Moved from Petrol to Diesel. What is different?

BrianJD

Hi

So I have moved from an 06 Petrol Focus to a 2010 Mondeo Diesel which is the first Diesel I've owned. Is there anything different I should be doing in general driving or starting the car? Do I have to wait for plugs or something to heat up? Any other differences I should note?

Thanks

CiniO

BrianJD wrote: »

Hi

So I have moved from an 06 Petrol Focus to a 2010 Mondeo Diesel which is the first Diesel I've owned. Is there anything different I should be doing in general driving or starting the car? Do I have to wait for plugs or something to heat up? Any other differences I should note?

Thanks

After driving faster, don't turn on your engine straight away, but let it run idle for 15 - 30 seconds or longer to let turbo cool down.

miller50841

Most modern diesel's have the glow plug heater symbol light on the dash but usually don't need it but I always let it go out before I start the engine.

NEVER start and take off right away especially in cold weather.
Give a minimum of a minute, let the oil circulate.

Best keep her under 3,000 revs after that you are only wasting fuel and putting stress on the engine etc...

You will find it has more torque so you can change gear sooner.

Don't over rev or under rev.
eg. high rev not good and under rev not good as in letting the engine struggle.

Service regularly and as stated by manufacturer as to keep it running at tip top shape.

Be careful of buying the cheap diesel not so many of these places popping anymore but it will destroy your engine.

Best of luck with it op.

Kopparberg Strawberry and Lime

Turn only ignition on until the glow plug light on dash turns off and wave goodbye to your clutch !

BrianJD

Kopparberg Strawberry and Lime wrote: »

Turn only ignition on until the glow plug light on dash turns off and wave goodbye to your clutch !

Why?

MuppetCheck

Don't drive it hard until it's properly warmed up, leave it run for 30 seconds before switching it off and try and keep the revs over 1500 as diesels tend to struggle when off boost.

CiniO

miller50841 wrote: »

Best keep her under 3,000 revs after that you are only wasting fuel and putting stress on the engine etc...

You will find it has more torque so you can change gear sooner.

I can't agree with that.
If someone want's to use full car performance while accelerating, then he will need to rev it higher than 3000, even if it's diesel.

MuppetCheck

CiniO wrote: »

I can't agree with that.
If someone want's to use full car performance while accelerating, then he will need to rev it higher than 3000, even if it's diesel.

+1, they'll noticeably pull until 4-4500 revs without issue. If anything a good clear out every now and then helps the running.

Munstermissy

Just changed over myself to a diesel. Every so often when I turn the ignition on the engine shudders for want of a better word. Is it to do with cheap diesel or something else? Have bought in Tesco the last few times.

BrianJD

MuppetCheck wrote: »

Don't drive it hard until it's properly warmed up, leave it run for 30 seconds before switching it off and try and keep the revs over 1500 as diesels tend to struggle when off boost.

I'm on a Motorway at 130km after 5 mins of driving. Is that too fast too soon?

Stallingrad

Avoid lots of short journeys, and occasionally accelerate hard when the engine is hot to flush out soot and other crap.

miller50841

CiniO wrote: »

I can't agree with that.
If someone want's to use full car performance while accelerating, then he will need to rev it higher than 3000, even if it's diesel.

If you want to drive and save fuel yes didn't mean don't use the power sometimes.

irish bloke

Don't put petrol in the fuel tank

Elessar

Recently moved myself to diesel.

I found you have to rev higher to move off in first without the engine shuddering. Most of what you know about petrols will apply to diesel aswell. I.e. don't drive hard when it's cold.

I wouldn't worry so much about leaving it for 30 seconds to a minute before moving off or after finishing a journey. It's a modern car so will more than likely have a cooling for the turbo. And at least my manual states not to leave the car idle when you start first thing, just drive off as soon as possible.

EDIT: And torque! Idling in 1st or 2nd will pull the car much quicker than a petrol will. This caught me off guard a few times.

unkel

miller50841 wrote: »

NEVER start and take off right away especially in cold weather.
Give a minimum of a minute, let the oil circulate.

The engine warms up quicker under load, so do take off right away but have mechanical sympathy for the engine, drive it at low revs and preferably in a high gear (motorway / national roads are ideal for warming up a car in cold weather)

CiniO wrote: »

I can't agree with that.
If someone want's to use full car performance while accelerating, then he will need to rev it higher than 3000, even if it's diesel.

