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What car do you drive?
- Thread starter gman
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I have two cars. During the week I have a Nissan Micra which is not really worth showing you... it's a Micra.
At weekends (except in Winter) I have this to amuse myself.
At weekends (except in Winter) I have this to amuse myself.
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I killed the focus on Saturday night just outside Tibself services.
So today I bought this:
54 plate Mondeo Estate 2.0 TDCI.
Lovely car, so much nicer than the Focus and its pretty mint for its age!
Blank off the egr valve if it's not been done already.
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Blank off the egr valve if it's not been done already.
Cheers, but I've had my fun playing around with cars. Much happier to just put fuel in and drive it now!
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Cheers, but I've had my fun playing around with cars. Much happier to just put fuel in and drive it now!
It's not so much about having fun playing around with it as opposed to preventing the car braking down when the valve gets clogged with carbon and sticks open meaning the car won't start and also having problems at higher revs when the valve should be shut. The only performance enhancement is the engine runs smoother at lower revs when the valve would normally open and your no longer recycling dirty sooty air back through the inlet manifold. Much cleaner emissions too.
Totally agree with this. I've done it and it was one of the cleanest running tdci Mondeo's the MOT tester had ever seen. If you leave it, it will stop the engine, then you'll go to Ford who will run it on their diagnostic tester, charge you a fortune in labour and diagnostic fees, replece old egr with new egr, which are £90 iirc, which will be fine for a bit, then the same thing will happen again.
You can get a 3mm egr blank on ebay for much less than a tenner, and it takes 15 mins to fit (including a cuppa and a fag!) You'll be doing your car a huge favour.
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Whilst you're there get a remap
Yay. I did this, along with other bits and my 130bhp is up to very nearly 180bhp, and the torque is phenomenal. AND i'm getting much more to the gallon than i did with it standard.
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I cleaned my EGR valve out about a year ago (and the inlet manifold), it was pretty bad so probably the first time it had been done in about 5 years (wasn't my car from new). It's been clean since then (checked it recently) and during my last MoT in November there the guy had to do a second emissions test as the first was so low he thought something was wrong with the equipment.
So I'm wondering are these performance and mpg improvements based against a fouled EGR valve or against a clean one?
I was thinking about a remap or one of those plug in units you can get. I've heard the plugin ones are a bit crap but I was recently told about a new one (can't remember the bloody name for the life of me) which is meant to be a huge improvement and when unplugged your car is back to standard so no messing with the actual ecu. My worry is that by increasing the power by so much can the other components cope?
So I'm wondering are these performance and mpg improvements based against a fouled EGR valve or against a clean one?
I was thinking about a remap or one of those plug in units you can get. I've heard the plugin ones are a bit crap but I was recently told about a new one (can't remember the bloody name for the life of me) which is meant to be a huge improvement and when unplugged your car is back to standard so no messing with the actual ecu. My worry is that by increasing the power by so much can the other components cope?
The plug in jobbie you're thinking off is a "bluefin". The trouble with plug ins is they're generic, which is no bad thing. But a remap is actually cheaper. A bluefin is (iirc) £400, a remap (mine) was 200. A remap deals with each car individually so is better for it. When mine was rolling roaded it was chucking out 178bhp, which is about 33% extra. The torque was incredible.
Yes the other components cope well.
What happens is this. Ford build their models to a set of parameters. Their cars have to run in all countries, sometimes where the fuel isn't as good as ours. So each car is put to a middling state of tune to cope with all countries, all weathers and all fuels. When you have your car remapped, decatted, egr blanked, k & n's etc, it is putting the car back to normal so to speak, the car will be at its optimum, the way it was actually designed to perform.
Also remember, just because you have this extra power, doesn't mean you'll be using it all the time. A lot of the time you won't be driving any faster or more aggressively than with it being standard. But its there when you do want to have a play/overtake in a quick and timely manner. And because your engine is running at its optimum, you'll get much improved fuel economy. Mine went from 48 average to 59 average, and on a motorway run from 55 to 66 mpg.
Hope this helps.
Yes the other components cope well.
What happens is this. Ford build their models to a set of parameters. Their cars have to run in all countries, sometimes where the fuel isn't as good as ours. So each car is put to a middling state of tune to cope with all countries, all weathers and all fuels. When you have your car remapped, decatted, egr blanked, k & n's etc, it is putting the car back to normal so to speak, the car will be at its optimum, the way it was actually designed to perform.
Also remember, just because you have this extra power, doesn't mean you'll be using it all the time. A lot of the time you won't be driving any faster or more aggressively than with it being standard. But its there when you do want to have a play/overtake in a quick and timely manner. And because your engine is running at its optimum, you'll get much improved fuel economy. Mine went from 48 average to 59 average, and on a motorway run from 55 to 66 mpg.
