Tiggs

just test driven this.

i want 4 doors, cheapish to run and quick.....but at 15k i was hoping for more. it was quick but not very and it felt hard work to find the power in the diesel with 6 gears to jump between.

do you get used to diesel or should i buy the petrol at 1yr old thus saving 2k and use the 2k to buy more fuel!

T

LG John

How many miles did the car have on it? TDi's are usually tighter than a tight thing when new and don't get 'nice' until about 30k miles in my opinion

flatfourburble

going from petrol hot hatches to diesel I might be able to help you.

Yes you do need to learn how to drive a diesel car it's totally different to a petrol car, once you have mastered it they can be just as quick down a country lane if not quicker than most petrol cars.

I'd have to agree all diesel engines do not open up until atleast 15k on the clock, my peugeot is far better now than what is was new.

The VAG PDi engines are probably the best on the market (IMO) though Ford/PSA have got a new one which is meant to be very good indeed.

Try talking to someone that has the Golf 150 with a few thousand miles on the clock.

Would go for the Leon 150 myself but agree with you that at £16k you could get a far quicker and better car for the money, you could how ever buy the 130 model and tune the engine to a possible 180 bhp and about 400lb of touque, or so I have been told :P

akshay67

You need to get used to it. Narrow power band requires playing around with the gears and good timing.

My friend has a 130 Golf TDi and that can leave a lot of cars on the road. The 150 is even faster. Chip a 150 and you are looking at close to 200bhp and 350+ torque - enough to start troubling some scoobs.

Cupramax

I think you'll find thats about 300lb/ft. 400 would rip the gearbox out

flatfourburble

opps my bad lol what's 100lb between friends, albeit a new gearbox lol.

Still impressive do you not think!!!

Have you had a look at the Fabia vRS or is that too small?

Stuart J

Tiggs,

Have a poke around on www.Briskoda.co.uk Quite a few people there are raving about the Skoda Fabia VRS, with a £450 trip to Jabba you will have 180+ bhp & Tons of Torque. Jabba do all cars in the VAG so even if its not a Vrs you get they should be able to help.

We hava an Octavia with a 110 Diesel, they stretched that to 164 bhp with 393 n/m torque. Also since the map it averages 54 mpg yet will pull 135 & spin the wheels in second. What I am saying is with say the 130 Jabbad in a lighter car it must be awesome for an Oil Burner.

I sold my STI 3 a year ago & we bought the Diesel Octy & a 4x4 Octy & both are good cars, well built, fun to drive & trouble free & now the Diesel has loads of miles on it & has been "looked at" its fun to drive yet cheap to run. I would say you need at least 10000 miles on a diesel before it starts to loosen & neare 20 before its really spinning

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Perhaps you missed the point.. 150BHP AND 40+ odd MPG. Plus the opertunity to get 200bhp and 300+lbft by just a remap and still manage a similar MPG if you drive accordingly. Find a petrol engine that can do that!

With diesels, its all about using the torque. Theres not much point bouncing them off the red line in every gear as the torque and power will have dropped off long before then. All you need to make sure is that you rev high enough to hit the torque band when you go into the next gear.

And as said before they take quite a few miles to loosen up. Our company Zafira DTi was crap when we first had it, but now, 30K miles later it's almost addictive. You just cannot drive it slowly Pity it doesn't handle

NACRO

I've asked this before on another thread however.....

Did anyone read the Autocar test where they put a Fabia vRS diesel up against a Ford Sport Ka 1.6 petrol on track?

the Fabia was standard, it was also beaten on track by the petrol.


I drove a 4x4 Leon diesel a while ago- I agree it was slow and boring. A remap might make things more interesting but ultimately if you are the kind of driver that likes to rev high and enjoy a higher performance then a remapped petrol is STILL the best option. Also you can find them more readily and pay less for them- outweighing any savings you might make at the dirty pump. Also I've noticed more and more Q's at the diesel pumps here and in the UK. Warms the cockles of my heart to see all those penny pinchers Q-ing up at the pikie pump with all the white van drivers

Ian2wdsaffcos

FAO. ALL THE PEOPLE WHO THINK A GENUINE 200BHP FROM THE VW TDI ENGINE IS EASILY ACHEIVABLE WITH JUST A CHIP!!!!

Check out this months edition of "Track & Race Car's Magazine" (I think that's what it's called, was formally "Car & Car Conversions") to see the article about the race Golf TDi. It's VERY well modified (full exhaust system, new turbo, massive boost increase, modified inlet manifold etc etc) & made 176bhp (IIRC, deffo below 180bhp though) on the Superchips Rolling Road.

brickboy

This is *not* a dig at Ian2wd, just to point out Superchips managed to get 172bhp and 300+ lb-ft on their own rolling road for an otherwise standard Ibiza PD130, with no other mods than ..... a Superchip of course!

The rolling road never lies of course -- especially not when Superchips can sell a remap

Click

Ian2wdsaffcos

Brickboy,

Not a dig either mate but I urge you just to check out the mag for yourself & then make your own conclusions as to what MAY be happening when RR companies are selling you their own chips as opposed to RR'ing someone elses.

Cheers,
Ian

[Edited by Ian2wdsaffcos - 1/27/2004 5:45:28 PM]

si_kosta

A manager of mine has just bought a Leon TDi 130 SE.. He used to have a Golf TDi 150 GTi as a company hire car for a few months and says that the 130 isn't much slower, and the engine is much more smoother and refined.. maybe he knows bugger all about cars, but he might have a point considering the 130 is a fair bit cheaper!

Ian2wdsaffcos

Si_Kosta,

Your manager aint wrong mate. My Dad was looking at either a Golf PD130 or 150 & the salesman actually recommended the 130 over the 150 even though the 150 would obviously gain him more commission! Plus the Seat is quite a bit lighter than the Golf so no there probably isn't much in it performance wise either

akshay67

Ian2wdsaffcos

Was the base car a 130 or a 150?

A.

Ian2wdsaffcos

Don't know for definite Ashkay sorry, just had a quick flick through the mag at the newsagents, didn't buy but I "think" it was the 130. It had an uprated/bigger turbocharger on it anyway & that's the only difference between the 2 models isn't it? Well that & an uprated intercooler I think, which I think the car in the mag had also?

Cheers,
Ian

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

In the case where the so called massivly modded TDi golf only did 176bhp was that at the wheels?

If so, then POWER AT THE FLYWHEEL is about 195bhp which to me would make more sense

Still, there is 80lb/ft of torque more than a standard scooby. IN other words, less faffing about changing gear to keep the engine buzzing.

Hicky

I think the 150 gets larger injectors and some stronger internals over the 130, dunno if it gets a bigger turbo though, think you can get big increases with a derv just buy squirting in more fuel(tuning box anyone?), remember reading about it in EVO quiet a while back.

brickboy

Ian2wd -- I'm sure that would never happen, it would be dishonest

Thanks for the heads-up about the mag, I'll go & have a read at lunchtime

LG John

I'm not so sure of that! When I was buying my VTS the salesman really tried to push the VTR several times even suggesting the insurance would kill me, etc. I suspect they sometimes make more commission or money on the lesser models

Tiggs

saxo boy...having done 6 months in the car trade (some yrs ago) you are right...there are many reasons a seller may push a different car...making LESS money is never one of them!

flatfourburble

have to agree with saxoboy and tiggs when I went for my VTS they try to sell me the VTR to even took me out in one to try and tempt me. Most top spec models that sell well dont have good commissions on them, also they dont count as much for dealer targets that are set for them

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Yep, Dealers will always "push" you towards whatever needs shifting the most, either to shift old stock, or acheive sales quotas etc.