Are Honda diesels any good ?

[Paul S4]

I currently drive an Alfa 156 JTDM 150 ( with a remap to 190) and due the the mileage of 160,000 I shall be looking to change it sometime soon.

I may go for a Golf diesel, but I was also considering a Honda diesel.

I have heard that although Honda are renowned for their amazing petrol engines in cars like the S2000 and Civic Type R, are their diesel engines any good ?

I would be wanting at least 140BHP as standard.

Thanks in advance.

[Paul S4]

Thanks for the reply.

I was just trying to get some ideas about reliability: I have had my Alfa 156 diesel for about 5 years now, this engine is well known as it is in various different makes ie Vauxhall Vectra/Astra, SAAB, Fiat etc, and it gives decent fuel economy as well as plenty of torque.

I drove a pal's 2005 Accord Estate 2.2-CDTi diesel that had 138BHP, and was not that impressed with the power delivery compared to my engine.

I may need to do some more research into Honda, not sure if it has a timing belt or a chain.

[Paul S4]

What sort of real life mpg does that 2.2 engine get ?

My 1.9 JTDM gets 42 mpg week in week out on my 70 mile daily commute at motorway speeds etc., that is 'actual' mpg : ie done by pen & paper with brimming the tank every time I refuel.
I read that other people seem to get well over 50 with a similar engine..... but if they rely on the car's computer they seem to be optimistic !

[Paul S4]

xtruss said:

I have a Civic 2.2 and it has done 144k - They have a timing chain, which can cause issues if the car has not been serviced / looked after - You can hear it making a clattering sound.
My driving is a mixture of shortish journeys and some 10 miles plus journeys, so not really any motorway miles.
Fuel computer over the last 1400 miles shows 51.2mpg, and that tends to be close to what i worked out doing a tank to tank fill up calculation.
It has been summer though and in winter it tends to drop to about 48 mpg.
Mine was mapped about 8 years ago (yes i have had the car a long time!) Celtic tuning 193BHP and 292LBFt of torque - and i have added about 100k miles on it with the map.

That is interesting; I am used to about 190BHP ( my Alfa is the JTDM 150 with a remap) so I was curious if the Honda diesel would respond well to remapping.
I would view the timing chain as opposed to a belt ( which mine has) aa bonus, but presumably they have to be tensioned correctly which I guess would be part of a service ?

Also does your car have a DMF, and has it stood up to the extra torque/power increase ?