Hope this helps.
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Remaps rock, had a stage 1 revo on my seat. More power, more torque and loads more mpg
Me too (Upsolute remap for me though) .... Although the oem clutch on a mk1 Leon is cack and is only rated to 300ft/lb torque which is what an fr tdi nearly runs as stock. Ended up swapping it for a stage 2 clutch and solid flywheel to really make use of that extra torque.
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After various qashqai, navara and juke I'm back in a supercharged micra. Small but an absolute hoot to drive and fuel economy well into the 60's frugal to
DorsetDude
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I make that 52 mpg roughly. Thought theyd give more than that tbh. Bloke here's got a 54 reg Golf TDi and swears he gets 60+ on the run in to work.
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if he potters in then sure.
my seat (1.9TDi PD130 remap) will do high 50's on a 70mph motorway cruise. i have had it up towards 70mpg but that was low high 50-60mph area on a low moving motorway.
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Cheers, never heard of all that before! That's not the plug-in I was thinking of, I wish I could remember because apparently this one wasn't like the others. I'd know it if I saw it! lol
Let me know if you remember cos some of them can screw your car up good and proper by fooling the ECU into overfuelling and over pressurising your system.
I'm generally much better with cars than I am with cameras!
Now driving this as my daily, Focus ST170
Love the pin sharp handling of a Focus. My wife has an 09 2.0 petrol, stiffened and lowered 25mm and while it ain't an ST, it is certainly fun. Just can't get it to let go in the dry and in the wet you have to push to extremes to get even a wobble. A bit too small for me personally, but I do love driving it occasionally.
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Let me know if you remember cos some of them can screw your car up good and proper by fooling the ECU into overfuelling and over pressurising your system.
I'm generally much better with cars than I am with cameras!
lol, I'm getting the sneaky feeling that no matter what it is you're gonna say it's crap!
dont forget your insurance, some are checking ECU logs etc, remapped is a mod that can invalidate it.
I am having to take the tints of my front windows, they are just, and i mean by 0.2% under not letting me drive the car away from plod, he was well not happy at the 30.2% reading
anyway again these can cause insurance problems so it out with heat gun.
MPG went to 11 last week.......................
I am having to take the tints of my front windows, they are just, and i mean by 0.2% under not letting me drive the car away from plod, he was well not happy at the 30.2% reading
anyway again these can cause insurance problems so it out with heat gun.
MPG went to 11 last week.......................
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Indeed, while it might not be the fastest of it's generation of Hot Hatch's, it's certainly a competent all rounder and easily liveable with on a daily basis, and a bloody bargain these days
Not at all mate. I'm all in favour of anything that'll make your car run better. But there are so many "tuning boxes" out there that are simply a 2 quid resistor designed to confuse your fuelling, that it just ain't funny. I can't state highly enough, go with reputation, or word of mouth. Don't believe the blurb you read on a company website.
Agreed, If you actually tell the insurance about any mods, they're usually very understanding. I always declare mine, and in November when it was due for renewal, it had actually GONE DOWN by £15. Well happy.
There really is very little that can live with an enthusiastically driven Focus on the corners! Or am i just a mad driver? lol
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I have two cars. During the week I have a Nissan Micra which is not really worth showing you... it's a Micra.
At weekends (except in Winter) I have this to amuse myself.
How is the Mustang overall? I'm renting one on my holiday to Florida next year so very curious!
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I asked the guy who originally told me and he said that Bluefin but that definitely wasn't it so it looks like he can't remember. This was a box which plugged in somewhere under the bonnet and bypasses the ECU so you can simply unplug and all is back to normal. But there was something different about it from other boxes - wish I could find the damn site. Unless Bluefin did such boxes previously and have now changed to the ecu remap thing instead?
Bluefin plug into your diagnostic port, usually in the glovebox. It downloads its map to the ecu, and you unplug it again. It stores your original map on the bluefin device so you can switch back again if you want to. Although, in many years of being part of a Ford club, and forum, I have never heard of anyone switching back to the original.
If it plugs in under the bonnet and bypasses the ecu, it sounds like one of those tuning boxes that fool your Air Flow Meter into thinking it's getting more air, and so the ecu then throws more fuel at it, eventually resulting in injector failure.
Seriously, If it doesn't plug into your diagnostic port, and work with the ecu, don't touch it. IT WILL WRECK YOUR CAR! Remap, or reputable tuning such as Bluefin, Superchips etc. I can't emphasise enough how easy it is to kill your engine with an unscrupulous cowboy tuning box.
If it plugs in under the bonnet and bypasses the ecu, it sounds like one of those tuning boxes that fool your Air Flow Meter into thinking it's getting more air, and so the ecu then throws more fuel at it, eventually resulting in injector failure.
