Chain drive 1.2 TSi Yes or No

[Mr Pig]

I posted this in general but no one goes there!

Looking at a 2014 Toledo with the 1.2 TSi engine for my daughter's first car. From what I can glean it's a late chain driven ea111 engine, before they switched to a belt for the ea211.

It's low millage at 47k and it drives fine. Being for a teenager's first car, if there is any doubt at all I want to avoid it. Should I or is the engine likely to be ok?

Thank you.

 

[BoomerBoom]

You might want to go for the later belt version, if you can. The chain system was abandoned due to the number of early failures, within the warranty period, as I recall.

https://www.motorreviewer.com/engine.php?engine_id=115

 

[Mr Pig]

Yes, but from what I've read they beefed up the chain etc in 2012 so later engines are not so fragile. I'm trying to find out if that's true or if it's best to swerve them altogether.

 

[Rooster]

Hi Mr P, as with a lot of things it can be a bit of a lottery, but I don't think they are as bad post 2012, i've worked on a few with starship mileage which didn't display the death rattle. A kit from somewhere like Autodoc can be had at a similar price as a timing belt kit if the worst came to the worst.

 

[Mr Pig]

I don't think they are as bad post 2012, i've worked on a few with starship mileage which didn't display the death rattle.

That's my thinking. They seem to have been crap to begin with but by the time they stopped making them the worst of the issues had been sorted out.

I drove the car and it drove well, nice engine, but I did not cold start it. Or rather I wasn't paying attention when the seller started it.