Diesel's Rover 45's

[rdjones]

Today my car has been in for service, so I was leant a 2 litre Turbo Diesel Rover 45 and I was not very impressed.

Now as some of you know I am a big Rover fan but I didn't like it at all the gearbox was horrible and the engine was very slugglish up to about 30mph, thats when the turbo kicks in.

Now I had thought about buying a diesel, when I change my car in a couple of years time, but I think I will think again.

Thank god I have my 25 back it is so much better......

[davemorganfan]

I've driven a 400 Turbo Diesel (essentially the same as as a 45) and I must say I quite liked it. Plenty of mid-range grunt, and an engine that was MUCH smoother and quieter (and more powerful) than the Peugeot jobs that everyone raved about at the time. But I still prefer the K-series petrol engine in my 216. It's much quicker off the mark. Afraid I'm just not a diesel fan. If nowt else, they stink (literally).

[BertMk2]

I've got a Pug 306 Turbo diesel and I won't be going back to petrol engines again (unless I win the lottery in which case I'll get something a bit special).

I've been well impressed with the Pug, I had a 1600 petrol 306 as a loan car when mine was in for a service and it was pathetic in comparison - no grunt whatsoever.

I was quite impressed with the Focus turbo diesel as well but Fords are totally random on build quality (I driven some complete dogs of Focuses as well).

[spearce]

I've tried a diesel, an Astra 1.7TD - yes I've saved a bit in fuel, but lost out on engines - it went bang during the MOT. It seems a replacement is more than the car is worth. Oh dear, never mind ............

Don't suppose anyone has an unwanted spare eng (LPT) ???

[Bluebottle]

Originally posted by spearce
it went bang during the MOT.

What did they do to it? Any chance of getting them to pay?

[BertMk2]

Presumably it was the cambelt that went? You probably can't get them to pay for it although I had to sign an extra form giving them my permission to rev the nuts out of the car when mine last had an MOT (it was 1000 miles from a scheduled cambelt change) so if they didn't warn you about it you might have a case. It's definitely worth kicking up a fuss though, you might be able to get something out of them.

[spearce]

I've not got much of a leg to stand on as I was driving at the time, I was asked to take it for a run up the road on the gov in 3rd - It was slightly over on the smoke test. Mine is the first one to go bang doing this routine apparently. The cambelt was changed about 10000 miles ago, so I thought OK, but maybe the tensioner misbehaved. Either way head and bottom end are a mess now, hence search for new eng.

I did kick up a bit of fuss, but I've only managed to get the MOT fee waived, free recovery and storage (but may outstay my welcome soon).

[garcon]

Any chance of a comeback against whoever changed the cambelt? could have been faulty parts/fitting that's caused it to go...

[BertMk2]

On vauxhalls the tensioner(s?) should be changed when the belt is changed - they're well known for flying apart if the tensioner is left unchanged. Also if the belt is removed for any reason a new one should be refitted - never put a used cambelt back on a car.

My pug is on it's 3rd cambelt - I'm really paranoid about the belt going because of the damage it causes (as you've unfortunately found out). I had a tensioner changed (and a new cambelt) just before my MOT this year - the tensioner was making worrying noises so it had to go. They were actually too nervous about the noise it was making to do the MOT without changing the tensioner!

[spearce]

Thanks for advice chaps, but I'm feeling guilty about taking over this slot. No hint of anything amiss with tensioner before, but some oil may have got on belt. Not even tried garage who fitted belt, some time and one owner ago. So still looking for another lump .....

[garcon]

OK, back to rdj's first points then. I don't see the point of buying a diesel unless you're doing over 35 - 40,000 miles a year, cos it's only then that the financials start to make sense. Obviously in countries like France where diesel is much cheaper than petrol the argument changes. And although I think all French cars are I do concede that they make decent diesel units.

Having said that, I actually like the low revving torquey nature of diesel engines. Unless I found 8mpg acceptable I'd go diesel for a 4x4 for that extra torque. And if I was looking at an exec barge to do mega-miles in I would certainly look at the diesel variants of the BMW 5/7 series, Merc E/S class, Audi A8, VW Phaeton etc etc.

I recently had a 3.2 V6 petrol Merc E-class... the diesel E320 CDi is actually quicker, and returns 40+ mpg!

[spearce]

........ and that V6 makes a lovely noise (even though its a diesel)

[BertMk2]

Originally posted by garcon
I don't see the point of buying a diesel unless you're doing over 35 - 40,000 miles a year, cos it's only then that the financials start to make sense.

I'd disagree with that, I'm saving about £100 a month on fuel costs after switching to diesel and I do about 20,000 miles a year. I'm not going back to petrol until I win the lottery (it's gonna happen )

[garcon]

You must've had a very thirsty petrol car

You sure £100 a month on 20k a year is right?? At 30mpg versus 45mpg with the same fuel price I make it around £60. Which is still good, admittedly...

Have you factored in other running costs? Obviously depreciation depends on whether you buy new or used, but isn't servicing still more frequent/expensive?

[BertMk2]

Servicing / maintenance costs aren't a lot different, the insurance is relatively cheap (it's only a group 5). I bought the pug when it was 2 years old with 30K on it, so far it's been really good on reliability but it's going to need some work on it soon.

My previous car was a 1400 Nova and it was always in need of some kind of attention (which is eventually why I ditched it - the head gasket went and it really wasn't worth bothering to change it). The list of things that went wrong with that car is quite impressive although it did always manage to get me home. The fuel consumption on the Nova was particularly bad at one point but that was tracked down to a split petrol pipe (bit of a giveaway when you get near the car and can smeel petrol - not to mention the fact that the driveway was disintegratin ) The other problem with the Nova was it had a rather crappy autochoke - that's probably the reason it used so much juice.

[Reido Rules]

I have had the displeasure of driving a Rover, and I have to say that they wouldn't be good cars if the year was 1971.

I hate their gearboxes, and I hate the £stretcher policy of putting the car together.

[Bluebottle]

Originally posted by Reido Rules
they wouldn't be good cars if the year was 1971.

:confused:

[blackx]

Have driven a 400 diesel and was quite impressed with the torque it produced....
Now I drive a new Mondeo diesel....Dont do many miles....8-10,000 per year but its perfect for pulling the caravan and I am lazy and dont like to change gear unless I have to so the torque of this car is an added bonus....Also no problems with cambelts snapping on this model.........It uses a chain...........

[brickfoot]

Originally posted by spearce
I've not got much of a leg to stand on as I was driving at the time, I was asked to take it for a run up the road on the gov in 3rd - It was slightly over on the smoke test. Mine is the first one to go bang doing this routine apparently. The cambelt was changed about 10000 miles ago, so I thought OK, but maybe the tensioner misbehaved. Either way head and bottom end are a mess now, hence search for new eng.

I did kick up a bit of fuss, but I've only managed to get the MOT fee waived, free recovery and storage (but may outstay my welcome soon).

do you have the receipt for the cambelt, they are guaranteed for 30-40,000 miles or 3 years, whichever comes first.