point me out some low cc sized good performing vehicles/engines

[233]

currently in dialouge with our local council to try and have the minimum engine cc imposed on taxis reduced

can anyone point out examples of modern petrol or diesel engines that offer enough grunt to shift a mondeo sized car around happily?


so far all i have is vauxhals 1.4 turbo in the insignia and the latest ford ecoboosts in the new mondeo


any others i've missed preferably at least one oil burner

 

[[TW]Fox]

Coming to a town near you: Idiots running Corsas as taxi's.

Sounds like a bad idea, something has to stop people from taxi-ing in a Kia Picanto given you've no choice what sort of vehicle turns up when you book a minicab.

 

[MeEsH BaKkA]

Minimum or maximum?

I would have thought a 2.0t diesel will cope with 5 passengers better than a 1.4t petrol. But I have not seen the figures.

 

[Scottland]

Skoda do a 1.4 FSI Octavia which is 120hp if that helps?

 

[233]

Coming to a town near you: Idiots running Corsas as taxi's.

Sounds like a bad idea, something has to stop people from taxi-ing in a Kia Picanto given you've no choice what sort of vehicle turns up when you book a minicab.

i'm thinking more along the lines of modern low cc petrol turbos ala the insignia 1.4T the focus getting the 1l 120 bhp lump and various astra tourers running 1.3 cdti lumps

 

[MeEsH BaKkA]

i'm thinking more along the lines of modern low cc petrol turbos ala the insignia 1.4T the focus getting the 1l 120 bhp lump and various astra tourers running 1.3 cdti lumps

Forget bhp numbers mate. Torque figures are what you should look at for shifting cargo.

 

[[TW]Fox]

i'm thinking more along the lines of modern low cc petrol turbos ala the insignia 1.4T the focus getting the 1l 120 bhp lump and various astra tourers running 1.3 cdti lumps

Quite but how do you change the rules on engine size so that somebody can run a 1.4 Insignia without somebody else taking advantage of the situation and running a 1.4 Corsa?

 

[233]

Quite but how do you change the rules on engine size so that somebody can run a 1.4 Insignia without somebody else taking advantage of the situation and running a 1.4 Corsa?

we have other stipulations in place

vehicles must be of a fixed head type with 4 or 5 doors
rear bench must be of a minimum of 48" and the vehicle must be of an approved type.


basically i'm miffed that in this day and age they restrict your choice of engine based on something as silly as capacity. this rule dates back to the dark ages when everyone taxied an orion or a mk4 escort. that had 60 bhp on a good day and 3 figures of torque if you were lucky.

modern technology is advanding at such a pace that this is now a stupid criteria to place on vehicle choices

for example I could quite easily plate and taxi a 1.8 diesel focus but even the 1600 ecoboost would be discounted due to being 1598cc, same goes for the 1.6 tdi octavias (which is my main target here) due to its 1596 cc capacity. it makes more power and more torque than a 1.9 tdi engine in the same vehicle with lower emissions and better mpgs but its ruled out due to being short on capacity


and when you compare that new ford 1.0 ecoboost engine in its 125bhp spec it outperforms a lot of much bigger engines

 

[233]

Skoda Octavia 1.9 Tdi 105 bhp with a 0-60 time of 11.4 seconds. Combined mpg figures of 57mpg with a manual gearbox and co2 emissions of 132 g/km

Skoda Octavia 1.2 Tsi 103 bhp with a 0-60 time of 10.5 seconds. Combined mpg figures of 49mpg with a manual gearbox and co2 emissions of 134 g/km

Skoda Octavia 1.4 Tsi 120 bhp with a 0-60 time of 9.4 seconds. Combined mpg of figures of 44mpg with a manual gearbox and co2 emissions of 148g/km

Skoda Octavia 1.6 TDi 103 bhp with a 0-60 time of 11.4 seconds. Combined mpg figures of 62mpg with a manual gearbox and co2 emissions of 119g/km

Ford Focus Ecoboost 999cc 123bhp with a 0-60 time of 11.3 seconds Combined mpg figures of 57 mpg with a manual gearbox and co2 emissions of 114g/km


now only one of those is fit for purpose according to our council and tbh i'm shocked that theres not more people considering a petrol/lpg combination on the smaller lumps. certainly gives me food for thought

 

[233]

Coming to a town near you: Idiots running Corsas as taxi's.

Sounds like a bad idea, something has to stop people from taxi-ing in a Kia Picanto given you've no choice what sort of vehicle turns up when you book a minicab.

oh edinburgh city council recently relaxed their regs to allow a company to operate smart cars after some nugget done a survey stating that 40% of journeys to Edinburgh airport are taken by people travelling alone. Great until you go to put the case in the motor

 

[Disco Boy]

So what's the current minimum?

 

[233]

1600cc and not a single cc under hence the no 1.6tdi

 

[andrewdodd13]

oh edinburgh city council recently relaxed their regs to allow a company to operate smart cars after some nugget done a survey stating that 40% of journeys to Edinburgh airport are taken by people travelling alone. Great until you go to put the case in the motor

Under this logic we could've bought almost 1000 Veyrons instead of the tram project.

 

[Begbie]

Under this logic we could've bought almost 1000 Veyrons instead of the tram project.

Certianly would've been more exciting, and most likely ended up costing less than the tram project. That seems to be never ending.

 

[Lustral]

Golf 1.4 TSI GT Sport ^.^ 0-60mph in about 8.5 secs i thinks. This springs to mind as my gf dad was having a look at one yesterday. I was like why is he looking at 1.4 , then i had a look at the specs on it on Parkers. Turbo and Supercharged !

 

[Begbie]

Golf 1.4 TSI GT Sport ^.^ 0-60mph in about 8.5 secs i thinks. This springs to mind as my gf dad was having a look at one yesterday. I was like why is he looking at 1.4 , then i had a look at the specs on it on Parkers. Turbo and Supercharged !

Not going to make a superb taxi though.

 

[Lustral]

Not going to make a superb taxi though.

Prolly not though , but the specs seems it quite well performing wise

 

[Minstadave]

Show them the specs of the new focus with the 1L turbo 3 cylinder ecoboost engine.

 

[233]

Show them the specs of the new focus with the 1L turbo 3 cylinder ecoboost engine.

I fired off a letter to GCC this morning querying this quoting some of the engines mentioned. and the 1l ecoboost is a cracker. theres plenty of mk2 focuses being used as taxis in Glasgow, and tbh i see no reason why a 1l ecoboost equipped model would be any worse than a 1,8 tdci.


going to make a phone call to Ford once i get feedback from the council see if i can get an extended test drive of a new focus and perhaps convince some of our esteemed licensing committee to have a nosey around it.

bearing in mind that a private hire/taxi in Glasgow is going to spend 99% of its time i dont see any issue with a 1l ecoboost over a oil burner.


now all I need is ford to stop messing around and launch an estate version of the new focus

 

[233]

Not going to make a superb taxi though.

what about buying a Superb(which IS a superb taxi) with the same 1.4TSI engine its a potent little lump. powering a weighty superb to 60 in 10.3 seconds and a top speed of 124mph. more than adequate performance.