Old-Skool Diesels Thread

[Guest]

I ran two Maestro diesel vans; An early one which was great, but blew its head gasket and the body dissolved at 100k. It was then replaced by a late Maestro van, subsequently stolen. The later one was much smoother with the two-stage injectors. What was so good about them was their wide power band, nothing like the on-off switch effect you get with modern diesels. I can also vouch for the 825 being a great drive, really excellent. The 115 diesel was fairly shite though.

[Rocket88]

Octavia 1.9 tdi's [two of] autos............both done about 200k miles, no problems at all

[warren t claim]

I quite fancy a mk2 Carlton dizzler with the enormous "power bulge" bonnet so even deaf people will respect me and treat me with reverence.

[Arragonis]

Diseasals in order :Nova TD in pov spec Merit trim. Loads of torque, all at once, and 135 section tyres on steelies = mucho wheelspin. In any gear.Maestro Clubman TDI still miss this car. Comfy, fast, economical. The last time I had a car with a heater that could do warm toes and cold face.205 XLD, late trim version.Very relaxing but slow to drive. Had a new speedo so of course "lost" around 18K miles at some point.Corolla XLD (mums on a loan for 2-3 weeks)Torquey (would undertake a Jag on the M6 happily) and very thrifty on fuel.205 Mardi-gras TD runout model.Being the muppet that I am I pulled the MG badges off and put on Turbo_D badges from a ZX instead. Unfortunately this motor proved how awful the factory in Tunisia was as it failed often including heavy steering and broken alternator. The former also proved how cr@p pug dealers are.Rover 220SDiOfficially faster than a 1998 Seat Ibiza Cupra (the lime green ones) driven by a workmate on the A701. By a long long way.Volvo V70 - Really the wifes. Proved that Volvo dealers are even worse than Pug ones and that so called "specialists" haven't a clue. Its an Ovlov with a VW engine, whats so confusing ?206 HDiSmooth compared to the 205 but strangely also had the same heavy steering problem. EDIT: Also had a different tyre on one corner which meant when you turned left it clung on as all Pugs do, but going right would see dukes of hazard style oversteer.Fabia VRSApart from a slight desire to get a van (I'm fed up pf hanging bike racks on the back) I doubt I'll sell this unless it fails in some spectacularly expensive way. Just as arrogant as a VW TDi without the expense.

[Cavcraft]

Lordy I've owned some diesel shite in my time:Sierra 2.3D. What a heap of wank, can't think of any redeeming features at all.Carlton 2.3D: As above and had done about eleventy million miles (ex-taxi), again no redeeming features.Various Escort and Fiesta 1.8Ds. Escorts were always fucking horrible things and the engines were shite. Fiesta seemed a better bet, maybe because less weight?205s: Had a few but sadly only one TD. Even the n/a ones are great though and I loved the ones I owned.Citroen BX: Honestly lost count how many I had with not one engine problem I can think of. Had a 1.7 n/a that are supposed to be slow but actually went pretty well indeed. The TDs are magic, especially in 3rd gear. Best I had performance wise was an estate that was 1.9TD converted. Went like a bat out of hell and really impressed.Astra and Cav Mk3 Isuzu diesels: ace cars, last forever and go pretty well.Astra Mk3 with GM Slowblow diesel engines: Erm, pretty sodding awful I'm afraid!

[Alpineandy]

1990 Renault R5 GTD - 1.6 with 5 doors - 175k miles - 2nd cylinder head (first went porous). Driven at under 65mph on motorway = very good mpg. Driven at over 70mph = poor mpg. Like most renaults - comfortable. Now used as my 'local' workhorse running 25% cooking oil. It's probably the main reason I don't have any points at the moment as It's actually much nicer to drive slowly than fast even though the torque can get it moving quite quickly when necessary .1996 Renault Safrane 2.5dt auto- 40k miles on clock when I managed to write it off in Lille the easter before last . These use the same Sofim engine as the traffic (or master) of the time.1996 Renault Safrane 2.5dt auto - 48k on the clock. The long distance workhorse, like driving a comfy chair. Kills big distances with ease (london to berlin & back, and London to munich & back). Cruises at 80 comfortably but a little more nervous at a ton. It's only when you lift the bonnet with the engine running that you're aware of how agricultural the motor actually is . Runs 10% cooking oil.

