Boring car engines! Is yours worse than a MK4 Golf GTI 2.0?
Discussion
Having owned my MK4 Golf GTI 2.0 for nearly a year I've come to the conclusion that this is probably the most boring and characterless engine that has propelled any of the many and varied cars I've owned over the last 20yrs!
The throttle response is a bit crap (I've driven 3 or 4, all about the same) and the fuel economy relative to performance is nothing to write home about
The worst part is the total lack of interesting sounds that car engines are capable of making and definitely not worthy of the GTI badge! Its almost spoiling the otherwise enjoyable experience of running this car on a day to day basis.
Not very PH at all!
Have any of you had similar issues with cars you've owned?
The throttle response is a bit crap (I've driven 3 or 4, all about the same) and the fuel economy relative to performance is nothing to write home about
The worst part is the total lack of interesting sounds that car engines are capable of making and definitely not worthy of the GTI badge! Its almost spoiling the otherwise enjoyable experience of running this car on a day to day basis.
Not very PH at all!
Have any of you had similar issues with cars you've owned?
I get to drive a lot of different cars, some good, some bad.
I've been in a new Civic 1.6 TDI for the last three weeks, it's ok as a daily runner and 120PS isn't too bad for a 1.6. I also get some great economy from it but I'm not half bored. I tend to stick an audiobook on and watch the world pass me by on my commute but it's getting unbelievably dull.
Roll on next week when an A45 arrives, complete with performance exhaust!
I've been in a new Civic 1.6 TDI for the last three weeks, it's ok as a daily runner and 120PS isn't too bad for a 1.6. I also get some great economy from it but I'm not half bored. I tend to stick an audiobook on and watch the world pass me by on my commute but it's getting unbelievably dull.
Roll on next week when an A45 arrives, complete with performance exhaust!
I recently drove my stepfather's Peugeot 407 1.6 diesel (he sold a 3-litre X-Type to buy it, no I don't know either).
Little hill near his house, 25mph, I thought: "I shall change up to third and rely on the pleasing swell of torque to thrust me effortlessly up the incline."
Quite literally ground to a juddering halt - obviously I could've changed down (and I'd already checked there was nothing behind me) but seriously? I have owned more powerful electric pepper grinders.
Little hill near his house, 25mph, I thought: "I shall change up to third and rely on the pleasing swell of torque to thrust me effortlessly up the incline."
Quite literally ground to a juddering halt - obviously I could've changed down (and I'd already checked there was nothing behind me) but seriously? I have owned more powerful electric pepper grinders.
Every 4-cylinder engine I've owned has been deadly boring. Can't really choose between the 1.8 petrol in a 1997 Mazda 323F, Ford's 1.8TDCi diesel or my current VW 1.9TDI...
The diesels at least went well after remapping but are noisy and harsh and don't encourage revving. The petrol was revvy & bulletproof but slow & sounded dull...
The diesels at least went well after remapping but are noisy and harsh and don't encourage revving. The petrol was revvy & bulletproof but slow & sounded dull...
Finding the Mazda 6 engine pretty boring to be honest. It's a 2 litre petrol. It goes well enough, likes the revs, but sounds a bit poo. I keep finding myself looking at induction kits but then remind myself it's just the family transport and mainly the wife's car so it would be silly. It wounldn't take much to give it a nice sound I reckon.
It still sounds a hell of lot less boring than nearly every diesel car I've been in but I know that isn't the point of your thread
The most interesting 4 banger I've had is a Puma 1.7. Lovely little engine in that.
It still sounds a hell of lot less boring than nearly every diesel car I've been in but I know that isn't the point of your thread
The most interesting 4 banger I've had is a Puma 1.7. Lovely little engine in that.
GreatCornholio said:
Boring car engines! Is yours worse than a MK4 Golf GTI 2.0?
No. That is the single worst engine I have ever had the misfortune to experience. I can think of literally no redeeming features.I thought they were based on the Mk2 Golf GTI 8v motor. How did they manage to make such a mess of it?!?
The 1149cc petrol engine found in my old Mk.1 Renault Clio "Panache" was utterly athsmatic. A shame, because I'd previously owned a 3-door Mk.1 Clio with a 1.4 petrol engine which felt really quite peppy by comparison.
70 MPH was possible - eventually - but you'd better not have actually wanted to speak to the person in the passenger seat by the time you got to 70, because you wouldn't have been able to hear each other.
The 1.8 in my Peugeot 406 saloon wasn't too bad, but had no power for overtaking on an NSL road.
The 2.2 in my 406 Coupe is by far the best engine I've ever owned; it has a decent amount of poke, and makes quite a nice noise for a 4-pot (though the stainless steel cat-back exhaust helps with that too). Best engine I've ever driven? Toss-up between the Lamborghini Murcielago and the Aston Martin V8 Vantage I drove on two separate driving experience days I've been on.
70 MPH was possible - eventually - but you'd better not have actually wanted to speak to the person in the passenger seat by the time you got to 70, because you wouldn't have been able to hear each other.