+1

A main benefit of forced induction diesel is a flattish torque curve (from early revs (1500-2000rpm), depending on the car right up to near the limit)

unkel

Elessar wrote: »

I found you have to rev higher to move off in first without the engine shuddering

That's right. A comparable diesel engine has lower power and lower torque than a petrol engine before the turbo kicks in (1500-2000rpm or so, depends on the engine)

I hate the lack of torque very low down in any car myself

MuppetCheck

BrianJD wrote: »

I'm on a Motorway at 130km after 5 mins of driving. Is that too fast too soon?

That won't make any difference. Maybe on colder mornings it might not be fully warmed up by then but so long as you're not revving the guts out of it getting up to speed a motorway is fine. Most only pull a bit over 2k revs at 130 in 6th and that's not excessive.

Elessar

unkel wrote: »

That's right. A comparable diesel engine has lower power and lower torque than a petrol engine before the turbo kicks in (1500-2000rpm or so, depends on the engine)

I hate the lack of torque very low down in any car myself

Ditto. My last car was a turbo petrol so I'm well used to low down torque, love it rather than revving the nuts off an engine.

MuppetCheck

Elessar wrote: »

I wouldn't worry so much about leaving it for 30 seconds to a minute before moving off or after finishing a journey. It's a modern car so will more than likely have a cooling for the turbo.

Really couldn't agree less. You're cutting off the oil supply to a hot, spinning turbo as it runs off the crank. Much better off leaving it idle, particularly if it was a spirited drive to your stopping point. Some have water Cooling for after you shut down, and modern oils help but for the sake of 20 seconds I'd rather leave it idle.

challengemaster

BrianJD wrote: »

Hi

So I have moved from an 06 Petrol Focus to a 2010 Mondeo Diesel which is the first Diesel I've owned. Is there anything different I should be doing in general driving or starting the car? Do I have to wait for plugs or something to heat up? Any other differences I should note?

Thanks

Best thing to do is avoid old wives tales about how to drive diesels.

miller50841 wrote: »

NEVER start and take off right away especially in cold weather.
Give a minimum of a minute, let the oil circulate.

wrong

Best keep her under 3,000 revs after that you are only wasting fuel and putting stress on the engine etc...

wrong

Kopparberg Strawberry and Lime wrote: »

Turn only ignition on until the glow plug light on dash turns off and wave goodbye to your clutch !

Makes no sense

unkel wrote: »

That's right. A comparable diesel engine has lower power and lower torque than a petrol engine before the turbo kicks in (1500-2000rpm or so, depends on the engine)

I hate the lack of torque very low down in any car myself

I'd disagree. I've found it requires no revving at all when letting the clutch out in a diesel. Try the same in a petrol and you'll stall.

As has already been said - Don't rag the engine and turn it off straight after, you'll damage the turbo.

Avoid cheap diesel.

Re: glow plugs, it doesn't get cold enough in Ireland to ever really need them, so don't bother doing anything different when starting the car

irish bloke

MuppetCheck wrote: »

Really couldn't agree less. You're cutting off the oil supply to a hot, spinning turbo as it runs off the crank. Much better off leaving it idle, particularly if it was a spirited drive to your stopping point. Some have water Cooling for after you shut down, and modern oils help but for the sake of 20 seconds I'd rather leave it idle.

If this was such a big issue, manufactures would install a turbo timer to all cars.
With modern synthetics the need is almost zero.
Only real damage you could ever do is if you have the turbo in prolonged boost (car in high revs), and switch engine off immediately.

unkel

Blunt post, challengemaster. I like blunt posts

challengemaster wrote: »

I'd disagree. I've found it requires no revving at all when letting the clutch out in a diesel. Try the same in a petrol and you'll stall.

What exactly do you disagree with? The fact that a diesel has less power and torque than a comparable petrol without the help of the turbo?

Or my personal opinion that I do not like engines with low torque very low down (so I don't like turbos petrol or diesel, but I do like big engines)

MuppetCheck

irish bloke wrote: »

If this was such a big issue, manufactures would install a turbo timer to all cars.
With modern synthetics the need is almost zero.
Only real damage you could ever do is if you have the turbo in prolonged boost (car in high revs), and switch engine off immediately.

Personal thing I suppose, I'm possibly over cautious but by the time you gather your phone/wallet and have your seat belt off its not a huge deal to do for peace of mind.