[Guest]

The 115 diesel was fairly shite though.

I empathise. The mad Northern Irish girl I briefly lived with had one of these heaps. Utter junk in every way, though granted it might have handled a bit better had the suspension ever been pumped up on it. Think it was the Citroen AX lump in those?

[Guest]

Aye, the AX lump. Miserable 1.4 in the Metro, slightly inproved 1.5 unit for the 100 series. They handled like a pig and bounced relentlessly, unlike the sweet, lighter petrol equivilents.

[r.welfare]

I do believe the only redeeming feature of the Metro/115 diesel over the AX, Saxo and 106 is that it has a temperature gauge as standard equipment I've now owned 5 Peugeots with the 1.9 XUD turbo lump (4 405's, 1 406's). It's a good old lump although it pays to keep the cooling system well maintained. The 405 feels like a natural home for it too. The highest mileage one (247k when I bought it) felt the perkiest, incidentally.The only other diesel I've "owned" (company car) was a 56-plate Saab 9-3 1.9TiD, which so lacked torque at low revs that I often pulled away in 2nd at 5-10mph with all the speed (and none of the grace) of the QE2.

[wuvvum]

I have to say the 406 is the only diesel car I've owned whose handling isn't at all affected by having a dizzler up front. The performance is affected - badly - but it's actually one of the best-handling saloons I've owned, with very little understeer and even mild lift-off oversteer if needed. Every other diesel car I've driven - even my parents' C4 - has felt nose-heavy compared to the petrol equivalent.

[Guest]

My experience of diesels is fairly limited, I'm yet to find one that I could really fancy owning over the petrol equivalent (even with the fuel savings). Here's the only two "old" ones I can think of that I can say I've actually driven for any reasonable period of time.

 

Peugeot 205 XLD: The same one sold to Mr Duke. Quite liked it, though never drove it at any kind of mad speed. Sounded like a proper diesel though and a fairly punchy engine, quite big too (1.8 or something).

Rover 418 SLD Turbo: Uses the XUD engine. A mixed bag, sometimes pretty quick, pretty smooth, but you really need to be in the right gear or it's a painful slog, especially up hills - it relies on that turbo a bit too much so you end up with your foot to the floor quite often.

 

Funnily enough though, I consider those pair to be better than any more modern ones I've tried, which in comparison have felt very disconnected with rubbish power delivery. Sort it out lads!

[garycox]

For me a 1978-1980 PassatGLD or LX-D please!Would be the best money box, almost no tax

How? Surely they're in the same tax bracket as everything else, unless they're a 1.4 or something...

[Richard]

I think he's talking about scene tax.

[Milford Cubicle]

For me a 1978-1980 PassatGLD or LX-D please!

Would be the best money box, almost no tax

How? Surely they're in the same tax bracket as everything else, unless they're a 1.4 or something...

stormee

Location: Dortmund D

[v6pop]

Only diesel Ive owned is a 1987 Ford 1600.....loved it to bits,had it 10 years and covered a total milage of 180000 (bought at 99000).

Did 55 mpg and used no oil between changes. Wish I still have it but sold it 2 years ago and have seen it since with a petrol turbo lump in it!!!

Rare as rocking horse sh1t these days,this one was ex MOD special build (hence the black paint),not a combi but an estate with blacked out windows.

 

[Timewaster]

The 115 diesel was fairly shite though.

I empathise. The mad Northern Irish girl I briefly lived with had one of these heaps. Utter junk in every way, though granted it might have handled a bit better had the suspension ever been pumped up on it. Think it was the Citroen AX lump in those?

