really? kinda awesome

Yup, was a popular mod for the 323i and 328i. You fitted an M50 325i intake manifold with a modified adapter plate from a forum member and added an extra 20 odd ponies there and then. Really good.

Not sure if it's still do-able with the latter engines in the E46, but it worked a treat on the E36 M52 lumps.

Yup, was a popular mod for the 323i and 328i. You fitted an M50 325i intake manifold with a modified adapter plate from a forum member and added an extra 20 odd ponies there and then. Really good.

Not sure if it's still do-able with the latter engines in the E46, but it worked a treat on the E36 M52 lumps.

Always handy to know that ... cheers. If I sell my VRS SE in time I'll go and have a look. I don't have the balls to stump up the cash for the BMW in advance and then desperately hope I achieve the necessary price for my original car!

Always handy to know that ... cheers. If I sell my VRS SE in time I'll go and have a look. I don't have the balls to stump up the cash for the BMW in advance and then desperately hope I achieve the necessary price for my original car!

No probs. As I say, not sure it's possible on the E46 engines (the M52TU and onwards) but I imagine the same idea applies. It's the same engine in the 323i and 325i basically but the two five has a much free-er flowing intake thus allowing for the greater power.

You should see the difference in the intake pipes....there's about 10mm taken off the diameter of each intake tube at least. Really strangles the car at higher revs. Torque at lower revs is pretty much the same though as the air moves faster through narrower tubes.

If you had one of these fabias you would thrash the pants of the CTR

Autocar - A really very Brisk Fabia

Yes buts its horrible, its a 3 door! Looks like a bogey from a noise bleed IMHO

Kind of a totally off topic thread this....

Anyway No the vRS is not faster than the other cars you mentioned.

As for the comment about a 30-70drag and the vRS would win - well are you talking about leaving it in one gear say 6th for both cars or is it through the gears?

Dont get me wrong here I really lie diesels and want th economy and like the low end torque syle of delivery but if I was going to "make progress" 30-70 in my petrol why would I be using a diesels characterstics to win the race when Im using a petrol? I could say then ok lets have a 2 way timed run 1st way I'll be in 6th gear like you at 30 and then go and then the other way I'll be in 1st at 30 and use 2 gears to get to 70 (45mph top in 1st) then average the time and see which is the fastest car.

Clearly if your going to measure fuel consumption over that exercise Id always assume the diesel will win who wouldnt.

Also the SR180 a 2.2 has 46bhp more & 67lbf more than the vRS - if you think this is slower you are incorrect if it gives the impression that your not travelling that quickly hat is the sublime qualities of upper market cars, i.e. my old Maestro felt like it was doing every one of those 70mph however 70mph in my current car feels like maybe 30mph in the Maestro.

Blimey. The first post, out of 1,000 + of Welshy's I agree with

Blimey. The first post, out of 1,000 + of Welshy's I agree with

2nd'd

and not a mention of bmw!

Nope, it's a good comment from Welshy. A CTR driver will not try using his torque to beat you, neither will a Golf GTi....they'll just rev their cars and leave the Furby for dust. That should always have been apparent IMO.

So, it means the only thing left that may sway you either way is mpg and perhaps purchase cost, although there's not a lot in that either any more.

Oh, and perhaps road tax if that bothers you too.

All depends on what your personal requirements are I guess.

Nope, it's a good comment from Welshy. A CTR driver will not try using his torque to beat you, neither will a Golf GTi....they'll just rev their cars and leave the Furby for dust. That should always have been apparent IMO.

So, it means the only thing left that may sway you either way is mpg and perhaps purchase cost, although there's not a lot in that either any more.

Oh, and perhaps road tax if that bothers you too.

All depends on what your personal requirements are I guess.

Given ball park similar purchase price, I would say spec does come into it - i.e. on the Golf your going to have climate control vs just air con in the Fabia, the Golf & Civic are the next size car up so boot wise your roughly 80ltrs more in the Golf & Civic over the Fabia.

MPG - thats really milage dependant. Currently in my local Tesco there is a 7% price premium on Diesel over petrol so on that basis if the Golf & Civic returned say an average of 32mpg then to level the playing flied price wise that 32mpg is the equivalent to 34.2mpg. The fabia official combined is 53mpg so you have near on 20mpg benefit- this means that over 10,000 miles your going to use 292gallons more in the Golf/CIvic which £ wise is £514.

Performance delivery style - totally individual pref ( I like all three TDI, FI Petrol and high revving N/A), I would however state that the higher my annual milage would be the less I would want a high revving car i.e. needing to work it all the time on say 30,000 miles a year (personal pref).