Sam Russell

The only thing I have found in my diesel is that when coasting up to traffic lights, the car stops fuelling the engine until the revs drop below 1000 rpm, then it starts fuelling again to stop a stall. Unfortunately, for a long-time petrol driver, this gives the impession that the car is 'running on' and accelerating into danger. The answer is wear brown trousers, or to change down through the gears, the way you used to be taught as a learner. Not something I like.

However, it also means the car if difficult to stall.

Other than that,
1. only buy diesel where you know it has not been laundered as the residues will rot the engine.
2. Do an Italian tune-up once a month - take it for a motorway run lasting an hour (about).
3. Do not drive like a granny - give it welly.

Use the torque and power.

Tea 1000

challengemaster wrote: »

I'd disagree. I've found it requires no revving at all when letting the clutch out in a diesel. Try the same in a petrol and you'll stall.

The last of the old N/A diesels were almost unstallable, but modern turbo diesels (especially common rails) are a hoor for stalling with an almighty thump. You've probably just adjusted unknown to yourself. Modern petrols (well, any size worth buying, as in 2 litre at least) are really difficult to stall.

Getting caught off-boost is another hoor - as in you join a road and some pedestrian or something causes you to lift off briefly in say second gear, then obstruction gone - oncoming car at speed - you bury the shoe and nothing... then everything. But for those 7 or 8 tenths of a second a brief wave of panic starts stirring! And diesels don't like going back into first gear very much once moving! You get used to that, and plan, but in a few years with a diesel you'll drive some decent petrol like an M3 and it'll feel like the throttle is actually anticipating your move before you make it such is the difference in throttle response!!

Yep, I f**king hate diesels. Best of luck with it OP.

challengemaster

unkel wrote: »

Blunt post, challengemaster. I like blunt posts



What exactly do you disagree with? The fact that a diesel has less power and torque than a comparable petrol without the help of the turbo?

Or my personal opinion that I do not like engines with low torque very low down (so I don't like turbos petrol or diesel, but I do like big engines)

Meant to quote the other post too, gimme a break I'd disagree that diesels require more revs to get going, hence it's only your "That's right" that I disagree with :P

You're entitled to everything else

irish bloke

Tea 1000 wrote: »

Getting caught off-boost is another hoor - as in you join a road and some pedestrian or something causes you to lift off briefly in say second gear, then obstruction gone - oncoming car at speed - you bury the shoe and nothing... then everything. But for those 7 or 8 tenths of a second a brief wave of panic starts stirring!

I love that bit, adds a bit of risk, he he.

Have an auto diesel and putting the boot to the floor at around 20mph, waiting a bit, then swoosh your gone.
Never get tired of that bit.

unkel

Tea 1000 wrote: »

Getting caught off-boost is another hoor - as in you join a road and some pedestrian or something causes you to lift off briefly in say second gear, then obstruction gone - oncoming car at speed - you bury the shoe and nothing... then everything. But for those 7 or 8 tenths of a second a brief wave of panic starts stirring!

Exactly!

Hate that. It's bad enough in a 2l N/A manual petrol, but it's terrible in a small petrol turbo or in any 4 pot diesel turbo

I've had 3 cars with a big V8 petrol engine and auto transmission and they just go immediately when I put my right foot down

unkel

challengemaster wrote: »

I'd disagree that diesels require more revs to get going

They do need more revs to get going

Say at 1k rpm (well before the turbo kicks in), an average 2l petrol has far more torque and power than an average 2l diesel

Once the turbo kicks in, the diesel obviously has plenty of go!

challengemaster

unkel wrote: »

They do need more revs to get going

Say at 1k rpm (well before the turbo kicks in), an average 2l petrol has far more torque and power than an average 2l diesel

Once the turbo kicks in, the diesel obviously has plenty of go!

