WyKiD said:
Maybe not as conclusive, was watching a local motoring show and one of the journo's stated that local sales figures for diesels in the passenger segment were on the decline???
You Must check your facts when I got my 320d recently the sales guy showed me an alert from the factory saying that due to the high demand 320d's have now got a 3 months wait instead of the normal 1 month of other 3 series models
It's all about Fuel Price now days. In Europe with the tight emission laws and the high price of petrol you actually get surprised when you see a Petrol car. We heading the same way. I have always been a fan of the Petrol BMW's and steered away from the Diesels but this new one is something special I must say it pulls way better at least for the first 2 gears than my old e90 323i even 325i I would even say a 330i but it would be at least close with that one. I used to struggle with the Golf 5 GTI with my 323i but this one destroys the Gold 6 GTI quite easily. Now I am not talking about a highway run to 200km/h I am talking robot to robot I am sure once the petrols get the revs grip up and they get into higher gears they could start to dominate.
Now if you not just looking at BMW's the would be declining because entry level cars in this country do not come in Deisel they only petrol more people are buying entry level cars so obviously in general Diesel would be declining. In Europe all entry level cars even with tiny engines have Diesel motors not petrol.
[/quote]
Okayyy....take 2 calmettes and call me in the morning, read and comprehend this time. Nowhere was it stated this was official numbers merely what was stated by a journalist on a local motoring show. Need me to get his details to allow you to clarify the situation?
Fantasy tlgp's are no measure of a cars performance. True it takes practice and a good technique to launch a boosted hot hatch, drivers ability does come into play and if said driver cannot launch his car properly this does not equate to your car being quicker.
With my Astra OPC H, x20d could be dismissed without even trying, there were lots. I think the torque made them believe their cars were faster than they really were was quite amusing looking at their faces when they eventually got to the next robot. Runs against Golf 5/6 were much closer than any x20d, dont know where all these tales of seeing them off so easily comes from.
Not sure when's the last time I seen a x20d post a 1/4mile time that would rival a GTi's or any of the boosted hot hatch's...
[/quote]
I am sorry for being so defensive, and I see this thread turning into a petrol vs diesel "war" so this is my last post.
Look at the specs of the GTI 5 and the specs of say...the 120d I used to own. On paper they are pretty close. Translate that to the real world, factor in driver abilities (I am by no means a professional race driver/drag racer) and that not all engines produce the same output as the stock estimate (i think its 10% give or take) and it can be the reason why my car was quicker than the few stock GTI's I raced and beat.
Hand on heart, I swear, line my ex 120d in its bone stock configuration against a bone stock MK5 GTI (and I am confident enough to discard a challenge from an AXX GTI - I am talking BWA engined GTI's) on a 1/4 mile race and my 120d will come out the winner.
I don't suppose you call it a comparison, for GTI times vs x20d times, but if you want to know of one case, a friend of mine had a 120d steptronic. He had software and a cone filter under his mod list and he could run 14.3sec@161km on the 1/4 mile a the reef (if it makes any difference). Correct me if I am wrong but GTI's with software, CAI, a bigger DP and maybe performance exhaust post similar times to that of my friend's 120d.
I speak for myself, and I do not consider my few encounters the general case - this is simply my limited experience.