markonline1

I had a remapped diesel back in the UK. The thing was a rocket ship! I was very anti diesel until I got speaking to a guy that owns a diesel tuning company. I do miss the torque that was available on tap whenever I wanted it. That being said, I did miss the sound of a decent petrol engine under the bonnet. I can't see me ever going back to a diesel powered car whilst living out here.
With regards to diesel being able to run on a variety of fuels, that may have been true on the older Diesel engines, I'm not so sure it's true of the modern common rail Diesel engines.

andrewlohnes

No its not mate, some modern diesels don't even like being run on bio diesel as the company I work for found out.

Pulaski

As per AndrewLohnes, that doesn't surprise me at all. Until very recently very little development had been done on diesel engines, and so they were really primitive. The efforts over the past 20 years to make advanced diesels, notably by the three big German car manufacturers, has turned the "oil burners" of the 1980's, that would have been at home in a small commercial truck or tractor, into extremely complex and finely tuned engines.

scrubbedexpat099

Quick trip to Germany?

I would have said 1/2 so that sounds right.

markonline1

The BMW diesels are superb. Had I stayed in the UK, I would be driving a BMW 123 right now. VAG have only recently moved over to common rail though. I looked at the diesel A3 when I bought my Astra, but it was way off in the performance stakes as they stuck with an older turbo diesel. I'm guessing after their success with LeMans, the engines VAG are using now are on a par with BMW. The Astra had a Fiat engine and was actually regarded as one of the better Diesel engines when I bought mine 2007.

Pulaski

Sometimes brevity is a good thing, .... other times not so much. On this occasion, WTF are you talking about?

Pulaski

GM had a joint venture with Fiat group, that led to a family of diesel engines from 1.3 litres, up to around 2.5 litres. The joint venture was terminated around 2007-2008, and developments of the engines have continued separately by GM and Fiat group.

Did the engine actually say Fiat on it, or was it just a JV designed engine?

markonline1

It didn't say Fiat on it no. I only know it was a fiat engine through the club I was a member of. So I assume the joint venture engine. Also used in the Saab's and Alfa Romeo's I believe. You could see Fiat's influence on the engine because the EGR valve and swirl flaps were virtually guaranteed to fail LOL

scrubbedexpat099

Trying to think where you would have been OK driving at that speed.

And I tend to think of cars red lining c 6500 and a Diesel c half of that.

scrubbedexpat099

I do need to get a new vehicle but for the first time I am at a loss.

Most of my trips are either 25 or 100 miles not a lot of traffic but usually 65 or so limit.

The complicating factor is Muppet on the left.my luggage needs are otherwise limited. He like the F150, Ranger is too small but both have seen better days. A turbo diesel something with a bit of space for him.

Pulaski

So you were responding, without quoting, to a post 19 posts, and two pages previous. I am going to need to take up mind reading.

Anyhow, so you want to know where I was doing 85-90mph? ..... And with other traffic?

It was on the M4 between the M25 and Swindon. The taxi that picked us up at Heathrow was doing that sort of speed on Saturday morning, with other traffic. We took a trip up to London, and it was quite easy to do that sort of speed, especially headed west on the way back to my mother's house around 8.30-9pm, again other traffic was cruising at the same speed. These weren't short bursts, but 5-10 minutes at a time, punctuated by shorter periods negotiating slower (but not a lot slower) traffic.

Needless to say, the police were conspicuous by their absence.
2016 Ranger? It is, I hear, a good bit bigger than the old Ranger, and available with a crew cab.

Pulaski

You're talking about a diesel engine that Buick/GM developed in the US? I think I heard about that*. ..... No this was a Vauxhall (GM), which I believe was designed in Germany by Opel (GM), and fitted with a diesel engine that originated in a joint venture between GM and Fiat

* Coincidentally, a small block V8 that GM/Buick sold the design and rights to Rover in the mid 1960's, and which became the main power plant for Range Rover, as well as some Rover cars and Land Rovers for the following 25 years, was attempted to be turned into a diesel by Rover in the late 1970's, under the Rover project codename "Iceberg".

andrewlohnes

BMW and VAG clearly lead the way in diesels here, the company I work for TNT have VAGs and in the last 5 years out of roughly 50 company cars that we maintain they all get to about 100,000+ miles in the 3-4 years we lease them and approximately 0 breakdown. I can't recommend them enough, the most common engine they have now is the 1.6 litre turbo diesel. Obviously the bigger bosses have the 2 litres or above 's lines' and such but they are all fantastic vehicles. When I was in the US last week no one believed me that Skodas are just as good as VWs and Audis!

Obviously I had a 2007 3 series BMW myself as I see VAGs everyday at work so didn't want 1 of my own, but the BMW is an incredible machine and is greater in all areas in my opinion (engine, interior and exterior) but VAGs are still fantastic.

andrewlohnes

Also while I was in Phoenix last week I saw a advert for VW TDIs on the television. It was a group of men at a bar that wanted to go 'somewhere different to their local' so they took a trip to Flagstaff because the VW TDI has such good MPG it was no big deal. It will be interesting to see if it all kicks off.

andrewlohnes