i like my clutch and have sympathy for it – generally i never take off from a standing start at 3k RPM – i am not the stig.

You don’t? Neither do I. Do you have a point?

where does your turbo kick in – mines 2.5k – hence why i struggle to see why turbo lag would have any bearing on take off stalling – poor clutch control is not the engines fault.

all my diesels ive ever had will take off with zero throttle if asked – they generally only need 1500 to pull away nice and briskly

I might be missing the point but what has the Isuzu engine got to do with the turbo lag. Surely Honda specified the turbo to be fitted so the problem lays with them and not the engine it’s bolted to. Much the same as the Mini Cooper S turbo problems was a BMW issue and not with PSA Peugeot Citroen who made the engine.

The Honda 2.2 is pretty reliable but no more than other diesels and the have DPF issues.

Honda 2.2 doesnt have DPF (06-11?)

The 2.0 Perkins oil burner that was in my old Montego estate.

Somebody liked it enough to nick the car for its engine to be transplanted into a taxi. (The car itself was never seen again)

Loving these ‘ high milage ‘ deisel engines.

As mentioned the XUD Pug / Citroen was a reliable if not noisy engine that would do mega miles . Last inserted in the Xsara C1999.

Then the VAG PD , which uses an inhead lobe pump to generate common rail type pressures . Drove my first one from 236 – 312k . It used 1ltr of oil every 12,000 miles then rather than top it up i just changed it. Used no water at all .
Second one bought on 186K and again minimal oil consumption and zero water use.
Reliable , economical , no DPF , Yes there is a DMF but pretty much everything post 2001 has a DMF. EGR could give problems but a blanking kit and ecu re – write is an option .

Honda 2.2 supposed to ok but a trawl acroos Ebay usually throws up 1 or 2 for sale with a blown engine .

That BMW lump is also good once the swirl flaps and either been sorted or removed , available in the Over 75 or MGZT-T , although transverse in this install.

Ive heard the older transit 04 engines are bullet proof and the vag grouo pd lumps seem to be flavour with the lads round here. A lot of mk1 golfs and mk2 golfs or the old caddys running the pd lump.

Personally like the BMW engines, and love the cars. The VAG ones are ok, if you don’t mind doing cambelts regularly.

Regular servicing with quality oil, and driven plenty so everything gets warm and blown out, and most seem reliable.

The Fiat 1.9 mjet’s used to be good. Had a 120bhp Stilo with one, and was really good. Easily saw 53mpg. Got it mapped to around 160bhp as well. Think they were the same engines as used in various vauxhalls and saabs.
Currently driving around in a 320d, but have had two 118d’s prior to this. Dabbled in a 116i petrol, but just preffered the diesels. Very happy with my choice.

where does your turbo kick in – mines 2.5k –

What engine? I am sceptical of that to be honest. Every turbo diesel I’ve ever driven it starts to work from about 1200rpm.

Surely Honda specified the turbo to be fitted so the problem lays with them and not the engine it’s bolted to.

I’m not blaming anyone, all I’m saying is that particular engine was an Isuzu unit and I’d read a lot of people complaining about it being very easy to stall, more so than most diesels, and that it needed more revs. This is most likely down to the fuel map and hence Honda’s fault, for whatever that’s worth.

Liking my 150bhp BMW diesel, with swirl flaps removed.

Faultless after 117,000 miles, no DPF issues at all.

Mondeo TDCi was good too up to 150,000 when I flogged it. Still on its original clutch 😯

2003 mondeo here, 115hp.
157,000 miles, engine perfect, still drives just as good as it did when new.
only had regular wear and tear items and irregular sevicing done.

The Honda 2.2 is pretty reliable but no more than other diesels and the have DPF issues.
Honda 2.2 doesnt have DPF (06-11?)

All the iCDTI (about 03-08) Honda’s don’t have DPF. I should maybe have been more specific 08 onwards 2.2 have DPF (that cause no end of trouble). That’s why after two iCDTI we have a petrol Accord now.

Onto my second BMW 320d, first did 90k despite getting thrashed from new – no problems.
Current one just gone 30k miles in six months – again thrashed from new. No issues.

If fact I’ve never bought oil for either of BMW engines – outside of the service.

I’ve had an early 170bhp VAG and the current 143bhp – both seemed to drink oil.

BMW all the way for me.

I’m driving a Mazda 6 (2010) with a 2.2 diesel. High gearing and low compression ratio (15:1 I think) mean that you need to rev it to get moving; I preferred my old PD 130 on the Passat in that respect, but then the Mazda feels so planted on corners compared to the VW. I’ve never yet had the DPF light come on, which is the issue with this car.

52′ 130hp TDCi Mondeo here, with 167k on the clock.
Drives lovely.

But, its spent most if its life enjoying fast(ish) runs of at least 8 miles as the Wifes work-bus. I fear rattling it around town would be a recipe for trouble.

Our next “family” car (to replace a TDi Galaxy) will be a petrol engined Focus estate or similar. Much better suited to the local mileage it sees, backwards & forwards between School/Scout Hut/Shops etc. (School usually only on Scout days, when bikes are just too much hassle). We only bought the Galaxy as a caravan tow-car, & the caravan is being sold come spring when prices pick-up.
Back to tenting till Wife is earning again (currently trainee nurse), so roofbox & trailer will suffice. 🙂

My 2.2 Honda is just coming up to 100k. The entire car has been faultless but I particularly like my engine over my wifes’ A3 2.0 diesel because of the 5 trillion newtons of torque it has. Having five people in it seemingly makes no difference at all to performance.

