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Can I just ask the anyone in the know the % of each type for new car sales? Seems to me that its just a mater of time before diesel overtakes petrol...
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I believe I saw an article very recently where just over 50% of company sales are now diesel. There is no doubt that the switch to taxation of CO2 has given diesels a huge boost, but as a fan of diesel for the past 10 years or so I can't think why it has taken them so long to convert - loads of torque, more relaxed driving, substantially better mpg and so on.
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I currently have a Galaxy with the 115 VW PDI engine and it\'s great to drive. The mid-range kick up the backside beats petrol cars any day!
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I'm not in the know but I'm wondering which car manufacturer will be first with a diesel-only range. My guess is VW (I don't mean VW group as a whole, just the actual VW make of car)
The proportion of diesel powered cars varies from country to country. France has a very high proportion, we're catching up.
USA hasn't got the diesel message yet - up until at least the early 1980's some American big trucks still had V8 petrol engines!
Cheers, SS
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Well, most common or garden diesel have been rubbish for the last 10 years, like the Vauxhall/Isuzu 1.7l and the Ford 1.8, these old crocks were gutless and noisy. New diesels, (and some 10 years ago like the BMW M51, were a world apart.
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Ahh the Ford Escort tractor...memeories, such memories...
Vauxhall have only just stopped doing Vectra Tractors.
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There is little wrong with the 1.7td Isuzu unit. I'm driving one with 120k miles on it and its still quieter at 90mph than the last brand new petrol Mondeo I drove.
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I read often, only post occasionally
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Not sure which engine you are talking about but I had a K reg Cav 1.7 TD, did 150k in about 7 years and was a really good car.
Only problem was the kids who laughed at the tractor noise every time is started up from cold!
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Agreed. For its time, the 1.7td isuzu unit was a good engine. Always delivered around 50mpg no matter how hard it was worked. Very reliable (haven't yet heard of one with a cambelt failure) and reasonably refined for what it was.
Splodgeface
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Now the Ford 1.8? That WAS a tractor!
Splodgeface
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In France diesel is roughly 60p per litre, compared to 80p per litre for petrol - so as not to sting hauliers. No wonder they (have always) prefer(ed) diesel.
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I beg to differ - the older diesel engines are pretty good. I have a 1.9TD XUD in my Xsara, and it's got loads of grunt and is practically un-stallable. It'll knock the socks off my brother's 1.6 Megane.
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Er.. I have a 2004 Audi A4 1.9TDi quattro that I use here in Spain. Tractor sums it up really well.
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The real tractor was the Montego fitted with the Perkins Prima direct injection engine. Said to be a good, economical and reliable unit, one of the pioneers of direct-injection diesels in cars, along with the Fiat Tipo. But the Prima engine WAS really clattery, even more so in the Maestro van non-turbo version. I rode in a Diesel Momtego once, and from inside it wasn't too noisy.
The VW Polo with the 3-cylinder 1.4 Tdi engine has a muted tractorish sound on tickover.
I've seen a few Aixam microcars about (look like miniature Renault Twingos). With their 500 cc 2-cylinder Kubota diesel engine they sound more like a dumper! But 100+ mpg is said to be possible.
Cheers, Sofa spud
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