And how can I increase performance of my 1987 Datsun?

Hi,
I have been running on my first car, a 2010 Toyota Premio. The engine is quite big, 2-litre valvematic. The car has been a blessing to me. Zero engine or transmission problem for four years now, though it had enjoyed only synthetic engine oil. I want to upgrade to a crossover. Either a VW Tiguan or Subaru Forester. I have heard numerous complaints that the Tiguan behaves like a beautiful woman who has a medical condition so is always running to the doc. Please advise on generic mechanical problems of both. I am hoping it will not pinch my pockets and will run just like the Premio.
Simon.

Hi Simon,
Even before we get into deriding the Tiguan — if we will even do that at all — from the recent history of this column, you may notice this is a highly probable Forester win. Let’s now get into the nitty-gritties:
One of my relatives has a Tiguan, and it is a Volkswagen through and through. Classy, smooth, solid, quiet, powerful when the need arises, economical when you want it to be, seats five, has an accessible boot, square silhouette, it’s even white in colour … it ticks all the right boxes, until you get to drive it.
Now, I will admit two things: the first being that this could have been a peculiarity of that particular car. Perhaps other Tiguans are less fidgety — the only other one I have driven is the new one, the one I really like, and it drove like a normal car. The second thing is, when I drove this white Tiguan, I had just come from driving my Mercedes. Anyone who drives a Mercedes, especially an older model, knows they have heavy controls that require deliberate inputs for them to actually do anything.
With these excuses in place, let me say it was a bit embarrassing driving that Tiguan. The steering and brakes were overly sensitive, meaning helming the car was like jockeying a housefly: take-offs, landings and changes in direction were abrupt and came with little prior warning. I must say I didn’t quite like it. It also felt tall and a tad unsporting. With all these observations, small wonder then that I am seriously enamoured with the new one. It is so much better, like with the Polo, should DT Dobie offer the same finance incentives as the Vivo, I will be first in line to ask for it in exchange for my life savings.
But we are not talking about the new Tiguan, are we? Your description of the Tiguan being a sickly belle is a bit extreme, let’s just say it is more of an attractive hypochondriac. Like many other small Volkswagens, there is a tendency to feign malaise when nothing really serious is afoot. This, however, is where you need to be careful: who diagnoses the vehicle.
With a Subaru, any mechanic operating from under a tree can do it, mostly because with Subarus, majority of repairs are mechanical: a result of something literally breaking due to enthusiastic driving*. With VWs, it could be anything. Electrical, mechanical, software, hardware, sensors, shocks, turbo, sunroof, seat adjustment, lights, indicators, low battery, a loose fuel cap, electrical and also electrical. These require someone familiar with the vehicle to sort out lest a small problem is made worse through inexperience.
(Disclaimer: "Enthusiastic driving" is not necessarily speeding. It could be overestimating the vehicle’s abilities such as off-roading, or load capacity or even braking distance such that you hit a bump or a pothole. A lot of work done on Subarus centres around suspension and steering.)
The Forester just has two problems which I believe I have highlighted before, the first being the power assistance for the steering. Modern Foresters use an electrical set-up that will fail and cost you six figures to replace. This can be avoided by either buying an older model, or by going the turbo way: both these sets use a more traditional hydraulic system. The second problem is … you guessed it: suspension, more so the stabiliser links. They tend to be a bit weak in Foresters, which is further exacerbated by the fact that I am here every week shouting about how Foresters are good off-road, so there is a tendency to take them there. Perhaps you should invest in a stabiliser links manufacturing company and secure your children’s financial future …
With good care, either car will serve you well, but sadly for the Vee-Dub, it gets edged out ever so slightly because it becomes unpredictable and just a wee bit undependable with age, and this comes with a price tag attached to it, to add weight to the yoke. Two down, and strike three is the fact that you need to befriend a specific garage you can trust to work on your car or else it will quickly turn into a garden ornament, a metal-and-glass sculpture-in-the-round erected as a monument to the hurtfully necessary pillar of Teutonic capitalism that is planned obsolescence.
Just get the Forester.

How can I increase the performance of my beloved Datsun 1200, 1987 model?

Hi Baraza!
I own a Datsun 1200, 1987 model ex-Japan still in very good condition. I wish to seek your guidance on whether there is a way I can increase performance in terms power, speed and fuel efficiency (apart from weight and excitability of one’s right foot on the peddle … Driving technique). I service it regularly and use V-power fuel to ensure smooth running.
Best regards,
Rotich

Hi Rotich,
Yees, there is one other way to increase power, speed and economy in your Datsun 1200: installing a modern engine in it. The SR20 block is well known within motoring circles as quite the engine for this: cheap, broadly modular (meaning it can fit in just about anything) and relatively easy to tune and/or modify.
You won’t even need to struggle to get it in: the SR20 engine is built by Nissan, which is Datsun. Or was. Plug and play.
(Addendum: you could tune the carburettor, but unlike electronic fuel injection, you can never have both power/speed and economy in the same system. You have to choose one. With EFI and an ECU, you can have both, hence the SR20 recommendation. Also, carburettors are extremely difficult to tune.)

