Cars and that

I thought about having my car mapped, but realistically, how likely am I ever to get lost in it?

 

Of course I am talking about turbo diesels, do they come any other way now?

I dont think it's nonsense.

Didn't a diesel win Le Man recently?

 

You don't tow a plough or a power harrow with a petrol engine.

I don't know about your cars but I know about my tractors.

 

Did indeed, Audi R18, not your average road car mind you and it has a turbo about the size of your head.

I'm quite certain that if you compare most cars diesel and petrol counterparts, you'll find the petrol one is more often than not better.

BMW 320D - 160BHP, 250 ft/lbs of torque, tops at 143MPH and hits 60 in (allegedly) 7.4
BMW 320I - same as above, except it's got 167BHP

Now one of those is naturally aspirated so doesn't have the boost of a turbocharger, if you were to compare a turbocharged petrol and a turbocharged diesel of the same engines..

Astra SRI 1.6..

177BHP, 230 ft/lbs of torque, 138mph and 60 in allegedly 7.9
134BHP, 320 ft/lbs of torque, 125mph and 60 in allegedly 9.4

Top is petrol, has a lot more natural power, so doesn't need a much much larger turbo to compensate (even the bi-turbo version would struggle), like the diesel below it, which still doesn't quite cut the mustard compared to it's petrol friend.

Maybe one day they'll get better, they're certainly a lot better now that car manufacturers rely on forced induction for power rather than straight up natural aspiration as it's more efficient.

One good thing about most diesel cars though, because they've got larger turbos in the first place it means they respond very very well to mapping (though a slight error in this and you'll over fuel badly, which speeds up your cars journey to a scrapper)

 

Depends what you mean by 'better' really, both technologies have advantages and disadvantages

 

I'm pretty narrow minded it would appear when it comes to cars, not only do I have a disregard for fuel consumption, but also for comfort, safety, longevity etc etc etc :angel3:

 

The first vehicle I drove legally on the road was this!



Max speed of 25 mph that one!

 

I've had my car mapped, but unfortunately it won't give you more hp as the engine is pretty much as tuned as it can be. What it did do though was even out the flat spots.

 

I could have had a lot more power from my re-map but I was concerned about shortening the lifespan of the engine. I was assured it would be OK but rather safe than watching it go up in smoke!

 

Is that a Massey Ferguson? Clive will lament the closing of their Coventry plant.

 

Where else should I be looking apart from eBay and auto trader?

 

Farmers Weekly

 

Maps naturally don't do as much to NA engines anyway compared to TC/SC purely because of the mechanics.

A decat, good induction and better manifold/straight will give a NA car a bit of extra gains, but only 20-40 or so, and a remap will just fine tune the car's sensors to suit that and add a little bit on top.

When you have forced induction like a supercharger or a turbocharger it opens a lot more for the ECU to control and manipulate.

I can map mine further, but I'm at the stage where I need to think of upgrading some core internals before otherwise they could just fail.

 

Why worry about the fact that a diesel has a turbo? It is pretty standard, integral part of the set up? It is almost like saying that the petrol version has to use an injection system rather than a carburetor. Of course, a petrol engine could have a turbo, but then consumption would go down considerably and the purchase price would go up considerably.

Besides, I think your petrol tinted glasses are misleading you with your statistics.

BMW 320i SE Power 184 (kW/hp/rpm) Torque 270 Nm/rpm consumption 46.3 mpg 0-62 in 7.3 secs
BMW 320d SE Power 184 (kW/hp/rpm) Torque 380 NM/rpm consumption 62.8 mpg 0-62 in 7.5 secs

But, the comparison costs of the car make the 320d £2,210 more expensive, to purchase, although leasing costs would probably equal out.

 

I have driven the petrol and diesel versions of the Skoda Rapid Spaceback (rides better than a Vw Golf)

The diesel is about 10-15 mpg more efficient on a run. The petrol is smoother, quieter and nicer to drive. Servicing when older will be cheaper too.

I regularly drive the petrol and diesel 7 series BMW.

The petrol is way nicer to drive - wafts along serenely and takes off like Matej Vydra after a Cassetti pass when needed.

 

I just picked a random like for like BMW 3 series on Parkers, if I could get past their unbearably sluggish website I'd look into a few more.

The fact you include fuel consumption in there means there is absolutely no point in us having a discussion about this, as I don't really care about it.

We obviously look for different things, different strokes.

What do you do as a job out of interest WW?

 

Car thief?

 

Check back - WW's profile was set up when Marlon King first signed for us.....

 

We'll surely if you save £5000 over the life of the car that's the same as the car being £5000 cheaper, so you can compare a cheaper inefficient car with a more expensive efficient car.
The better the fuel efficiency, the more you have to spend on performance.

 

I would say he chases after speeding motorists like you with the blues and twos!

 

I, er, drive. Mainly for the prestige makes. Can't say more than that.

 

But fuel consumption and fuel efficiency completely negate performance. If you want one, the other reduces.

 

Have you driven a Merc E300? Been thinking about asking the dealer to borrow one, never driven a hybrid before.

 

Yes, it's the bizz.

I'm biased as I run an E Class estate anyway, and I like how capable and comfortable they are.
Plus I'm more at home with Comand than the I drive in BMWs and Rolls.

I bought mine at Weston Super Mare, they were a really helpful dealers (I see you're in Somerset)

MB are bringing out more hybrid models (think the S Class is next) as they say it makes sense tax wise for many of their customers who can offset costs - never mind the MPG savings.

 

Why is everyone who sells second hand cars these days an absolute bell end?

 

Fixed for you.

 

You make compromises between the two in designing and tuning. But if you judge it on the performance, you dont need to direagard the fuel consumption. If you get two similar performance engines, and one has better fuel consumption, that one is clearly better, and in turn would probably mean you could improve it's performance and still have the same fuel economy as the other engine.

 

Me? I don't

 

I have always wanted a toyota supra mark iv. i can't believe how expensive they are still second hand.

 

Is this thread still going? Twelve months of searching I finally found the right car for me! A VW Golf with a load of gadgets that I have no clue about. It also has six gears, ten speakers and three types of air con, but it doesn't have a sunroof for the girlfriends legs.

 

I got a Mercedes E220 estate at the weekend.

Had a choice of paying slightly more for a 320, but with slightly lower spec and higher miles. Went for the smaller engine instead and the memory seats, powered tailgate.

It's been a pleasure so far.

 

Good choice Moog

Presume you know about the warranty with free breakdown, recovery etc up to 30 year old car? I ask because I've never seen an MB dealer ever promote it, yet it's (imo) one of the best around.

http://www2.mercedes-benz.co.uk/con...Benz_Mobilo/What_is_Mercedes-Benz_Mobilo.html

 

Not a bad offer but I think it relies on you servicing your car with them. I bet it's cheaper to service your car at a non-franchised specialist and buy AA/RAC/Green Flag cover. Mercs are generally bulletproof but they did have a rough patch a few years ago. A manager at my old place of work had a coupe that seemed to spend more than half it's time with the dealers in the first 6 months. in the end he rejected the car but I think that was likely a one off.

 

Mine doesn't have all MB service history, as it's been independently serviced since 2012.

I have a 12 month warranty on it, for whatever that's worth.

There's a risk with any used car, but a Benz is lower risk than most, although the cost can be higher if you are one of the unlucky ones.

I was happy to take the risk in the end. If I get 3 years of hassle free driving out of it apart from consumables and servicing, I'll be super happy. £8k.

 

What year/spec etc is it Moog?