No one would expect any miracles from an old, tired family station wagon with a similarly old, tired and outdated engine. So they took him on the highway. And they changed their minds.
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That we will slowly but surely say goodbye to classic engines, as we knew them until recently, is simply a fact that none of us will do anything about. In a few years, the questions about your car’s engine will look something like this: “How many volts does the mildhybrid have?”, “How much will you charge on one charge?”, or also “How much did the wall box cost you”? Until recently, and even today, we ask more about the number of horses, the number of speeds in the automatic transmission. And of course, if it’s gasoline or diesel.
Diesel was a natural choice for a family car
And yes, many “oil” was followed by a slight grin. We understand, oilman. Diesel belongs to the stove. Or to the tractor. In this context, I always remember visiting the unnamed BMW Motor Show, where I was looking at a new trio about ten years ago. And I asked the dealer for some details about the engine. The answer was a rather shabby “diesel belongs to the stove, sir”! So I revealed which engine is sold most often in the three. The answer has not come.
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Diesel engines have undergone incredible development over the last 20-25 years, and I recently wrote about the best diesels in history. With the original 1.6D in first-generation Golf, modern diesels are literally missing by space years. And they don’t even have to be unique in terms of construction and technology, having the latest generation of injection, several turbochargers and often more than four cylinders. The aged, ordinary diesel in a dozen family station wagons can also be pleasantly surprising. Let’s take a look at one.
After 18 years in perfect condition
We are dormant in the old Volvo V50, not an interesting average station wagon from the turn of the millennium. Volvo has not really made a hole in the world with it, its typical clientele simply goes higher and is used to “V70 up” models, which Volvo already understands today and the XC40 is basically the smallest model, however, it is nothing for the masses. Which the V50 could be. And with this diesel, definitely. The two-liter engine with 136 horses today looks like an infinitely old school version, about twenty years ago.
Eighteen here, actually. Nevertheless, it is interesting to see how he is doing on the highway without the slightest hesitation after those 18 years. It can be seen from the video that the engine has absolutely no problem with elastic acceleration, and even the maximum speed achieved would probably not be expected from such an old “veteran”. We believe that the absence of emission reductions, which otherwise prevent the natural manifestation of the engine, has greatly contributed to this. At such an age and quite average car – hat down!
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