JTD Monkey
Member
My JTD has gone in for a service and I have been given a multijet (1.3 16v 70bhp) as a courtesy car. An ideal opportunity to see the advances in diesel technology. So far I have noted;
All in all, more refined for sure but if I was trading in a JTD ELX for a multijet Dynamic (an apparent replacement) I would be less then chuffed. the 1.3 16v 90bhp model (when it comes out) will undoubtably answer the performance short-fall, but I can't see it resolving any of the other problems with 'turbo-lag' potentially being worse
- The multijet is much quieter at idle with no vibrations through the car at all. There is a gentle 'hum' in the distance but it is not unpleasent. The JTD betrays its diesel roots at idle.
The clutch in the multijet is much lighter and it feel like a petrol cars (i.e. no vibration). The JTD clutch has always been a bit 'agricultural'.
However
It sounds like a moronic cow when you accelerate. It is most off-putting.
The turbo is like a 'switch' with huge-lag. At about 1800rpm it suddenly wakes up, or about 1 second after hitting the throttle when cruising. It can be fun the first few times, but gets tiresome very quickly and makes smooth driving a pain. The JTD has power at all times.
The turbo lag is a pain on hills. On the A1M I found myself loosing speed when I came to an incline, having to bury the throttle to keep up with traffic. The JTD never has a lag problem and laughs at inclines.
The JTD will crawl in traffic with no contact on the throttle, the multijet went into 'spasm' when I tried this and nearly stalled.
I did not expect performance to be as good as the JTD (down on power and torque although it is about 100kg lighter) but I found it really wanting for performance and not a patch on the JTD (the car has 6000 miles on the clock so it may need a little more time to loosen-up but it won't make that much difference)
The economy of the multijet (on the basis of the trip computer) seems little different to the JTD
All in all, more refined for sure but if I was trading in a JTD ELX for a multijet Dynamic (an apparent replacement) I would be less then chuffed. the 1.3 16v 90bhp model (when it comes out) will undoubtably answer the performance short-fall, but I can't see it resolving any of the other problems with 'turbo-lag' potentially being worse