L-series in my N-reg 420 Rover

I had a chipped L series in a W reg 45 – pulled like a train & nudged 60 mpg.

The 2.0 Perkins oil burner that was in my old Montego estate.

First direct injection engine I ever drove, good cold starter in minus 10 conditions unlike my workmates PSA engines.

Used no water at all

In 25+ years of owning, I’ve never had a diesel that used any water.

In the finest tradition, I’ll recommend what I have, the 2.2 mk3 mondeo engine. Cheap to buy, chain drive, relatively few diesel foibles… Some injector issues, not as bad as people make out, clutch and dmf are original at 120000 miles. Standard map was wooly from idle, remap made it a much sharper and nicer drive. And fuel economy is pretty much the same as the 2.0, tax a little higher, insurance bizarrely the same. Throw a decat at it and it’s 180-ish bhp and about 300lb/ft. Then sit it in a normal looking mondeo.

takisawa2 – Member

But, its spent most if its life enjoying fast(ish) runs of at least 8 miles as the Wifes work-bus. I fear rattling it around town would be a recipe for trouble.

It’d probably be fine- no DPF on that model, and easily bypassed EGR. Sometimes being stoneaged is good!

Saab 1.9 TTiD. 180bhp/300 torques.

Put 130k on one & 80k on another & never missed a beat.

My second favourite 2l diesel would be BMW. My first would be the Alpina modified BMW 2l that they use in the Alpina D3.

Wife has just swapped from a VW with a 2L 140 bhp to a BMW with 2L engine. We test drove a BMW with same power output as the VW, and it felt a *lot* more powerful (to the extent I thought they had given us the wrong car) . She bought a car with the 218bhp version which is really quiet, economical and smooth. Based on this fairly unscientific test, I’d say BMW are a long way past VW when it comes to engines.

Saccades – Member
L-series.

This.
My Rover 45 goes like stink,50mpg easy and bulletproof.

Based on this fairly unscientific test, I’d say BMW are a long way past VW when it comes to engines.

Not really, all engines are basically the same tech nowadays. Lots of air in, squirt fuel in, bang. More powerful diesels just have bigger turbos and more expensive parts.

The fuel map may be different though. Bluemotion and similar don’t dump as much fuel in at low revs so the turbo takes longer to spin up, but you turn less fuel into smoke.

Not really, all engines are basically the same tech nowadays. Lots of air in, squirt fuel in, bang. More powerful diesels just have bigger turbos and more expensive parts.

The fuel map may be different though. Bluemotion and similar don’t dump as much fuel in at low revs so the turbo takes longer to spin up, but you turn less fuel into smoke.

Really? Ignoring the actual big chunky bits of the engine, and whether there’s swirl in the chamber etc that’s still way off. Take the VW lump in the polo blue motion, Fabia greenline etc etc, the common rail system is totally different to that from a “normal” engine. The CR pump is driven off the engine, on the blue motion it’s at engine speed rather than stepped down, there’s a single plunger and follower rather than multiple, so a different hydraulic head design is needed since it’s optimised to a different flow. The materials and heat treatment of the pump internals are totally different to other pump designs etc. The injectors can be solenoid driven, indirectly piezo driven or directly actuated by a piezo stack, each allows different numbers of pilot and main injections per cycle which completely changes the fuel distribution in the cylinder and therefore the combustion timing, performance and efficiency. There’s a separate pump to draw fuel from the tank to the actual cr system, that might be electrical and sat in the tank or it might be mechanically slaved to the cr pump itself. Cr systems on the market might run at anything from 1400 bar for an older system to 2000 for a newer one, each using different components around the system. Bosch, Delphi, conti-Siemens and denso all have fairly similar systems but equally they all have their own tech too, and that’s just the bit to squirt the fuel, but sure, all the tech is the same.

I said basically, not exactly 🙂

Injectors and pumps vary, aye, but they still do basically the same thing. I reckon diesels are more similar to each other than petrols on the market today.

Although I accept that different injection stages make a bigger difference 🙂

I’ve had a few Diesel engines over the years, and my experience has been different – the only one that was crap was the Isuzu in a vauxhall Astra. It seized itself solid at about 60,000 miles.

I’ve stuck to German diesels since.

I really liked the enduro 1.8 tddi in my old focus. OK, it couldn’t pull the cock off a chocolate mouse but it was a total masterpiece of usability- made the same feeble amount of power almost all the time, pulled better from idle than my 2.2 (which makes about 250% of the power). So in some ways it was a terrible bilge pump but it was still kind of charming.

If your budget can stretch it, a 3.0 diesel (Audi & BMW) could be an option. Phenomonal amount of torque and super smooth engine make for effortless pulling power and reasonable mpg.

I used to own a VAG 2.0 170bhp (2009 Passat)which was a great engine but when new car time came round i test drove a 3.0 A4 and very impressed.

Maybe not practical for you but always an option.