I had the same engine in my similarly aged Octavia (owned from new). By the time I got rid of it at about 120k miles last year, the oil consumption was close to that of a two stroke (1 litre of oil to 2 tanks of petrol!!), but it still ran OK. The timing chain rattled like a chainsaw too on cold starts. Annoying really, because the rest of the car was really solid and almost nothing else went wrong in the 10 years I had it.

Given that it wasn't MOTd when due a few days ago, I suspect it may not have lasted much longer after I moved it on.

They won't all be like that, but it's certainly a risk with that engine. The rattly timing chain noise is really obvious so easy enough to check for, but harder to tell for the oil consumption. Mine produced no visible smoke, other when pushed really hard (foot on the floor) above about 4500rpm the first couple of times after being driven around more normally for a couple of days. Other tell tale signs are a sooty exhaust tip and greasy mark on the bumper near the exhaust.

I might take the risk if this was a £500 car and there wasn't any visible signs of oilmconsumption issues, but wouldn't risk £5000 on it. The 2 litre diesel is probably the safest bet if you want a Yeti - the 1.4 and 1.2 petrols of that era also had issues with the timing chain, though not the oil consumption problem which was limited to the 1.8 and 2.0.

Have owned a 1.2 petrol Tsi from new (in 2011).

Love it.

If they still made them I'd buy a new one in a heartbeat.

I wasn't aware that my enginewas considered troublesome. From new it's had a water pump (and they changed the rubber belt at the same timejust as a matter of common sense). It's still on the original brake pads.

I also have the DSG ... the one that apparently goes wrong at the drop of a hat. Strangely it hasn't exploded (but I will concede it had a clutch pack and a change of transmission oil under warranty just a year or two in from new).

The Yeti forum is helpful but from what I gather they offer caution regarding the 1.8 petrol.

I also see quite a lot of reference to the Haldex 4 wheel drive malarkey and wouldn't rush to have one of those unless necessary.

The early chain drive TSI's (and I believe this would cover early 1.2's) do have known problems re the chain stretching. Subsequent belt drive TSI's are apparently fine (ignoring the 1.5's kangarooing issues).

The warnings about DSG's usually have the caveat that reliability is dependent to a large degree on how it is driven. So buying one second hand is not a good idea because (unless it is a car who's owner from you is known to you) there is no way to know how it has been driven.

As you have owned yours from new and (presumably) drive it with a degree of care and mechanical sympathy, it isn't really that strange or surprising to learn it hasn't caused you too many problems (averaged over 11+ years).