Ok.

I have slowly come to the conclusion that a fair amount of my problems at the moment come from this issue:

For some reason I press the accelerator pedal from coasting, and it takes a good second before the engine begins to rev at all. Obviously this is totally screwing up gear changes or any kind of drive smoothness (which then in turn jolts the engine something chronic which made me think there might be a problem with the rear engine mount, but now I kind of think that this issue is the one that's causing it all)

I was thinking chances are this is a throttle body issue?

As people have probably seen in the Yorkshire meets section I was looking for someone to give me a hand with some diagnosis/general repair work in advance of my MOT in July...

...And one of the items on my list of to-do's was to clean up the throttle body.

However obviously this is becoming more and more annoying lately and I just can't really wait any longer... Will have to give it a look when I get in later on from work and let the engine cool.

Any thoughts/suggestions/recommendations?

I hate to say it, but it's completely normal with these engines. Mine does it too, just get used to it. It shouldn't make any problems with pulling away and gearchanges unless you use your accelerator like an on-off switch

If it's causing a big jolt, you may find your console bushes are knackered. Worth a check.

I hate to say it, but it's completely normal with these engines. Mine does it too, just get used to it. It shouldn't make any problems with pulling away and gearchanges unless you use your accelerator like an on-off switch

I admit I can be a little lead footed sometimes but I wouldn't have thought the engine would take so long to respond to requesting acceleration...?

Will have to give the car a proper look at anyway, just wondered if anyone had a similar issue before that managed to diagnose the cause.

I believe due to some EU directive the throttle takes a short time to respond.

On the subject...

Seems that the delay has been reduced by about half a second by cleaning the throttle body and running a bottle of redex through the car...

Seems much more responsive now!

Shame that after doing this i've developed a different issue (see Dipsticks!)