Who started the 'hot' diesel

[lozgti]

The press say Fabia vRS was the first diesel hot (warm)hatch and everyone has followed or is following skoda on this one with different car companies coming up with their version

I disagree.I think peugot came up with idea years before skoda.Even the first VW stable diesel was the golf GTTDi

For me ,the car that started the revolution was the 306 d turbo.Only got as far as a test drive about ten(?) years ago but all the elements were there.

Sports seats,alloys,fogs and I am sure they sold a good few.I am sure they weren't as sturdy but I think the fabia vRS is nicking someone else's idea and crown from a long time ago.

Would be interested to know the figures too.I think it was 1.9( The 2.0 HDi was later I think,but it's the original 1.9 I'm thinking of) .

Don't think I am wrong here .Although the vRS is obviously a better(and more modern)package it sneakily seems to be getting all the praise and is a benchmark car now!

[pdhealy]

I have to agree - I think Peugeot saw the niche market for sporty diesels first (closely followed by Citroen). I had a 205 STDT & a 306 HDi D-Turbo, and apart from the electrics (surprise, surprise) both cars were bulletproof in most other departments.

[robmawer]

Yeah, Golf GTi TDi PD was the first I know of which was marketed as a "hot hatch". I'd agree that the 306d Turbo was a cracking car and would easily fall into the same category from objective eyes, but if it wasn't marketed as being sporty I doubt it would be recognised as such...

Rob.

[cmcm789]

The press say Fabia vRS was the first diesel hot (warm)hatch and everyone has followed or is following skoda on this one with different car companies coming up with their version

I disagree.I think peugot came up with idea years before skoda.Even the first VW stable diesel was the golf GTTDi

For me ' date='the car that started the revolution was the 306 d turbo.Only got as far as a test drive about ten(?) years ago but all the elements were there.

Sports seats,alloys,fogs and I am sure they sold a good few.I am sure they weren't as sturdy but I think the fabia vRS is nicking someone else's idea and crown from a long time ago.

Would be interested to know the figures too.I think it was 1.9( The 2.0 HDi was later I think,but it's the original 1.9 I'm thinking of) .

Don't think I am wrong here .Although the vRS is obviously a better(and more modern)package it sneakily seems to be getting all the praise and is a benchmark car now! [/quote']

The figures weren't that impressive. Their cousin the zx volcane was slightly quicker, and had all the sports extras, but was not as popular/common as the D-Turbo.

In my opinion, VW had the build quality, and the TDI 90 bhp engine which easily riviled any D-Turbo from as early as 1992, but unfortunately they decided to keep it boxed up in a CL and GL trim.

I did like the 205 turbo diesels though.

Aside from that, if you want to compare 0-60, 30-50, 50-70 and top speed figures of diesels from road tests of every diesel for over 10 years, buy yourself a copy of Diesel car magazine.

JD

[Andy vRS]

I had a 306 D-turbo on a M reg. It was very nippy, almost as quick as the more expensive XSI (2.0 8v) and definatly quicker than the painful 1.6 XS. The handling was supurb as a standard car and was very popular with my fellow Royal Ag chums back in my college days. All the freshers had Golf 3 TDI's or 306 D turbo's. The 2nd year went to the Golf 4 TDI or 306 GTI-6 seemed popular but the 3rd year up boys were into there legacy and imprza turbo - sorry went major off topic........ oops

Yes 306 was the 1st with similar performance to the Golf 3 gti 8v but then the 110 Golf came out in 1998 i think then the PD in 2000 then the 130 / 150 then skoda started the supermini sort of hot diesel hatch - the rest is history

[FabiaTDi]

I had a 93 205 DTurbo which was quick enough and also handled well. Sporty interior and Gti type looks. Tweaked by Allard it was doing around 9 second 0-60 times and did 110mph.

Probably the first warm diesel if not quite hot!

[WW_VRS]

To be honest - electrical failures on French cars are the thing that really lets them down. The rest of the cars tends to be pretty good to excellent. Build quality excluded

[SkodiRS]

I had a Citroen ZX Volcane TD......sporty body styling but reckon the 205 TD was probably the first sporty diesel although it wasn't marketed so.

[logiclee]

My Mum in Law used to have an original 306D-Turbo.

It looked nice and handled well but was slow and build quality was rubbish.

Power was 90bhp with just over 140lbft of torque, 0-60 was nearly 13 seconds. Compare that to a Fabia vRS with 130bhp and 230lbft (Usually more) and you can see why the 306 couldn't be classed as a hot diesel.

Cheers

Lee

[FabiaTDi]

The 205 was only the 1.8 turbo diesel engine and put out around 80bhp standard, but only weighed around 900kgs

near 100hp could be achieved with manual fuelling and boost tweaks giving similar power to weight of a standard furby vrs.

Mine had koni suspension and it would run rings round my current furby on a twisty b road.

build quality crap and a few gremlins but great fun.

[cheeky]

I'd go further back, remember the Golf MkI GTD? OK, only 70PS from 1.6TD but had the same look as the original GTI (if not the performance)