official stats
The Leon T FSI FR: 142mph, 0-62mph 7.3 seconds, 35.8mpg.
The Leon TDI FR: 135mph, 0-62mph in 8.3 seconds, 47.1mpg.
this translates as.... the diesel is 31% more efficient than the tfsi (47.1 / 35.8) ... or the tsi is 24% less efficient than the TDI (35.8 / 47.1)
I manage 34 mpg av out of my tfsi.
the same logic of adding 31% would equate to comparable mpg of 44.7
TFSI cost per mile = 11.63 pence (based on 87p per litre)
TDI cost per mile = 9.96 pence (based on 99 per litre)
TFI cost for 3000 miles a month = £348.99
TDI cost for 3000 miles a month = £301.05
£47.13 saving a month (or £565.55 a year) is significant, but the choice is yours. For me the petrol was worth it.
PS i do 50,000 miles a year and justified the petrol by comparing the TFSI with the Focus ST !!!
Unfortunately the performance figures are meaningless as they don't translate into real world driving.
The petrol diesel debate can go on all day, they've had the same one on the TT Forum.
After driving many of the modern hot hatches and a few diesels, not the Leon FR but both the
Ibiza FR and Cupra my opinion is...
For outright performance a petrol wins hands down, a diesel can never match it. Sound of the engine is great too on performance models.
A modern diesel though is cleaner, quieter and a lot more torque. At certain rev ranges a 130 bhp
Ibiza FR could give the Leon Cupra a run for its money. Some diesels in particular the VAG engines have their own unique sound. Also excellent MPG and cheap road tax.
Downsides of petrol is fuel consumption, the FR and Cupra Leons aren't bad in the scheme of things, but boot it and you can easily see the wrong side of 20 mpg.
Downsides of diesel is soot out of older design engines (I think the DPF is supposed to
help combat this), tractor sound on tick over (TT isn't bad but was very noticeable in the
Ibiza Cupra) and is marginally more expensive. (about 10p more than Unleaded and 5p more than Super). To make a fair comparison between the FR petrol and TDi you need to use the figures for Super as that's what's recommend to run it on.
For me at the moment I am getting at least 18 mpg more out of the TT than Cupra on the same run. The Cupra did get better though when it was run in at about 9K miles.
I would buy another petrol in the future but even doing say 12K miles a year on paper the diesel is cheaper.
A TDi is also a lot easier to sell on at the moment, very few people want high performance petrol cars at the moment. I see that my old Cupra is still up for sale and keeps getting reduced in price.