Petrol vs Diesel - Driving Style

kdouglas

So i just got a company car last week and it's a diesel mondeo (2.0L TDCi), in comparison to my old 1.1L Peugeot 106, it's a little different to drive to say the least, of those of you who have driven both petrol and diesel, what would you say are the key differences between them in terms of driving style?

MarkN

Not a lot really.

Can't even say you'll need to change up sooner in the Mondeo cause we're talking about a 1.1L engine by comparison.

You might find you change gears less due to the wedge of torque you now have and em, that's about it.

Henry Ford III

You'll change gears much lower in the rev range with a diesel. 2000-2500 rpm maybe.

Enjoy the pulling power of the diesels torque.

kdouglas

yup, i knew that about diesels before i even drove one, commonly changing around the 2000rpm mark (except when i hit the turbo )

love the extra torque alright, and that turbo is great for overtaking...

was just curious to see if anyone had any particular interesting experiences changing from petrol to diesel.

Rowley Birkin QC

I'd say a lot of people have "interesting experiences" at filling stations soon after changing from petrol to diesel!

Like the lads said enjoy the mountain of torque that you will experience in mid range acceleration.

Other than that, I know my mam found it hard to get used to driving the oul lads A4 after getting out of her petrol Avensis in the evening. Kept stalling it around town in low gears.




(but maybe thats just wimmin):D

MarkN

kdouglas wrote:

yup, i knew that about diesels before i even drove one, commonly changing around the 2000rpm mark (except when i hit the turbo )

love the extra torque alright, and that turbo is great for overtaking...

was just curious to see if anyone had any particular interesting experiences changing from petrol to diesel.

The turbo will be working well before 2000 rpm.

vengeance52

the diff i find, is when you accelerate in a petrol, the car moves quickly from stopped, but with the diesel, the is a slight lag, then the torque kicks in and and your catapulted off, and it can catch people out sometime if new to diesels.

kdouglas

bigkev49 wrote:

I'd say a lot of people have "interesting experiences" at filling stations soon after changing from petrol to diesel!

Like the lads said enjoy the mountain of torque that you will experience in mid range acceleration.

Other than that, I know my mam found it hard to get used to driving the oul lads A4 after getting out of her petrol Avensis in the evening. Kept stalling it around town in low gears.




(but maybe thats just wimmin):D

fortunately havent managed to put in the wrong fuel yet! although i do remind myself when im getting out of the car "it's a diesel, it's a diesel"

first day i had it, i must have cut the engine out about 3/4 times, needs a bit more power starting off in first alright...

gyppo

kdouglas wrote:

first day i had it, i must have cut the engine out about 3/4 times, needs a bit more power starting off in first alright...

Yep, also the clutch in the diesel Mondeo is very sharp.

Mr. Presentable

kdouglas wrote:

fortunately havent managed to put in the wrong fuel yet! although i do remind myself when im getting out of the car "it's a diesel, it's a diesel"

Often wondered about that. I know a couple of lads that put unleaded in a diesel, and vice versa. Can a system not be put in place where different nozzle shapes for the fuels are incompatible with each other? Square nozzle to square fuel intake for diesel, for example.

MarkN

I can't remember whether it's petrol or diesel but one of them has a bigger nozzle AFAIK.

maidhc

nipplenuts wrote:

Often wondered about that. I know a couple of lads that put unleaded in a diesel, and vice versa. Can a system not be put in place where different nozzle shapes for the fuels are incompatible with each other? Square nozzle to square fuel intake for diesel, for example.

The new shape mondeo has solved this problem. There is a kind of a locking collar on the filler neck of the TDCIs that can only by disengaged by the larger diesel spout. Seems to be pretty clever.

daedalus2097

I thought unleaded and diesel have similar sized nozzles, and that it was leaded petrol that had a wider nozzle. The difference was to ensure you didn't destroy your new unleaded engine by putting leaded into it. Unfortunately if you change either nozzle so they won't fit, you'll have problems with the millions of cars already out there, so I don't think it'll change any time soon. I've also noticed that the new Biofuel nozzles look similar too, the only difference being they're red. I guess it'll just stay that you have to pay attention to the colour - maybe change the colour of your fuel cap to match.

Anyway, back on topic... Had a brand new diesel Passat rental for a while, and I loved the torque but being used to the GTI the gears were very short and took a while to get used to. Only problem though was the cutting out at junctions etc. until I got used to giving it more welly to start moving. Of course that wasn't helped by the PITA sequence that had to be followed to restart the engine (handbrake on, clutch, start button, footbrake on, handbrake off) which pi$$ed off the line of cars behind me something serious

R.O.R

maidhc wrote:

The new shape mondeo has solved this problem. There is a kind of a locking collar on the filler neck of the TDCIs that can only by disengaged by the larger diesel spout. Seems to be pretty clever.

Thought about trying to put petrol in this morning to check out exactly what happens - but since it's to go back to Ford today thought better of it.


You will notice yourself accelerating up hills on Motorways, just because you can.

If you jump back in to a petrol car, you'll find yourself sitting there like a spanner with the key turned, waiting for the yellow light to go out (which it never does as it never comes on). Or that may just be me.........