You're all wrong! My 115 Kensington was arguably the best shite evar!Cost me a whole £50. From the many missing bits I think someone may have started to break it for spares, but I was mug enough to weld it up and MOT it.In a fetching shade of kingfisher blue with optional grey primer patches and the aluring odour of wet dog, it used virtually no fuel and made an excellent skip when I was doing some home renovations.Loved the comedy start up rattle, the noise just didn't fit the car. Sold 6 months later for £150 Add to the list: 405TD estate. Comfy economical crap carter. Looked like I stole it from a scrap yard (from the bottom of the pile).Current not very shite Octavia 110hp estate. Does 55mpg, that alone makes me smile.

[Milford Cubicle]

It's a shame they didn't add a turbo to the TUD, it would have been a little flier like the Corsa 1.5TD.

[stormee]

For me a 1978-1980 PassatGLD or LX-D please!

Would be the best money box, almost no tax

How? Surely they're in the same tax bracket as everything else, unless they're a 1.4 or something...

stormee

Location: Dortmund D

Let me explain, vehicles older than 30 years can get the so called 'H-plate', meaning 'historical' and are taxed and insured by ~ 170€/year. Old Diesels without triple oxi-cats and dust-filters and without...'H' are simply untaxable over here, for example a 1990 1.6 VW Turbo-D would cost you about 980€ tax alone a year.

[strangehighways]

Only diesel Ive owned is a 1987 Ford 1600.....loved it to bits,had it 10 years and covered a total milage of 180000 (bought at 99000).

Did 55 mpg and used no oil between changes. Wish I still have it but sold it 2 years ago and have seen it since with a petrol turbo lump in it!!!

Rare as rocking horse sh1t these days,this one was ex MOD special build (hence the black paint),not a combi but an estate with blacked out windows.

 

This looks soooo dodgy! Surely someone has been kidnapped and hurled in the back of that?! I would run scared if I saw that van at night. In a word, awesome.

[strangehighways]

The 115 diesel was fairly shite though.

I empathise. The mad Northern Irish girl I briefly lived with had one of these heaps. Utter junk in every way, though granted it might have handled a bit better had the suspension ever been pumped up on it. Think it was the Citroen AX lump in those?

You're all wrong! My 115 Kensington was arguably the best shite evar!Cost me a whole £50. From the many missing bits I think someone may have started to break it for spares, but I was mug enough to weld it up and MOT it.In a fetching shade of kingfisher blue with optional grey primer patches and the aluring odour of wet dog, it used virtually no fuel and made an excellent skip when I was doing some home renovations.Loved the comedy start up rattle, the noise just didn't fit the car. Sold 6 months later for £150

I have a 106 1.4 D! It is not even a 1.5. It has 50 of the finest racing horses under the bonnet. It is unbelievably slow (still faster than a Nissan Serena D though haha). But, it can do upto 75mpg (but if you go over 70mph it goes down massively!). Its a sweet little car and its suprisingly economical.

[Negative Creep]

My current one is the only diesel I've ever owned, and only bought in an attempt to save money. It's worked in that respect and gets 40mpg around town with constant stop start driving. Sounds terrible and is comically slow, especially before it's warmed up. On the other hand the engine is pretty much bullet proof and feels like it will go on forever, but you need a good stereo to drown out the constant dug dug dug clank clank clank.Being the non turbo, I hereby claim it is the higher echelons of shite

[jamesymurray]

Being the non turbo, I hereby claim it is the higher echelons of shite

Too right. We once had a band runaround in a 94 ZX 1.9 non turbo estate. It had done well over 200k and was laughably slow. By this age it wasn't able to exceed about 65mph without shaking and rattling violently enough to cause fear to the driver.It met it's demise at a junction in Peterborough. When the clutch went, it was left for the vultures...

