Underclocking my tuning box...

Well, the very top end of the Passat range might make it into the 'premium' class - possibly a high spec SEL, which are absolutely loaded with kit.

It's a BWM, I'd hate it. I've driven an E30 and E34, which were both good. The E36 was horrible. I can't see the latest 3 being anything other than hugely disappointing for the money.

It would have to be bloody special for it to be worth the thick end of £6k more than an equivalent Passat.

If I were spending that kind of money, I'd be looking at getting a Brera JTD, Alfa GT JTD or a 159 JTD with 4wd.

[snip]

No, wrong end of the stick, I can't afford something I'd really want to

*drive*.

Instead, I've gone for something inert and staid on a country lane in exchange for comfort and relative efficiency.

Let's be fair here, the problem is not the engine in the Frontera that makes it utterly shit, it's the fact that it's a Frontera.

Brick shaped 4x4s don't go fast. The 3.5 V8 in all sorts of Land Rover products through the years failed to make them particularly good high speed cruisers.

What was your point again?

It's a s**te engine, usually found in off-roaders and vans.

Like the Rover V8.

Umm, my breize block shaped Exploder will cruise at 100mph all day long. And the 0-60 time is comparable with vehicles that other manufacturers misdescribe as "sporty".

Great... til you get to a tight bend. ;-)

Has it got Firestone tyres by chance? :-P

100mph is not really fast though, is it? Your Fraud Exploder's also got a lot more cubic capacities, torques and horsepowers than any Frontera 0-60 isn't everything. My 2.6 Carlton had a similar 0-60 time to my Peugeot 205 Diesel. Neither was sporty, but one of them was much, much faster than the other.

Are there other cars in the Ford stable which use the same (4.0 V6?) engine? How do they compare to yours in the performance stakes?

100 mph is a decent cruise anywhere in the world, with the possible exception of the Northern Territories or Deutschland.

I can outpace most Golf GTis and most "hot" hatches come to that. It's fast enough, no 0-60isn'[t everything, but I note that in the example above, the fast car is also the lardy car.

Yes, but you're on shifting sand (again) the fact is that the performance of the Explorer is fast enough, faster than most cars with much better aerodynamics. Now you have picked up the goalposts and are running as fast as you can.

FWIW, the Mustang 4.0V6 is faster.

Porsche used a VW van engine in at least one of their cars.

Audi used a VW van engine (that's still in use today in VW vans) in a few of their cars.

One of them for sure is a cracking engine, and the other does the trick as well, but I'm not all that sure.

What do you know? You wouldn't know a decent diesel engine if you tripped up over it, though.

Did you just describe the 3 series as a premium product??!!

Ah... but did Porsche ever release any models based on the Golf floorpan?

Steve. I publicly deride people for buying into the badge with the 318/320d, but deep down I can't help but think that they're actually a good choice. Basic but comfortable. Straight line boring but so well balanced and with great feel to the controls. Distinctive without being 7 series ugly.

None of which have their steering uncorrupted by drive.

It was an attempt to relate your Ford experience to SteveH's assertion that Dervy's SAAB must be s**te because a Frontera apparently struggles to reach 90mph.

Guys guys guys, you keep on having this argument. Can you not just refer each other to google groups or something? :-)

Minor issue. I have a 75 for RWD fun.

The Alfas are beautiful to look at, rather than looking like a 5 year old designed them.