Driving a petrol car

[mawallace]

My wife now has a 1.6 Astra petrol. I drive a 2.0 diesel golf.

I know that my Gold will be more powerful but was underwhelmed with the performance of the Astra. It seemed to be slow in accelerating and pulling off from jnctions. I recall that I had to change my driving technique when I started driving diesels buy wondered if there were any pointers / tips.

I know the Astra 0 - 60 is 10.9 compared with the Golf's 8

[0a]

Peak power will be higher up the rev range - so rev it more!

[mawallace]

Any idea how far up the range?

[steviejasp]

Depress the right hand side pedal and observe tachometer whilst accelerating and that should tell you.

[IcedKiwi]

Your Diesel probably about ~3500, the petrol probably ~6000. So if you never go above 3k, you’ve only got ~50% of the quoted power.

[Pica-Pica]

Also, I presume your Golf is turbo charged, so torque will be available from low revs. I assume the Astra is non-turbo, so torque and power will only be available higher up the rev range.

[Wooda80]

steviejasp said:

Depress the right hand side pedal and observe tachometer whilst accelerating and that should tell you.

Careful though, if the needle goes anywhere near the red part the engine will instantly explode, and your warranty will be voideded

[BertBert]

Is this really the advanced driving section?

[johnao]

mawallace said:

My wife now has a 1.6 Astra petrol. I drive a 2.0 diesel golf.

I was underwhelmed with the performance of the Astra. It seemed to be slow in accelerating and pulling off from jnctions...

I know the Astra 0 - 60 is 10.9 compared with the Golf's 8

There’s your answer.

[Chamon_Lee]

johnao said:

mawallace said:

My wife now has a 1.6 Astra petrol. I drive a 2.0 diesel golf.

I was underwhelmed with the performance of the Astra. It seemed to be slow in accelerating and pulling off from jnctions...

I know the Astra 0 - 60 is 10.9 compared with the Golf's 8

There’s your answer.

Exactly that. 3 odd seconds will make a difference!

[Howard-]

mawallace said:

Any idea how far up the range?

Right at the top.

[Ransoman]

The golf has a Turbo and 400cc more /Topic.

[MaisiesDad]

You should see the wife driving our focus rs, she thinks she’s revving the nuts off it at 3500rpm!! She’s still in diesel automatic mode!!!

[Simpo Two]

Having gone from 2.7 S-Type twin-turbo diesel to 4.2 XK, yes, the XK seems slow in comparison. To get anywhere you have to put it in Lewis Hamilton mode and rev the nuts off it, which I don't like to do in a big cat.