Club 80-90 Forums

Hi,

I am hoping to be a t25 owner again very soon, having had to put up with dull cars for the last couple of years. In the past I have owned a 1980 2 litre air cooled devon moonraker pop top, a 1987 water cooled reimo pop top and most recently a fantastic 1990 high top autohomes kameo (only draw back being 2 berth, which explains why i sold it when the kids turned up!). I'm now thinking about getting a late 1.6 Westie, but wondering how different I'll find the diesel in comparison with the good water cooled vans I've had in the past. Is the diesel much noiser, slower, more vibration etc? Any views? Many thanks!

bgwwebb wrote:Is the diesel much noiser, slower, more vibration etc? Any views? Many thanks!

Not a 1.9, so not directly what you're asking, but when we were buying we test-drove otherwise identical 1.6TDs and 2.1WBX Westies. No comparison, imho. The JX was MUCH louder and slower. From the back seat you had to shout and really strain to communicate with the front seat. Even bimbling from the yard to the road, the 2.1 felt like a rocketship in comparison.

The payoff, obv, is fuel cost - if you can live with the space loss and install cost, then LPG levels that.

thanks Adrian - the noise is what I feared most! Anyone got any views / tips on ways to improve sound insulation? Or should I stick the the petrol engines (or buy ear defenders!)?

My diesel at 60 is quieter than my old 1.9dg , different van though so my old one may have just been a noisy one. Personally I wasn't keen on my old 1.9dg (thirsty,noisy and slow)but have been told the 2.1 is an altogether different beast. I'm happy with my AAZ td which cruises 5-10mph faster than my jx did and is more importantly to me lot more flexible still not a flying machine but ok to sit at 65mph with enough in reserve for reasonable acceleration for motorway overtaking. I've never been in a 2.1 or tdi engined bus though mainly because I know I'd probably want one!

save your money and buy a chipped tdi engined van its the only diesel worth having , the standard diesels are painfully slow and noisy, i used to run a aaz camper for a time its a experience i dont want to repeat ,

I had a jx for about 4 years in my current van.

It was fine....not noisy...not overly slow....it did lack power on long climbs meaning that you had to change down and ultimately lost speed. This was more apparent when fully loaded.
If you can find a good one that has been looked after then they do a good job.

Obviosly tdi is a different beast....drags you up banks in 5th without effort.

2.1i with the late exhaust.. is all you need

quiet power

yes but fuel consumption is ridiculous kev

faggie wrote:yes but fuel consumption is ridiculous kev

No, not really. It's actually surprisingly decent, considering what it is. Call it a snidge under 25mpg as a ballpark. Not far off what a mate used to get from a hightop LWB pre-CDI Sprinter.

Mind you, that wasn't using it in town or short-journey stop-start, which certainly would hit it.

i've owned
1.9WBX nice and quiet, ok on fuel (mid 20's) LPG'd it and comparitive mpg increased
1.6td jx not as quiet, a pretty harsh engine noise on Mway made talking to back seat hard work. Mine was ok going up hill's would stay at 50-60pmh, but i have a very undergeared syncro
1.9td AAZ slightly quieter than jx, and a bit better engine sound. Went up hills a bit better
1.9TDI Quietest engine of the lot, can talk with the back without raising your voice. Goes up any hill in top gear

we have a jx westy syncro, and i would describe the power as adequate, as a result you do have to work the engine quite hard at times. it is noisy, it dose vibrate, it dose smell and every time you go in to the engine bay you come out black and oily.returns around 25mpg which being a syncro is the engines main plus, but it's a 25 year old van and it dose the job as its a camper and when we use it we are not in a rush, that said it wont be staying a diesle for much longer at some point i will convert it to petrol for all of these reasons,

the best driving van we owned was out villa 3 2wd, which had a healthy 2.1 dj mated to an AAP box and absolute pleasure to drive smooth, powerful, comfortable, and relatively economical we regally around 25mpg,

what ever engined van you end up with if it still has a jx or a wbx the chances are that it will be close to the end of its working life unless your very lucky and well looked after. so it is worth considering what you will replace it with if and when it needs replacing

neil