Volvo’s last diesel engined car
- Thread starter Tony Lockhart
- Start date
Tony Lockhart
Avoiding Stress, at Every Opportunity
The great sound of a crossplane V8. Nothing else as good, even a V12. A Subaru flat 4 sounds pretty good though, closer to home.
Colin L
High-tech low-life
He used a gallon of fuel doing that burn-up
Colin L
High-tech low-life
The BMW 6 diesel is a ridiculously good engine, probably the best diesel engine available.
Tony Lockhart
Avoiding Stress, at Every Opportunity
However, the gallon cost him the same as it would cost anyone else, but it made him smile.He used a gallon of fuel doing that burn-up
Seeker_UK
Feelin' nearly faded as my jeans
I used to give mine a regular run, so top 40s for mpg was average.
But yes, the BMW straight sixes were better, but they were for a different market. The best diesel '6ss IMHO, though, has to be the Audi V6 units, although the 2.7 in the S-Type I had was by far the smoothest I have ever known.
I have been a serial 'big diesel' buyer for years. I'm currently taking a break with a petrol, but I suspect once I get fed up with sub 30s fuel consumption, I'll be in the market for another before the market dries up.
Nic Robinson
Moderator
So the Volvo was better?
gintonic
50 shades of grey pussy cats
depends on how you define better. Volvo interior was better, Volvo gad more space, was more comfortable..Macan was a better drive. Volvo dealer was toss, Macan dealer was better.
Nic Robinson
Moderator
Good cash deal?
As far as I know, Penta is part of Volvo the lorry maker, not to be confused with Volvo cars. They make exclusively diesel engines for lorries that is then converted for boats. Don't know about the current Penta engine range, are there any petrol ones?
In the olden days a Penta engine could be more or less anything, from tiny outboard engines via B18 and B20 to big 454 Chevy V8's.
Bas V
pfm Member
I drove a V70 D5 (185 hp tuned to about 225 hp), an S60 D3 (2.0) and a D6. They were all great rides, but I think the D3 was a gem. It felt less like a truck than the 2.4 engines. And it was very quiet and seemed just as fast. I nowadays drive a Passat GTE which is also a very fine ride. But I miss those Volvo chairs every day. Especially those of the V70, they were just so comfortable even after 350K…
tones
Tones deaf
Curiously, that's the one recurrent problem in our 2014 V40 D3! I started to notice that my accelerator foot was going numb, and it was because the once wonderfully comfortable seat cushion was sagging. I had a local upholsterer boost it up, and all was well again - until recently, when I started noticing it again. For short shopping trips, it's no problem, but for longer trips, such as the Basel - Belfast long haul, it's quite uncomfortable and I rely on the cruise control, so that I can take the foot off the accelerator. Another trip to the upholsterer coming up.
I even considered a Recaro, but Recaro doesn't make consoles for Volvos.
They will eventually disappear. It's going to be like steam and horses, there will be some applications that need it and there will be a rump but it's going to be small indeed. Big (I mean container ship big) diesels have been running on bunker oil for decades. They are funny things, I don't know much about them except that they are 2 stroke diesels (why, I don't know, I would have thought that anything other than a 2 stroke would have given better fuel efficiency) and the bunker oil is so thick and nasty that the tanks need to be heated to make it fluid enough to burn.
So there's going to be some survival of diesel tech, one way or another, but it's going to become more niche. For light craft, including outboards, the electric motor has already arrived. As has the electric bus, I passed a few new e-buses on the M74 and M6 that were stickered up as Manchester public transport, zero emission electric bus etc, and were clearly being delivered there.
gingermrkettle
Deep vein trombonist
Big marine diesel engines are among the only ICE engines (bar F1 engines with energy recovery) that are approaching 50% thermal efficiency.
I know that they are very good, as you would hope and as the operators are clearly very keen to ensure when you see how much fuel they have to consume. Do you happen to know why they use 2 stroke technology? It's very counterintuitive.
gingermrkettle
Deep vein trombonist
Presumably ratios of power to weight or space.