Galant GDI Engines - any good?

[jal5075]

they offer better fuel economy and lower CO2 emissions they say, but any disadvantages in owning on of these?

[bradc]

In real life on lower than Jap spec 100 octane fuel they are pretty crappy and if you get a bad one they will consume just as much fuel as a VR-4 and have no power at all either! Overall the V6 2.5l non turbo is a lot better, especially as even if you get a good GDI engine you can use standard 91 octane on the V6 2.5l and spend about the same amount on petrol. The V6 is also smoother, revs happier etc.

[jal5075]

In real life on lower than Jap spec 100 octane fuel they are pretty crappy and if you get a bad one they will consume just as much fuel as a VR-4 and have no power at all either! Overall the V6 2.5l non turbo is a lot better, especially as even if you get a good GDI engine you can use standard 91 octane on the V6 2.5l and spend about the same amount on petrol. The V6 is also smoother, revs happier etc.

but insurance higher on 2.5?

engine wise, the engine good in GDIs?

[Paul Beazer]

You dont actually say if its the 1.8 or the 2.4 GDI you're looking at, but I believe the GDI engines are in generally reliable, although they need to have regular good quality oil changes and they do have a habit of coking up as they use a lot of EGR to make them more emission friendly. So if they've only pottered about town then they tend to get a bit clogged over the years.
There are a few cases of the coil packs failing (not cheap to replace, about £115 each in the UK).

Personally i think i'd rather have the V6 NA (oh, i do!) as others have said the fuel economy isnt much diffent. Plus the V6 sounds great! Although if the car is a jap one set for 100ron high quality fuel then it does have greater bhp than the NA V6 (170 odd i think).

All of the above info comes from our own GDI expert Isaac, who will prob be along later.

[Rambaud]

A copy of a PM I sent this morning :

"I chose the 2.4 GDI over a V6 as they are significantly cheaper and less thirsty - but having driven neither before my pruchase.

The 2.4 GDI suffers from tappet (lash adjuster) noise, but a couple of oil & filter changes with good quality fully synthetic oil has minimised this. I have some Amsoil oil & filter for a further change in about 1000 miles time.

The engine is pretty smooth and quiet below 3000 rpm, but somewhat coarse above. It is not an engine that you want to rev to hear the engine note. I would think the V6 is smoother, although I have not driven one.

It is pretty frugal for such a large engine - I get nearly 40 m.p.g. on a long run, but this drops to nearer 30 m.p.g. for town driving.

The main problem with the GDI engine is that it can coke up, so it needs to be driven hard sometimes to prevent this. Mine seeems to be fine, and passed its MOT emissions test easily.

Unless low fuel consumption is a high priority, I am not sure I would recommend the 2.4 GDI over the V6.

It is possible that, if petrol prices continue to rise, the 2.4 GDI may increase in value relative to the V6."

[bradc]

I've owned a 1.8 GDI and a 2.5 v6 and been in a mates 2.4 gdi quite a bit. The pick out of the bunch by a mile is the 2.5 v6, for the reasons Paul continued to talk about :)

All of the engines are very reliable and you would have to be very unlucky to have a problem with them.

[Paul Beazer]

I think if you want to increase your 'green' credentials then the 2.4GDI would be the better one to choose, firstly for its fuel economy and secondly for the fact that it reuses its exhaust gases so there is less unburnt fuel going out the tailpipe, unfortunately this is also the reson it can coke up, so a good blast is beneficial to the engine as it will help shift a lot of the coke build up inside the engine.

[MGV6]

From what I know the GDI is not that green. For example the 2.4 GDI Equippe (Auto) does 218g/km CO2 emissions and the V6 Sport does 238g/km, both are still in the high group band. 218g/km is still very high :)

[Johnny_Cashed]

Just to compare, when I'm driving around town a lot my fuel consumption drops to about 28-29mpg in the V6

[Rambaud]

Filled up on Saturday, after a trip from Cambridge - motoway most of the time.

Mileage was 176 and it took 21.59 litres.

This gives a fuel consumption of 37.06 m.p.g.

Still not breached the 40 m.p.g. :(

Probably needs to be kept to a constant 60 m.p.h. (or less).

[luisigor]

I own a 2.5 v6 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. You may be asking why is the country relevant... Well there are a couple of reasons. If you drive here, you can drive anywhere in the world. (People drive like animals.. I mean it.) Another thing is traffic, it is very hard here. Distances are very short between one traffic light and the other, and the streets are in very bad conditions (bumps, holes, etc...) Taking that as the medium where my Galant "lives", it has turned out yo be really economic and reliable.

In city driving the car does about 27km/gallon, but in highway driving (I'm not going to say cruising because its also a chaos) at about 130km/h it does 56km/gallon. In this country, that is pretty good for a V6/auto engine with the Alaska type air conditioning ON.

My car has 107,000kms and the car is practically new (And I mean it!). The only thing it broke once was the torque converter splines. (Engine with to much power & crappy Mitsubishi's transmission design). I found a site (http://www.ptcrace.com/) where you send your broken converter and they make it seriously strong. But that I'll do later. (I'll find a broken one somewhere and send it, that way I wont be left on foot.) Ahh! almost forgot, the alternator's control had to me replaced a couple of weeks ago, but I think it was about time; the car has nine years, two HID kits (four ballasts), and a 300rms amp.

In conclusion the 2.5 v6-24 is pretty comfortable, powerful (great engine sound), "economic", and reliable. The only problem is... I have to import parts from NZ and Europe, and they are not cheap and easy to find. Its a shame there is not an European website like http://www.mitsubishionlineparts.com/ where its easy to find all the parts for the Galant VR (mine) and VR4.

Hope this helped.

[bradc]

nice little write up there Luis. I agree with it 100%, the V6 non-turbo is a great engine!

[Rambaud]

For those who do not use mpg, 37.06 = 7.62/100km.


27km/gallon = 16.78 m.p.g. (Imperial).

56km/gallon = 34.80 m.p.g. (Imperial). As luisigor says, pretty good for a 2.5L V6 auto.