Best/Worst/Current Diesel Engine

3l in my x5 is great, plenty of power and refinment os good for a diesel. I like the sound when accelerating. Still sounds a bit industrial on tick over
 
Just remembered that I drove a diesel Merc Vito van for a while many years ago, it was dog slow :( possibly the slowest thing I have ever driven.
 
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Really? The 2.2 Mazda Skyactiv engine is one of the better ones? What on earth are the poor ones like?

Had a 2.2 Skyactiv Mazda3 as a loan car for a day and the engines was utterly useless below 2000rpm and only good to about 3500rpm and then went back to useless. Wasn't particularly efficient either over the 120 miles I put on it.

That said, I did like the Mazda3 overall, but would prefer a good petrol engine in it. With the Mazda/Fiat agreement, how about the Alfa 3.2 V6 in it? ;) I'd certainly consider buying one of them.
 
Flibster said:
Really? The 2.2 Mazda Skyactiv engine is one of the better ones? What on earth are the poor ones like?

Had a 2.2 Skyactiv Mazda3 as a loan car for a day and the engines was utterly useless below 2000rpm and only good to about 3500rpm and then went back to useless. Wasn't particularly efficient either over the 120 miles I put on it.

That said, I did like the Mazda3 overall, but would prefer a good petrol engine in it. With the Mazda/Fiat agreement, how about the Alfa 3.2 V6 in it? ;) I'd certainly consider buying one of them.
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The 2.2D Skyactiv in my CX-5 is twin scroll, so pulls incredibly well below 2000 RPM, and revs freely to the redline, it is 175BHP/420Nm which is enough to just make it feel like it can make 'progress'..

And it's very very quiet at idle, and that's not because it has a ton of sound proofing, the 14:1 compression ratio helps it be mechanically quiet.

But, as for your exact experience, I believe the Mazda 3 2.2D is the 150BHP non twin scroll version which may explain normal narrow power band diesel performance..
 
[TW]Fox;26916688 said:
Is that the same one that was in the 156? Drove one of those and it was horrid, everything I dislike about diesel.
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I haven't driven many diesels (I would never own one lets put it that way) so my perception of what is good is rather limited :p.

The one I drove was the 20v multijet version. Remapped to 240bhp.
 
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[TW]Fox;26916688 said:
Is that the same one that was in the 156? Drove one of those and it was horrid, everything I dislike about diesel.
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The 2.4 in the 156 comes in loads of variations. The lowest being a 12v 140bhp then up to the latest 180-200 odd 20v.

To drive they can be a bit of a mixed bag of good and bad. I recently had a go in a Brera with the 2.4JTDM and I really liked it. Pulled like a train, however a friend recently had a 156 2.4 20v which I drove and agree with you it was not pleasant.
 
[TW]Fox;26918803 said:
Pulls like a train? You mean it took over a minute to accelerate to 60 but did so whilst pulling a heavy load?

Sounds great.
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Like I said in my post, depends which variant you had in the 156 you drove. The JTD was the 156 variant. The JTDm came about in the latter 159/Brera/Spiders.

Alfa owner tends to advise people to go for the 1.9 rather than the 2.4JTD. The 2.4 suffers from a whole host of sensor, fuelling, air flow problems. When running properly and they are quite responsive to tuning they can go very well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJUJ3VwlVV4

I had a little burn up in my 156 2.5V6 petrol against a 2.4JTDm Brera and I only just had the legs on it.
 
Ford/PSA 2.2 HDi lumps are excellent for 4 pot dag-dag's. The one in our rug rat carrier Pug 4007 pulls well on the road considering the car weighs as much as a small tank. Making brisk progress on the road under real world conditions is surprisingly easy. Fairly refined to drive with not much oil burning lump noise coming from it and good mpg.

Worst? Plenty of contenders out there but we have Mitsubishi L200 4x4's at work and the engines in those must rank up there with the top truly awful diesel engines ever. Everyone who drives them for the first time comes back saying 'Err.....I think there's something wrong with that engine' :p
 
Demon said:
The 2.2D Skyactiv in my CX-5 is twin scroll, so pulls incredibly well below 2000 RPM, and revs freely to the redline, it is 175BHP/420Nm which is enough to just make it feel like it can make 'progress'..
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Actually a twin turbo – a small one and a big one in a sequential setup. Don't think they're twin scroll either.
 
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Best: 4.4 TDV8 in my mate's Rangie. Still sounds a little diesely but pulls extremely well and suits the car well. Doesn't sound too bad at WOT either.

Worst: Everything else. Yes, I owned a 730d for a while and even that I couldn't tolerate.
 
Best - the BMW 535D I tried, very nice engine. The Jaguar 3.0 V6S is also really good.

Worst - Transit 2.5 non turbo. Had a few years driving one, and it was horribly noisy and gutless, if reliable.
 
Third Opinion said:
Like I said in my post, depends which variant you had in the 156 you drove. The JTD was the 156 variant. The JTDm came about in the latter 159/Brera/Spiders.

Alfa owner tends to advise people to go for the 1.9 rather than the 2.4JTD. The 2.4 suffers from a whole host of sensor, fuelling, air flow problems. When running properly and they are quite responsive to tuning they can go very well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJUJ3VwlVV4

I had a little burn up in my 156 2.5V6 petrol against a 2.4JTDm Brera and I only just had the legs on it.
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I was referring to the bizarre pulls like a train cliche :p
 
[TW]Fox;26920471 said:
I was referring to the bizarre pulls like a train cliche :p
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I get it now, I am not the sharpest tool in the box.

I would be interested to know what variant you drove though. I recently sold on my Alfa V6 because the clutch failed and nobody was prepared to take it on to replace it.

I had a look at the 156 2.4 as a replacement and the ones I drove were all complete dogs. I felt rather than the engine being rubbish it was more they were just poorly. Everyone was different.

I vowed no more Alfa 156's and then a immaculate 2004, 64k, 2.0JTS came up with one owner and FSH. For a 12 mile a day commute it was ideal at £800, especially with 1 years MOT and Tax.

I am glad I steered away from the 2.4JTD. I think if you ploughed loads of money into one keeping it fit it could be a good engine. There was no point in going diesel with my mileage anyway, just liked that JTDm that was in the Brera I drove.
 
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