The 1.8 in my Peugeot 406 saloon wasn't too bad, but had no power for overtaking on an NSL road.
The 2.2 in my 406 Coupe is by far the best engine I've ever owned; it has a decent amount of poke, and makes quite a nice noise for a 4-pot (though the stainless steel cat-back exhaust helps with that too). Best engine I've ever driven? Toss-up between the Lamborghini Murcielago and the Aston Martin V8 Vantage I drove on two separate driving experience days I've been on.
Absolutely nothing wrong with the 2.0 8v engine in the mk4 Golf. It is a very reliable and tunable engine but it is in a body that is at least 300 if not 400kgs too heavy.
Is a mk1 Golf GTI engine rubbish or was the engine a huge factor in what made the car so great!
Worst engine I've experienced is the non turbo 1.6 diesel fitted to early 80s VWs, now that really was awful.
Is a mk1 Golf GTI engine rubbish or was the engine a huge factor in what made the car so great!
Worst engine I've experienced is the non turbo 1.6 diesel fitted to early 80s VWs, now that really was awful.
I've actually only had really nice engines in my own cars 
But I've driven plenty very very bad engined cars! Worst by far has to be the Isuzu 1.5 turbodiesel in the Opel Corsa (no idea of the UK got that engine). Sounded horrible, smallest powerband ever, massive engine braking. Dear god it was bad!
Next in line must be the 1.8td engine in the mk2 mondeo. Before 2k rpm it had about 2bhp, then it felt like it flipped a switch and actually did something before dying again completely at 4k rpm. It was pretty hard to keep it in the powerband actually.
10-15 years ago you actually had a reason to hate diesels. I still don't like diesels, but they're massively refined compared to those.
I've actually driven the 'GTI' 2.0 engine, but in a Golf (was a Bora). I was suprised how slow it was for a 2 litre engine (and at the time I considered 2.0's pretty big engines!).
But I've driven plenty very very bad engined cars! Worst by far has to be the Isuzu 1.5 turbodiesel in the Opel Corsa (no idea of the UK got that engine). Sounded horrible, smallest powerband ever, massive engine braking. Dear god it was bad! Next in line must be the 1.8td engine in the mk2 mondeo. Before 2k rpm it had about 2bhp, then it felt like it flipped a switch and actually did something before dying again completely at 4k rpm. It was pretty hard to keep it in the powerband actually.
10-15 years ago you actually had a reason to hate diesels. I still don't like diesels, but they're massively refined compared to those.
I've actually driven the 'GTI' 2.0 engine, but in a Golf (was a Bora). I was suprised how slow it was for a 2 litre engine (and at the time I considered 2.0's pretty big engines!).
A Honda engined Rover 620 is the naffest I ever owned. It managed to blend gutlessness with disproportionate thirst. My diesel Rover did the job of student transport superbly and the 620ti I later bought for £250 on ebay had the best part of double the power of the Honda, used circa 30% less fuel and failed to blow up like all my German car driving colleagues assured me it would.
The most offensive engine I've ever driven though was a 1.6 petrol Volvo S40 which I had as a courtesy car from a Jaguar dealer. It was possibly that the car was criminally boring too with 50 Shades of Grey (plastic) for a cabin which tainted my judgement, but that engine just left me wanting to catch a bus.
The most offensive engine I've ever driven though was a 1.6 petrol Volvo S40 which I had as a courtesy car from a Jaguar dealer. It was possibly that the car was criminally boring too with 50 Shades of Grey (plastic) for a cabin which tainted my judgement, but that engine just left me wanting to catch a bus.
My vote would go for the 1.6 NA in the MkI BINI Cooper. Great little car to fling about the but engine was so dull. No top end power. You had to shift up early to make any progress at all. Just did not suit the character of the car. I think for an engine to be thought of as bad it has to also be out of context to the car it's in.
MrBig said:
No. That is the single worst engine I have ever had the misfortune to experience. I can think of literally no redeeming features.
I thought they were based on the Mk2 Golf GTI 8v motor. How did they manage to make such a mess of it?!?
If it's the same 2.0 8v used in the Mk1 Octavia then it's a perfectly reasonable engine for a family barge, though I quite agree it has no business being fitted to a car with a GTi badge.I thought they were based on the Mk2 Golf GTI 8v motor. How did they manage to make such a mess of it?!?
Our Octy has done around 100k miles yet will still return 40+mpg on a long run, and even with urban use it will return high 20's to low 30's. It also has a good spread of torque that makes for quite relaxed motorway cruising, though revving it out in each gear to extract more performance is a waste of time as power has pretty much dropped off a cliff by the time you get close to the red line.
The most boring engines I have experienced have all been in newish mid-sized cars, e.g. 1.6 Focus and Astra (hire cars in my case). Throttle response that you need a calendar to measure combined with an incredibly dull power delivery.
Edited by Mr2Mike on Thursday 24th October 15:49
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