Vauxhall Goodness!

Author
Discussion

timbob

Original Poster:

2,158 posts

259 months

Saturday 17th April 2004
quotequote all
Right, it's looking as though I'm all set to upgrade my lowly 1.1 fiesta first car-mobile!!

I've been to look at an N reg Cavalier 2.0i LS, 16v etc etc, and all being well will stick the deposit down after a test drive on tuesday-ish. It's an Ecotec engine, not the original XE, which (I've been reliably informed) gets me about 20 less bhp - 135 vs 155 roughly speaking.

I'm just interested as to why vauxhall 'upgraded' the old XE engine with a less powerful one - seems a little odd to me...I've done some digging around the net on the topic but have come up with next to nothing - just wondered if anyone could enlighten me with some interesting facts and figures about my prospective new motah!

Cheers!

littlegearl

3,139 posts

264 months

Saturday 17th April 2004
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timmy!!!

you've finally relented and are going to buy a vauxhall then!!! i knew you would, YOU ALL WILL!!! MUOWHAHAHAHA!!!!

its only taken about a year since i first told you to get a Cav too! whats happened to the Primula idea?

the Ecotec is not a direct replacement for the XE, the XE runs the same block as the 1800 crossflow manta and was upgraded to 1997cc and tuned to 150-6bhp (depending on what you read) for the mk 2 Astra GTE and mk 3 Cav GSi

a standard mk 3 Cav 2.0i runs the same basic engine as mine which was upgraded to 110bhp in '80, by the time it got to the mk 3 Cav it was probably running about 125bhp...

so the Ecotec is a replacement for the cih engine basically, whereas it was tuned to a higher state for "performance models" such as the Vectra SRi 140...

but yes, the Ecotec is a retrograde step from the XE but they're aimed for different applications!!!

if you're that worried, XE's retail at about £350 for a standard one so swap it over!!!

danhay

7,467 posts

263 months

Saturday 17th April 2004
quotequote all
I think the power drop was due to the newer engines needing to meet stricter emissions limits.

P.S. get yourself a V6, more power and traction control which is essential for pulling out of wet junctions!

Pigeon

18,535 posts

253 months

Sunday 18th April 2004
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They did something similar when the catalysed version of the Astra GTE 16V came out... the presence of the cat reduced the power output, so they detuned the non-catalysed versions to bring them into line.

timbob

Original Poster:

2,158 posts

259 months

Sunday 18th April 2004
quotequote all
I would get myself a V6, were it not for the fact that insurance for the 2.0 16v is going to be around and the £1000 mark.

Besides, the step up from a 1.1 mk3 fiesta to a 2.0 16v cavalier will be plenty enough for now (till I get a kitcar next summer ).