Mitsubishi had a 2.4 GDi (gasoline direct injection) engine back in 1999/2000. It was a bit makeshift and was known for problems with burnt piston crowns etc. 7 years is a long time tho.
Mercedes Benz makes probably the world's finest petrol engines bar none.
I agree, the diesel uptake is strong but I'm not so sure that economy in whole life terms is better. You pay more for it, the fuel costs more and the servicing is more frequent and costlier.
I happen to like the stupid high torque figures that good diesels can sling out, but totally agree that they are horrid when revved hard. Mine is red-lined unusually high at 5200 In practice, you don't need to go much over 3000 with it to get very very strong performance indeed. And it's totally hushed at 3000rpm. Also it's long legged, 3000rpm is about 96mph in fifth gear. Which means that 4000rpm is 128 but it sounds horrible, basically.
At the red line tho it sounds like a bag of very smooth nails being shaken very very violently. ie no vibration, and not much noise, but what noise there is is purely nasty!
But there's something so satisfying about silky upchanges at 8000 rpm without a hint of strain or harshness. Diesels will never catch up on that front. Petrol technology is avdancing too, perhaps assisted by the diesel uptake. |