Small engine, BIG car....

[H100S]

Currently I'm running a Vauxhall Cascada 1.4Turbo. It's a big car with a small engine though the engine is more adequate than you'd imagine.140 bhp so same as a 1.8 na but the torque is delivered low down.

Its a good cruising motor and suited to town. Sounds good at idle and low revs but gets harsh when using high revs.

It's opened up my mind to down sizing.

Edited by H100S on Sunday 29th December 18:16

[With these feet]

MarshPhantom said:

Our next door neighbours had a bright yellow 1.3 Capri for many years when I was young.

My Dad had a st brown 1.3GL with chrome hubcaps. HTF it got a family of 4 around still amazes me.
Though the real "peach" was a Moscovitch, now that easily wins big car small engine award!
Just found it - 1358cc and a whopping 50BHP....

[ejenner]

TheDoggingFather said:

ejenner said:

'm not buying the whole 'Capri' idea. It's not a big car. Might be externally large but only in the same way as a GT/sports car.

Bearing in mind the 1.1 was rather sluggish in an Escort, the Capri was more of an equivalent to the Cortina. It would be relatively heavy.

Can we include vans? 1600 pinto MK3 Transit. I went in one once, the performance was glacial, it made my dad's Di n/a Transit feel like a sports car.

No permission required, not my thread. I reckon a van would be more true to the question of space v.s. engine... but it is 'car' - so dunno.

[ejenner]

With these feet said:

My Dad had a st brown 1.3GL with chrome hubcaps. HTF it got a family of 4 around still amazes me.
Though the real "peach" was a Moscovitch, now that easily wins big car small engine award!
Just found it - 1358cc and a whopping 50BHP....

Not very big though.

[itcaptainslow]

I'm currently running a Citroen C5 Tourer 1.6Hdi as a company car, the thing is the size of a small continent! It's quite hilarious how much space there is spare under the bonnet. However, it goes OK for something so big all things considered, and does knocking on the door of 60mpg on a run.

As a practical, comfy barge, it fulfils its brief perfectly.

[powerstroke]

TheDoggingFather said:

Bearing in mind the 1.1 was rather sluggish in an Escort, the Capri was more of an equivalent to the Cortina. It would be relatively heavy.

Can we include vans? 1600 pinto MK3 Transit. I went in one once, the performance was glacial, it made my dad's Di n/a Transit feel like a sports car.

Arr if we a talking vans friend had a merc 207 about 1980 vintage as a rally service barge
Fill it with wheels tools , parts and then hitch a trailer carrying a talbot sunbeam.... Now that's slow and underpowered !!

[juan king]

MarshPhantom said:

Our next door neighbours had a bright yellow 1.3 Capri for many years when I was young.

Did you live in Nelson Mandela house, Peckham?

[rehab71]

backwoodsman said:

Sensibleboy said:

I'm sure they did a 1.3 Sierra at one point.

They did, I had one for a while, combined with the 4 speed box, it was, interesting.

My Grandfather had one from new, bloody awful.

[XJ Flyer]

Who could forget the definition of the idea in the old Mk3 and 4 Zephyr 4's.lol

www.oldclassiccar.co.uk/classic-car-images/mk3-zep...

www.flickr.com/photos/21437618@N02/6486796219/

[ejenner]

Lada 1200 Estate - that's a candidate:

Quite powerful though 62hp - difficult to find figures for it. Seems quite a bit for 1200cc russian motor. Might have this fitted: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lada-1200-1-2L-Performance...

[Roo3Stuart]

I'm embarrassed to admit I owned a Morris Marina when I was 18. It was a fairly big car but it had a 1.3 engine A series engine - it needed to be on a hill to get it moving - I remember when you lifted the bonnet there was room to have a party in the engine bay! Still, how cool did I look in my puke beige paint and brown vinyl roof combo I also remember it used to burn so much oil that on a 100 mile motorway journey I'd wait for the oil pressure light to come on then pull over onto the hard shoulder and fill it up with the waste from other peoples oil changes!