[Guest]

Hi all, just joined and thought this might be a good place to start...Had various awful old diesels, I'll start with the best'96 Xantia TD - Brilliant. Why in God's name did people buy Vectras etc? Went well after turning the pump up.'89 Astra Estate 1.7D - for a non turbo went really well. Bastard to start in the mornings, needed about three heats of the plugs. Terrifying handling.'95 Mondeo 1.8TD - Sold at 285k just kept going and kept going and going.. Pretty fucking hateful to drive with a powerband of about 450rpm, somewhere between 3-3.5krpm. Absolutely nothing either side.'87 309 diesel - uneventful. scrapped it because I couldn't really face driving it. Shame can't be too many full-width rear light 309s leftAnd now the crowning glory of all that is awful, the LDV Pilot.Wanting a campervan but not having any money I quickly discounted all the shonky 2.0 Transits and 2.3 Bedfords that did about 15mpg and decided to build my own. LDV Pilots were cheap and said to be great on fuel so I bought one.I never knew driving could be so miserable. 1900 XUD, non-turbo dragging around a load of cobbled together BL shite.The previous mong of an market trader owner had never serviced it so the air filter was filthy which knocked 20mph off the top speed. I was down to 35mph at some points on the way home in the dark on the M1. Instead of replacing the air filter he'd made up 'slow vehicle' badges for the back, which must have cost about the same as an air filter.Even with a new filter 60mph was flat out, down hill. This thing would find gradients you never knew were there, then you were back down to a gear crunching, rattling, screaming 40mph. It even felt slow in 1st gear. The steering had armfuls of play, the driver's door let snow wind rain in... I can't go on. I never want to see one again.Suffice to say holidays were not fun.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I've had 2 205 diesels, both of which were marvellous. Everyone should be forced to drive round in those things, they are all the car anyone will ever need. Still got one in fact. The only other diesel i've had is a Rover 825, an unwise auction 'bargain' which was actually bloody great after I had 'fixed' the poorly engine with a secondhand piston and conrod. did about 20,000 miles in a year on heating oil. Just GR8.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I herad that Alfa produced a 33 diesel with a 3-cyl 1.7-litre VM diesel engine. it may be completely mythical, but there used to be a picture of the 33 in adverts for VM engines in days of yore. I have never seen one or an advert for one, or even an underbonnet picture of one - nothing. does anyone know if this awesome-sounding road weapon ever actually existed?

[pogweasel]

Yeah, but Mr_B's P100 has the TARMAC RIPPING 89bhp turdblowa donk does it not?

[The Liberator]

I herad that Alfa produced a 33 diesel with a 3-cyl 1.7-litre VM diesel engine. does anyone know if this awesome-sounding road weapon ever actually existed?

I found this, which is apparently a 33TD in South Africa, unfortunately the picture is about as conclusive as all those Loch Ness monster and yeti photographs:

 

http://www.alfa-pages.co.uk/reflect2.php?img=./galleryimages/td-back.jpg&bgc=ffffff&fade_start=20%

 

and a cutaway of the VM unit (why didn't Subaru simply use an inline triple when they wanted diesel engines, instead of going to all the trouble of dieselising an existing flat four? Fools):

 

 

Can't even find one on Italian abay, although someone is selling an oil filter for a 33td - might be useful(?).

[UglyAmerican]

Funny that this morning I came across this maserpiece on eBay:

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Rare-ori ... 20adbd2e3f

 

A 1982 Datsun Nissan Sentra (that's Sunny to you) diesel, with a 4-speed manual.

 

I just love it. Wish I had the money, and my part-time move to Florida was accelerated by a few months.

[pbottomley]

'95 Mondeo 1.8TD - Sold at 285k just kept going and kept going and going.. Pretty fucking hateful to drive with a powerband of about 450rpm, somewhere between 3-3.5krpm. Absolutely nothing either side.

sounds just like my escort 1.8td daily shite... perfect at 80mph at 3250rpm stray outside that and its pointless trying to bother... come onto a motorway at 50mph takes a mile at least to get to 80mph.... sometimes bloody dangerous with lorries about....That said its still doing 45mpg at 80mph with two engines and gearboxes in the boot, which is happy days

[Milford Cubicle]

I'd be interested to find out more about the almost mythical 3-pot Alfa 33 diesel too. Was it basically a VM 4-pot with a cylinder lopped off?There was an Alfa 75 TD with a 2.4 VM 4-pot under the bonnet on eBay a month ago or so, quite fancied it.I like naturally aspirated diesels, you miss out on the on/off acceleration of turbo diesels and they're a bit easier to live with around town.Does the Ford 1.8TD have as much as 89bhp? Is it even intercooled?