John K Posted February 11, 2016 Share Posted February 11, 2016 No..! Do not get me wrong, a modern diesel engine (as in the Ford Focus ST) is a wonderful thing. Refined, revs freely, fairly unobtrusive NVH and shed loads of torque But should a diesel engine ever be attached to a manual stick and have any pretense to sportiness. No, just No... And if you think otherwise I'm sorry but I will find you, I will hunt you down, I will break into your house at night and I will feed your driving licence into a shredder... And then have you declared insane... Quite simply you run out of revs as soon as you get rolling. To make any progress you need to add 2 gears to the one you would use with a petrol engine and surf the torque. And since when does torque fit into sporty driving..? Yes it is by far and away the best engine for daily driving and munching the miles, but sports driving where you want to wring an engine by the neck until you have actually bent the tachometer needle round the stop pin... I am prepared to be flamed to death and possibly thrown out of the forum - but I will not care because I refuse to be judged by lunatics and if you disagree with me you are a lunatic... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TAFKARM Posted February 11, 2016 Share Posted February 11, 2016 I must admit a drive over the Brecon Beacons in my old Golf GTD (manual) did find me frustrated. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Colonial Posted February 11, 2016 Share Posted February 11, 2016 *Ahem* *Cough* *Nudge* *Hint* Now go get yer coat. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark (smokey mow) Posted February 11, 2016 Share Posted February 11, 2016 From 2006 a diesel engined car won the LeMas 24Hr for 9 consecutive years. The revs and torque didn't seem to cause them many problems 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kit Car Electronics Posted February 11, 2016 Share Posted February 11, 2016 So you didn't like it, I guess? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John K Posted February 11, 2016 Author Share Posted February 11, 2016 I knew this would happen, the entire upper echelon of the WSCC committee would immediately get confused and miss the point (it's an age thing, they can't help it), but a good engine is not the same as a sporty engine. All of our beloved Chairman's (who I can only assume is sponsored by VAG) links point to extremely desirable cars, any one of which I would be blessed to own. But they are not sports cars... And Mark fell into my trap, Le Mans is not a sports car race, it's an endurance race. Which suits DERVs perfectly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John K Posted February 11, 2016 Author Share Posted February 11, 2016 So you didn't like it, I guess? Hi Mike, the whole morning was a massive disappointment (not the cars fault) and once I have calmed down, I will update the ST thread. It's just this was my first experience of a sporty (makes a spitting sound) DERV and I wanted to rant off over this first. I'm in a bad mood generally, been rejected in love so was wanting the tests drives to be epic. And as they weren't you are all copping the childish backlash... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dombanks Posted February 11, 2016 Share Posted February 11, 2016 I was a bit surprised when you use focus st and diesel in the same line are you sure your not missing something there and they have watered down the brand to be just a trim level? looks very much to me like they are trying to appease the "I want a focus ST but the economy of a diesel" market after finding people just specced a normal focus diesel to look like the st. I don't get the torque comment either as I thought torque and sporty would go hand in hand. nothing worse than getting out of my nice torquey 6pot bimmer into a car that lacks it and you have to rev the **** out of it to go anywhere. isn't the point of a V8 that low down grunt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grizzlee Posted February 11, 2016 Share Posted February 11, 2016 So when you called me and ranted for half an hour then said you were going to post this, I did say what would happen Now this is the part where I say... told you so 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clansman Posted February 11, 2016 Share Posted February 11, 2016 All of our beloved Chairman's (who I can only assume is sponsored by VAG) links point to extremely desirable cars, any one of which I would be blessed to own. Don't think so as there was too much flame and not enough smoke if sponsored by VAG.......................coat already on 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grizzlee Posted February 11, 2016 Share Posted February 11, 2016 I should have added that I agree with you, it's the fuel of satan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Colonial Posted February 11, 2016 Share Posted February 11, 2016 I knew this would happen, the entire upper echelon of the WSCC committee would immediately get confused and miss the point (it's an age thing, they can't help it), but a good engine is not the same as a sporty engine. All of our beloved Chairman's (who I can only assume is sponsored by VAG) links point to extremely desirable cars, any one of which I would be blessed to own. But they are not sports cars... And Mark fell into my trap, Le Mans is not a sports car race, it's an endurance race. Which suits DERVs perfectly. Ignoring the attempted humour for a moment - the BMW and Audis I linked to all have quicker 0-60 times than many Westfields (including yours, smart ), higher top speeds, faster 30-50 and 50-70 speeds. So my question to you is this: If you define a slower Westfield as a sports car, what's your definition of "sport"? Being slower, noisier and less comfortable? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pistol Pete Posted February 11, 2016 Share Posted February 11, 2016 From 2006 a diesel engined car won the LeMas 24Hr for 9 consecutive years. The revs and torque didn't seem to cause them many problems After the rules were tweaked to favour diesels Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TAFKARM Posted February 11, 2016 Share Posted February 11, 2016 Scott - a fast car does not a sporty car make. My GTD was "fast", but it didnt provide the involving and enjoyable thrill of driving of a sports car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark (smokey mow) Posted February 11, 2016 Share Posted February 11, 2016 And Mark fell into my trap, Le Mans is not a sports car race, it's an endurance race. Which suits DERVs perfectly. Err yes it is https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/24_Hours_of_Le_Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (French: 24 Heures du Mans) is the world's oldest active sports car race in endurance racing, held annually since 1923 near the town of Le Mans, France.and If it's not a sports car, why did the Audi and Peugeot winners race is the catagory for "Sports Car Racing LeMans Prototypes" The Lemans series also includes much shorter races which the Diesel powered LMP cars have been equally sucessful in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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