Seat Ateca 1.4 TSI DSG questions

[Filke]

Hi mates,

Lately I was thinking about buying second hand Seat Ateca 1.4 TSI 150 bhp DSG. At first I was leaning more towards 1.6 TDI or even better 2.0 TDI engine but considering my previous experience with driving diesel cars in urban city conditions I was thinking that better choice would be gasoline TSI engine. I know that previous generation of TSI (EA111) had numerous issues but these EA211 should be much better. My questions are - does this 1.4 TSI in Ateca have GPF, timing belt or timing chain? Also how much is fuel consumption of 1.4 TSI greater than the fuel consumption of 1.6 TDI and 2.0 TDI in the city driving conditions?

 

[Filke]

Anyone? OK, maybe too many questions. How reliable is 1.4 tsi in Ateca compared to the 1.6 TDI or 2.0 TDI? Are there any known issues with that engine and DSG in 2016-2018 period?

 

[Tell]

Ah. The early Atecas with the 1.4TSI were well regarded. The 1.5TSI was held back so it came later to Seat than other VAG cars. There were issues reported on other VAG models so by the time it got fitted to Atecas a couple of years later they were ironed out.

The 1.6 TDI originally fitted to Atecas didn't have SCR. The 2.0 TDI always did. I have had no issues with my 2.0 TDI accept a sensor threw an error once and needed replacing. Much more powerful engine.

DSG. The DQ200 was / is fitted to the 1.0 and 1.4/1.5 TSI. That had an early reputation issue due to the synthetic oil used in them. They went from mineral oil to synthetic. The latter caused reliability issues so they swapped back. That was all history by the time the Ateca used the gear box. It's said in some quarters the DQ200 works well with the 3 cylinder TSI 1.0 and fitting it to 1.4 could be an issue. Not sure how reliable that statement is. That was Honest John's mail box. I took him up on that once where I corrected something he'd previously said. So he was non plussed about the DQ100 in anything other than 1.0TSI engines.

The TDI 2.0 has a DQ380 gearbox that never had the reliability issues. I've been driving DSGs for 20 years now. Completely happy with what was in the Altea and the Ateca 2.0 TDI. The Arona 3 cylinder 1.0TSI with DQ200 is dandy for hilly small roads. Keep the more comfortable Ateca for longer runs and the Arona as the run around.

PS you might want to look at the Erwin manuals, link provided on the pinned thread. That provides the full maintenance detail and specs. They are the official workshop manuals.

 

[Filke]

Thanks for the detailed explanation. Yeah, I have noticed that from all VAGs SUVs in period 2016-2018 only the Ateca had 1.4
TSI (I think CZEA is engine code) all other had in that period 1.5 TSI. Intentionally I want that older 1.4 TSI engine because it didn't have GPF, but I not sure does it have any other issus that were fixed at 1.5 TSI. As I see from spec 1.4 tsi and 1.5 tsi have similar performance and characteristics. Could you confirm that 1.4 TSI in Ateca didn't have GPF and have timing belt instead of timing chain from the previous TSI generation. And for DSG in 1.4 TSI in Ateca it was only DQ200? DQ200 should be the worst option isn't? It was constructed to be without maintenance (no oil change) so called dry clutch but in reality if you don't change oil and oil filter you would have big chance to have issues after 60000 miles or less even factory says it's lifetime...These conclusions about DQ200 are not mine, maybe that's not true but many VAG users wrote this...

 

[Tell]

Thanks for the detailed explanation. Yeah, I have noticed that from all VAGs SUVs in period 2016-2018 only the Ateca had 1.4
TSI (I think CZEA is engine code) all other had in that period 1.5 TSI. Intentionally I want that older 1.4 TSI engine because it didn't have GPF, but I not sure does it have any other issus that were fixed at 1.5 TSI. As I see from spec 1.4 tsi and 1.5 tsi have similar performance and characteristics. Could you confirm that 1.4 TSI in Ateca didn't have GPF and have timing belt instead of timing chain from the previous TSI generation. And for DSG in 1.4 TSI in Ateca it was only DQ200? DQ200 should be the worst option isn't? It was constructed to be without maintenance (no oil change) so called dry clutch but in reality if you don't change oil and oil filter you would have big chance to have issues after 60000 miles or less even factory says it's lifetime...These conclusions about DQ200 are not mine, maybe that's not true but many VAG users wrote this...

Pages from the maintenance manual. It is CZEA. Toothed belt. Particle filters only got fitted to diesels.

People were happy with the 1.4 engine. Think the reality was Seat got palmed off with the old engines whilst the newer ones (1.5) got put on VWs and Skodas till they ran out of stock. It was a slight rub at the time but against that the reported early issues with the 1.5.

It was the DQ200 that was fitted to these models in DSG form. Some people were interested in getting more power out of the engines with the gear box, think that would be asking for trouble.

 

[Filke]

In the third picture is described acronym of DPF, but I didn't see it says what engine does or doesn't have particulate filter. By the particulate filter on the petrol engine I meant on GPF (Gas Particulate Filter) not DPF. GPF on the petrol engines should be mandatory on euro6c or newer petrol engines. I'm not sure when VW has started to install GPF on all petrol engine. As you said before 1.4 TSI CZEA is older engine and shouldn't have GPF but for the newer 1.5 TSI from 2019 in SEAT I'm not sure. What is the major difference between the 1.4 TSI and newer 1.5 TSI engine and if you have to choose which of the these two engines would you choose?

 

[Tell]

More reading

https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/advice/owning-advice/15-tsi-engine-issues/

You might have to go under one and have a look.

SSPs are another source on that paid site. They are the dealers training notes and give a good idea of what was launched in each model range.

You will find the maintenance manual there.

 

[Filke]

I agree with that. Yesterday I went to look one 1.4 TSI Ateca (2018) with DSG gearbox. It had CZEA engine and definetely it doesn't have GPF. Engine works very smoothly and even I prefer TDI and its torque in low revs this 1.4 tsi accelerates quite good. I was disappointed with DQ200. Even if Ateca has quite low mileage (50k miles) when I tested DSG how it starts uphill without hill hold button depressed I heard some squealing and before moving forward car wen a little bit backwards. At first with hill hold button depressed I thought it was squealing of rear brake disks but after turning hill hold assist off there was the same sound of squealing. I guess that squealing is the sign that something is wrong with the DSG (worn lamellas). Is this common issue of DQ200 which was driven most of the time in the city?