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UK minivan question
I've been over on that side of the pond about 10 years ago and saw a TD manual trans Gen3 minivan... I want one bad. The US Gov't is sooo increadilby stupid about over regulating diesel vehicles. I'm wondering what it would take to get a UK diesel, manual, Right Hand Drive van brought over to the US? I know it will never pass stringent DOT regulations, but I have ways to circumvent that.
I guess my questions are: what is the going price for a good used 1996-2000 minivan TD, manual, RHD? Anybody know the shipping costs? Who makes the engine and transmission for these vehicles, are parts hard to find, how is the durability of this power train, and what is the fuel economy of the TD package? |
fuel economy is not must better then the petrol ones.
engine is ok but heads cracks are common. it's a boat engine so possible to find parts that way. I hate the engine and would advise you get the newer CRD and forget the TD. |
I disagree on the economy side. Everyone I know with a 3.3 petrol engine struggles to get more than 25mpg. I regularly return at minimum 34mpg around town and 40 on the open road.
The engine is made by VM Motori and the newer engine is just a refined version of this one but with a cambelt and DOHC. I respect Merlins opinion on this engine as he is a Chrysler tech but personally I would rather have a less refined engine with a simple OHV arrangement and gear driven cams The same engine was used in the GM (Vauxhall and Opel over here and in Europe) Frontera as well as in the Ford Scorpio, Toyota Hilux / Land Cruisers, Rovers, Land Rover and others in various guises. However if you have ever been to London and have traveled in a black cab, then you have been powered along by one of these engines. Take a read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...ngines#425_OHV It is a real tractor sounding thing that certainly lets you know its there. By virtue of its ubiquity finding spares should be no issue. The rest of the car is exactly the same as the US model. I buy all my spares off a guy on eBay who imports them directly from the US. The gearbox is made by a German company called Getrag who also make the gearboxes in the MK4 versions. It is a crap gearbox that requires regular oil changes to prevent the synchro hubs from failing. As for prices check www.ebay.co.uk and www.autotrader.co.uk Also why buy a RHD when the same cars where made in Europe where like you they drive on the wrong side of the road. Ergo you can get a US spec LHD version. I have never understood the American aversion to diesels. You are still making hunking big, gas guzzling V8's that are massively inefficient and only give a semblance of power due to sheer cu in displacement. European / Japanese engineering has shown time and time again that smaller engines can be made to deliver better performance at lower fuel consumption. In fact even when large V8's are made they are still vastly superior to what comes out the factories over there, take BMW and Mercedes for example. I spent many years with an immense passion for American Ford Mustangs and have owned and rebuilt a good 80 of them. I know the Windsor small block 289, 302's like the back of my hand as well as the Cleveland and Windsor 351's and the big block 427,428 and 429's. Yes they where fun but really the fuel used vs the power delivered was a very poor ratio. It would be good if more of your fellow country men spent more time investigating fuel efficient diesels. The average TD is no slouch. The old image of a smoky, wheezy, asthmatic diesel is long gone. The new ones are fast, quiet (not the one in the 2.5TD sadly) and very very fuel efficient. Many smaller diesels over here get in the order of 60+mpg |
Originally Posted by glowplug
(Post 30691)
I disagree on the economy side. Everyone I know with a 3.3 petrol engine struggles to get more than 25mpg. I regularly return at minimum 34mpg around town and 40 on the open road.
The engine is made by VM Motori and the newer engine is just a refined version of this one but with a cambelt and DOHC. I respect Merlins opinion on this engine as he is a Chrysler tech but personally I would rather have a less refined engine with a simple OHV arrangement and gear driven cams The same engine was used in the GM (Vauxhall and Opel over here and in Europe) Frontera as well as in the Ford Scorpio, Toyota Hilux / Land Cruisers, Rovers, Land Rover and others in various guises. However if you have ever been to London and have traveled in a black cab, then you have been powered along by one of these engines. Take a read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...ngines#425_OHV It is a real tractor sounding thing that certainly lets you know its there. By virtue of its ubiquity finding spares should be no issue. The rest of the car is exactly the same as the US model. I buy all my spares off a guy on eBay who imports them directly from the US. The gearbox is made by a German company called Getrag who also make the gearboxes in the MK4 versions. It is a crap gearbox that requires regular oil changes to prevent the synchro hubs from failing. As for prices check www.ebay.co.uk and www.autotrader.co.uk Also why buy a RHD when the same cars where made in Europe where like you they drive on the wrong side of the road. Ergo you can get a US spec LHD version. I have never understood the American aversion to diesels. You are still making hunking big, gas guzzling V8's that are massively inefficient and only give a semblance of power due to sheer cu in displacement. European / Japanese engineering has shown time and time again that smaller engines can be made to deliver better performance at lower fuel consumption. In fact even when large V8's are made they are still vastly superior to what comes out the factories over there, take BMW and Mercedes for example. I spent many years with an immense passion for American Ford Mustangs and have owned and rebuilt a good 80 of them. I know the Windsor small block 289, 302's like the back of my hand as well as the Cleveland and Windsor 351's and the big block 427,428 and 429's. Yes they where fun but really the fuel used vs the power delivered was a very poor ratio. It would be good if more of your fellow country men spent more time investigating fuel efficient diesels. The average TD is no slouch. The old image of a smoky, wheezy, asthmatic diesel is long gone. The new ones are fast, quiet (not the one in the 2.5TD sadly) and very very fuel efficient. Many smaller diesels over here get in the order of 60+mpg |
If we get caught using agricultural diesel (red diesel) over here we get big fines. What a lot of guys do is get friendly with the local McDonalds or Chinese take away and come to an agreement to take all their used cooking oil. They then filter this through various graduations and run their diesels on this, adding petrol, methanol or white spirit (turpentine) to thin it.
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In the US, the DOT spends more emphasis on big trucks. I don't dare run it in my commercial trucks (ford with wrecker unit, dodge with flat bed or chevy box truck), but whose going to check a bunny. I have bulk diesel at my shop for my bobcat and tractors so it isn't like the petrol stations see me putting it in my car.
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UK minivan question
Kilo a Question....
Youve been playing the game, which side do you play? and has the game been alot of fun for you, cause I havnt even got to the point to start a war yet, and I was wondering how everything works, like how well do Carrier attacks been for you? and how have Sea battles gone? Questions like these, if you could answer the best you can i would Appreciate it, Im going to play a game this weekend, but before I begin just wanted to know how the game will be, with the bugs of course ...Thanks Kilo. |
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