Identical car, VERY different performance?!?!?

carstensdj

carstensdj

Expert Member
Joined
Apr 13, 2011
Messages
2,512
Reaction score
259
Location
Cape Town, South Africa
Hi All,

We got 2x new Chev Utility 1.8 bakkies here at work. The 1st one arrived 3weeks ago and now has 6121kms on the clock, and my one arrived on Thursday last week and has 678kms on the clock...

Yesterday my boss tells me that the vehicles have been wrongly allocated and that i need to give my brand new bakkie to the other guys and that i must take their one. (which i wasn't entirely thrilled with to begin!)

Both bakkies are identical year models and both 1.8's. The only difference is the kms on the clock.

Now my question... My original bakkie (678km) seems to be ALOT more nippy and responsive and has power lower down in the revs than the one which i now have (6121km). When you put your foot down in the one with less kms it really does pull more than the one with 6121kms. The exhaust note is also NOTABLY louder on the one with less kms. The only thing keeping me from hitting depression is the hope that the only reason for this is the millage, and that the lower km one will also feel like the one that i have had to inherit. Or... Is it a case of no two engines are the same and the one with lower kms just has a more punchy motor?

This is killing me and i just cannot seem to get my mind off it!
 
No two engines are the same. Factors of production and all...

But- if the performance is notably different, perhaps you should have the less responsive one checked out.
 
Take them both to the dealer and let them drive them - if you just tell them about it, they wont really look for the problem.
 
6000km is also halfway to a service interval. Oil wont be as clean, sparks may have a small residue on them, resulting in a slightly weaker spark. Fuel filter may have a slight clogging. It's called age. It starts deteriorating from day one. It should improve after the first service again, but obviously not the same as the first one.

The bit that worries me is that you put the foot down in a vehicle that has less than 1000km on the clock. Most people don't recommend that as seals and stuff are still settling under pressure, and high revving etc puts pressure on new seals and gaskets, and they've been known to become malformed as a result. Thus you're shortening the service life of the vehicle.

But that is just an opinion
 
Pooky said:
Ah I would be so pissed off!
Click to expand...
Oh believe me i am!

Ecco said:
Take them both to the dealer and let them drive them - if you just tell them about it, they wont really look for the problem.
Click to expand...
I really want to like you cant believe, but if i bring it up my boss shouts at me and tells me to get back to work and stop day dreaming, so i just cant see this happening... He's one of these "a car is a car" people and I am an absolute petrol head, so while this doesn't mean shiz to him, it means the WORLD to me... It's really getting to me!

graviti said:
6000km is also halfway to a service interval. Oil wont be as clean, sparks may have a small residue on them, resulting in a slightly weaker spark. Fuel filter may have a slight clogging. It's called age. It starts deteriorating from day one. It should improve after the first service again, but obviously not the same as the first one.

The bit that worries me is that you put the foot down in a vehicle that has less than 1000km on the clock. Most people don't recommend that as seals and stuff are still settling under pressure, and high revving etc puts pressure on new seals and gaskets, and they've been known to become malformed as a result. Thus you're shortening the service life of the vehicle.

But that is just an opinion
Click to expand...
Hi. Yea i agree about not driving a new vehicle high in the revs etc and am aware of that. I'm not saying that i've permanently driven the vehicle like that... I'm just talking about little spurts like overtaking for instance. Also, with my original one that was taken away from me, at 2500rpm you hardly touch the accelerator and you can feel that it wants to GO! Do the same in the higher millage one which i have now acquired and you just dont get that little jolt like it wants to go! It just seems more flat, like the power isn't there!
 
Takes 10'000km for an engine to settle in. Drive like you stole it for a while. Even my cars manual instructed me to drive erratic for the first 2000km.

Noticed the same thing with my i10 for the first 10'000km and then I had it serviced, since then the car is performing better.
 
To be honest... Climbing out the one and into the other almost feels like going from the 1.8 to the 1.4

Both have a little barcode sticker on the inside of the door which says "Chevrolet Utility 1.8 Base A/C" so they SHOULD both be 1.8's but drive them and the one just does NOT respond like the other... What's the possibility that we've got a 1.4 instead of a 1.8?
 
Performance should not be vastly disparate, not with modern production tolerances. Try to cancel out any psychosomatic perceptions; try something like timing your, say, 60 - 100km/h time up the same incline and in the same gear.
 
carstensdj said:
To be honest... Climbing out the one and into the other almost feels like going from the 1.8 to the 1.4

Both have a little barcode sticker on the inside of the door which says "Chevrolet Utility 1.8 Base A/C" so they SHOULD both be 1.8's but drive them and the one just does NOT respond like the other... What's the possibility that we've got a 1.4 instead of a 1.8?
Click to expand...

Go to the dealer and let them check whether the software on the car is for the 1.8 or the 1.4. I know of cases (back when they were still Opel's) where the 1.8's computer thought it was the 1.4, and it does affect the car.
 
It's a company car. Just keep it one gear lower than you would normally. You might need to turn the radio up a bit, but it'll be a lot more responsive :)
 
HapticSimian said:
Performance should not be vastly disparate, not with modern production tolerances. Try to cancel out any psychosomatic perceptions; try something like timing your, say, 60 - 100km/h time up the same incline and in the same gear.
Click to expand...
I reckon this is going to be the best and truest (is there such a word?) way to test. This way there's no way of having better/worse gear changes, better/worse pull away etc... Going to sit at 60km/h in 4th and time each bakkie to see the time it takes to reach 100km/h. Thanks for the suggestion Haptic
 
Those bakkies have air con? you checked its not running on the one you think has no grunt?
 
You said the exhaust is NOTABLY louder, maybe it has a branch and free flow done, along with a de-cat. Then it will pull stronger than the one with the higher mileage. A de-cat will improve throttle respone quite a lot.
 
Gerhardva said:
You said the exhaust is NOTABLY louder, maybe it has a branch and free flow done, along with a de-cat. Then it will pull stronger than the one with the higher mileage. A de-cat will improve throttle respone quite a lot.
Click to expand...

A work Bakker with 600km's on the clock? Right...
 
Tun@ said:
Those bakkies have air con? you checked its not running on the one you think has no grunt?
Click to expand...
Yep... made sure of all that...

Gerhardva said:
You said the exhaust is NOTABLY louder, maybe it has a branch and free flow done, along with a de-cat. Then it will pull stronger than the one with the higher mileage. A de-cat will improve throttle respone quite a lot.
Click to expand...
It definitely doesn't... It's a brand new out the box work bakkie.
 
AfricanTech said:
LOL - your co-worker fked the other one up and then persuaded your boss to swap :twisted:
Click to expand...
Wouldn't surprise me considering they fsked up the last 2 cars they had before that :mad:

Pi5ses me right off!!! My company cars are always spotless, well looked after, have oil and water checked every 2weeks, i wash my car every single weekend but yet i still end up getting handed the "2nd hand" 6000kms bakkie while the okes who fsck them up km by km get the lekker new, nippy one. TAKEN OFF ME and given to them i might add because paper work said so :mad:

I'm honestly so FSCKING angry!
 
Why are we worrying about the speed or performance of a company vehicle anyway? You're not supposed to drive it like a dumbass, and if management finds out that you have, you'll be deep in ***.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X