Just curious about this! Work's pool Astra 1.3 CDTi is used mostly for short runs, occasionally for a proper run of 80 miles or so.
I only use it for the short run into town and back to visit some of our customers. 4 mile round trip so not doing the best for it but anyway...
Point is I find it is awful when pulling away! Needs to be revved to 2,000 or so to pull away smoothly and even then it feels like its about to stall 'til the turbo kicks in, when it pulls strongly. Until it kicks in the acceleration is *really* slow so getting it just to ~20mph and 2nd gear takes a second or two, then the same thing... nothing whatsoever til the revs have picked up, then it takes off. If I join the main road when its busy I've had to red line it in first just to have enough in second to keep acclerating... once its warm, everything's much better.
On the move it's great - could the cold start/moving away niggles be a problem or does it just not like being cold??
In comparison the couple of Fiesta TDCis they have are much closer to a petrol off the mark, but struggle once up to speed when compared to the Astra (once it's warm and not practically stalling when leaving each junction!)
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 30/04/2008 at 22:50
|
Yes I had the exact same symptoms on an 04 1.3ctdi Corsa- blinking dangerous! The local Vauxhall dealer {note correct spelling!} couldn't be bothered to do anything about it-"there's no fault codes" etc,etc-"it's theway you drive it"-"we don't have time to take it for a test drive"
So now I make a smart entrance onto the main road roundabout in a Honda Civic diesel,hot,cold-any way you want it, it'll go!
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 30/04/2008 at 22:51
|
|
Glad someone knows what I mean! It's weird because once at speed, so long as its held above 2k, it feels *quick* but when moving out, its a struggle to pull away normally never mind with any speed - even if revving hard on pulling out, if I don't slip the clutch harshly, it alsmot dies.
|
|
wife's punto with this engine was similar - guess this would be exagerated in a heavier car like the astra. it is asking a lot for a 1.3 diesel to pull along a car of that weight. I kinda got used to it and at the time when i had my 1.9Tdi Seat, it used to be a joy getting back into, comparitively so relaxed to drive - I could just lift the clutch in first or second and roll away. My wife never complained though -I think as I say we just got used to revving the nuts of it to start with. Wouldn't have been too comfortable about that had it been our own car, rather than the lease car it was (incidentally when we got rid of it at 46k/3 years the clutch was starting to slip markedly esp in 5th gear on up hill inclines, perhaps as result of the necessary abuse to make quick getaways at junctions.
|
As Nomag implies, I wonder if this is just a symptom of a small capacity, relatively highly tuned diesel engine in a heavy car.
I guess to get the headline power figure without an expensive twin turbo setup (a la BMW) they have to use a larger turbo which sacrifices bottom end response.
I don't know this engine, but I suspect to achieve 90 bhp from a 1300cc diesel requires a fair bit of boost.
Cheers
DP
|
It sounds like the turbo needs a fair amount of exhaust gasses to get the turbo spooling in the first place - something thats not coming from the engine at such low revs from the 1.3 unit when cold?
Its supposed to have a variable vane turbo which should reduce this kind of behaviour to begin with! If it was my car, I'd be talking to a remap company to see if they can do anything about this, probably by burning more fuel in the lower region of the engine's powerband to get the turbo charging earlier and hopefully have some effective boost.
Hope this isnt the future of small forced induction engines!
Edited by smokescreen on 30/04/2008 at 23:53
|
|
|
Surely the same can be said of 130+ bhp from a VW or Ford 1.9/2.0 diesel?
This thing dies unless clutch isn't fully released until doing 15-20mph... reason I mentioned the Fiestas earlier is I think they are about the same power from a 1.4? And they're fine pulling away, if not *quite* so quick (or at least quick feeling) on the open road.
|
|
These very small efficient diesels should use some sort of new generation of transmission with a torque converter to get you off from a standing start at a higher RPM.
|
|
|
|
P.S Daveym have you driven a 130 bhp VAG TDI? I beg to differ as mine pulls like a train. I can also quite easily manoeuvre it about using just idle. Having said that mine is in a Fabia. I can't say what the engine is like in big car like a Supurb or an old Galaxy buit does have 229 ft lbs of torque!
Edited by Mattbod on 01/05/2008 at 01:01
|
. I can't say what the engineis like in big car like a Supurb or an old Galaxy buit does have 229 ft lbs of torque!
Its fine in a Superb, I can confirm that!
Sounds like the Vauxhall engine suffers the same problem as its predecessor, the 1.5TD, that was "nothing" until over 2k and then loads of power - gives turbo diesels a bad name... the VAG 1.4TDi, whilst not as good at the 1.9, is acceptable, and will pull away from rest without using the throttle.
|
|
|
|
|
|
This is a joint engine between FIAT and Vauxhall. FIAT used to offer this motor in 90 bhp the Grande Punto but dropped it. I read somewhere that it was because the engine was too laggy. The 75 bhp is now the only one on offer now in the Fiat, slower but more even and flexible because of lower boost. In any event the Astra is a big car for a 1.3 to lug around.
Edited by Mattbod on 01/05/2008 at 00:51
|
|
I know someone who used to own the Grande Punto with the 1.3 diesel, and yes it was very laggy from standstill, especially off the mark. Otherwise a good little engine.
|
|
|
|
|
