Can't stand all these buzzy little engines these days
Discussion
volvos60s60 said:
I know there are exceptions like V8 full fat Range Rovers, the occasional 911 & so on, & you can all no doubt come up with all manner of further exceptions to my rant, but I for one lament the days when some old 'geezer' in the house opposite was tinkering with his Triumph Stag or XJ6 on a Sunday afternoon so he could get to work on Monday.
Yeah, I really miss the days when cars were so unreliable you didn't know if you were going to get to work or not. None of that new-fangled modern car rubbish with reliability and decent fuel economy. Kids today etc etcEdited by volvos60s60 on Saturday 20th January 14:39
I can see where you're coming from.
My (old) car has a 2.0-litre engine. Its modern equivalent has a turbocharged 1.6-litre engine, and despite being smaller in capacity, it's more powerful. And not by a small margin either; it's got a 100bhp advantage!
There's no denying that on paper it's better in every possible way (bar the price) than my old car.
And yet I doubt I would enjoy driving it half as much!
My (old) car has a 2.0-litre engine. Its modern equivalent has a turbocharged 1.6-litre engine, and despite being smaller in capacity, it's more powerful. And not by a small margin either; it's got a 100bhp advantage!
There's no denying that on paper it's better in every possible way (bar the price) than my old car.
And yet I doubt I would enjoy driving it half as much!
Take heart, OP.
There may be an end, sort of, in sight to downsizing:
https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-autoshow-paris-e...
http://www.evo.co.uk/features/18753/is-engine-down...
There may be an end, sort of, in sight to downsizing:
https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-autoshow-paris-e...
http://www.evo.co.uk/features/18753/is-engine-down...
volvos60s60 said:
Only yesterday, I was looking at 3 year old Fiesta ST to introduce some interest into my commute but I just can't get motivated by it at all. The fact is I would like the prospect more if it was 2 litre normally aspirated
Your missing the point of the ST. I didn't think much of them until I drove it. Despite the MPV seating position, shape and engine that you don't need to red line, they are very fun.'Big engined' n/a, have a place but the reality is my 2litre n/a focus is slow, bad on fuel , expensive insurance and pretty heavy on the tax. I'd happily swap to a smaller, more efficient, faster turbo engine with an autobox too.
Cars for pure pleasure e.g not commuting in sw London then yeah a big V8 and rear wheel drive, other than that I'm all for modern downsized engines.
Cars for pure pleasure e.g not commuting in sw London then yeah a big V8 and rear wheel drive, other than that I'm all for modern downsized engines.
Edited by MrAverage on Saturday 20th January 16:41
I'm in both camps being an old bugger, on my drive.
FF RR 4.2 395BHP SC, which I drive the most - £535 road tax, but at least it has LPG!
C3 110bhp turbo 3 cylinder, 2nd car zero road tax, 50mpg OR quite nippy, but that 3cylinder does vibrate on WOT!
Z3 3.0 straight 6, with it's very smooth engine, but crashy suspension!
To make it worse, got a 500cc single cylinder motorcycle and a 1200cc one!
FF RR 4.2 395BHP SC, which I drive the most - £535 road tax, but at least it has LPG!
C3 110bhp turbo 3 cylinder, 2nd car zero road tax, 50mpg OR quite nippy, but that 3cylinder does vibrate on WOT!
Z3 3.0 straight 6, with it's very smooth engine, but crashy suspension!
To make it worse, got a 500cc single cylinder motorcycle and a 1200cc one!
As I'm the OP, I feel I should add a little comment for those questioning have I ever driven this, have I ever driven that........my current garage has a Toyota iQ for everyday boring commuting - excellent little car but painfully high geared for economy making it so slow that it boils my p*ss on a hill.
A happy everyday medium was the Z4 coupe I used to own with a 3 litre straight 6 engine - fast enough, entertaining to drive & ok on fuel. And for all those questioning reliability, I covered 40000 miles in it without a single issue.