[cologne2792]

jas xjr said:

I had a 2 litre Granada , that was just about OK. Don't think they sold a 1.6 granada

Not here but it did exist on the Continent - sadly.

70 ish bhp ?!

[Citman]

Mate had a Mk II Cav with a 1.3 engine, and fairly sure the Escort was available as a 1.1 until about the early 80s too.

Drove a Rover 25 1.1 once - actually went OK considering.

As has been said though, the power outputs/economy/emissions of a modern engine are something that could only be dreamt about even 15-20 years ago. Back then, 100bhp per litre was the stuff of supercars, now it's a bog-standard 2.0 diesel repmobile.

Read yesterday that the new 5-series will be available with a 1.5 turbo diesel...

[ejenner]

Opel Kadett B with the 'Car-a-Van' body and 1.1 litre engine.

[Mustard]

s p a c e m a n said:

HustleRussell said:

s p a c e m a n said:

E34 518 touring has to be up there as a stupid spec, guessing about 100bhp dragging about 2 tonne along.

518i was never going to set the world alight but I think you are underestimating the power output and overestimating the weight... I thought it was more like 130bhp & 1,500kg, which makes, what, 87bhp/ton? Quite a bit more than a lot of small 6v or 8v hatchbacks...

Had to wiki it as I remember the engine being crapper than that..

The 518i was available in Europe only with a 110 hp M40B18 SOHC 8 valve 4 cylinder engine. Offered with only the Getrag 5 speed gearbox

Performance was 0-60 mph (0–100 km/h) in just under 14 seconds, with a top speed of 118 mph

Curb weight 1,565 kg (3,450 lb) (love to see one with a tow bar )

Power may have been 40bhp down on a 520i but torque was only 22nm at lower rpm for both power and torque

518i was sharper off the line than the 520i but 520i was a better cruiser


You want slow, try an non 'E' carb Mercedes 200 W124

[vanordinaire]

I had an ex-council Bedford CF crewcab pickup with a 2.0l n/a petrol engine. It regularly had 4 guys in the cab,2 pallet of bricks in the back and 3 tons of sand in a trailer. Well over 6 tons and it never seemed to struggle. I think the engine was the same one as the base level Vauxhall Carlton at the time and looked tiny tucked half under the cab like a real lorry.

[Futuramic]

Surprised no-one has mentioned this as yet:

The Holden HJ -



Was a conventional for the seventies perimeter frame (separate chassis) saloon. The base model had a 2.8 litre six cylinder and the top engine was the perennial 350 Chevrolet small block V8.

However -



This car was pretty much the same. A few Holdens were shipped to Japan, without engines, and laden with even more luxury add ons. The Japanese, for some reason, thought it was a great idea to garnish with a 1.3 litre engine. Yes, that's right a 1.3 litre engine. In a seventies, separate chassis, live axle GM product. That was the Mazda Roadpacer.

Roadpacers had a 1.3 litre rotary engine, which produced a staggering 102 lb/ft of torque and 9 mpg fuel consumption. Being a Japanese luxury car, it would have come coupled to an automatic gearbox, if thing's weren't bad enough already!

Thus I think that is the least suitable engine ever fitted to a car.

[MC Bodge]

Mr2Mike said:

MC Bodge said:

Surely it is about the torque curve?

Surely it's not.

lincsls2 said:

Of course it is! Since BHP is a calculation based on torque.
A 1.0l engine producing 140bhp may sound very good (and it is), but if its produced at 8000rpm its going to be hard work to drive relaxingly.

Exactly. Try driving a BMW 5 series fitted with a BMW S1000RR engine fitted.

[billywhizzzzzz]

eldar said:

The 2.0l Discovery was a little underpowered and very thirsty.

maybe i've missed it somewhere, but I'm pretty sure there never was a 2.0l Discovery

Edited by billywhizzzzzz on Sunday 29th December 19:22

[MarshPhantom]

1300 Beta Berlina.