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The Car Thread


MadManMike

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So do we get to know what it actually is yet? All I've gathered so far was that it's a 2v per cylinder engine! What on earth happened to the poor old AX anyway?

Vauxhall Astra Estate.

Had someone come across the road and hit me, we were both doing 30mph. worst they had was a sprained wrist, i broke my nose, my sternum and spent a few days in hospital, and been off work for the last month.

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I don't in any way want to belittle Dan and his ibiza here, I'm sure he's going to love it.

But, lets just clear one thing up:

Diesels get you to and from work as cheaply as possible. thats it. if money were no object, could anybody seriously say they'd pick the diesel variant of any car that's available in both petrol and diesel?

They are not fun. Some are fast yes, but they will never compare to a petrol engine until someone figures how to make them sound nice, rev properly, and also, smell nice!

I love the smell when you're out for a hoon with a mate thrashing down some back roads and it smells like you're in a dyno cell. With a diesel it smells like you're following a bus.

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I don't in any way want to belittle Dan and his ibiza here, I'm sure he's going to love it.

But, lets just clear one thing up:

Diesels get you to and from work as cheaply as possible. thats it. if money were no object, could anybody seriously say they'd pick the diesel variant of any car that's available in both petrol and diesel?

They are not fun. Some are fast yes, but they will never compare to a petrol engine until someone figures how to make them sound nice, rev properly, and also, smell nice!

I love the smell when you're out for a hoon with a mate thrashing down some back roads and it smells like you're in a dyno cell. With a diesel it smells like you're following a bus.

This.

I drive a diesel (remapped ibiza, like Dans), but I would have a petrol if I didn't drive as many miles as I do.

I do love the fact I can get 70mpg out of it, or if booting it, leave lots of people a bit shocked. But it will never drive the same as a petrol :(

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I don't in any way want to belittle Dan and his ibiza here, I'm sure he's going to love it.

But, lets just clear one thing up:

Diesels get you to and from work as cheaply as possible. thats it. if money were no object, could anybody seriously say they'd pick the diesel variant of any car that's available in both petrol and diesel?

They are not fun. Some are fast yes, but they will never compare to a petrol engine until someone figures how to make them sound nice, rev properly, and also, smell nice!

I love the smell when you're out for a hoon with a mate thrashing down some back roads and it smells like you're in a dyno cell. With a diesel it smells like you're following a bus.

I don't see it as belittling at all mate, we're all friends here haha. And I'm not the sort of person to say my car is the best in the world, i'm coherent in that manner unlike some...

But surely it all depends on your definition of fun? Which isn't the same as everyone obviously. I find it fun to be thrown back into my seat at incredibly low revs which is something I would never get from the equivalent petrol. I just think it's a bit dense to claim the only way to have fun is to thrash the car on a back road.

Fun is pretty subjective in my terms.

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Jumping on the petrol is more fun bandwagon.

I love my pd130 Passat but it's boring and I miss my 1.8t Leon!

What Dan just said is also valid though, it depends what you class as fun. The Passat is cheap to run, I can put my bike in it easily and sleep in the back if needed so from a lifestyle point of view a boring diesel estate is the best vehicle for me. I'm a cyclist not a car nut, I get my fun from having a car to get me and my bikes transported safely and cheaply and it's a bonus that I have a car I don't care about keeping spotless. Jardo would have a fit if he saw how filthy my car is :P

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I've only driven a few diesels in my life, all with the same 3L BMW diesel engine and I can't say the engine is fun. The power delivery is different to a petrol engine which makes it interesting but not enjoyable.

One of the said cars was a 330d with about 250bhp. When the boost came on it was really quick but it had turbo lag as did all the other cars - they struggled below 1500rpm. And any time you lifted and went back on the throttle it would hesitate for a while before the boost came in. Give me a diesel which will pull hard from 800rpm in any gear and I'll live with it, otherwise it's big petrol engines + CNG/LPG for me any time.

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Bloody turbos :P

I realised the other day, you were totally right when you said ''it just has mountains of torque, everywhere''

Not driven it much lately really, been driving the fiesta company car, and since the incident, a mk7 golf tsi, which feels nippy enough.

taking the track car out, even on low boost, it just pulls like crazy, seemingly any gear, any revs, it just goes.

Quite enjoyable really :lol:

Dann: I think to determine fun we need to factor in cost vs fun here as well.

For what you've spent, I don't doubt the tdi provides more enjoyment than you'd get for the same money on a petrol equivalent, vs the running costs day to day, so its probably the obvious choice for you.

Fun can also be diminished by the knowledge that it's costing you a fortune, the MX5 philosophy here perhaps, cheap care free cars can be used to greater potential as the consequences are less.

