[mobike008]

Originally Posted by hellraizer

Perfect. This is a big big problem with my diesel Swift. Driving in bumper to bumper traffic is a real pain. Also the clutch is a tad harder than its petrol counterpart. Although it may prove to be a good highway car, it certainly is not great to drive a diesel in city conditions.

You may be the only guy to think that diesels don't perform well in traffic conditions.

Just for your information, due to diesels coming into powerband at much lower rpms ( torque assisted) you can chug around in higher gears with your feet off the clutch

[opendro]

Originally Posted by mobike008

You may be the only guy to think that diesels don't perform well in traffic conditions.

Just for your information, due to diesels coming into powerband at much lower rpms ( torque assisted) you can chug around in higher gears with your feet off the clutch

May be what he meant was that diesel engine pulls too much in slow traffic that he has to press the clutch to control the speed in slow motion. My guess.

Originally Posted by mobike008

You may be the only guy to think that diesels don't perform well in traffic conditions.

Just for your information, due to diesels coming into powerband at much lower rpms ( torque assisted) you can chug around in higher gears with your feet off the clutch

exactly. heavy traffic is very easy in diesels. just chose gear 2,3 or 4 according to speed, take your foot off the accelerator, the clutch and brake and just steer. that is especially true for the swift. using the clutch to control the speed is a surefire way to burn it out quicker and also take the joy out of driving.

I would understand if the complaint was about the verna or the getz CRDi, it took me almost a week to learn how to drive it in traffic, but the swift????

all the new diesels are very very driveable in traffic.
Fiesta, endy, scorpio,safari,logan,palio, indica- they are all brilliant. the problem comes when people try to drive these cars like petrols.
i.e- leaving the car in 1st or 2nd gear and revving away to glory.

usually, what works is, slotting the diesel in a gear higher than the one you would chosse in a petrol. then relax, feather the brakes/accelerator if necessary. simple.

[Ricky_63]

I think if there were a poll on this thread - the deisels would have won by a whooping margin !!

All said & done people who have NOT used deisel cars on a routine basis would not be able to totally appreciate the virtues of driving one !!

Modern deisels are as easy to drive as any other car, one just needs to get used to the slightly different way it is driven ! PERIOD



Cheers

[kuttapan]

Originally Posted by Ricky_63

All said & done people who have NOT used deisel cars on a routine basis would not be able to totally appreciate the virtues of driving one !!
Cheers

Exactly. The petrolheads do not even want to open their eyes and look around.

When my friend(an avid petrolhead) was hunting for a car, I suggested a diesel and he ridiculed me saying that diesels get left behind in a 0-60/0-100 run for comparable petrols. I tried, but could not convince him that 0-100 is not a normal situation on road(how many of us actually do that), but it is the in-gear acceleration(someone rubbished that in a post) that is needed most on highways and that is where diesels excel.

So he got himself a Honda civic.

[v1p3r]

Originally Posted by fastcar

hi


You are right, DDIS swift is much easier to drive in the city yes we have to agree on the track Mtech petrol swift is 1sec quicker
but when compared DDis is always a better and wise buy

What is an Mtech petrol Swift?

Originally Posted by mobike008

You may be the only guy to think that diesels don't perform well in traffic conditions.

Just for your information, due to diesels coming into powerband at much lower rpms ( torque assisted) you can chug around in higher gears with your feet off the clutch

Originally Posted by rippergeo

exactly. heavy traffic is very easy in diesels. just chose gear 2,3 or 4 according to speed, take your foot off the accelerator, the clutch and brake and just steer. that is especially true for the swift. using the clutch to control the speed is a surefire way to burn it out quicker and also take the joy out of driving.

The Swift D isn't really too easy to drive in bumper-to-bumper traffic. There is turbo lag until 2000 rpm, which means you can't just ease your foot off the clutch and expect the car to move forward. This is, however, possible in a Baleno, or say a 1.8 Optra. I speak from experience, since I own both a Swift D and a Baleno.

Originally Posted by Ricky_63

@ v1p3r

I am sure we all (people who own or drive deisels) know where in the powerband diesels have their sweetspot.

No one would be naive enough to try & negotiate a corner at low RPM. Though downshifting before a corner maybe a good idea but it all depends which car one is driving.

No one in his right mind would drive an Indica & a Octavia the same way, would we ?


Cheers

You miss my point. The problem with diesels is as Jeremy put it in that Jag-around-Nurburgring episode -- all the power and torque comes in one great lump. You cannot downshift smoothly just before a corner to begin with, and then there will be this critical moment when you are mid corner, and suddenly your wheels break loose because all bloody 20 kgm of common-rail torque has arrived. The misery of such situations is often compounded by dirt and/or water. Of course, to someone who drives everyday, this is a matter of very little importance. However, this does come to mind when someone mentions the words 'driving pleasure'.

[kuttapan]

Originally Posted by v1p3r

The Swift D isn't really too easy to drive in bumper-to-bumper traffic. There is turbo lag until 2000 rpm, which means you can't just ease your foot off the clutch and expect the car to move forward. This is, however, possible in a Baleno, or say a 1.8 Optra. I speak from experience, since I own both a Swift D and a Baleno.

There is something wrong. Get your car checked. My swift D would move on it's own if I eased off the clutch, even on mild inclines.

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by v1p3r

The Swift D isn't really too easy to drive in bumper-to-bumper traffic. There is turbo lag until 2000 rpm, which means you can't just ease your foot off the clutch and expect the car to move forward. This is, however, possible in a Baleno, or say a 1.8 Optra.

Don't know about the Optra or Swift-D, but yes very true about the Baleno, which is what makes it such a pleasure driving in traffic - no frequent gear changes - just putter along. Something I really miss in our Swift-P.

A year ago when we were planning to buy the Swift, we did not even consider the Diesel variant because my Dad's driving would be really minimal (also because it did not have airbags). He had done only 5500kms in 10 months and it took quite some effort on my part to move the odo to 8000kms before it could go for the 12month-10000kms 3rd free service.

But now I wish we had tried out the Diesel (VDi + ABS) just to check out the revolutionary engine and even if we were to not find it as much fun as a petrol car, atleast the wallet would have seen some savings. I could have taken the Swift-D for use in Chennai and Dad could have used the Baleno in Kerala. Anyway, that is just thinking from hindsight.

[asr245]

Originally Posted by kuttapan

Exactly. The petrolheads do not even want to open their eyes and look around.

When my friend(an avid petrolhead) was hunting for a car, I suggested a diesel and he ridiculed me saying that diesels get left behind in a 0-60/0-100 run for comparable petrols. I tried, but could not convince him that 0-100 is not a normal situation on road(how many of us actually do that), but it is the in-gear acceleration(someone rubbished that in a post) that is needed most on highways and that is where diesels excel.

So he got himself a Honda civic.

Haven't driven a diesel except for a crappy Indigo for a day couple of years ago so cant comment on those but I for one do go by the same logic + the revs of a petrol + the music it makes. It's not the in-gear acceleration which matters most to me (ofcourse diesel will probably much better than a petrol) but how fast it can accelerate in what gear even if I have to change gears more often than a diesel. No I dont do 0-100 often but I do, sometimes, go uptill 5500rpm in my WagonR that's the part I enjoy most + the sound ofcourse.

BTW I have done a 0-100 in a Civic and it does cross 100 in 2nd gear at ard 6500rpm (dont remember the exact number) and it feels great

[MuzzledMoose]

But mostly since the torque kicks in on 2000'ish RPM, is it that we can do 3rd gear@15KMPH?. I have a petrol 1.6 Logan and i wondered that if i change to diesel can i do lower speed at a higher gear without labouring the engine!!. The 1.6 litre petrol motor comfortably does 20KMPH@3rd gear and 25@4thgear with single person driving. If at all a diesel can do better, what sedan motor can do better than this for good traffic cruising?

Also for releasing leg from clutch and trotting in traffic most modern ECU controlled cars will handle may be it deisel or petrol, since the fuel injector is contorlled weighing the motor load. I have tried in straight roads with leaving accelerator in most gears and see wether the vechile stalls but seldom happened. The ECU maintains the minimum RPM and so the car chugs forward comfortably

[asr245]

Today while driving back from D'Dun to Delhi I saw a BMW 530d. I was driving my dad's OHC VTEC. We had both started from from behind a bullock cart (occupying a lane of the 2 lane NH58) while I accelerated quite hard and till 100kmph (dont go above that on those roads), the beemer just kept on going and overtook me like I was doing 50kmph!! After that I tried to keep it in sight and maybe catch up with help from more bullock carts & buses and I almost did (behind a bus waiting to overtake with 2-3 cars between me and the beemer), but as soon as we got space to overtake, while i stepped on gas and waited for the engine to reach the power band, the beemer was already dissappearing into the distance and sooner than later, it was gone. Ofcourse it was a new 3L beemer against 1.5L engine which has done more than 1.1L kms but I was impressed the way it dissappeared. And being a beemer it seemed quite silent for a diesel (way more silent than any hyundai or ford).

That said I am still a petrolhead.

[.anshuman]

Originally Posted by asr245

Today while driving back from D'Dun to Delhi I saw a BMW 530d. I was driving my dad's OHC VTEC. We had both started from from behind a bullock cart (occupying a lane of the 2 lane NH58) while I accelerated quite hard and till 100kmph (dont go above that on those roads), the beemer just kept on going and overtook me like I was doing 50kmph!! After that I tried to keep it in sight and maybe catch up with help from more bullock carts & buses and I almost did (behind a bus waiting to overtake with 2-3 cars between me and the beemer), but as soon as we got space to overtake, while i stepped on gas and waited for the engine to reach the power band, the beemer was already dissappearing into the distance and sooner than later, it was gone. Ofcourse it was a new 3L beemer against 1.5L engine which has done more than 1.1L kms but I was impressed the way it dissappeared. And being a beemer it seemed quite silent for a diesel (way more silent than any hyundai or ford).

That said I am still a petrolhead.

530d comes with very linear power delivery and a wonderful auto box,while you must be struggling with your manual thingy the chap in BMW was flying on just flex of his right leg.

[rohan_fonseca]

Originally Posted by asr245

Today while driving back from D'Dun to Delhi I saw a BMW 530d. I was driving my dad's OHC VTEC. We had both started from from behind a bullock cart (occupying a lane of the 2 lane NH58) while I accelerated quite hard and till 100kmph (dont go above that on those roads), the beemer just kept on going and overtook me like I was doing 50kmph!! After that I tried to keep it in sight and maybe catch up with help from more bullock carts & buses and I almost did (behind a bus waiting to overtake with 2-3 cars between me and the beemer), but as soon as we got space to overtake, while i stepped on gas and waited for the engine to reach the power band, the beemer was already dissappearing into the distance and sooner than later, it was gone. Ofcourse it was a new 3L beemer against 1.5L engine which has done more than 1.1L kms but I was impressed the way it dissappeared. And being a beemer it seemed quite silent for a diesel (way more silent than any hyundai or ford).

That said I am still a petrolhead.

The 530d and ohc are classes apart, so the comparision is not quite valid.

[deepakvrao]

Originally Posted by rohan_fonseca

The 530d and ohc are classes apart, so the comparision is not quite valid.

Yes so true. IIRC the 530d does the 0-100 in around 7 secs.

Originally Posted by deepakvrao

IIRC the 530d does the 0-100 in around 7 secs.

and,wait for it........ It is a Diesel