Re: diesel alfas; was 'importing cars privately'

[George Graves <gmgraves@domain.elided>]

You might be right about the automatic transmission. Its just my 
contention that driving a car with an automatic is like, uh, making 
love while wearing a wet-suit and three condoms. In other words, what's 
the use?  Might as well take the @#$%^ train!

On Thursday, Jan 16, 2003, at 15:11 US/Pacific, alfa-digest wrote:


> Date: Fri, 17 Jan 2003 10:23:12 +1300
> From: White Anthony <anthony.white@domain.elided>
> Subject: Re: diesel alfas; was 'importing cars privately'
>
> > As for your French rental of a 156 with a 1.9 JTD (Diesel). This car 
> > is
> > anemic and slow even if it isn't a rental. I've driven a 156 with the
> > 2.4 JTD, and believe me, better than a 1.9 JTD it might be, but its
> > nothing to write home about performance-wise (got great gas milage
> > though even when cruising at 110-115 MPH - it just took forever to get
> > there).
> Turbo diesels are almost always like this, though.  Manufacturers seem 
> to think that they can put the same capacity diesel engine in a car, 
> without any consequences, and just benefit from the improved fuel 
> consumption.
>
> Personally, I maintain that, given the better fuel consumption, they 
> should put an engine with the same power output in the car, still 
> benefit from the improved fuel consumption, and have a whole truckload 
> of additional torque to boot.
>
> And, of the contemporary European diesels, the ones with five-speed 
> automatic boxes seem to be the best -- the auto suits the character 
> and power delivery of the diesel to a much greater extent that a 
> manual box.
>
> Kind regards,
> Anthony.
George Graves
--
to be removed from alfa, see /bin/digest-subs.cgi
or email "unsubscribe alfa" to majordomo@domain.elided