Not from a standstill.... at least from personal experience. Every diesel I've driven require no revving when letting out the clutch to move off

unkel

challengemaster wrote: »

Not from a standstill.... at least from personal experience. Every diesel I've driven require no revving when letting out the clutch to move off

Maybe you misunderstood me. I'm not talking about stalling at all or any clutch action. I'm just talking about how much power a petrol car NA has compared with a similar diesel before the turbo kicks in

Or put differently, what is the 0-20km/h time when you start at idle revs. A rough answer: 1s in a V8 petrol auto. 2s in a small petrol manual. 3s in a small diesel turbo manual. Or something like that

challengemaster

unkel wrote: »

Maybe you misunderstood me. I'm not talking about stalling at all or any clutch action. I'm just talking about how much power a petrol car NA has compared with a similar diesel before the turbo kicks in

Or put differently, what is the 0-20km/h time when you start at idle revs. A rough answer: 1s in a V8 petrol auto. 2s in a small petrol manual. 3s in a small diesel turbo manual. Or something like that

Then we're on about different things :P

Elessar wrote: »

Recently moved myself to diesel.

I found you have to rev higher to move off in first without the engine shuddering.

This is what I'm on about

Also I really doubt there's that much of a difference!

wonski

So what is your opinion guys on Start-Stop systems in modern diesels?
Surely if we shouldn't stop it straight away there must be some extra feature to protect turbos? Or is it all pub talks?

In regards to stalling quite a few petrol cars I drove wouldn't stall when moving using clutch only, 2 diesels I drove recently needed a bit of gas to move. This will depend not only on power/torque but on gear ratio too I believe.

sean1141

challengemaster wrote: »

Re: glow plugs, it doesn't get cold enough in Ireland to ever really need them, so don't bother doing anything different when starting the car

Try starting a 1.9d peugeot without using glow plug from cold! They need them even in summer

jomoloney

BrianJD wrote: »

I'm on a Motorway at 130km after 5 mins of driving. Is that too fast too soon?

no your're fine


most of the advise here is good although some seems to be google sourced

been driving diesels for longer than i care to remember


basically

allow a few seconds before you drive off ,... start engine put on your seat belt , check your mirrors etc and away you go ,

when stopping just allow to tick over for a few seconds

don't over rev but more important do not labour the engine ( under rev ) you will soon learn when to change gear , this will help your DMF as well

regural service,change oil and the 3 filters , fuel air & oil.

fuel filter change as important as oil IMO but a lot of people disagree

good luck with the car ..wish I had a 10

got 2 yokes on the road with a combined milage of nearly 450 K Miles

listermint

All this Diesel talk makes baby jesus cry.

Even his donkeys drank petrol.

HandsomeDan

wonski wrote: »

So what is your opinion guys on Start-Stop systems in modern diesels?

The moonbats and Gaia worshipers don't like it.

pcardin

BrianJD wrote: »

Hi

So I have moved from an 06 Petrol Focus to a 2010 Mondeo Diesel which is the first Diesel I've owned. Any other differences I should note?

Thanks

that you will need to have deeper pockets now to fix that tractor. That every cent you think you're saving now at pump you will loose if anything needs to be done on engine. fcuk those tractors. If it's price for fuel you were after do LPG.

Hermy

Kopparberg Strawberry and Lime wrote: »

Turn only ignition on until the glow plug light on dash turns off and wave goodbye to your clutch !

Has anyone figured out what this means?

Zubeneschamali

Hermy wrote: »

Has anyone figured out what this means?

The glow-plug thing only matters in the coldest of cold winter weather.

The goodbye clutch refers to Dual Mass Flywheels as fitted to just about all diesels these days, which are prone to failure (I have 200K up on mine with no issues).

My S-Max diesel (a PSA 2.0 motor) is very prone to stalling unless you give it welly starting.

MuppetCheck

pcardin wrote: »

that you will need to have deeper pockets now to fix that tractor. That every cent you think you're saving now at pump you will loose if anything needs to be done on engine. fcuk those tractors. If it's price for fuel you were after do LPG.

This argument is trotted out an awful lot. The savings depend on your usage. In the majority of cases in this country people are buying diesels for cheap motor tax, but used as they are intended (i.e. for high mileage) you should save more than the cost of a flywheel or dpf over the course of four or five years ownership.

So while I don't disagree with you, there are still savings for many.

dr.fuzzenstein

MuppetCheck wrote: »

Really couldn't agree less. You're cutting off the oil supply to a hot, spinning turbo as it runs off the crank. Much better off leaving it idle, particularly if it was a spirited drive to your stopping point. Some have water Cooling for after you shut down, and modern oils help but for the sake of 20 seconds I'd rather leave it idle.

