New car £7k budget

[w1lliam]

Family member looking at a new car to replace an ageing Fabia.She's driven a few cars including Seat Leon, VW Golf and a Kia Rio. The Rio was a bit underpowered compared to the Leon and Golf.

She enjoys both the Leon, mk3, and Golf, mk7, however both don't come with a lot of equipment unless she ups her budget significantly. She is looking at cars newer than 2014.

At 1st the 1.4tsi engine was her preferred size however there are a number of issues with excessive oil burning and engine failure. So now she is looking at the 1.2 tsi engine with either model that includes parking sensors.

When searching for any issues i came across this, which mentions to avoid the 1.2 tsi on pre -2015 models.

Now has anyone run into or researched the issues cropping up with these engines?

What do you think of the Leon?

Thanks guys.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

all these new modern engines will likely have issues.

they are tiny with huge turbos strapped to them. they are designed to beat emissions tests rather than be reliable.

buy something older with a bigger engine with no turbo if you are going petrol. honda civic?

 

[AHarvey]

I'd look at slightly older with full spec rather than upping the budget, a mk6 golf with everything will be just as reliable and enjoyable as the mk7.

Have you looked the Polo? still a decent sized motor, same engines as the golf but you may find a better spec one.

1.4TSI is generally fine if maintained and left alone, any mods and it'll probably die from what I've been seeing.

Why not consider another Skoda? You'll get the same VW engines and higher spec for £7k than you'll get in the leon or golf

 

[ShivP]

The turbocharged 1.4TSI is worth having, it's a good little engine. My mum has a 150 1.4TSI variant in her tiguan and it's quite nippy, economical and very smooth. Enough power for around town too. The older twincharged (supercharged and turbocharged) has all manner of problems and is an engine to totally avoid - it's pants

 

[BUDFORCE]

all these new modern engines will likely have issues.

they are tiny with huge turbos strapped to them. they are designed to beat emissions tests rather than be reliable.

buy something older with a bigger engine with no turbo if you are going petrol. honda civic?

This, if you are looking for long term reliability avoid turbos full stop.

 

[Journey]

Nissan Leaf (not joking) nothing to go wrong with it, useless if she does more than 100 miles a day with the 24kWh battery though, oh yeah, cheap fuel bills.

 

[ultralaser]

(Biased but) again maybe consider a Civic, I'd say mine (1.8L) is pretty close performance wise to a 1.4 TSI and it's bullet proof.... might be pushing it though to get a 2014 model with a decent spec for £7K

 

[BUDFORCE]

(Biased but) again maybe consider a Civic, I'd say mine (1.8L) is pretty close performance wise to a 1.4 TSI and it's bullet proof.... might be pushing it though to get a 2014 model with a decent spec for £7K

The 1.8l na petrol civic engine, I reckon is good for at least 500k miles, in the uk, the rest of the car will rot before that engine ever goes.