R20A engine reliability

[Tim Cognito]

Been thinking about a new daily for family duties. Requirements are estate and petrol. I am quite tempted by the mk8 Honda Accord Tourer. I think it looks good enough, well specced, Honda reliability etc. I thought the 2.0 ivtec it comes with would be a detuned variant of the K20 which I assumed would be bomb proof but was disappointed to find it is in fact the R20 which seems to have a bit of a bad rep for piston ring wear/oil consumption and premature timing chain issues.

Does the PH hive mind have any experience/opinion on this engine?

I know the PH choice would be an import with the 2.4 K24A but I can't justify the expense/import hassle.

[Matt_T]

The 2.0 petrols use the R20A engine which is a derivative of the K20A but with more low end torque (and I think a SOHC?). They are a completely bombproof engine and are great to drive however do lack a little torque.

I'm not aware of any major issues with them.

BTW - we have run a Mk8 2.2 cdti for 11 years ad 165,000 miles and it has been faultless. The only repair was a new DPF filter. My wife has been trying to destroy the auto gearbox for all that time and it still works - that's evidence of reliability!

[Tim Cognito]

Matt_T said:

The 2.0 petrols use the R20A engine which is a derivative of the K20A but with more low end torque (and I think a SOHC?). They are a completely bombproof engine and are great to drive however do lack a little torque.

I'm not aware of any major issues with them.

BTW - we have run a Mk8 2.2 cdti for 11 years ad 165,000 miles and it has been faultless. The only repair was a new DPF filter. My wife has been trying to destroy the auto gearbox for all that time and it still works - that's evidence of reliability!

Thanks,

I am tempted by the 2.2 but having had a diesel daily for years I really fancy a petrol, plus we do quite a lot of short journeys and city driving so the dpf issues put me off as these seem quite common on that engine?

[Matt_T]

The 2.0 petrols are really nice to drive, super smooth engine. However if you are used to 2.0 diesels you will have to change your driving style a little!

The Mazda 6 petrols are a good alternative, quite a similar car in a way.