Do you eventually get over the claterring of a diesel?
Discussion
You either like them or loathe them. My family always went for DERV as an economy choice and relative durability (compared to petrols of the time they just went on and on) so by the time I came to get a car the diesel 'melody' of clatter-clatter was pretty normal. Was into Land Rovers with big old-school diesels - so when I bought my first petrol (Freelander 1.8) I was blown away by how quiet everything seemed....
I have a personal suspicion that the more agricultural and clattery (tractor-like) a diesel sounds - the longer lived and more durable it tends to be. Clatter was particularly a side effect of the older rotary or inline direct injection systems - which are more robust than common rail any day of the week. Simpler to work on and cheaper to fix from the point of view of someone who does their own spanner-twirling.
The modern diesel stuff that is built to aerospace-levels of precision may be quieter and refined for the first couple of years - but it doesn't half give owners a nasty shock when it goes wrong (DMF, DPF, EGR, CR Fuelling, etc.) The old man's Renault DCI recently lunched itself at 85K miles due to a simple fuelling failure that simply wouldn't have occurred on the old XUD Peugeot 405 for example.
I'd take a loud clattery but reliable lump over a smooth swiss-watch of a thing that will cost more than the car is worth to fix any day of the week - NVH be damned.
I have a personal suspicion that the more agricultural and clattery (tractor-like) a diesel sounds - the longer lived and more durable it tends to be. Clatter was particularly a side effect of the older rotary or inline direct injection systems - which are more robust than common rail any day of the week. Simpler to work on and cheaper to fix from the point of view of someone who does their own spanner-twirling.
The modern diesel stuff that is built to aerospace-levels of precision may be quieter and refined for the first couple of years - but it doesn't half give owners a nasty shock when it goes wrong (DMF, DPF, EGR, CR Fuelling, etc.) The old man's Renault DCI recently lunched itself at 85K miles due to a simple fuelling failure that simply wouldn't have occurred on the old XUD Peugeot 405 for example.
I'd take a loud clattery but reliable lump over a smooth swiss-watch of a thing that will cost more than the car is worth to fix any day of the week - NVH be damned.
OldGermanHeaps said:
Do people who go from diesel to petrol ever learn to live with the lack of low to mid range torque? It must get tiring having to drop gears and use high revs to make civilised progress. If you do get a petrol car with diesel low-mid range torque it usually needs a fill up every 350 or so miles, that must be miserable?
Had both. Yes, anything less than a V8 petrol feels lethargic when you aren't ragging it. I switched from a 1.9TID Saab into a BMW 330ci and the BMW felt dead until 4000+ rpm in comparison.But a V8 petrol has the best of both worlds. Fill up every 350 miles would be amazing, more like 250 miles if lucky and around 17mpg.
R E S T E C P said:
They don't sound bad, but they don't sound good (at least most of the small/4-cyl/high-pressure-turbo diesels don't).
But it's the same with most small 4-cyl engines.
Utter nonsense. Most 4 cylinder petrol engines sound silky smooth and silent at low revs, the polar opposite of clattering bag-of-spanners 4 cylinder diesels.But it's the same with most small 4-cyl engines.
Olivera said:
R E S T E C P said:
They don't sound bad, but they don't sound good (at least most of the small/4-cyl/high-pressure-turbo diesels don't).
But it's the same with most small 4-cyl engines.
Utter nonsense. Most 4 cylinder petrol engines sound silky smooth and silent at low revs, the polar opposite of clattering bag-of-spanners 4 cylinder diesels.But it's the same with most small 4-cyl engines.
If you often drive with your windows down or you have a convertible - then fair enough.
R E S T E C P said:
Olivera said:
R E S T E C P said:
They don't sound bad, but they don't sound good (at least most of the small/4-cyl/high-pressure-turbo diesels don't).
But it's the same with most small 4-cyl engines.
Utter nonsense. Most 4 cylinder petrol engines sound silky smooth and silent at low revs, the polar opposite of clattering bag-of-spanners 4 cylinder diesels.But it's the same with most small 4-cyl engines.
If you often drive with your windows down or you have a convertible - then fair enough.
With the stereo on loud and at cruising speeds though it is pretty hard to tell which fuel it uses.
