Homer Simpson

Or drive faster!!

Shame most of the standard Imprezas don't have as much low down torque as the new patch of TDI's. I guess you're going to have to start modifiying your car!

I agree with you, all slow **** Imprezas should be banned! Especially after they're shown up by a TDI!!!

[Edited by Homer Simpson - 5/3/2002 3:03:37 AM]

brendy

Is anyone else getting sick of all these ********* in TDI Golf/Passat etc driving really close behind them - do they have to prove they are as quick???????

It is getting to the stage that when a car overtakes you on the motorway you can bet it will be yet another bloody diesel flat out.
Ban them all.

stephen30

I know what you mean. Never mind, use the headlight washer button everytime it happens and they get wet windscreen and back off. Works quite well.

Steve

mega_stream

Be aware of the Passat V6 Tdi
228lb.ft at 1500rpm
137MPH top end

All that and still 40mpg

Had one tagged to my bumper at 120 a while ago, let him past, saw the TDi badge at the back, went straight on the net to see what the heck it was!

Plums!

I was speaking to my Subaru mechanic the other day about this one
and said that new diesels are becoming more powerful than petrol...

This guy used to work at VW/AUDI before and told me that the
common general public belief about diesels is that there
economical and reliable....

Now he say's this is no longer the case....

Diesels we're reliable but since then the engine compression
rate has been raised 4-5 times!!!!
He's seen a lot of the new diesels with less than 60000 miles
with serious cylinder head problems!!!
Secondly fuel economy theres no miracle here you want more power
shove more fuel through,
A diesel trying to keep up with a petrol with have to work harder to achive the same results and will see no or very little benefit
in the fuel stakes between petrol and diesel.

10 years ago diesels were strong reliable frugal tractors now
there over stressed and over fueled to have a wider selling appeal.
What we are led to believe is that you have a bullet proof engine
which is fast, reliable and drinks droplets.....

Just to close he also told me that one guy had trouble passing
the emissions test with his V6 diesel and as a result must change
all 6 injectors, the fuel pump and other bits and bobs
His diesel is 2 years old and has 30000 miles on the clock,
Price of repair £4000 I kid you not!

Lucky for this guy covered by the warranty!

Plums.

Darren Thompson

I own a Bora TDI after the Scooby and don’t do this, unfortunately with the new tax laws and diesels being a lot cheaper and the power increasing they are getting from them you are meeting the new reps choice of car.

Gone are the days of the BMW 318 and 320, the Mondeo ST24 and such like and hello Golf, Passatt, Bora and Audi TDI's, petrol power for half the tax.

Daz.

mik

I reckon this is a "reps" issue ~ the same guys used to drive up yer 4rse in a Vectra....but you used to be able to pull a gap with relative ease. Just "n0b driver" syndrome.

Plums-

Compression rates haven't increased 4-5 times over the last few years - they've actually dropped. Same as petrol - need lower compression ration to turbocharge.

Fuel economy of diesels is due to:-
1. Slightly higher calorific value of diesel over petrol
2. (Main one) Lack of throttle. With diesel you pull in a full charge of air every stroke, and just inject varying amounts of fuel. They are therefore only vastly more efficient at part-throttle ~ full throttle economy (compared to a petrol egine producing similar stonk) is only marginally better due to point no1.

I remember a quote from a tuning co in a mag years back however stating "you;d be surprised how little even the most enthusiastic driver uses full throttle" (as a % of use).

Longevity? Not heard of any major probs, but diesel eng development has been vast over the last few years, so I'm sure a few envelopes have been pushed. Diesel injectors approx £80 each, and fuel pump...dunno....£300. What are labour rates like in Switzerland????

chiark

The only problem with diesels in my mind now is the lack of "revability".

It just seems the sensible way to go by most metrics though.

Look at this month's Evo. BMW 325i against 330D. There's bugger all in it, apart from fuel economy.

Saying that, I'm not about to chop my MY00 in for one soon.

But you're right about the "I've got a car that's really surprisingly fast and I'll have an impreza" attitude. I had a TDI A3 giving it large from the traffic lights - ***** to that for a game of conkers

Plums!

labour is pretty steep £70 an hour..

You seem to know your stuff!

I'm just repeating what I was told....

Possibly 4-5 times pressure of the turbo?

I stand to be corrected of course!

Plums.

chiark

Perhaps you're thinging of this newfangled "pumpe duze" (with apologies for the spelling) which raises the pressure of injection?

It's what's used in the TDI PD stuff, and I think BMW also use exceedingly high pressures too...

Flat 4x4

The best diesels are bloody good.

