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[waspy]

As some of you already know. I Bought a 3.2 Elite Estate a few months ago, been doing bits & bobs to it to get it how I like it (mechanical & cosmetically).
Took her out for her first good drive earlier & got back about half an hour ago. The ride's excellent, she handles very well with the Avons on dry & wet roads.
The disappointed bit is the power. As you know I've been driving around in a diesel for almost five years & the 3.2 seems a little flat down the lower end, you have to rev it to really get any where. Is this how the V6's are?? I think the auto box is the Achilles Heel.
I can see why the Police had manuals. I strongly suspect the manual box would unleash the power better

I feel a conversion looming

The diesel would keep up with the 3.2 with ease lower down, but obviously would run out of steam up the revs

[twiglet]

Tricky one this Pete.  Could the problem be that you also drive a Monaro?

Although I agree that the 3.2 auto isn't the quickest thing on the road, I find that mine gets up and goes pretty well.  I've certainly surprised a few GTi's at the traffic light grand prix. 

I also have a 2.2 dti Vectra C manual and, although I've always been impressed with the grunt of the engine, particularly low down in the rev range, it's certainly nowhere near as quick as my 3.2 Omega.

Perhaps your 3.2 does have a problem somewhere... 

Andy (VXL V6) will be the best person to answer this, as he runs both 2.2 dti and 3.2 Omegas. 

[VXL V6]

The diesel would keep up with the 3.2 with ease lower down, but obviously would run out of steam up the revs

You know that and I know that but standby to get flamed by everyone now. DTi's are underated by a lot of V6 owners on here but as you and I own both DTi's and 3.2's we know better....a healthy DTi pulls very well when it's 'on the turbo' and a 3.2 is barely any better in that rev range due to the autobox IMHO.

[tigers_gonads]

As some of you already know. I Bought a 3.2 Elite Estate a few months ago, been doing bits & bobs to it to get it how I like it (mechanical & cosmetically).
Took her out for her first good drive earlier & got back about half an hour ago. The ride's excellent, she handles very well with the Avons on dry & wet roads.
The disappointed bit is the power. As you know I've been driving around in a diesel for almost five years & the 3.2 seems a little flat down the lower end, you have to rev it to really get any where. Is this how the V6's are?? I think the auto box is the Achilles Heel.
I can see why the Police had manuals. I strongly suspect the manual box would unleash the power better

I feel a conversion looming

The diesel would keep up with the 3.2 with ease lower down, but obviously would run out of steam up the revs

Yup 

Convert it to manual 
You know it makes sense 

Question .............. are the multi rams working ?

And I suppose driving pretty much anything is going to be slow after the grunt of a monaro

[waspy]

Tricky one this Pete.  Could the problem be that you also drive a Monaro?

Perhaps your 3.2 does have a problem somewhere... 

Andy (VXL V6) will be the best person to answer this, as he runs both 2.2 dti and 3.2 Omegas. 

Uhhmm 450 bhp down to 210 bhp (is it) Could be that

I wonder if the 3.2 does have a problem somewhere    She's been looked after quite well, but I wonder if when they did the cam belt they missaligned gear.

I need another well tuned 3.2 along side to see how she does

[waspy]

The diesel would keep up with the 3.2 with ease lower down, but obviously would run out of steam up the revs

You know that and I know that but standby to get flamed by everyone now. DTi's are underated by a lot of V6 owners on here but as you and I own both DTi's and 3.2's we know better....a healthy DTi pulls very well when it's 'on the turbo' and a 3.2 is barely any better in that rev range due to the autobox IMHO.

That's exactly so Andy

[waspy]

As some of you already know. I Bought a 3.2 Elite Estate a few months ago, been doing bits & bobs to it to get it how I like it (mechanical & cosmetically).
Took her out for her first good drive earlier & got back about half an hour ago. The ride's excellent, she handles very well with the Avons on dry & wet roads.
The disappointed bit is the power. As you know I've been driving around in a diesel for almost five years & the 3.2 seems a little flat down the lower end, you have to rev it to really get any where. Is this how the V6's are?? I think the auto box is the Achilles Heel.
I can see why the Police had manuals. I strongly suspect the manual box would unleash the power better

I feel a conversion looming

The diesel would keep up with the 3.2 with ease lower down, but obviously would run out of steam up the revs

Yup 

Convert it to manual 
You know it makes sense 

Question .............. are the multi rams working ?

