Vauxhall Goodness!

Author
Discussion

timbob

Original Poster:

2,104 posts

252 months

Saturday 17th April 2004
quotequote all
Right, it's looking as though I'm all set to upgrade my lowly 1.1 fiesta first car-mobile!!

I've been to look at an N reg Cavalier 2.0i LS, 16v etc etc, and all being well will stick the deposit down after a test drive on tuesday-ish. It's an Ecotec engine, not the original XE, which (I've been reliably informed) gets me about 20 less bhp - 135 vs 155 roughly speaking.

I'm just interested as to why vauxhall 'upgraded' the old XE engine with a less powerful one - seems a little odd to me...I've done some digging around the net on the topic but have come up with next to nothing - just wondered if anyone could enlighten me with some interesting facts and figures about my prospective new motah!

Cheers!

littlegearl

3,139 posts

257 months

Saturday 17th April 2004
quotequote all
timmy!!!

you've finally relented and are going to buy a vauxhall then!!! i knew you would, YOU ALL WILL!!! MUOWHAHAHAHA!!!!

its only taken about a year since i first told you to get a Cav too! whats happened to the Primula idea?

the Ecotec is not a direct replacement for the XE, the XE runs the same block as the 1800 crossflow manta and was upgraded to 1997cc and tuned to 150-6bhp (depending on what you read) for the mk 2 Astra GTE and mk 3 Cav GSi

a standard mk 3 Cav 2.0i runs the same basic engine as mine which was upgraded to 110bhp in '80, by the time it got to the mk 3 Cav it was probably running about 125bhp...

so the Ecotec is a replacement for the cih engine basically, whereas it was tuned to a higher state for "performance models" such as the Vectra SRi 140...

but yes, the Ecotec is a retrograde step from the XE but they're aimed for different applications!!!

if you're that worried, XE's retail at about £350 for a standard one so swap it over!!!

danhay

7,436 posts

256 months

Saturday 17th April 2004
quotequote all
I think the power drop was due to the newer engines needing to meet stricter emissions limits.

P.S. get yourself a V6, more power and traction control which is essential for pulling out of wet junctions!

Pigeon

18,535 posts

246 months

Sunday 18th April 2004
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They did something similar when the catalysed version of the Astra GTE 16V came out... the presence of the cat reduced the power output, so they detuned the non-catalysed versions to bring them into line.

timbob

Original Poster:

2,104 posts

252 months

Sunday 18th April 2004
quotequote all
I would get myself a V6, were it not for the fact that insurance for the 2.0 16v is going to be around and the £1000 mark.

Besides, the step up from a 1.1 mk3 fiesta to a 2.0 16v cavalier will be plenty enough for now (till I get a kitcar next summer ).