80s and 90s diesels conformed to the stereotype but few modern ones too; most I have driven have a pleasing enough grumble . It's hardly as though every petrol engine sounds like a Cosworth FVA is it ? Somr folk do like to show off their PH credentials by getting hysterical about diesel's unbearable noise and smell - such sensitive souls..Reality is - they're just fine unless you are desperate to find fault .
cerb4.5lee said:
In my 640d which I would like to think is reasonably well insulated, with the radio off you can clearly tell it's a clattery diesel when moving off and at low revs even with the windows up, there just isn't anyway of hiding its harshness and it just goes with the territory of an oil burner.
With the stereo on loud and at cruising speeds though it is pretty hard to tell which fuel it uses.
Look at the rev counter.....some numbers are missing.With the stereo on loud and at cruising speeds though it is pretty hard to tell which fuel it uses.
HTH
It depends on the car and what I'm using it for. I rarely sit idling in my own car and as of today, we have a diesel on the drive alongside my hybrid. I'm lucky that in my day to day driving, I never really get stuck in traffic so I don't have to listen to that 'thrum thrum' at standstill. Once you've moving, you don't really hear the engine but then you don't get a great soundtrack to enjoy either. It helps that the Honda is pretty well insulated.
OTOH, I hate the noise of the diesels I use at work, which is most often a 1.6 or 1.7 CDTi Astra. I'm not sure if they're supposed to be the Whisper engine or not, but they really clatter and groan as you drive them. I spend a lot of time in my work car or van with the engine idling and I often leave my foot on the accelerator to hold the revs a little above idle. It's like a magic trick; the clatter goes and the gearstick and rear view mirror stop vibrating!
OTOH, I hate the noise of the diesels I use at work, which is most often a 1.6 or 1.7 CDTi Astra. I'm not sure if they're supposed to be the Whisper engine or not, but they really clatter and groan as you drive them. I spend a lot of time in my work car or van with the engine idling and I often leave my foot on the accelerator to hold the revs a little above idle. It's like a magic trick; the clatter goes and the gearstick and rear view mirror stop vibrating!
Loyly said:
It depends on the car and what I'm using it for. I rarely sit idling in my own car and as of today, we have a diesel on the drive alongside my hybrid. I'm lucky that in my day to day driving, I never really get stuck in traffic so I don't have to listen to that 'thrum thrum' at standstill. Once you've moving, you don't really hear the engine but then you don't get a great soundtrack to enjoy either. It helps that the Honda is pretty well insulated.
The last few diesels we've had have had stop/start. I thought it was to improve the figures for the EU emissions test, but maybe it's to stop the idle clatter 
There's good diesel cars and there's bad diesel cars.
My Skoda superb, 2009 2.0 tdi is brilliant. Smooth acceleration, clutch and gearbox are nice to use and doesn't sound like a diesel from inside the cabin. It actually revs quite freely up to the redline which I haven't experienced with 90% of other diesel cars I've driven. Even with the windows down, you hear the turbo more than the engine.
The insignia (Significantly newer) however is absolutely awful. So much turbo lag that the ride is actually very jerky. Doesn't rev freely. The gear shift feels like it's connected through several damp sponges and can also sometimes be quite jerky. There is much less clatter from the engine than the Skoda though.
Answer? Take some on a test drive. Even today there's a big difference between diesel cars regarding how they drive.
My Skoda superb, 2009 2.0 tdi is brilliant. Smooth acceleration, clutch and gearbox are nice to use and doesn't sound like a diesel from inside the cabin. It actually revs quite freely up to the redline which I haven't experienced with 90% of other diesel cars I've driven. Even with the windows down, you hear the turbo more than the engine.
The insignia (Significantly newer) however is absolutely awful. So much turbo lag that the ride is actually very jerky. Doesn't rev freely. The gear shift feels like it's connected through several damp sponges and can also sometimes be quite jerky. There is much less clatter from the engine than the Skoda though.
Answer? Take some on a test drive. Even today there's a big difference between diesel cars regarding how they drive.
Edited by MethylatedSpirit on Wednesday 24th August 21:37
A part of me dies inside when I hear a nice looking car like an Alfa, or even something like a TT, firing into life sounding like a transit van. Even worse if its a convertible. I don't do many miles so I'm certainly not going to suffer that sort of noise just to save a few quid a month.
aka_kerrly said:
R E S T E C P said:
It doesn't sound like that from inside the car, though. Especially modern ones with fake engine sounds which can be quite nice.
Hilarious, do you make a diesel sound like a average petrol and get all excited?
. The OEM system on our Audi sounds lovely under full throttle, my only complaints are that the volume is too low and it sounds V6ish when I'd like it to sound V8ish!Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff