Petrol power!

May 7, 2012
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Petrol engines are decent tow cars as we used them for many years as I had a company car. They were mainly Ford or Vauxhall and never gave us any problem although once I could choose a diesel I did appreciate the lower torque.
Cannot accept the SEAT listed though it is far too light to tow anything except a few lightweight caravans.
 
Mar 14, 2005
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Raywood said:
.....................
Cannot accept the SEAT listed though it is far too light to tow anything except a few lightweight caravans.

Hello Ray,

Just because the SEAT doesn't meet your specific requirements :( , doesn't mean it should be condemned for everyone :eek:hmy: . Some people do have small caravans :huh: and as such it might be fine tow car for them :) .
 
Aug 9, 2010
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Aside from one short lapse of about a year, I have only ever towed (in fact, owned) with petrol cars.Most of them have been V8s,in excess of 3.5 litres, and none have been smaller than 2.0 litres.I'm not a rich man, so three of the V8s have been converted to LPG, giving petrol performance with diesel (financial) economy.
Diesel? Dirty, smelly noisy spawn of the devil! Should be banned!
 
Aug 11, 2010
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emmerson said:
Aside from one short lapse of about a year, I have only ever towed (in fact, owned) with petrol cars.Most of them have been V8s,in excess of 3.5 litres, and none have been smaller than 2.0 litres.I'm not a rich man, so three of the V8s have been converted to LPG, giving petrol performance with diesel (financial) economy.
Diesel? Dirty, smelly noisy spawn of the devil! Should be banned!
i agree, except modern diesels are not dirty nor smelly things anymore, ,i wonder what excuses will they give for the carcinogens in petrol? we all ready know NOX levels in petrol engines go up and up over time.. maybe we should ban All fossil fuels which has an extraordinary high co2 and Nox effect just from getting the stuff, something that seems to be missed over and over again ..so unfortunately LPG is tainted by the same brush not as bad though so maybe we should all go LPG but then it wouldn't be so cheap anymore in fact due to no doubt shortages in supply as most is either extracted from crude oil or gas/ petroleum production we might be rationed and then we know which vehicles would suffer more so, that would be the fuel drinkers...point is all these fuels are linked and to share the resources that we already have is no bad thing..ban one and you are left with a wasted resource and maybe a fuel shortage, and higher costs to boot...
 
Jul 15, 2008
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emmerson said:
Diesel? Dirty, smelly noisy spawn of the devil! Should be banned!

........ that would cause the collapse of modern agriculture and modern road transport and with it modern everyday life and all the lifestyle goods we all expect and demand ;)
 
Jun 20, 2005
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Have used both over the years and diesel last 14 years.
My petrol engines needed to revved fairly hard for maximum output. Diesel has always given loads of low end torque making for a relaxed drive with less gear changes.

Also I notice this year in particular engines are being made with far smaller ccs with greater outputs. I wonder how long they will last ? Note the recent Honda CR V is a 1600. as is the petrol Mondeo.. Surely higher rpms must cause more wear per mile than a good old slow revving diesel slogger :unsure:
 
May 7, 2012
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Dustydog said:
Have used both over the years and diesel last 14 years.
My petrol engines needed to revved fairly hard for maximum output. Diesel has always given loads of low end torque making for a relaxed drive with less gear changes.

Also I notice this year in particular engines are being made with far smaller ccs with greater outputs. I wonder how long they will last ? Note the recent Honda CR V is a 1600. as is the petrol Mondeo.. Surely higher rpms must cause more wear per mile than a good old slow revving diesel slogger :unsure:

I agree that the smaller engines could be a long term problem as you say. Nissan are another firm doing this and for me these are something to avoid if possible.
 
Aug 9, 2010
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JohnnyG, I'm not sure that I'd agree with you re modern diesels being less smelly. Try standing behind one as it accelerates away! Actually, I was thinking more of the raw fuel being smelly. If you spill petrol it evaporates almost instantly. Spill diesel, however and it sticks around until someone cleans it up, which is not very often on my local forecourt.
The other thing I can't have with diesel of course is the glorious petrol V8 growl!
As in all things in life, you pay your money, you make your choice.
 
Feb 3, 2008
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emmerson said:
Spill diesel, however and it sticks around until someone cleans it up, which is not very often on my local forecourt.

Since having a diesel car I always use the free plastic gloves when handling the diesel filler nozzle, as without gloves my hand always smells afterwards. With petrol I never had that problem. Are people careless when hanging the nozzles back up and drips run down?
 

Parksy

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Nov 12, 2009
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WoodlandsCamper said:
emmerson said:
Spill diesel, however and it sticks around until someone cleans it up, which is not very often on my local forecourt.

Since having a diesel car I always use the free plastic gloves when handling the diesel filler nozzle, as without gloves my hand always smells afterwards. With petrol I never had that problem. Are people careless when hanging the nozzles back up and drips run down?
I also use the free gloves when filling up both of my cars which are diesel.
Diesel fuel on your skin, apart from the lingering smell, can cause dermatitis, hence the free gloves.
I usually keep a couple of spare gloves in each car in case a forecourt has none, and they come in handy for changing halogen bulbs and for the regular deep cleaning of the plastic container of revolting evil :evil: a.k.a. the caravan toilet cassette.
 
Jul 15, 2008
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Had my first diesel car in 1974........a self conversion :eek:hmy:

I put a BMC ( British Motor Corporation) 1.5L diesel engine into a Wolseley 16/60.
Fuel consumption went down from 28mpg from the old petrol engine to 40mpg from the diesel.
Diesel fuel was also around 30% cheaper than petrol back then.
I used to get problems on garage forecourts as the operator would often not turn the diesel fuel pump on as they assumed I was about to put diesel into a petrol car :eek:hmy:
Half of garage forecourts didn't even have a diesel fuel pump!
 
Oct 8, 2006
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Raywood said:
Petrol engines are decent tow cars as we used them for many years as I had a company car. They were mainly Ford or Vauxhall and never gave us any problem although once I could choose a diesel I did appreciate the lower torque.
Cannot accept the SEAT listed though it is far too light to tow anything except a few lightweight caravans.

Er no, you appreciated the torque at lower revs. Generally diesels produce as much or more torque but often at half the revs of a petrol engine.
 
Oct 8, 2006
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Parksy said:
WoodlandsCamper said:
emmerson said:
Spill diesel, however and it sticks around until someone cleans it up, which is not very often on my local forecourt.

Since having a diesel car I always use the free plastic gloves when handling the diesel filler nozzle, as without gloves my hand always smells afterwards. With petrol I never had that problem. Are people careless when hanging the nozzles back up and drips run down?
I also use the free gloves when filling up both of my cars which are diesel.
Diesel fuel on your skin, apart from the lingering smell, can cause dermatitis, hence the free gloves.

Actually, diesel is one of the most carcinogenic (i.e. cancer inducing) substances that you will ever deal with and it is readily absorbed through the skin. Always a good idea to use gloves or several layers of tissue.
 
Aug 11, 2010
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Woodentop said:
Parksy said:
WoodlandsCamper said:
emmerson said:
Spill diesel, however and it sticks around until someone cleans it up, which is not very often on my local forecourt.

Since having a diesel car I always use the free plastic gloves when handling the diesel filler nozzle, as without gloves my hand always smells afterwards. With petrol I never had that problem. Are people careless when hanging the nozzles back up and drips run down?
I also use the free gloves when filling up both of my cars which are diesel.
Diesel fuel on your skin, apart from the lingering smell, can cause dermatitis, hence the free gloves.

Actually, diesel is one of the most carcinogenic (i.e. cancer inducing) substances that you will ever deal with and it is readily absorbed through the skin. Always a good idea to use gloves or several layers of tissue.
sorry you are mistaken petrol ala benzine is a known carcinogen.. diesel fumes pre euro 4 i think are also classed as such. diesel the fuel is not classified as such.....
http://www.transportenvironment.org/press/new-petrol-engines-cause-more-air-pollution-dirty-diesels .
and whilst we are talking pollution .... hopefully the VW scandal might find one or two establishments actually doing the same test to petrol cars .now that might cause an even bigger stir...
 
Jan 3, 2012
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Raywood said:
Petrol engines are decent tow cars as we used them for many years as I had a company car. They were mainly Ford or Vauxhall and never gave us any problem although once I could choose a diesel I did appreciate the lower torque.
Cannot accept the SEAT listed though it is far too light to tow anything except a few lightweight caravans.
Actually i use to own a Seat and it pulled my Bailey 460/4 Caravan with ease
 

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