Which Engine?

[Anonymous]

Good morn,

I'm at this site to find out about the RCZ before buying one as a second car (my 12 year old son likes the RCZ so the idea is we will change our Saab convertible for one at the end of the summer).

We are doing some research and read some reviews (on the Autocar site I think) yesterday eve. I became quite concerned about the number of owners reporting serious problems with the petrol engines (new cam chains and tensioners at 20,000 miles, water pumps, turbo chargers &c). Is this something I should worry about when searching for a suitable car or are the incidents rare?

It would seem that 3-5 year old cars sell for between £6,000 and £10,000, which would be a sensible budget for us. I had intended to look for a petrol car (our daily driver is a Skoda Superb TDI estate, which is excellent but we didn't want anything too similar for our fun car), but perhaps I should be looking at diesels instead?

If anyone had a moment to give us a view on the reliability of the petrol engines vs. the diesels that would be really helpful.

Alan

 

[DKZ5745]

The choice between petrol and Diesel engines depends a lot on your usage.

No car particularly likes short journeys, but the diesel in particular doesn't. You are likely to have problems with the DPF if you are consistently doing short journeys, with out doing a longer one where the build up can be burned off.

As for the petrol engines reliability, as I already pointed out to you in another post, the main problem, Timing Chain Tensioner, was limited almost entirely to the MK1 (pre-2013) as the modified part was fitted from New on the Mk2. If you get a Mk1 that has had this done, you shouldn't really have any more problems with that part, as they should fit the modified replacement.

The other problems, fuel pump, sensors, coil packs, etc, are really not that common, and again, from reading, it appears that they are more prevalent on the Mk1 (although this could simply be an age thing, as they are obviously older cars than the Mk2).

The diesel is pretty much bulletproof if driven as described above.

Both Petrol & Diesel are remarkably fuel efficient, with some petrol engined RCZ owners reporting up to 50mpg when driven sensibly, or if you drive like I do, you will still get @ 30-35 mostly.

You also need to take into account the upcoming changes to legislation regarding Diesel engines cars, with increased duties, and more restrictions being applied.

From your earlier post, I see you are thinking about a Mk2, and the obvious difference if you see a car & your not sure of its year, the Mk1 has inset front fogs, the Mk2 has LED DRL's that are more flush fitting.

One more thing to consider, Sat Nav. There are so many on here that have looked to retro-fit the flip up SatNav screen. It is possible, but costly & difficult, so it might be worth considering looking for one already fitted, both aesthetically and for the obvious practical reasons. (This screen also shows the cars other functions). You could have a look at my post viewtopic.php?f=20&t=10474 for a take on what you can do with a bit of time on your hands.

Hope the above helps.

 

[Anonymous]

The choice between petrol and Diesel engines depends a lot on your usage.

No car particularly likes short journeys, but the diesel in particular doesn't. You are likely to have problems with the DPF if you are consistently doing short journeys, with out doing a longer one where the build up can be burned off.

As for the petrol engines reliability, as I already pointed out to you in another post, the main problem, Timing Chain Tensioner, was limited almost entirely to the MK1 (pre-2013) as the modified part was fitted from New on the Mk2. If you get a Mk1 that has had this done, you shouldn't really have any more problems with that part, as they should fit the modified replacement.

The other problems, fuel pump, sensors, coil packs, etc, are really not that common, and again, from reading, it appears that they are more prevalent on the Mk1 (although this could simply be an age thing, as they are obviously older cars than the Mk2).

The diesel is pretty much bulletproof if driven as described above.

Both Petrol & Diesel are remarkably fuel efficient, with some petrol engined RCZ owners reporting up to 50mpg when driven sensibly, or if you drive like I do, you will still get @ 30-35 mostly.

You also need to take into account the upcoming changes to legislation regarding Diesel engines cars, with increased duties, and more restrictions being applied.

From your earlier post, I see you are thinking about a Mk2, and the obvious difference if you see a car & your not sure of its year, the Mk1 has inset front fogs, the Mk2 has LED DRL's that are more flush fitting.

One more thing to consider, Sat Nav. There are so many on here that have looked to retro-fit the flip up SatNav screen. It is possible, but costly & difficult, so it might be worth considering looking for one already fitted, both aesthetically and for the obvious practical reasons. (This screen also shows the cars other functions). You could have a look at my post viewtopic.php?f=20&t=10474 for a take on what you can do with a bit of time on your hands.

Hope the above helps.

