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Advantages v disadvantages of a diesel!!!

LPT Saabs, LPT Volvos tend to be more for economy than outright power. It's just that with a proper, petrol, engine you get an engine that's usable either on or off boost.

My old Cosworth, as I stated earlier in the week, was 500+ bhp and could do

45 mpg on a run. Ok, most of the time it was under 25 mpg, but if I'd have been driving something with Dr D's Evil Invention in at the same speed I'd have probably been getting the same mpg - except in the diesel the fuel is more expensive.

And if you use it, you don't get much better mpg than in a petrol. On a fast cross country run in a Pug 406 HDi I averaged 13.6 mpg.... at the same speeds in a V6 Mondeo - which are hardly parsimonious - on the same roads I got 19 mpg, and it was *much* more fun.

More poke than their predecessesors is hardly a lot of poke though, is it?

To get a measly 215 bhp from a modern, state of the art, 3.0 diesel production BMW it has to be turbocharged. Without the turbo it'd more than likely produce around 120-130bhp. Ford were getting more poke than that from the 3.0 Essex in 1971. Ok, so the BMW has more torque than the Essex, but it's still in a *tiny* powerband and if you use it all you get mediocre MPG from it.

I used to be able to average 32 mpg on a quickish [1] motorway run in my old company 540i BMW. In my brothers 530d I used to get 34 mpg at the same speeds. The 540i was faster, sounded better, and was *much* more pleasant to drive in general.

I just don't get the whole "diesel is great" thing. They're not. Ok, if you pootle about in a diesel you'll probably manage 40-50 mpg in town - but it'll be a truly unenjoyable experience. Diesel autos are vastly preferable to the petrol ones, but only because they take most of the work [2] out of it for you.

If you want to experience a really nice engine, try an Alfa 3.0 V6 24v, BMW M5 V8, or basically anything with a large capacity V8. They're the only way to get the torque that the diesel apologists crave.

[1] 95ish mph, mainly cruise controlled. [2] Negotiating that horrible, narrow powerband.
Reply to
Pete M
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Dammit...

how about a post-wedding meet at the nordschiliefe?

Reply to
Tim S Kemp

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HTH.

Reply to
SteveH

Doesn't really.

Simple mathematics says that something that does 45 mpg and uses petrol costs less to run than something that does 45 mpg and burns diesel, which is more expensive.

HTH

Reply to
Pete M

I'm questioning the 45mpg, as well you know I am.

Father in Law had 2 Cosworths, 2nd one of which was a Rouse Sport 330bhp

4wd.

He reckoned 25mpg was a good return.

Reply to
SteveH

*Steve Firth in "The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth" shocker!*
Reply to
Pete M

Mine had stoopidly long gearing [1]... in 5th at 90 it was pulling something like 2400 rpm but would waft along all day without using the boost... hence it could do silly mpg on the motorway.

A well set up 2wd will do 25-30 mpg without much trouble. 4wd ones are a fair bit less economical.

Reply to
Pete M

In news: snipped-for-privacy@karoo.co.uk, Tim S Kemp decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows

Heh, I love my old LPG V8 Rangie. It's ideal for me, can carry loads of stuff, tow almost anything, cheap to run, loads of *real* torque, AC, leather, will go almost anywhere within reason, and costs £22.00 for a full tank :-)

Reply to
Pete M

You seem to have missed out 'handles like a puppy on rollerskates and rolls like a 2CV'.

Reply to
SteveH

In news:oYqKe.2159$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe6-gui.ntli.net, DervMan decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows

ITYF that's "some" drivers.

This is why LPG is brilliant.

And horrible to drive

Ban diesels. That's my answer. Anyone who drives a diesel out of choice should have their licence taken away.

Reply to
Pete M

Yes. Some. Many. Most.

I don't understand why it hasn't caught on in the diesel way.

Oh, yeah, nobody trusts the Government! :)

The donk is only a small part of the entertainment. I had a hoot on the weekend with ye olde engine design under the bonnet.

That's as reasonable as me reckoning we should ban all drivers of large vehicles longer than say 4.5 metres, because it's unreasonable use of road space and kills puppies / trees / whatever the greenies reckon this week.

Reply to
DervMan

Well, there is the Godwin-law...

Rephrase your reply and make it the AstraVanMan-law! You've spotted all the components.

Cheers!

Tom De Moor

Reply to
Tom De Moor

probably used my 5th gear mod ;)

Reply to
dojj

The Golf TDi feel OK (ish) until you drive a Golf 1.8 Turbo then you realise what a piss poor excuse for a car the TDi is.

Reply to
Steve Firth

In news:UAtKe.2726$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe4-gui.ntli.net, DervMan decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows

Not me. Then again, I've spent a lot of my driving career driving cars that Joe Average hasn't. Compared to some of the 80's best mediocre shitboxes, some diesels must appear to be brilliant.

True :-(

The Ka is one of my favourite small cars, as well you know.

Cool, that's me banned. The wheelbase on the Excursion is something silly like 9 metres :-D

Reply to
Pete M

Indeed - but then so many modern machines feel vastly "better" than a 1980s generation machine

Sad but true. I'd have it done myself if it weren't for the Two Jags factor.

Ya I know, but this weekends' activities would have been no less fun if the Ka were running a modern diesel under there.

It's so long, it takes my Ka longer to reach the end in seconds from a standing start than it is long in metres. ;)

Reply to
DervMan

No-one disagrees that the low cost utilitarian solution is diseasel.

You have a bike *and* a car, I only have one car and as such I find a

4/5 place V8 supercar to be the best compromise. I confess that there are no diseasels in my fantasy 5 or 10 car garages either (unless Volvo C303s come with >165bhp TDs). A
Reply to
Alistair J Murray

That sounds distinctly less than 65mpg.

Next...

Reply to
JackH

If they were a bit cheaper in car form, I'd consider having one - my dad has a 1.9 JTD van, constantly weighed down by all his tools etc., and it never drops below 50mpg, no matter how leadfooted he is.

Reply to
JackH

And therein, lies the main factor people forget in a debate like this... you don't run the bloody thing up to the redline - change up earlier, and let the lower down grunt gather speed nicely for you.

Reply to
JackH

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