"SteveH" <steve@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:1i8jqq6.1xgt6py1yeaylqN%steve@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> GT <ContactGT_remove_@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
>> > Day to day, it'll be at least as quick as a 200bhp petrol version,
just
>> > because you won't have to rev the guts out of it to make progress.
>>
>> Hardly! The extra weight would make it more comparable to a 150bhp
>> petrol. A
>> 200bhp petrol would kick its arse!
>>
>> Each to his own!!
>
> There is very little weight penalty in a diesel - remember, Alfa are
> using cast iron blocks for their petrols these days, so they're pretty
> heavy lumps compared with the old all-alloy twin-cam.
>
> But, don't focus on the figures on paper, where the diesel really works
> is that it'll be a lot more forgiving over which gear you're in. My
> 140bhp diesel can use a single gear and pull from 30mph to nearly 90mph
> with ease. Try that in a 2.0T petrol....
I find quite the opposite to be true - you have to be in the right gear in
a
diesel or you just get nothing but turbo lag and a jumpy/shuddery ride. A
petrol is truely forgiving over which gear you are in with a significantly
larger rev range per gear.
With regard to the pulling from 30 to 90 point: My 165bhp 2.0 JTS petrol,
will pull from 30mph to 95+ in 3rd. From 30mpg to something over 120 in
4th
and from 30mph to around 137mph in 5th. No problem, no shudder, no tractor
noises and no smoke! So pulling from 30 to 90 sounds quite poor!
I find that once you get a diesel to a useable rev range and accelerate
for
a few seconds you have run out of revs and have to change gear again - far
from a relaxing effortless drive! On the other hand, with my petrol
engine,
above about 25-30mph and you can stick it in top gear and leave it there.
It
will happily pull in any gear with revs over about 1200 all the way to
6000+, but diesels I have driven required me to be in the right gear and
way
over 1500 revs and they run out of revs around 3000-4000, just as the
power
starts to arrive!
Again - I think diesel vs petrol is personal preference, but we are in
danger of descending into 'my car is better than yours' territory!
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