Pete M wrote:

I'm not sure I get this *instant* business, at least unless you are
comparing with mahoosive NA petrol engines. It was interesting
comparing the 2.0 petrol in the cross-country missile estate with the
130pd td lump in the passat. The CCME was vastly better to drive, of
course, and it was actually slightly the quicker of the two, but it was
much harder work to keep it on the boil.
If, whilst out trundling along, you find yourself stuck behind a
tootler and have to wait for an opportunity to overtake, in the NA
petrol you would have to sit in a low gear at >4000rpm in order to have
better pickup than the TDi does at cruising revs. In reality I'd
instead sit in a higher gear and change down when I could overtake.
There is of course a lag of maybe 0.5s as the turbo spools up, but that
is no more than the time required to change down in the NA petrol, so
neither has functionally instant response.

The thing I've found about swapping between nominally similarly powerful
petrol/diesels is that each makes the other feel slow - lack of top end
punch vs lack of mid range grunt.

On balance, given a similar power output, I'd take the diesel - it's
just a more relaxed way to get the same performance. Given a similar
peak torque, I'd take the petrol, every time.

Albert T Cone <a.k.kirby (AT) durham (DOT) ac.uk> gurgled happily, sounding much like
they were saying:

'course, that's the crux of the argument.

I'd far rather drive a long-stroke torquey slogger of a petrol engine
than a short-stroke revvy buzzbox.

On 26 Oct 2009 10:42:41 GMT, Adrian <toomany2cvs (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote:

Does anyone do these? Last time I came across a serious long-stroke
engine was in a Bedford (IIRC) campervan..oooh..twenty or so years ago
(and it was an old relic then).

--
Z

Adrian wrote:
I'm a huge fan of large capacity petrol engines, but I'm not a fan of
diesels. Maybe that means I'm weird, but I've never found a diesel that
feels as good as a big V8.

That big old Jensen V8 delivered power how I like it. Massive amounts of
grunt all the time. No ifs, no buts, no lag, just pure grunt whenever I
wanted it. Proper torque from idle to the redline. Tricky in the wet,
admittedly with wheelspin possible from 900 rpm upwards in drive (idle
was at 600 rpm). Then again, it was probably producing 300 lb ft not far
above idle, rising to 400+ shortly after and staying up there to the
redline.

--
Pete M - OMF#9

'62 Rover P4 100
'61 Rover P5 3 litre
'78 Escort 1300 Sport
'99 Audi A6 V6 Quattro Avant


"It's an Alfa, it will go wrong, it will piss you off, why should your
Alfa experience be different from everyone else's.
Now get back out there and swear at it before something else breaks."