I was looking at a 2014 A3 cabriolet a couple of weeks agp. Given diesel is considered to be the Devil's fuel by the powers that be, the only petrol choice was the 1.4 tfsi. It drove well enough with 148bhp but I just couldn't get excited enough to proceed with buying a 1.4 turbo in a car that should put a smile on your face. I wished I could have it with a 2.5 litre 6 cylinder
Maybe I'm old fashioned, but no matter how you slice it, there ain't no substitute for cubes.....
A happy everyday medium was the Z4 coupe I used to own with a 3 litre straight 6 engine - fast enough, entertaining to drive & ok on fuel. And for all those questioning reliability, I covered 40000 miles in it without a single issue.
I was looking at a 2014 A3 cabriolet a couple of weeks agp. Given diesel is considered to be the Devil's fuel by the powers that be, the only petrol choice was the 1.4 tfsi. It drove well enough with 148bhp but I just couldn't get excited enough to proceed with buying a 1.4 turbo in a car that should put a smile on your face. I wished I could have it with a 2.5 litre 6 cylinder
Maybe I'm old fashioned, but no matter how you slice it, there ain't no substitute for cubes.....
Edited by volvos60s60 on Tuesday 23 January 16:58
MorganP104 said:
Bobbing along the motorway the other day, and the wife spots a BMW M4. She points at it and says "that looks fast, how big is the engine?" I told her it was a 3 litre straight six, with two turbos.
She screwed her nose up at that, and replied "can't be that fast, then. Your car has a bigger engine than that!"
I spent the next five minutes trying to explain that a BMW M4 would eat my L322 V8 Rangie alive on anything smoother than an off-road course, but she wasn't having it. As of now, the BMW M4 just isn't all that impressive to my missus.
There you go, OP - you have someone in your corner!
I have worked with numerous women who believe that performance increase with engine size in a perfectly linear progression. She screwed her nose up at that, and replied "can't be that fast, then. Your car has a bigger engine than that!"
I spent the next five minutes trying to explain that a BMW M4 would eat my L322 V8 Rangie alive on anything smoother than an off-road course, but she wasn't having it. As of now, the BMW M4 just isn't all that impressive to my missus.
There you go, OP - you have someone in your corner!
Colleague number 1 had a Meriva that "was too slow and didn't like hills". This was due to it being a 1.4, whereas her husband's Mitsubishi (I am unsure which model, but it was one of the large off-roady truck things) was a rocket ship as that was a 2 litre. I didn't tell her I owned a 3.2 as she would have thought I was a madman/driving god being able to harness all that power on the road.
Shortly after purchasing my Smart Roadster, colleague number 2 enquired as to the engine size, as she liked the look of it. She found it hilarious that it was only 700cc, because "her lawn mower has a larger engine". She was surprised to find out that not only did it have more power than her car (140 bhp/litre was an impressive feat in those days), but that it was also significantly lighter. I didn't tell her the gearbox was s
t, however.Owning a Dodge Viper would be worth it just for these conversations.
InductionRoar said:
MorganP104 said:
Bobbing along the motorway the other day, and the wife spots a BMW M4. She points at it and says "that looks fast, how big is the engine?" I told her it was a 3 litre straight six, with two turbos.
She screwed her nose up at that, and replied "can't be that fast, then. Your car has a bigger engine than that!"
I spent the next five minutes trying to explain that a BMW M4 would eat my L322 V8 Rangie alive on anything smoother than an off-road course, but she wasn't having it. As of now, the BMW M4 just isn't all that impressive to my missus.
There you go, OP - you have someone in your corner!
I have worked with numerous women who believe that performance increase with engine size in a perfectly linear progression. She screwed her nose up at that, and replied "can't be that fast, then. Your car has a bigger engine than that!"
I spent the next five minutes trying to explain that a BMW M4 would eat my L322 V8 Rangie alive on anything smoother than an off-road course, but she wasn't having it. As of now, the BMW M4 just isn't all that impressive to my missus.
There you go, OP - you have someone in your corner!