I still stand by my statement though, given money as no object, it'd be very hard to beat a petrol in terms of driver enjoyment.

there's just something about the sound and feel of a highly strung petrol engine winding up the revs that you just don't get from an agricultural sounding tractor lump

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I realised the other day, you were totally right when you said ''it just has mountains of torque, everywhere''

Quite enjoyable really :lol:

there's just something about the sound and feel of a highly strung petrol engine winding up the revs

First bit of your post is true - it was pretty amazing not having to work the car and it just went off like a rocket from almost any revs... but the last bit is more true ;) There's something even more sweet about having to be really accurate with the pedals and matching revs when the car is near the limiter.

Guess it's just two different ways to enjoy a car, and everyone's different.

Diesel isn't more fun to *drive* though, and never will be, for the reasons Nick put above.

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there's just something about the sound and feel of a highly strung petrol engine winding up the revs that you just don't get from an agricultural sounding tractor lump

***

***Apart from possible a 1.8T, it sounds more like a vacuum cleaner on steroids :lol:

Mash foot, wait for the blue lights to count up, change gear just as the red one flashes at you - repeat :lol:

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Hope brake? They use M8x1 bango's on some models, and a decent local dealer should stock them. (If it's just the bolt through the middle of the banjo that is.)

GSF don't list their full stock online, worth giving them a call in the morning. It'd be worth trying your local TPS too, or Volkswagen them selves, maybe even Volvo.

Edited by RobinJI
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First bit of your post is true - it was pretty amazing not having to work the car and it just went off like a rocket from almost any revs... but the last bit is more true ;) There's something even more sweet about having to be really accurate with the pedals and matching revs when the car is near the limiter.

Guess it's just two different ways to enjoy a car, and everyone's different.

Diesel isn't more fun to *drive* though, and never will be, for the reasons Nick put above.

This is exactly why my car's not made me a complete 1.8t convert, it's a great engine, but I still think the car would be more fun at the moment (while it's still sub 200bhp) with an NA 2.0 16V in it, but being used daily the 1.8t's perfect, because it's still fun when I do find an empty country road, but when I'm commuting down a busy a-road I can drive around at low revs riding the torque and returning 40mpg reliably.

The trouble now, is that I'm not going to want to take a step back power-wise, so I'm going to either have to grow deeper pockets or stick with the turbo route. I really fancy building a short stroke, rev-happy 1.8t sometime, something that goes against the normal 1.8t characteristics and actually needs ringing a bit, (but not in a big turbo-lag way.)

Edited by RobinJI
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Wicked, cheers Robin! I'll give them a ring, hopefully they can sort me out, at least I have some others to ask now :)

Hope brake? They use M8x1 bango's on some models, and a decent local dealer should stock them. (If it's just the bolt through the middle of the banjo that is.)

GSF don't list their full stock online, worth giving them a call in the morning. It'd be worth trying your local TPS too, or Volkswagen them selves, maybe even Volvo.

Nothing exciting really but some little things have happened to my car
One Dirty cold start valve:
2013-11-28165918_zps333d9fd7.jpg
Now clean
2013-11-28171927_zps8aa4ae52.jpg
Coolant cap mid clean (was very corroded and manky)
PB260757_zps2a2821d1.jpg
LED dash lights look pants, going to use the bodies to make my own using some wide angle LEDs
PB260741_zpsef1b1ac9.jpg
And the novelty of finding out I have a under bonnet lamp has been most exciting for me...
PB260748_zpsfbf22190.jpg
Got a heap of parts to fit this weekend as well, fun never stops...
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I don't in any way want to belittle Dan and his ibiza here, I'm sure he's going to love it.But, lets just clear one thing up:Diesels get you to and from work as cheaply as possible. thats it. if money were no object, could anybody seriously say they'd pick the diesel variant of any car that's available in both petrol and diesel?They are not fun. Some are fast yes, but they will never compare to a petrol engine until someone figures how to make them sound nice, rev properly, and also, smell nice!I love the smell when you're out for a hoon with a mate thrashing down some back roads and it smells like you're in a dyno cell. With a diesel it smells like you're following a bus.

BMW 335i vs BMW 335d. I'd take the diesel everytime, and I've driven both. It's the exact same car, bar engine. Once you get used to the way the power is delivered, it's just as good in my opinion

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Every place I have phoned doesn't stock banjo bolts, even hydraulic pipe fitting places :S half the folk I talked to didn't even know what one was... FML

Motorbikes use banjo bolts a lot, external oil pipes, brake lines etc. Surely you should be able to find something to fit :)

edit: Have you talked to venhill?

Edited by forteh
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Is this a bolt for that Porsche? Go to a scrapyard, a lot of 90s German cars used K-jet on at least a couple of engines - off the top of my head, Merc 190, Golf/Audi 16v (and early 8v) and all 5 pot VAG engines bar the 20vs, Porsche as you know, all the same stuff, same bolts etc :)

If I've got the wrong person and we're not talking about the Porsche, ignore all of that :P

Edited by Jolfa
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