And I suppose driving pretty much anything is going to be slow after the grunt of a monaro

I've not checked the rams. Good point I'll have a play tomoz

[VXL V6]

The diesel would keep up with the 3.2 with ease lower down, but obviously would run out of steam up the revs

You know that and I know that but standby to get flamed by everyone now. DTi's are underated by a lot of V6 owners on here but as you and I own both DTi's and 3.2's we know better....a healthy DTi pulls very well when it's 'on the turbo' and a 3.2 is barely any better in that rev range due to the autobox IMHO.

That's exactly so Andy

I think the difference is that if you need to get a DTi up to speed quickly you obviously use each gear purely in the turbo rev range and keep the thing spinning! In an Auto the only option you have is to keep your foot flat to the floor so the kickdown switch is engaged and by the time the autbox has worked out what gear to select it seems a lot of time has passed...!

Don't get me wrong, I love the silky smoothness of my 3.2 and it's the most relaxing, stress free car to drive that I have ever owned. Looking at the power delivery I guess the V6 is almost a straight line throught the revs whereas the DTi has a flat spot either side of the turbo activation.

Thing is, I rate them both so i'll be keeping both for now, Diesel for the work commute and V6 for the weekends!

[cem_devecioglu]

Tricky one this Pete.  Could the problem be that you also drive a Monaro?

Perhaps your 3.2 does have a problem somewhere... 

Andy (VXL V6) will be the best person to answer this, as he runs both 2.2 dti and 3.2 Omegas. 

Uhhmm 450 bhp down to 210 bhp / 2=105 with auto  (is it) Could be that

I wonder if the 3.2 does have a problem somewhere    She's been looked after quite well, but I wonder if when they did the cam belt they missaligned gear.

I need another well tuned 3.2 along side to see how she does

corrected

[Elite Pete]

The diesel would keep up with the 3.2 with ease lower down, but obviously would run out of steam up the revs

You know that and I know that but standby to get flamed by everyone now. DTi's are underated by a lot of V6 owners on here but as you and I own both DTi's and 3.2's we know better....a healthy DTi pulls very well when it's 'on the turbo' and a 3.2 is barely any better in that rev range due to the autobox IMHO.

I couldn't agree more

[waspy]

Andy.
You really need to de-cat & remove a muffler from your's. This allows the gases to flow & the flat spot that you speak of in the higher revs almost goes
Mines pulls right up to high revs with ease

[twiglet]

You certainly won't get slated by me Andy, I think the dti is a fantastic engine!  I think you have hit the nail on the head though, the dti pulls like a train in the turbo band.  Pete has had his dti for 5 years, and keeping the engine in the powerband will be second nature to him.  And as you say, it does always feel like you are waiting for the autobox to catch up when you decide to plant the throttle.  Having said that, I still think the autobox is the right thing to have in a 3.2 elite.  It just makes the whole driving experience so effortless and smooth.

I can't wait to get my own dti estate sorted, so that I too will have the dti for work, and the 3.2 for weekends.  Happy days. 

[Darth Loo-knee]

Not overly impressed myself with how the 3.2 performs. I have driven from stand still to a certain place which with the 3.2 I got just under 95 mph. With my 2.6 the exact same run again from stand still to the same place 85 mph.
Be interesting to see what I can do when I have finished my new engine

[OmegaAnglesey]

I'd have thought the 2.2 petrol would be faster overall over the dti 2.2 and the 3.2 most certainly 

[TheBoy]

If you excuse the harshness and noise of the DTi, its not bad. It has an advanatge that its manual.  I still think the TD is a better engine, but many are auto, and that really is an awful combo.

If you get a change to drive a 3.2 manual, do so, its a hoot, esp if it has a 4.22 LSD

I still maintain the 3.0l is a more responsive, willing engine than the 3.2l