Colleague number 1 had a Meriva that "was too slow and didn't like hills". This was due to it being a 1.4, whereas her husband's Mitsubishi (I am unsure which model, but it was one of the large off-roady truck things) was a rocket ship as that was a 2 litre. I didn't tell her I owned a 3.2 as she would have thought I was a madman/driving god being able to harness all that power on the road.
Shortly after purchasing my Smart Roadster, colleague number 2 enquired as to the engine size, as she liked the look of it. She found it hilarious that it was only 700cc, because "her lawn mower has a larger engine". She was surprised to find out that not only did it have more power than her car (140 bhp/litre was an impressive feat in those days), but that it was also significantly lighter. I didn't tell her the gearbox was s
t, however.Owning a Dodge Viper would be worth it just for these conversations.
It drives me mental as she assumes that her partners 1.9 golf is as fast as my megane r26. Because the engine is a similar size.
volvos60s60 said:
As I'm the OP, I feel I should add a little comment for those questioning have I ever driven this, have I ever driven that........my current garage has a Toyota iQ for everyday boring commuting - excellent little car but painfully high geared for economy making it so slow that it boils my p*ss on a hill. For those talking about heavy bloated V8s, I also have a V8 Morgan Aero, weighs approx 1000kg, insanely fast & can return 30mpg on a motorway.
A happy everyday medium was the Z4 coupe I used to own with a 3 litre straight 6 engine - fast enough, entertaining to drive & ok on fuel. And for all those questioning reliability, I covered 40000 miles in it without a single issue.
Maybe I'm old fashioned, but no matter how you slice it, there ain't no substitute for cubes.....
I think this is part of the reason why people do own a smaller turbo'd engine. I am part of the lazy lay about yoof, i can't afford to have several cars so one that can cover the fun, economical (40+ on a run) and cheaper to tax,insure etc then its a winner. A happy everyday medium was the Z4 coupe I used to own with a 3 litre straight 6 engine - fast enough, entertaining to drive & ok on fuel. And for all those questioning reliability, I covered 40000 miles in it without a single issue.
Maybe I'm old fashioned, but no matter how you slice it, there ain't no substitute for cubes.....
If i could afford to own and run several then you have the perfect set up for that, a little city car backed up by a proper fun car.
Edited by MrAverage on Saturday 20th January 17:33
I'm all for interesting engines, often I'll consider a car purely on it's engine as it appeals to my engineering interest. Two such cars I've owned are the MX-3 1.8 V6 and a Daihatsu Sirion Rally 2
However I hardly see a 2 litre duratec as interesting, unless a four pot is nearly pushing nearly 100hp/litre or it's a Subaru I find 4 cylinders very dull. I'd rather have a turbo 3 pot.
However I hardly see a 2 litre duratec as interesting, unless a four pot is nearly pushing nearly 100hp/litre or it's a Subaru I find 4 cylinders very dull. I'd rather have a turbo 3 pot.
Berkshire bred said:
Yipper said:
It is a tradeoff.
The old engines sound nicer.
But the new engines are significantly faster.
Just a couple of cheap tweaks on a Golf R today will make it faster than a Pagani Zonda.
Modern engines are incredible pieces of electrical machinery.
Another classicThe old engines sound nicer.
But the new engines are significantly faster.
Just a couple of cheap tweaks on a Golf R today will make it faster than a Pagani Zonda.
Modern engines are incredible pieces of electrical machinery.
Yipper said:
It is a tradeoff.
The old engines sound nicer.
But the new engines are significantly faster.
Just a couple of cheap tweaks on a 2L Golf R today will make it faster than a Pagani Zonda.
Modern engines and turbos are incredible pieces of electrical machinery.
Yipper.The old engines sound nicer.
But the new engines are significantly faster.
Just a couple of cheap tweaks on a 2L Golf R today will make it faster than a Pagani Zonda.
Modern engines and turbos are incredible pieces of electrical machinery.
Chucks in a grenade, takes cover, awaits the explosion ...
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