Paul Mc Cann wrote:

On Sat, 16 Aug 2003 08:58:45 +0100, "harrogate"
wrote:


"Doctor D." wrote in message
...

They will mix just fine, and it will have no adverse effects on
your car (it's a diesel, how much worse can it get anyway??).

I thought this too until I actually tried one. Take a Golf 130 TDi, Megane
120 DCi or Focus 115 TDCi for a spin and eat your words!



I can never understand why the (so-called) motoring journalists of this
world - Clarkson and all that lot - always promote the idea that running a
diesel is all about thrift and low fuel consumption.

Anyone who regularly drives a diesel will tell you this is far from the
case - it's all about laziness, not have to change gear to accelerate, not
having to change gear to go around corners, being able to pull away easily
on ice or snow when the petrolheads are spinning their wheels like
crazy................... and so it goes on. Diesel is all about torque at
low revs and flexibility - provided you don't want to do it in microseconds!

Having had diesel company cars for the last decade I find it difficult to go
back to driving a petrol car again - I keep having to work pedals and move
the gear lever. It's only because of our stupid taxation system that puts
the cost of diesel so high over here that stops diesel cars selling more -
you only have to go across the channel to see the truth of that!.



Well any diesel I have driven, including BMW's finest., all felt like
they had to be rowed along on the gearbox. The low end torque that is
talked about never manifested itself in my presence.



Hmm. You may not have driven the right ones.


What I really don't understand is why peoplr who buy diesel engined
cars then procedd to drive the sh-one-t out of them. What are they
trying to prove ?



Just trying to get to work on time as fast and as cheap as possible.


And as for reliability. Diesel engines in boats were ultra-reliable
until they started fitting turbo-chargers and letting them rev higher.
Reliability went out the window, and if you really need an emetic try
reading a repair estimate for a turbo charged Volvo diesel boat
engine.


Mmm. I have a turbo diesel, and the engine itself is super reliable.

You need to DESIGN for a turbo, you can't just strap one oin and hope.

I drove a Mondeo TD some time back. Pretty good car really, although the
power band was a tad narrow. Changing down didn't net you extra power
like a petrol: Concversely you could pull in quite high gears rather
well, as long as you were over the turbo kick in level.



Paul Mc Cann