Seriously, If it doesn't plug into your diagnostic port, and work with the ecu, don't touch it. IT WILL WRECK YOUR CAR! Remap, or reputable tuning such as Bluefin, Superchips etc. I can't emphasise enough how easy it is to kill your engine with an unscrupulous cowboy tuning box.
wack61
I've got an itchy hatch
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Wood.Justin said:How is the Mustang overall? I'm renting one on my holiday to Florida next year so very curious!
Before you shell out a ton of money the mustangs they hire out aren't the V8 engined ones, they're the gutless ones that share the same body, ask what it is before you pay as you might be spending a ton of money on a base model car
When I was in the US I had a Chrysler 300C, it was awful, had about 40k on the clock and drove like a pig
Took it back and all the had was a Lincoln town car with 35 miles on it, brand new
It had V8 badges on it but it was that gutless I had to open the bonnet to see if it had a V8 engine it
I drive a Jaguar XK8 with a V8 in it but this Lincoln drove like a 1.3 fiesta it was that slow
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Before you shell out a ton of money the mustangs they hire out aren't the V8 engined ones, they're the gutless ones that share the same body, ask what it is before you pay as you might be spending a ton of money on a base model car
When I was in the US I had a Chrysler 300C, it was awful, had about 40k on the clock and drove like a pig
Took it back and all the had was a Lincoln town car with 35 miles on it, brand new
It had V8 badges on it but it was that gutless I had to open the bonnet to see if it had a V8 engine it
I drive a Jaguar XK8 with a V8 in it but this Lincoln drove like a 1.3 fiesta it was that slow
I hear what you're saying but we're not spending a whole load of money on the rental fortunately for us!
I know that a lot of American cars are all noise and no trousers, I've had my experiences with them! Unless of course it's a mad as a hatter Corvette which is ultimately a lunatic vehicle!
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The 2013 model year V6 is actually more powerful than my 2006 V8.
NOT THE POINT THOUGH!... you need that noise in your life. Tons of stuff goes fast... fast cars are 10 a penny.... that's not what the Mustang is about.
How is the Mustang overall? I'm renting one on my holiday to Florida next year so very curious!
Well... mine's the V8 GT, but most rentals are V6s, but the new V6 is a lot better. Still.. if you're going to rent a Mustang, rent a proper one. Part of the fun of a Muscle car is the noise... take that away there's not much left apart from the looks.
Muscle cars are an acquired taste. Compared to a European car, it sucks. The interior is cheap and plasticky, the gearbox whines and chatters at low speeds, it's very noisy, cramped, and the seats aren't that comfortable. The handling is OK, for a Muscle car, but the live rear axle gets upset with bumps mid-bend, but there's plenty of grip.
It's crude, unsophisticated, and GLORIOUS! You see, Muscle cars, as I said are an acquired taste. You want sophistication and refinement, go to ze Germans. You want FUN... then you're in the right place.
Also.. NOTHING I've ever owned, and I've owned a lot of exotic machines, comes close to having the road presence this thing does. It looks fabulous, sounds awesome, and the way a big American V8 delivers torque is fab! The pre 2013 Mustang V8s only actually produce 300bhp, although mine's now doing around 340 with 380 lb/ft torque, but it feels like a whole lot more if you get a manual car. It's not about power though, it's about noise and torque, lighting up the rear tyres and having a hoot. Nothing does that like an American muscle car. The 2013 model year GT has 420bhp though... so that's what I'd be renting!
You either get it, or you don't, and those that don't, don't bother arguing or being predictable by regurgitating Top Gear "facts" because.. well, you just don't get it. I could afford a M3, or M5 but I've had more fun with this Mustang that costs half as much than I've had in any other car I've ever owned, and the only thing I would replace it with, is another Mustang.... unless they ruin it when they officially bring it to the UK in 2015.... which they will.
You want whisking along in Teutonic blandness... buy a European car.... want to feel like your trapped inside a mad, narcissistic pantomime horse with tourettes syndrome, get a Mustang.
I know which sounds like the most fun to me.
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How is the Mustang overall? I'm renting one on my holiday to Florida next year so very curious!
I apologise...I simply can't be arsed to read all the petrol-headed posts.....do you always wear a full-face helmet when driving the 'stang?
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I'm sorry you can't arsed reading it... I thought I'd give a frank and full reply.. besides.. I wasn't replying to you anyway
.. but fair enough...[edit]
If you can't be bothered reading petrol head posts... perhaps a car thread is not the place for you then?
In summary... it's crude, noisy, and unrefined, and if you like BMWs or Mercs, you'll loathe it. There.. more digestible for you?
I'm on a race track....
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Sounds great! In all fairness, we didn't want to rent a saloon of sorts hence why the Mustang!
Thanks pal!