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Chrysler PTCruiser CRD

What's the engine everyone's been waiting for in the PT Cruiser? A fire-breathing, big capacity V8 to match the hot-rod looks and burn up race tracks? Probably not if you pay your own fuel bills. Chrysler knows what customers actually want in the real world, and it's a modern, common-rail turbodiesel. Just think - custom car looks but supermini running costs.

March 2002

What's the engine everyone's been waiting for in the PT Cruiser? A fire-breathing, big capacity V8 to match the hot-rod looks and burn up race tracks? Probably not if you pay your own fuel bills. Chrysler knows what customers actually want in the real world, and it's a modern, common-rail turbodiesel. Just think - custom car looks but supermini running costs.

In creating the PT Cruiser CRD, the US manufacturer has made the most of its merger with Mercedes. It has already tapped into the rich seam of German oil-burners with the Jeep Grand Cherokee, which we drove last week.

In this case, the choice was a common-rail diesel previously used in the C-Class range. And while buyers looking for a practical family car will already fall into a camp of either loving or loathing the PT's looks, we can't see anyone not liking this engine. With 121bhp on tap, the oil-burning Cruiser is down 19bhp against its petrol-powered brother. But with 300Nm of torque compared to 188Nm, the CRD produces a much smoother power delivery lower down the rev range.

The 0-60mph sprint time of 11.3 seconds may be 1.7 seconds behind that of the petrol car, but in the real world the diesel feels faster because of that extra torque. Even from low in the rev range, throttle response is instant and acceleration effortless.

As a result, overtaking is a breeze and the Chrysler is now a better cruiser, being relaxed at high speed. Even when pushing on along back roads, the mid-range punch means it's easy to make progress with far fewer gearchanges. What's more, if you use the PT's surprisingly spacious interior to carry loads, the extra pulling power means performance is barely dented. You'll also spend less time at the fuel pumps - a combined official economy figure from the CRD of 40.9mpg is another bonus, and means substantial savings over the 32.5mpg of the petrol car. However, the Chrysler is still beaten by some smaller-engined diesel rivals.

The loss of refinement is barely noticeable, either. The petrol PT isn't the smoothest of engines anyway, and the oil-burner gets extra soundproofing in the engine bay to minimise the clatter reaching occupants' ears.

There's still room for improvement, however. All-round visibility isn't great as the A-pillars are quite wide, while the vision from the rear view mirror is hindered by the small boot window and middle back seat headrest.

The traction control system fitted to the CRD as standard also seems to be largely ineffective, and only works long after the engine's torque has caused the PT's tyres to lose grip on damp roads. The Chrysler is not the cheapest of mini-MPVs, either, although it's well equipped. Your

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