scott wrote:
> 
> Well I don't know, I've only got it for another 6 weeks then it's 
> getting replaced.  It's only done 60000km and has been serviced properly 
> at the right times by the official Opel dealer, so I think it's probably 
> a "feature" of the car ;-)

That's what Michael said also, so I'd guess it's just nasty programming :(.

> I get the feeling the car is designed to be comfortable to drive, not to 
> be very responsive.  Even if you sit at 2500rpm in 2nd gear, if you jump 
> on the accelerator pedal you don't get any jolt of acceleration because 
> the ECU smoothes out the throttle input, I'd say with a time constant of 
> about 0.5 seconds.  In some cars you can push the accelerator pedal up 
> and down quickly and the car responds instantly with forward and back 
> jolts, but not this car.

That sounds reasonable. Such soft response is actually much nicer to 
drive and still a car can perform pretty good accelerations and it's 
easier to handle.

> 
> Give me a turbocharged petrol car and now we're talking :-)  

Give me 2300 euros and feel welcome to drive one of them away ;). Saab 
900 CD* Turbo Automatic '84, containing cruise control, air 
conditioning, electric goodies etc.

*) CD is a long version, only 590 pcs ever produced.

> I think the 
> basic problem is that a turbo makes the engine only usable above certain 
> rpms, 

Basically yes, but with proper tuning those revs can be somewhere around 
1200-1300rpm. And even if those revs are higher, if the engine itself is 
powerful enough it doesn't matter. Eg. old Volvo 700-series with a 
good-conditioned D24T (2,4 liter 6-cyl turbodiesel) pulls from 500rpm, 
while the turbo (Garrett T03) wakes up around 2krpm.

> and diesel makes the engine only usable below certain rpms.  So 
> the combination of turbo diesel is a bit of a disaster compared to 
> normally aspirated petrol.

No, it's not diesel that makes the max.rpm be low, it's today's emission 
controls combined with engine management systems. Again the D24T, when 
it's in good condition, pulls up to 5500rpm (and sounds nice, think 
about 6-cylinder diesel with those revs :p).

-- 
Eero "Aero" Ahonen
    http://www.zbxt.net
       aer### [at] removethiszbxtnetinvalid

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