BigDaveGti wrote: I don't see how it's a step backwards using a bigger more powerful engine that is lighter and more economical, plus the 1.4tsi was a disaster and the only reason I never got a 6r gti even though it was good fun to drive, also VW are a lot nicer to drive than most other cars, although the ford is one of only a small bunch of cars I would drive that's coming from someone who has driven most new cars on the market
I'm guessing that mayhem was meaning that as the car industry declared that the only way forward was small more powerful and more efficient engines - and to that end, the 1.4TSI Twin Charger was designed and got great international engineering reviews, I'm not trying to be smug here, but right away I smelt a rat and could see a very obvious flaw in VAG's way for things as what they had brought to market would be a very heavy, very complex and very expensive to keep over its lifetime engine, what I had not taken into account that it was also a bit of a build disaster and some of the components don't seem to have been run through full qualification testing, or the production batch of engines were using inferior components.
I don't know much about the Ford 3 cylinder engines, but I think that I've heard that they are not too good, you can get either economy or useful power, but never the two together like you can get with VAG's - at least 4 cylinder small turbo charged engines.
I think that at the top level of manufacturing and at point of sale, the car industry is still manned by too many duffers, no change there. I am old enough to remember chatting to my local Ford dealer in 1981ish about Ford's lack of a 5 speed gearbox in the Escort, the answer was "no need, that is just a fashion thing that will blow over" - wrong! A few years later, maybe in 1990 remember chatting to my local Ford dealer about Ford's lack of multi valve petrol engines "no need, that is just a fashion thing that will blow over" - well roughly something like that - with that I moved across to VX and bought a very very nice secondhand Cav GSI 2000 16V 4X4 - best car I have ever owned, well maybe same as my current Audi S4! What I am trying to say is, if the manufacturer's top level and the local sales people don't know what is needed/wanted, then the future does not look to good for the end users that have spent their money. BTW, my wife's old late 2002 Polo 9N 1.4 16V 75PS did cost me quite a lot in repairs during its first 4 years of normal use - that is why I try to remind people that the current Polo 9N > are just Skoda Fabia in smarter clothes, Skoda may have been a quality engineering company once upon a time, but their car division is now just a place for making cheap cars very cheaply. I think that their tramcar division might still be a world beater though - if that helps?