I've gone from:-

Legacy Turbo
Impreza Sport
Audi A4 Tdi Quattro 1.9 (chipped to 135bhp/ 210lb torque)
Audi A4 V6 Tdi Quattro 2/5 (chipped to 185bhp / 285lb)
Impreza Turbo (99)

The last Audi did 0-60 in under 7.5, 140 top whack, 35mpg when thrashed (29 at trackday !!) and gripped the best of the lot.

The Impreza is more fun and pulls longer and harder, the last Audi was superb on the motorway if you dropped it from 6th to 5h,. Not much would keep up from 70 to "I might keep my licence" 100

stephen30

The only problem I have with TDi's apart from the above is the when using the engine to brake. IE, if you chane down to slow the car if your above certain revs the turbo kicks in which is not really condusive to slowing. That and the fact that the revs just stop at 4.5k or so which makes pulling out into fast flowing traffic a little hairy.

Steve

father_jack

Heard a story the other days about a malfunctioning PD Veedub of some sort melting a piston due to a fuel pressure fault.
It had just blasted a hole thru the piston.
Diesels are the new 2 strokes then

MarkJackon

The PD (and similar) diesels are so economical because of the high line pressure and very accurate metering of fuel. Diesels are no more/less reliable than pertrols, I think that myth came from the old duffers that used to buy non turboed diesels and drive them slowly, the governer prevented any over revving, also the fact that they were so turgid helped as they didnt encourage spirited driving.

They aint the new GTI, quick(ish), economical and torquey, yes to all of the above but they make a horrible noise and have a way too narrow low revving powerband to be sporty.

They are however the new Scooby as more and more Scoob owners seem to be swapping for one.

mik

Eh?

Sorry Steve but that CAN'T be right.

They have crap engine brakng 'cos (as I said above) they got no throttle. Taking your foot off the happy pedal therefore means no fuel ~ it'll still draw full breaths of air so there is no -ve pressure kinda situation like you get with a petrol engine (which tries to draw intake through a closed throttle aperture).

If you can really get boost from a TDI whilst you are supplying no fuel.....now that would really be efficient!

stephen30

I'll get my coat.

Howeverr, this actually happened to me, whether it was the turbo or not I don't know. Changing down from 3rd to 2nd, little blip of the throttle in between and the car lurched forward when I le out the clutch.
Maybe it was the car. Rover 420 SDi... Nice!

GavinP

Be careful of "tarring everyone with the same brush" - not everyone who drives them are reps!

Last Thursday I was on my way home on a dual carriageway and a TDi Passat estate was in front of me. Audible groan from me even though I was the only one in the car as I also seem to get more aggravation from TDi VWs/Audis than anyone else.

Driver sees me behind and after crossing a roundabout, drives at 50mph (70mph limit) to pass some slower moving cars and eventually pulls very s-l-o-w-l-y over into the left hand lane.

In a moment of stupidity/weakness/tiredness/impatience (delete as applicable), I give him a friendly "Gareth Hunt" wave as I go past and pull into the slow lane fairly sharply (but not I hasten to add enough to cause him to brake or swerve!)

Anyhow, car starts following me so I take a different route home and see him pull into the housing estate where I live in my rear view mirror as I continue past. Anyhow, take a scenic route home and arrive outside my house to find said Passat parked outside.

The driver produced his warrant card (off-duty police officer) and then gave me a right ticking off and to be fair to him, I deserved it and he was not abusive. He mentioned the road rage incident on the M25 and he was right. I apologised and he then departed.

Yes, it was a stupid thing to do.

Something to think about (I did obviously!)

Thanks

Gavin

Year One Racing

Having an Integra Type-R i find the concept of diesel motoring horrific. They are the opposite to my car in every wway.
They may have lots of torque but i dont mind dropping two gears. And they all make that horrible noise even the 'best' ones. And they have a vibration through the gearlever/pedals. And they spew out black clouds of foul smelling carcinogenic crap.

Got stuck behind a diesel Mercedes people carrier (the van looking one) on the way down to Bolney whilst my convoy (inc. 2 massively modded skylines) vanished into the distance. The idiot then wound his van up to about 105mph presumeably trying to prove some point... Got a good taste of HKS+VTEC when he finally moved over.........

jbryant

Oh dear - New diesel technology is melting engines then is it?
Lucky we're all stuck with these solid and unbreakable unleaded Impreza lumps then. No melting pistons there and the added benefit of <20mpg.

2.5TDi Audis = Nice. Not in the same league, but nice none the less.

Joolz

polarbearit

At a previous employer we had a pool VW Sharan TDI, seemed to manage about 22mpg usually, 27mpg on a 'run'. Not impressed, i'm not sure if it makes much difference, but it was auto and that was not a nice car. The combo of Auto Box, Diesel and ultra vague steering, made the company transit Van which was also diesel (but with no turbo ) a more entertaining proposition.