No it doesn't Compressors do. (unless I'm misreading this) Turbos are spun by the exhaust gas.

pcardin

MuppetCheck wrote: »

In the majority of cases in this country people are buying diesels for cheap motor tax, but used as they are intended (i.e. for high mileage).

cheap(er) motortax would apply post 2008 cars tough. Most people I know can not afford a car 2008+.

mad muffin

This thread should be renamed to: The old wives and misinformation thread or how I travelled back to 1990...

DuckSlice

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

No it doesn't Compressors do. (unless I'm misreading this) Turbos are spun by the exhaust gas.

Maybe he means the oil pump? I'm not sure tho, his post confused me a bit too.

MuppetCheck

pcardin wrote: »

cheap(er) motortax would apply post 2008 cars tough. Most people I know can not afford a car 2008+.

Well the OP is speaking about a 2010 Mondeo so it's an applicable point in this case.

MuppetCheck

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

No it doesn't Compressors do. (unless I'm misreading this) Turbos are spun by the exhaust gas.

My comment was with reference to the oil supply to the turbo from the oil pump.

etxp wrote: »

Maybe he means the oil pump? I'm not sure tho, his post confused me a bit too.

Yep, oil pump ran off the crank.

derry

Yes the repair bills when you take them to garage will often require a second mortgage to pay

Long distance motor way users who plan ahead and stash away reserve cash for that awful day are often happy campers over time the diesel cars are often cheaper to run per kilometer than petrol's .

The repairs for the diesel are not as frequent as the petrol's but they sure can make up for it when the big stuff pumps injectors PTF CATS fuel system go south. Often your local Indy often cant do that type of work so your stuck with the expensive main agent who often don't know squat

Just one bad fill up from one bad source for fuel can wreck the half the fuel systems in the engine and repair bills can be expensive . Probably Best to be manic religious where you buy your diesel fuel

Modern Diesel fuels now in ROI and EU often come with ~7% bio fuels and this had made the fuel more unstable .This instability can mean that that small garage with little demand the fuel aging in the tank can corrupt it .

When I park my diesel car up for several weeks which I often do every few months as I park it in the EU mainland to go back to Eire to run my faithful petrol car I try to make sure the fuel tank is empty as possible when parked up .
Then when I return I go down with 10 liter fuel container to garage and add in new fresh fuel to the tank so that the older possibly more unstable fuel is diluted somewhat . I start the engine and then go down to garage to refill the tank to full to further dilute the possibly bad fuel so the majority of the fuel is fresh fuel,
I learn t that trick from work place which often parked up vans for long periods .The boss was Manic the mechanics drain the fuel if the van was to be idle for any long time period and switch fuel into working vans .Fresh fuel was his MANTRA .He was donkey years owning vans and trucks so maybe he knew something .

If you fill up and the car runs anyway rough or really knocking noises stop immediately and get car ambulance to tow it to garage to be fixed . Best to assume it is some fuel issue dirt in fuel water in fuel or washed fuel or possibly some issue like Finland got where in mid winter they sold summer diesel by accident and the fuel all froze up creating havoc across all Finland fleets of trucks and cars and vans. Yes even big Oil companies screw up sometimes and sell faulty fuels .

Running the modern inline diesel engines with any kind of faulty fuels for any length of time can more easily wreck it as they are more fragile than the older non inline engines .

I have saved some Vans in the job in the past filled up got some weird symptoms and took van out of service immediately until the problem was fixed .

Often it was unknown what caused the exact problem as the tanks were drained fuel changed out and the Vans were perfect after that on new fresh fuel .The old diesel fuel was strained for water and dirt thrown into the 40 year old yard donkey container tractor mover that could run on any old fuel. It even ran on old lubricating oil from trucks and vans .

Very low RPM can lead to problems .The more unstable modern diesel fuel with the modern Inline will pass the heat of the engine . If the engine is low RPM the fuel demands are low and the bulk of fuel will return after being heated up to the system to be used later .This recirculation event means if the fuel is often heated and cooled it changes it qualities into a less good fuel and starts to block all sorts things in the engine . This type of low RPM hazard is what often hits cars always driving in heavy in city traffic along with PTF issues

Ball park the jury is out with my diesel head mates on why so many modern turbos diesels turbo will seem to pack up around ~200,000 to ~300,000 kilometers. Turbos driven with not much welly will it seems last more longer so I presume it high RPM that wears out turbos faster .
Hotter climates also seems to also reduce the life times of turbos .I was delivering my friends 2001 ~175,000 kilometer Alfa Romeo ~1.9 liter diesel in Spain . I never used the turbo much as I wasn't rushing speeds about ~70KPH ~2000RPM to ~3000Rpm mostly 3rd gear and on ~40 mile long hill climb often ~8 degrees going from Malaga to Granada .The turbo blew up on long hill climb with the ~55C Plus heat from the hot road surface . Lucky had friend following me in his camper van so got AA ambulance to go collect it. The car was scrapped to expensive too fix turbo .