Many thanks, that was really helpful. This will be a low mileage car as we'll keep the very sensible Skoda diesel estate, so we'll probably do 3-4,000 miles/year as we do in the Saab. A diesel would make no sense at all with that type of use, which is why I'd started looking at the petrol cars.

Thank you for the note regarding identifying Mk1/Mk2 cars, and the thing about SATNAV. We have become rather used to the (excellent) built in SATNAV in the Skoda as opposed to using my cell phone for navigation in the Saab, so that is something we probably would want. It does look like we have narrowed our search to 2013 or later petrol cars (to avoid the unreliability issues), probably in red (Dan (my son) likes that colour and he is a major stakeholder in this project). There would appear to be plenty of quite low mileage cars with good maintenance records at around £9000 that fit the bill, and that would be about £4000 cheaper than a similar age Audi TT, which I suppose is the most obvious competitor.

Another question if I may: I read in one of the reviews that the cabin is quite cramped (not unusual for sports cars), but I am 6'2" and 15 st 10 lbs - am I going to find fitting in to the car difficult? I suppose I should find a car at a dealer nearby and try it for size.

Best wishes,

Alan

 

[2retro]

Another question if I may: I read in one of the reviews that the cabin is quite cramped (not unusual for sports cars), but I am 6'2" and 15 st 10 lbs - am I going to find fitting in to the car difficult?

It's actually pretty spacious inside so I'm sure you will be fine in the front. Just don't try and sit in the back at any point! :thumbup:

And you're right to avoid the diesel in my opinion. With all the bad press about harmful emissions from them and increased taxes and charges for owning one nobody in their right mind will be buying diesels in the near future.

 

[Anonymous]

Another question if I may: I read in one of the reviews that the cabin is quite cramped (not unusual for sports cars), but I am 6'2" and 15 st 10 lbs - am I going to find fitting in to the car difficult?

It's actually pretty spacious inside so I'm sure you will be fine in the front. Just don't try and sit in the back at any point! :thumbup:

And you're right to avoid the diesel in my opinion. With all the bad press about harmful emissions from them and increased taxes and charges for owning one nobody in their right mind will be buying diesels in the near future.

Many thanks, that was useful. The only reason my son and I need a (sort of) 4 seater is for Bob (the dog), so I think a 2+2 would suit us just fine. I'm pleased to hear about the front seats.

I doubt that there will be any retrospective taxation of diesel cars - rather I think the tax regime will probably change for new cars, but even so I don't think a diesel would suit us. We use the Skoda diesel estate for longer distance trips, it has plenty of room for the dog and the cat plus everything else we take with us to our house in Norfolk. The RCZ would be a fun car, mostly for the summer and around town, so a petrol car would suit us much better.

Best wishes,

Alan

 

[DKZ5745]

Bob will love the back seat, but as 2retro said, anything with 2 legs, older than 8 years should seriously avoid it. (Ok, chickens and the like may be excluded from that statement).

You are certainly looking in the right direction, because RCZ is actually spelt F U N :thumbup:

 

[Anonymous]

Bob will love the back seat, but as 2retro said, anything with 2 legs, older than 8 years should seriously avoid it. (Ok, chickens and the like may be excluded from that statement).

You are certainly looking in the right direction, because RCZ is actually spelt F U N :thumbup:

Thank you again. My son is engaged in the research, which is part of the project. I think Bob will be happy enough with the small seats.

Would I be right in thinking the rear seats fold to give a long load space into the boot? If I am right that may be a very good thing for Bob (and Millicent the cat) who have travelling crates for when we go away to our place in Norfolk.

I'm looking forward to RCZ ownership, the Saab 900 Convertible has been quite rewarding for the past 2 years, and will be fun for this summer, but soft tops are only practical for (at most) 8 months of the year here in England, so an RCZ will be much more practical come next winter.

 

[2retro]

Would I be right in thinking the rear seats fold to give a long load space into the boot?

That is correct and there is loads of room in there too so dog and cat should both be happy! :thumbup:

 

[DKZ5745]

With the seats down, you can actually get a small folding Giraffe in there, allegedly :eusa-whistle:

 

[Anonymous]

Would I be right in thinking the rear seats fold to give a long load space into the boot?

That is correct and there is loads of room in there too so dog and cat should both be happy! :thumbup:

Wonderful. The RCZ really does seem to be the ideal fun car for myself, Dan, Bob and Millicent. If I had not just put the Saab back on the road I'd probably get one now, but as I have I think we'll enjoy the soft top for one more summer and change it in October.

 

[Anonymous]

With the seats down, you can actually get a small folding Giraffe in there, allegedly :eusa-whistle: