![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
I don't know if you noticed but this type of car is almost impossible to find without a diesel engine.
Much Speed, Many Horse Powers
- Thread starter leaskovski
- Start date
I don't know if you noticed but this type of car is almost impossible to find without a diesel engine.
I really hope that these engines become more popular. I fear however that they will not until there is a financial incentive to buy them. People have been so conditioned towards diesel over the last few years that it has become the default choice for most people. People do seem to like the way diesel cars drive. Not sure why though.
I tried a diesel for a while (owned a 730d for about 6 months) and just couldn't get over the sound. Every time I started it in the morning I died a little inside. I swapped it for a 750i as soon as I could.
I tried a diesel for a while (owned a 730d for about 6 months) and just couldn't get over the sound. Every time I started it in the morning I died a little inside. I swapped it for a 750i as soon as I could.
LmaoHe does make a valid point here.
No he doesn't.
Its not as if there was a wealth of lovely petrol alternatives in cars just as good if only I hadn't insisted on a BMW. Audi for example don't even offer a petrol regular A6!
Many of us drive diesels simply because we buy used cars and the used car availability is shaped by the demand of new car buyers.
As a result I welcome the resurgence in popularity of petrol engines.
Last edited:
I want to see more turbos on bikes
I don't! NA for bikes forever, lovely and smooth!!!
[TW]Fox;28799959 said:
Of course I understand what the market is like for the segment, that doesn't mean there aren't alternatives. I certainty wouldn't buy a car that I fundamentally disliked the engine that was in it, it is after all the heart of the car.
The resurgence in petrol is irrelevant in the segment of cars that we are interested in as large engined petrol cars are consigned to history in the grand scheme of things
- Joined
- 22 Oct 2004
- Posts
- 9,086
- Location
- Berkland
Appears so... I just saw the 0 to 60 when the word performance was used. Damn you.[TW]Fox;28797306 said:
The alternative was to buy a totally different type of car.
I dislike diesel less than I dislike not driving this type of car. It isn't a bad engine but I do dislike the fact its diesel.
[TW]Fox;28800181 said:
So bearing in mind the way the market is going with smaller petrol engines, would you buy a 5 series if the predominate engine choice was a 1.8 or 2 litre. 4 pot just because you wanted a 5series? I would just give up and buy myself a Tesla with a decent power output instead of driving a car with an engine I disliked
In theory I would agree with you.
The correct engine for a Jaguar XJ, or a BMW 5 Series, is a large capacity petrol engine
But we’ve both already managed to ‘ruin’ the ‘heritage’ of our chosen vehicles by selecting the diesel ones so really is it that much worse to have a petrol one without the right amount of cylinders? Both are sub optimal engine choices made as a result of a compromise. Neither are the engines either of us would select in the ideal world – a world we don’t live in. Arguably a diesel Jag is worse even than a diesel BMW – at least BMW pioneered performance 6 cylinder diesels. Jaguar was all about refined V8 waft and gave in to diesel by simply buying somebody elses
The engine in my 530d is, once it’s warmed up and on the open road, excellent. I think ‘hate’ is a strong word, I don’t hate it. Infact on the right road, on the right journey, I often find myself asking why you’d want any other engine. But of course then the right road finishes and you end up in town, or you have a trip to make through traffic from cold and you then realise exactly why you’d want any other engine – the N57 in the 5 Series is one of the most refined diesel engines in any passenger car, but it’s still a diesel and it still cannot hide that.
I took a 528i out a couple of weeks ago. A typical test drive, 3 of us in the car (They always insist on coming with you don’t they) so I was unable to be quite as testing with the performance as I’d have liked. But the one thing I noticed is that at low speed, in town and from cold, it was quiet and smooth. Much more so than the diesel. And this is what I crave out of my car more than any other feature I think. If I can achieve it without losing the midrange thrust I’ve come to love from the 530d then I’m, very tempted.
In a car like this both a 4 cylinder petrol turbo and a 6 cylinder diesel turbo are compromises. They are both sub optimal. Neither are as good as the 6 or 8 cylinder petrol engine the car arguably deserves. But in a world of high fuel prices and ever tighter emissions regulations I’m beginning to think petrol 4 is a better compromise than diesel 6. And as long as I remain a used car buyer rather than a new car buyer that compromise is probably going to have to be made.
Fox, do you reckon you've got to the point now where you'll definitely swap for a 528i if the right used one appears for sale?
I like my 2.0 turbo 4 pot. It's not nearly as much of an aural delight as a 6-pot petrol would be, but it's got plenty of grunt and it's nice and flexible - it pulls fine from idle and doesn't start running out of puff until about 6k (can't say either of these things about any diesel engined vehicle I've ever driven). It's probably not as nice as BMW's effort, though.
I like my 2.0 turbo 4 pot. It's not nearly as much of an aural delight as a 6-pot petrol would be, but it's got plenty of grunt and it's nice and flexible - it pulls fine from idle and doesn't start running out of puff until about 6k (can't say either of these things about any diesel engined vehicle I've ever driven). It's probably not as nice as BMW's effort, though.
Last edited:
[TW]Fox;28800426 said:In theory I would agree with you.
The correct engine for a Jaguar XJ, or a BMW 5 Series, is a large capacity petrol engine
But we’ve both already managed to ‘ruin’ the ‘heritage’ of our chosen vehicles by selecting the diesel ones so really is it that much worse to have a petrol one without the right amount of cylinders? Both are sub optimal engine choices made as a result of a compromise. Neither are the engines either of us would select in the ideal world – a world we don’t live in. Arguably a diesel Jag is worse even than a diesel BMW – at least BMW pioneered performance 6 cylinder diesels. Jaguar was all about refined V8 waft and gave in to diesel by simply buying somebody elses
The engine in my 530d is, once it’s warmed up and on the open road, excellent. I think ‘hate’ is a strong word, I don’t hate it. Infact on the right road, on the right journey, I often find myself asking why you’d want any other engine. But of course then the right road finishes and you end up in town, or you have a trip to make through traffic from cold and you then realise exactly why you’d want any other engine – the N57 in the 5 Series is one of the most refined diesel engines in any passenger car, but it’s still a diesel and it still cannot hide that.
I took a 528i out a couple of weeks ago. A typical test drive, 3 of us in the car (They always insist on coming with you don’t they) so I was unable to be quite as testing with the performance as I’d have liked. But the one thing I noticed is that at low speed, in town and from cold, it was quiet and smooth. Much more so than the diesel. And this is what I crave out of my car more than any other feature I think. If I can achieve it without losing the midrange thrust I’ve come to love from the 530d then I’m, very tempted.
In a car like this both a 4 cylinder petrol turbo and a 6 cylinder diesel turbo are compromises. They are both sub optimal. Neither are as good as the 6 or 8 cylinder petrol engine the car arguably deserves. But in a world of high fuel prices and ever tighter emissions regulations I’m beginning to think petrol 4 is a better compromise than diesel 6. And as long as I remain a used car buyer rather than a new car buyer that compromise is probably going to have to be made.
With the small petrol engine, its all about the driving dynamics of the engine. Cars in the segment should be wafty and effortless, even though it is a diesel it still is wafty and effortless. A smaller engine may need to be revved harder thus less effortless, now this is all guess work as I have yet to experience the driving dynamics of such an engine.
Given the choice, I would rather the larger diesel than the smaller petrol, unless they came out with a crafty way to make a small engine drive like a big engine, which until now it hasn't really been done (not to say it will never be done).
Man of Honour
- Joined
- 5 Jun 2003
- Posts
- 91,786
- Location
- Falling...
That 200sx was beyond wonderful.
Aww thanks, I had much fun in that car but towards the end I would think do I want to take the 200 or the XF and the XF would win all day every day even though it was a diesel. I would use the 200 once in a blue moon on a Sunday hoon but mostly it was gathering dust until someone drove into it and wrote it off whilst parked outside my house.
They should start making small v8s or v12s. A 1.6 v12
If you have doubts about small turbo engines though, try a Fiesta ST.
Small capacity big V's pah old hat stuff, been around for decades.
In 1947 BRM made a 1.5L supercharged V16, (ok, ok, technically an H16 but everyone calls it a V16) putting out 600 bhp at 12,000 rpm, although test figures said it could rev to beyond 14,000.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJA7Vxrfkng
My most favorite engine of all time.
Last edited: