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petrol/diesel

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  • 16-02-2008 3:08pm
    #1
    yabadabado
    Registered Users Posts: 16,531 ✭✭✭✭


    we were talking bout this at work on friday.when i learned to drive i was taught in a diesel car and for the first while i always found it easier to drive in a diesel ,i could find the bite on the clutch much easier .i was just wondering wot did other people think petrol or diesel easier to learn in?


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    #2
    Wishbone Ash
    Registered Users Posts: 24,993 ✭✭✭✭Wishbone Ash


    yabadabado wrote: »
    we were talking bout this at work on friday.when i learned to drive i was taught in a diesel car and for the first while i always found it easier to drive in a diesel ,i could find the bite on the clutch much easier .i was just wondering wot did other people think petrol or diesel easier to learn in?
    Diesels engines tend to have more torque and are therefore more difficult to stall.

    If you put a diesel car into 1st gear and let out the clutch slowly without touching the accelerator, most will move off. A petrol engine will probably stall.


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    #3
    Bargain_Hound
    Registered Users Posts: 521 ✭✭✭Bargain_Hound


    Wishbone Ash wrote: »
    Diesels engines tend to have more torque and are therefore more difficult to stall.

    If you put a diesel car into 1st gear and let out the clutch slowly without touching the accelerator, most will move off. A petrol engine will probably stall.

    My 1.4 petrol, will take off with no accelerator while letting go of the clutch slowly, without any bother at all really suprisingly. Also with the ability to move up the gears and let it run along idling throughout the gears.

    In saying that, possibly my 1.4 petrol has a slightly high idle, having enough power to move the car along.

    I've driven TDI's, and yes its quite a good bit harder to stall ( I actually had my first few drives in diesels ) but once you get used to them, there really isn't a huge difference in driving them compared to petrols, accept for the extra torque(turbo..), giving it the capability of pulling away in lower RPM's due to its torque.


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    #4
    SeanW
    Registered Users Posts: 8,826 ✭✭✭SeanW


    Wishbone Ash wrote: »
    Diesels engines tend to have more torque and are therefore more difficult to stall.

    If you put a diesel car into 1st gear and let out the clutch slowly without touching the accelerator, most will move off. A petrol engine will probably stall.

    Exactly. I took my first lessons in a diesel (school car) and had a petrol at home. Needless to say I found the diesel infinitely easier to learn in and for this reason when I started driving the petrol, I used to stall the car frequently.

    But once you learn better clutch control and how to hold the minimum rev, driving the petrol is OK.

    I actually taught myself how to do that - saw on the dashboard some kind of minimum power code - a key to accompany the RPM gauge - it says something like "10 MIN X 100" or something like that so I figured "when I'm fully in gear, gotta keep this RPM needle above 1000."

    Simple enough really.

    My advice to beginners who might be pondering this issue, would be to get experience driving both - because there wouldn't be much point in learning to drive diesel, practicing diesel and passing your test in a diesel, only to some time later buy or borrow a petrol car only to wonder why it's acting so crazy and stalls all the time.

    But of course it's not just petrol vs diesel, engine power comes into it too - diesels tend to have a higher idle rev (thus harder to stall) but there exceptions.


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