Diesel - low power?

[KeatV70D5SE]

At least once a week there's a boy racer round our way with a black Corsa with the single wiper up the screen and fire breathing exhaust etc.. It pain me to say it but he can overtake me if he really tries. My trip to Adam is getting closer all the time I think!

My only comfort is that I can nearly whip his ar*e with a wardrobe in the back of my car and towing a van........

Keat

[imac]

>If diesel is so much more efficient (no spark) - why aren't
>they kicking ass?
>Why is a diesel torque peak so narrow?
>Why is a diesel rpm limit so low?
>Anyone any ideas?

I had a diesel experience recently. It was a lowly 110bhp 1.9 Turbo Diesel and what made things worse was that it was fitted to a VW Passat Estate (05 reg, though). Which is big and heavy. Really big.

Anyway. I loved it. It was a superb drive and had some serious torque feeling for such a lowly engine. I've never been in a D5 let alone a RICA D5, but I would imagine they are breathtaking.

One thing I disliked was the feeling of a huge amount of torque, then a gear change which left you out of the band and having to built the revs up to accelerate again. Unlike a petrol manual where you just keep on going and going.

Oh. And I also hated the constant aural reminder that I was driving a tractor.

What was most impressive is that I covered Dover - Brighton in super-quick record breaking time, giving it some serious welly and really putting its handling capabilities to the test. When I arrived at Brighton (100 miles or so) I had barely made a dent in the fuel gauge and the computer was informing me I had obtained a remarkable 49mpg. Wow.

If I did a fairly high mileage I would get a diesel for sure. But as I do less tha 6k per year I'll stick with the petrol. For now.

>At least once a week there's a boy racer round our way with a
>black Corsa with the single wiper up the screen and fire
>breathing exhaust etc.. It pain me to say it but he can
>overtake me if he really tries. My trip to Adam is getting
>closer all the time I think!
>
>My only comfort is that I can nearly whip his ar*e with a
>wardrobe in the back of my car and towing a van........
>
>Keat
>
>

Keat, not wanting to tempt you or anything, but the standard RICA D5 upgrades have been indepently tested on several dynos, and actually produce on average 204 bhp. There is also a sports map that pushes the power up to between 210-215 bhp, but the 460 Nm of torque on this map means you can light the tyres up in 3rd, hence why we call this the sports map, because it's for those who want petrol-head hooligan performance from a diesel. :) Personally I think the standard upgrade is nicer drive.

Adam.

[foggyjames]

Two things to consider....

1) BHP is a function of RPM. That's why a D5 can give a T5 a hard time. Comparing peak BHP figures between petrols and diesels isn't quite fair...in the same way that something like a Civic Type R (VTEC y0!) or an early MR2 gives relatively little torque for the same peak BHP compared to something like a new Golf GTI.

2) We raced a 960 2.5 (173 bhp) against an S80 D5 (163bhp) on a roll-on from 30-120 (on a private test track, of course), and it was SO close. The 960 had it up to 90-100, then the D5 pulled. These are similar cars of different generations. The performance was near-as-dammit the same, except the D5 was doing roughly double the MPG.

Of course you have to do a LOT of miles to pay for the difference in fuel between an older petrol car, and a newer diesel (it has to be newer in order to match its performance) - especially when (as in this rather extreme case) the difference is ~£20k.

The D5 is very impressive in a car....given that it was designed for a boat ;-)

cheers

James

[Dilligaf10]

Originally Posted by ken850T5

Been in a d5 but haven't driven it.

Guess it'll be intersting when the Japs develop this for the mass market esp now Honda are making diesel blocks. I guess we could see diesel boy racers soon!

Ken

They are already racing diesels in VW Cup. My other car is an Audi 3.0Tdi chipped to 280 brake. 0 - 60 in 6 secs and a second quicker than a Mustang in the quarter mile! Have just got an S80 so will look at that soon!