VED - there is £70 in it for the year so irrelevant

Ins - Might be an issue for the younger driver, for me the vRS (incl business miles) i £300 the GTi is £334 and the CTR is £474.

So all in all If choosing between the most expensive to run (CTR) vs the vRS the vRS is £760p.a. (based upon 10k miles) cheaper. The other benefit of the vRS (non Financial) is the fact t has a bigger range so fewer fuel stops.

So is £760p.a. for 70bhp more and a bigger car with a lot more kit worth it on a purchase price of circa £5-7k? $64k dollar question horses for courses.

Given ball park similar purchase price, I would say spec does come into it - i.e. on the Golf your going to have climate control vs just air con in the Fabia, the Golf & Civic are the next size car up so boot wise your roughly 80ltrs more in the Golf & Civic over the Fabia.

MPG - thats really milage dependant. Currently in my local Tesco there is a 7% price premium on Diesel over petrol so on that basis if the Golf & Civic returned say an average of 32mpg then to level the playing flied price wise that 32mpg is the equivalent to 34.2mpg. The fabia official combined is 53mpg so you have near on 20mpg benefit- this means that over 10,000 miles your going to use 292gallons more in the Golf/CIvic which £ wise is £514.

Performance delivery style - totally individual pref ( I like all three TDI, FI Petrol and high revving N/A), I would however state that the higher my annual milage would be the less I would want a high revving car i.e. needing to work it all the time on say 30,000 miles a year (personal pref).

VED - there is £70 in it for the year so irrelevant

Ins - Might be an issue for the younger driver, for me the vRS (incl business miles) i £300 the GTi is £334 and the CTR is £474.

So all in all If choosing between the most expensive to run (CTR) vs the vRS the vRS is £760p.a. (based upon 10k miles) cheaper. The other benefit of the vRS (non Financial) is the fact t has a bigger range so fewer fuel stops.

So is £760p.a. for 70bhp more and a bigger car with a lot more kit worth it on a purchase price of circa £5-7k? $64k dollar question horses for courses.

£70 PA for VED does come into it....I'd certainly notice that come tax time!

Mind you, you're an accountant so you won't care being minted and all that.....

Also, the Civic did not come with A/C as standard....it's an optional extra so you may have to look a bit harder to find one with it. Not sure there.

MPG wise, the gap is becoming narrower and narrower - you need to do serious mileage before the benefits become apparent providing you buy a petrol car that's roughly fuel efficient, as in 30+ mpg. That's what swung it for me ultimately - saving a fortune on fuel over the 318iS I had before, and saving on tax and saving on insurance.

£70 PA for VED does come into it....I'd certainly notice that come tax time!

Mind you, you're an accountant so you won't care being minted and all that.....

Also, the Civic did not come with A/C as standard....it's an optional extra so you may have to look a bit harder to find one with it. Not sure there.

MPG wise, the gap is becoming narrower and narrower - you need to do serious mileage before the benefits become apparent providing you buy a petrol car that's roughly fuel efficient, as in 30+ mpg. That's what swung it for me ultimately - saving a fortune on fuel over the 318iS I had before, and saving on tax and saving on insurance.

Sure in isolation paying £115VED or £185VED isnt nice but if thats the deciding factor on the purchase of either car thats irrelevant.

Accountant or otherwise we all need to look after the pennies why pay any more than is necessary I'd rather spen the difference towards a nice weekend away.

With ins - the younger &/or higher points/claims then that will be an issue.

You are correct Air con was a £1000 option on the CTR but 2nd hand and say 4-5years old the difference between a CTR without Aircon & with Air con is going to be a guess £150-200 (as options depreciate too).

If your intending to keep the car for many years let say 5 years+ then if fuel saving alone is the deciding factor then the diesel is the better choice.

However (sorry for the BMW ad in here) if you were thinking of buying a 204bhp 330d Sport they are around £11-13k however the 231bhp 330i is £3k less (ins & VED is ball park similar) in this scenario it would take 45k just to recouperate the price difference in fuel savings so the purchase choice for the diesel in this scenario would have to be that the owner Loves Diesel and Hates Petrol as it just doesnt make financial sense.

Plus the 330d is known for eating turbos and injectors.....they ain't cheap. What's a known issue on a 330i? Not a lot.

Plus the 330d is known for eating turbos and injectors.....they ain't cheap. What's a known issue on a 330i? Not a lot.

That crap thing whatamacallit. vas??? vam?? cant remember now

OMG skudmissile forgot somthing :eek:

Runs off to ring a member of the circle of trust

You mean VANOS? That's not known to fail on the 330i. Mainly the E36 3.2 M3.

You mean VANOS? That's not known to fail on the 330i. Mainly the E36 3.2 M3.

Thats the ticket my cousins Z3M has had no end of problems with the VANOS

Thats the ticket my cousins Z3M has had no end of problems with the VANOS

Yup the S50 B32 engine was a nightmare for dual vanos failures. BMW sorted it out on later models.

So if your in the market for a 330d 204bhp Sport go find a 330i 231bhp Sport instead its £3+ cheaper is faster and will take near on 50k to recoup the purchase price savings in fuel efficiency.

Noise is better, in gear is worse.

Note if buying new they are priced the same so buy the 330d New but 2nd hand as the 330d has a higher residual value it makes the better buy.

However (sorry for the BMW ad in here) if you were thinking of buying a 204bhp 330d Sport they are around £11-13k however the 231bhp 330i is £3k less (ins & VED is ball park similar) in this scenario it would take 45k just to recouperate the price difference in fuel savings so the purchase choice for the diesel in this scenario would have to be that the owner Loves Diesel and Hates Petrol as it just doesnt make financial sense.

But then you have to sell your car too and the diesel continues to depreciate slower than the petrol and you make most of that money back, thus making the 330d cheaper to run over the ownership of the car.

And you can't find 330i's for £3k less. Believe me, I've just done the very same hunt and questioned whether I'd be better off with a petrol than the diesel.

If you are buying a car outright then the extra outlay for the diesel can be harder to justify because, as you said above, you need many thousands of miles before you're bank account will be healthier than it would have been if you had bought the petrol and saved yourself a wad of cash.

However, I, like the majority of car buyers I assume, need some finance to be able to purchase my car.

When you're not laying out a bigger wedge up front it's the montly costs that become important (finance payments + fuel).

I've got a spreadsheet which works out total monthly running costs based on the amount you need to finance, milage per year, and mpg.

I was looking at 3 year old 330d's (a fair bit more than the 11-13k budget which would be mainly 184bhp models or higher milage 204s).

In my circumstances, with about a £5k deposit and doing 13k miles a year, a 330i would need to be £2.5k cheaper than a 330d for me to pay out the same per month.

I looked long and hard and equivalent spec 330i's to my 330d were £1k to £1.5k cheaper, so even though the diesel cost more, I was saving money from day one of ownership.

(And thats not taking depreciation into account either which will leave me with a bigger deposit for my next car than I would have if I bought a 330i)

I guess what I'm trying to say is that the old "but it takes XXmiles to recoup the cost of the diesel" is redundant if you (like most buyers) do not buy your car outright or if you plan to sell it instead of running it into the ground.

Official time is 16 dead. Depends on where you go and what you read.

Autocar is 15.5, Evo magazine is 16.9 I think the official 16 is a good rounded off number.

Snoopie, having a quick look through the posts on here, why don't you just come out of the closet and buy a diesel? Here is one for you, my motorcycle would make your car look silly in an acceleration contest. I used to own a mark1 CTR and quite frankly, it was a pain getting to use its performance on public roads. I am quite happy to state that my remapped Ibiza FR tdi is quicker than the Type R in everyday driving conditions. My bike would rip your car a new arsehole in straight line acceleration. Fact.

I'm not trying to be big and clever with this post, just giving you some of your own medicine tis all!

P.s. If you still live at home with mummy and daddy, why cant you afford a better car than a Honda Civic?

Snoopie, having a quick look through the posts on here, why don't you just come out of the closet and buy a diesel? Here is one for you, my motorcycle would make your car look silly in an acceleration contest. I used to own a mark1 CTR and quite frankly, it was a pain getting to use its performance on public roads. I am quite happy to state that my remapped Ibiza FR tdi is quicker than the Type R in everyday driving conditions. My bike would rip your car a new arsehole in straight line acceleration. Fact.

I'm not trying to be big and clever with this post, just giving you some of your own medicine tis all!

P.s. If you still live at home with mummy and daddy, why cant you afford a better car than a Honda Civic?

thats a good first post. we have a troll.

Who is this Welsh imposter and what did he do with the real ‘Welshy’?

thats a good first post. we have a troll.

Not intentionally! Like the kid says, he only posts in jest...........yeah right!

At least I actually own a PDtdi! :eek:

Not intentionally! Like the kid says, he only posts in jest...........yeah right!

At least I actually own a PDtdi! :eek:

so you own a bike and a diesel.. like iron maiden and post abuse..

cant see you making my xmas card list.

so you own a bike and a diesel.. like iron maiden and post abuse..

cant see you making my xmas card list.

And that should bother me why exactly?

And that should bother me why exactly?

you will have been banned long before then...so it wont matter....