Why are these two Toyota Hilux double cabins consuming too much fuel?
Hi Baraza,
We have two Toyota Hilux double cabin KUN25R-PRMDHN turbo. Both are new, but they consume one litre of diesel for every 9.5km. The older one, a 2800cc non-turbo, was consuming a litre for every 10 kilometres. This is a bit strange because one would expect that since this one is turbo, it will consume less fuel. Compared to its sister D4D, the difference is huge — D4D consumes about 13km per litre. What could be the explanation for this?
Rwihura

Hi Rwihura,
Are you the same person I was discussing Hilux braking systems with, back in, was it 2014? I had a Mazda Demio back then, so it must have been 2014. Now, a thirsty Hilux. Hmm. Let’s see … Have you dismissed the usual suspects — the primary one being driving style? Let’s start by ensuring that the approach to the comparison is scientific. Before alleging that one vehicle is thirstier than other, we can ask such simple questions as: are the vehicles being driven by the same drivers in the same or broadly similar conditions? If yes, allow me to narrate something I have observed with keen interest. As the days go by, drivers are becoming ore and more aggressive, particularly if they find themselves in a huge SUV-or-its-ilk type of vehicle with a turbocharger. There is a tendency to floor these vehicles everywhere, so much so that several times I have picked a low-mileage vehicle from Toyota Kenya to do a test only to find the previous driver was averaging 5 — 6 km/l in a vehicle that should easily be doing twice that — which I then proceed to easily do myself — not 6km/l, but twice that. People become more aggressive when they have access to power: be it financial or political or mechanical.
This may explain why the 2.8 NA* does better. When you know you have nothing under the bonnet, do you even bother? As Kenyans love to say, you stick to your lane and "struggle with your condition" (pambana na hali yako). But when you have lived your whole life with a chip on your shoulder against Subaru drivers, the day you have a Hilux with a turbo, you will vent all your frustrations in one fell swoop. I have fallen victim to a few of these and I will say this right here right now: modern turbo diesel engines have some pulling power that was previously unheard of. Exploit this power on the regular and the receipt for your payment will be served through the fuel gauge. However, the presence of the "D-4D*" in your message throws a spanner into the works in more ways than one: first, it brings to the fore a glaring oversight on your part: you didn’t specify what engine(s) the KUN25R* pair packs. I know this is the AN10/20/30 model Hilux, and some have D-4D engines, what I call the KD family (1KD* and 2KD*). The ones that don’t have KDs have petrol engines, which I assume are not part of this discussion. So which engine does the offending vehicle have, the 3.0 litre 1KD or the 2.5 2KD? And which engine does the "D-4D" have? (the KD engine family are all D-4D). You can see what I mean by glaring oversight, yes? Were the PRMDHN pair victims of an engine swap? And when you say "D-4D" you do know this could also mean the 4.5 litre 1VD V8, yes?
I’m guessing your KUN25R is 2KD-powered while the "D-4D" is a 1KD which means perhaps the drivers are compensating for the missing pint of capacity using wider throttle openings, which may explain the inverted disparity in consumption.
(*Key: NA means "naturally aspirated". D-4D means "direct injection, 4-stroke cycle — diesel". 1KD is a 3.0 litre, 4-cylinder direct injection turbocharged diesel engine built by Toyota. 2KD is more or less the same thing, only it displaces 2.5 litres. KUN25R is just a platform code for the previous generation Toyota Hilux, the AN10-30 series.)
One more thing: the transmission. What transmissions do these vehicles have? I found the 5MT (5-speed manual) in the KUN25R to be a bit mismatched with the engine characteristics for the 2KD model such that it pulled nice and good from 2nd — 1st being unnecessary a lot of the time — but 3rd, 4th and 5th were too close together, meaning doing the speed limit on the highway was a revvy, boomy affair which also does not bode well for fuel consumption. That is why the 6MT that came later with the new AN120/AN130 model was such a welcome relief both for NVH (noise vibration and harshness) and for fuel economy. For the KUN25R, you are much better off in the auto if you want a quiet, fuss-free and slightly more economical drive, but this too has a caveat.
Some of these automatics came with what Toyota calls ECT-i: Electronically Controlled Transmission with Intelligence. In normal running, the transmission is smooth and gentle, upshifting early and downshifting late, trying to make your life as comfortable as it could while being as inconspicuous as possible in the proceedings, like an experienced butler. However, if you decide to attack the far right corner of the speedometer, this butler turns into a bouncer. Loud, brash, aggressive — it holds onto revs, upshifts later and harder, with full lock-up in the torque converter, and downshifts early to stay in the power band/keep the turbo in boost while maximising engine braking. I don’t need to explain the effect this has on fuel economy, do I?
* * * *
After much convoluted conjecture, perhaps the cause of the unimpressive fuel consumption might not even be anything I have written so far. Maybe the vehicles just need better maintenance or better quality fuel …