Don't ever push the limits on the oil changes for the diesel engines .That often can blow head gaskets. It better to be anal religious on the service changes with diesels they often don't take bad service very well and bad oil service is a NO NO .

If your circumstances change and you stop to do big mileages consider to sell it and buy a petrol as the modern diesels often don't take well to small local runs or take it for burns on the motor ways to get rid of the build up off crap in the PTF and other systems .

dr.fuzzenstein

^^^^^^^^^^^^Well it all depends what and how you drive.
Derry here has turned driving a diesel into a science and artform (and quite a lot of work) it seems. In 210 years of driving diesels I never worried about half that stuff.
Yes, my clutch and DMF went, but I think at a cost of E800 and after doing 250k km I can't be too upset about the bill.
My Ford has the older 1.8 TDCI Ford lump, which is pretty much indestructible and I'm told the pump never goes on them. Nor do injectors give much trouble.
DPF? No worries here.
I did have to do the timing belt (Oh wait, petrols have those too) and other than oil and tires it never has gone wrong apart from a dodgy fuel line drawing air.
So modern diesels will need more work, but modern petrol go 2 million km without needing a single spark plug?
I want to see those new 1000cc engines with trick cams, a handful of turbos and a few compressor that turn out six million HP do a million KM with only scheduled services.
I predict quite a few of them will go wheeeeeeeeegrrrrrrrrrrknknknknknknBLAAAAAMMM!!! before they ever reach 200k km.

Tea 1000

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

^^^^^^^^^^^^Well it all depends what and how you drive.
Derry here has turned driving a diesel into a science and artform (and quite a lot of work) it seems. In 210 years of driving diesels I never worried about half that stuff.
Yes, my clutch and DMF went, but I think at a cost of E800 and after doing 250k km I can't be too upset about the bill.
My Ford has the older 1.8 TDCI Ford lump, which is pretty much indestructible and I'm told the pump never goes on them. Nor do injectors give much trouble.
DPF? No worries here.
I did have to do the timing belt (Oh wait, petrols have those too) and other than oil and tires it never has gone wrong apart from a dodgy fuel line drawing air.
So modern diesels will need more work, but modern petrol go 2 million km without needing a single spark plug?
I want to see those new 1000cc engines with trick cams, a handful of turbos and a few compressor that turn out six million HP do a million KM with only scheduled services.
I predict quite a few of them will go wheeeeeeeeegrrrrrrrrrrknknknknknknBLAAAAAMMM!!! before they ever reach 200k km.

At the end of the day, diesels aren't as nice to drive, and are actually more stressed compared to their N/A selves than petrols.
I've said it before, a mid-90's 2 litre N/A diesel was putting out around 65 to 70 bhp. Now they are all at the 170 to 180 mark. A 1 litre petrol was around 50bhp, and people are panicking that they're now at 100bhp, thinking they're going to explode.

Mycroft H

Tea 1000 wrote: »

The last of the old N/A diesels were almost unstallable, but modern turbo diesels (especially common rails) are a hoor for stalling with an almighty thump. You've probably just adjusted unknown to yourself. Modern petrols (well, any size worth buying, as in 2 litre at least) are really difficult to stall.

Getting caught off-boost is another hoor - as in you join a road and some pedestrian or something causes you to lift off briefly in say second gear, then obstruction gone - oncoming car at speed - you bury the shoe and nothing... then everything. But for those 7 or 8 tenths of a second a brief wave of panic starts stirring! And diesels don't like going back into first gear very much once moving! You get used to that, and plan, but in a few years with a diesel you'll drive some decent petrol like an M3 and it'll feel like the throttle is actually anticipating your move before you make it such is the difference in throttle response!!

Yep, I f**king hate diesels. Best of luck with it OP.

You shouldn't need to go back into first when moving, second is good enough for slowing to a crawl. First should only be for moving off etc.