Afternoon , just lobbing my brick in the pond
I dive a TDI 90 , and have a TDI 75 , in the past a 1.6 FSI , I have only driven 1, 1.4 petrol and that was for 15miles of a test drive in 2003 ......
Each engine has its strong, and weak points
A key consideration , is how is the car to be used , short journeys , and its the 1.4 petrol , longer trips at normal motor way miles the TDI 75 wins hands down
Driving like a loon , and trashing a engine more you thing , then the 1.6 FSI is the winner
In my case , mostly 100 mile trips at 65-75 mph , with a mix of faster B roads ,and a little bit of city crawling , its the 90 BHP tdi , with a MYP 6 speed gear box to reduce fuel consumption over 5-10 years
Basil , my TDI 90 , which was bought last year , at 171 K miles has been a major pain in the arse , but 15K miles in a year later, things has settled down well , an item which has not been discussed is crankshaft failure, along with the oil pump chain lifespan . The engine rebuild was a nut and bolt job and my brief was for an expected life span exceeding 200K miles
In my case , the crankshaft failing lead to a new short engine , overhaul of the head , rebuild of the VNT turbo , new intercooler , and MYP gear box , so the final bill was eye watering , but spilt this over 10 years , and 200,000 miles , it makes a lot of sense.
For me,the cars intended use ,and its past service history would be leading the way , those cars are now upwards of 15 years old , been subject to lack of servicing ( in most cases) and maintained by " less skilled" people along the way .
Good TDI 90s , come along , but command strong money and normally high mileage , buy with you eyes open ,and your wallet ready ...