Flat 4x4

"2.5TDi Audis = Nice. Not in the same league, but nice none the less"

Very nice actually with 185bhp in the chipped Quattro I had.
The 180 version does chip to over 200bhp remember.

If the Impreza is a Man Utd or Arsenal, the best Audi/BMW/Merc diesels are Newcastle. Just give them another 2 seasons (max) and they'll be hitting the net as often as Van Nistelroy.

yhe chod

they are all nice but they all seem to bedriven by people trying to prove a point-i probably might buy one in the far future subaru might bring one out in the future-but ill be keeping my scooby for a long long while just to remind weasel owners what teir missing.

ChrisB

In the new issue of Evo, they rate the powerplant in the new Focus TDCi better than the VW and PSA engines.

Includes an overboost feature to up the torque when booting it hard - 184lbft at 1850rpm upto 206 on OB.

Evo reckons you can go x-country as fast in the diesel as the ST170. The diesel would be surfing along, the ST710 revving it's nuts off.

NBW

As someone just chopping in my Scooby for a Golf 150PD, I feel qualified to comment.....

First, performance.... well (flame suit on), I don't actually think there'd be a great deal in it on a real world drive from A to B. The 150PD is a more relaxing drive, but has the poke to get you around dawdlers no problem. Sure, 30-70 the Scooby is quicker, but 30-50 there's not much in it, and you wouldn't have to change gear in the Golf Scooby would murder the Golf on the track though. I drive on real roads, not on some test track though.

Second, drivers' attitudes.... easy - you can be an arsehole whatever you drive....

Third, the Scooby has a poor image now, and there are very few places you can actually use that performance. It's a great car, but who needs 25mpg? I caned the Golf on a 40 minute solo test drive and got 46mpg.....

Sure I'll miss the Scoob, but not that much...

Cheers
Tim

Andy W

There is a regular attender at the local track days in a mkiii golf, with a mkiv TDI engine that has been tweaked a little-- 186bhp in a stripped out little box, std scoobs can not keep up! There isn't much there that can.

Andy

SteveB

iTrader: (1)

As an owner of a VW golf Tdi and a P1, I think I can talk with some authority as to the merits of both.
Golf is 18 months and has now covered 55,000 miles - no mechanical problems ! - Average MPG at motorway speeds of 85-90 mph is 50 to 52 MPG, someone tell me thats not as good as a petrol !! Average over the whole mileage is probabaly 45 mpg. P1 average is 21mpg.

The golf has more grunt in most situation than most petrol cars of around 2ltrs. In everyday use the Golf has more throttle response than the P1 due to it having boost from about 1400 rpm. Get real guys, the day of the sporty Deisel has arrived.

To the original poster - I see a lot of scoobs out and about using their front fog lights in normal driving, does this mean that ALL scoob drivers are dick heads as well ?(as yopu were suggesting all deisel owners!) Of course not, lighten up man.

Steve.

Tim Bomford

I actually quite like my Golf TDi though only the 115bhp model. It is good on fuel and fast enough for going on my 190 mile round trip to work. I would rather use the 22b but couldn't afford the fuel or the mileage on it.

I do find however that the majority of other Scoobs on the road (when I am in the Golf) are aggressive, impatient and have a "I am so much better than you" attitude to me as a road user. When I am in the 22b, they get outta the way.

When someone goes past me aggressively I just think **** you, if you could only see me in the other car!

I do rate my TDi though but would love to try it back to back with my old MK2 Golf!

Tim

Homer Simpson

TDI 150 transplant into a mk2 Golf! Now there's an idea!!

SteveB

iTrader: (1)

Forgot to mention, just in case you thought "why has he still got a P1" - The Golf chassis is made of cardboard and I think the suspension is made of Jelly !! Steering feel on a scale of 1 to 10 - about 2 on a good day ! Drove an old IDI TD Focus the other day - Great drive, only let down by the engine..

Great motorway car though.

Steve.

BOOT

Ive part exed my beloved scoob for a golf tdi due to the miles I travel to work and back, this chap has a point but I bet most tdi drivers have not had the pleasure of driving a scooby or an evo,so they are proberly having a bit of fun, I spose we have all been there at some point in our lives.I have had a look at chipping tdis and you can get a 150pdi running at 190 bhp with more tourqe than an evo 7 mid range.As an every day car that has to travel the miles they are great, not as much fun as the scoob,but I did not think it was funny putting loads of petrol in a car that was only doing 18 to gallon ( heavy footed).Although I have got a tdi,I am looking around to buy a 911 on a classic insurance policy for a week end car,but I must say when the old scoobs gets into classic status that is what will be sitting in garage for week end fun.