which models had what... but I thought that was cleared up when I posted on here with, what seemed like, a pretty definitive answer. Maybe you didn't see it.

Monday 8th Jan @14.30hrs. www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/122051/turbo"

Not really sure how else to read that, but feel free to explain.

It doesn't really matter who wrote what when. Let's concentrate on Rob's next car, if there's anything more to say - although the comprehensive advice given further upthread should have given Rob plenty to think about.