General Bravo diesel power- potential owner

[stilotastic]

Hi, I am a Stilo owner and love my car, and my hubby is thinking of changing his Megane 1.9dci 120hp for a Bravo diesel. He has test driven a 1.6 and a 2.0 165 sport, and says they both seem sluggish from a standstill compaired to his Megane. He thought the 165 sport would have been really quick and its starting to put him off buying one, so I just wanted to ask if the ones he's driven are true to form or if maybe there is something wrong with them- there was no pin you in your seat moment when he put his foot down.

He is going to test drive a 1.9 120, and a 1.9 150 this weekend, as they're probably the ones he can realistically afford..he is willing to remap but says the torque just isn't there..I really want him to buy one though lol as they are gorgeous cars! Any advice would be great x

 

[Andysan]

Hi, I am a Stilo owner and love my car, and my hubby is thinking of changing his Megane 1.9dci 120hp for a Bravo diesel. He has test driven a 1.6 and a 2.0 165 sport, and says they both seem sluggish from a standstill compaired to his Megane. He thought the 165 sport would have been really quick and its starting to put him off buying one, so I just wanted to ask if the ones he's driven are true to form or if maybe there is something wrong with them- there was no pin you in your seat moment when he put his foot down.

He is going to test drive a 1.9 120, and a 1.9 150 this weekend, as they're probably the ones he can realistically afford..he is willing to remap but says the torque just isn't there..I really want him to buy one though lol as they are gorgeous cars! Any advice would be great x

Lucky hubby!

I have a 150 1.9 JTDM and find that I can often never get the best out of it - I'm of the opinion that stomping on the loud pedal in hope of lots of torque doesn't quite work as advertised.

I find I need to have a fair amount of revs behind me (2k) as I release the handbrake or its sluggish all the way through the gears. Also the cars can have EGR valve issues where it effectively waits for the valve to unstuck before accelerating but if you've tried two then I doubt it.

Maybe try a few more revs when pulling away - I find myself stalling sometimes if not. Be interested to hear other owners thoughts.

 

[stilotastic]

Hi, thanks for your reply, yes it would be good to see what other owners think. Seemed really strange having all that power and not having it instantly there to use. I will get him to try what you suggested about the revs..does anyone know if remapping will make a big difference to its pulling away speed? He does a ton of milage a week so likes the power to get out of trouble if needed. He has also been looking at 3dr Astras 1.9 150bhp, but I prefer the Bravo- I like cars that not everybody else owns!

 

[wegi]

When you go to get a car remapped, they can tune it to any way you want.
You can have insane amounts of power at low end revs or high end revs (but not both) or a smooth delivery of extra power all the way through. (best option)

 

[BravoMark]

The Fiat Bravo is one of thee most underrated cars on the road today. Read on for my report if you want, sorry it's quite long.

Used to have a 1.9 Dynamic with 150bhp. Drove it to Italy, France & Switzerland over the St Bernard pass in 2010 on a camping trip to Maranello. Temperature ranged from zero in the Alps to 36 in Italy. The car was amazing!! Not one thing went wrong. It had fantastic overtaking power. I agree with the pulling away in 1st gear comment to be fair but once going its great.

1. I could get 600 miles to a tank if I really wanted to but 550 was what I got from normal driving.
2. Blue & Me was faultless with a sony ericsson phone couldn't fault it too.
3. The cooler in the arm rest between the 2 front seats was a god send in Italy even at 36 degrees it kept bottles of water cool.

The one bad thing was the dreaded EGR valve. BUT it's so easy to fix its unreal. You can either clean it out yourself if you get a loss of turbo power or blank it off with a blanking plate.

Just bought a 2.0 sport with 165 but i quite miss the climate control and central arm rest. The F

Andysan said "I have a 150 1.9 JTDM and find that I can often never get the best out of it - I'm of the opinion that stomping on the loud pedal in hope of lots of torque doesn't quite work as advertised."

Driving a turbo diesel car like that will just give you a big bucket of turbo lag wasting power & diesel. Use the accelarator progressively to get the most out of the power.

 

[stilotastic]

Thanks for your replies! We will see how we go with the test drives at the weekend..hopefully he will change his mind and like one