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c20XE or XEV??? please help

rc said:
but spending the same amount of money on a xe would get even more power ;)
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Now I cant even argue with that statement lol... Agreed that tuning the X20XEV is expensive but I hate how everybody just says they're crap because they're not as fast ... nothing wrong with the engines at all.

Was also nice to see a few strange faces when looking under my bonnet at PVS... people dont expect to see a tuned X20XEV :)
 
I see your point Ron but most XEs are high milers now or have had the **** ragged out of them by boy racers, and people want a small fortune for them! they aren't gold plated, the savings that you make by buying an XEV instead, would get you either cams or an exhaust manifold, the latter really helping to get you up to XE power!
 
As above the "157bhp out the box" statement is stupid imo? Yeah maybe 20 years ago lol!

I obviously fully agree with how exspensive it can be to tune xev's BUT as jim said people still want (and get) stupid money for c20xe's because of there rep still which tbh is mostly built up by mongs who dont know **** all anyway who are just copying what everybody else says and does? There's this silly hype that still go's with them where it still seems to be a case of if its not a redtop then its ****? Which is idiotic tbh!? If the x20xev was such a **** engine then they would'nt of modeled the z20let on it and then the z20leh from that?

I'd rather pay £200 for a low miliage xev engine because nobody wants it because its "****" and then another £300-400 to get it to about 170bhp than pay £300-500 for some janky old tappy 150 thousand mile redtop engine thats probably only got 120bhp left in it lol! And then another £300-400 again just to get it back to standard power plus a bit more and still only have 170?

Personally i will always prefer x20xev's and thats not just because thats what i have now as i have had a couple of older vauxhalls with c20xe's in and i just prefer the ecotec?
 
I still prefer the redtop and thats probably due to my reminissing about the racing pegiree of the old GTE. I agree with the above regarding age. My car has a 212k redtop that hasnt had any work in its life other than service parts. There is no way that it has any power left and i would imagine it wouldnt be able to pull in front of a well maintained XEV. Personally i only dislike the XEV because if the Siemens stuff. Just to add another oddity. My car is a K plate GSi and its on its origional engine, however the block is clearly stamped 20XE
 
:cool: excatly rc
those that own the redtop know
 
Xe wins hand over fist everytime.Much better head design straight away.Ive had both and the xe is just a much better all round engine.I had a phase two gsi with the eco in and a 1.6 sport with xe in at the same time so know back to back the xe was better.
All this about xe`s being old blah blah blah is rubbish.Better to spend acouple of hundred quid freshening up a decent engine than put an 8v block in with a crap designed head.
It would have helped if vauxhall had stuck with bosch for the engine managment rather than siemans,as all the ecotecs ive had have being nothing but trouble with afm,cam /crank sensors and all the egr crap.Plus they should have stuck the xe`s 4 branch onto it.
 
8v block? Well if it was that bad, why did they use it for the zleh & zlet, and why is the block used by the cLET boys for their builds?

I never had one problem with my XEV, In fact, if it wasn't because of the 4wd setup, I'd have dropped my old XEV into the GSi

And for people that call them Redtops - stop worshiping a skimmed milk.
 
big e said:
But those that own the xev know broken exhaust studs, cracked manifolds and leaking rocker cover gaskets.. :lol:
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They do? my engine hasnt got any of the above mentioned.... think you'll also find that the C20XE likes to wee oil from its sump even when its a new gasket :P
 
v6cesaro said:
Xe wins hand over fist everytime.Much better head design straight away.Ive had both and the xe is just a much better all round engine.I had a phase two gsi with the eco in and a 1.6 sport with xe in at the same time so know back to back the xe was better.
All this about xe`s being old blah blah blah is rubbish.Better to spend acouple of hundred quid freshening up a decent engine than put an 8v block in with a crap designed head.
It would have helped if vauxhall had stuck with bosch for the engine managment rather than siemans,as all the ecotecs ive had have being nothing but trouble with afm,cam /crank sensors and all the egr crap.Plus they should have stuck the xe`s 4 branch onto it.
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I'm basing my opinions (and of course they are just that, my opinion ;)) on driving my brothers C20XE, his does not rattle from cold and is a VERY cared for engine but even he says he'd go for a X20XEV... my X20XEV leaves his for dust btw ;)
 
If a std xev leaves a xe for dead,even a tired xe,theres something not right with the xe.
What i meant about the xev block wasnt right.The blocks are basically the same,but the xev has the same crank with the 6 boltholes,the same rods ect as the old 8v.Not as strong as the xe`s with the 8 hole cranks.
Nobody wants xev`s for a reason,nothing to do with the xe`s being better.If the xev was anywhere close more people would have used them.But they`re just a crap troublesome engine.I bet if you took one of each both with 100k on them and did a power run on a dyno i bet the xe would still pull more of its original power than the xev.
Mines being in 3 different cars and done nearly 150k.Still onits original headgasket ect and never being apart.Taps alittle when cold for afew minutes but then its fine.No smoke ect and it gets abused and run on cheap morrissons oil.
Agree with the xe sump leaking right from new.Double gasket was such a crap design but at least the bonded one does the job.
 
v6cesaro said:
If a std xev leaves a xe for dead,even a tired xe,theres something not right with the xe.
What i meant about the xev block wasnt right.The blocks are basically the same,but the xev has the same crank with the 6 boltholes,the same rods ect as the old 8v.Not as strong as the xe`s with the 8 hole cranks.
Nobody wants xev`s for a reason,nothing to do with the xe`s being better.If the xev was anywhere close more people would have used them.But they`re just a crap troublesome engine.I bet if you took one of each both with 100k on them and did a power run on a dyno i bet the xe would still pull more of its original power than the xev.
Mines being in 3 different cars and done nearly 150k.Still onits original headgasket ect and never being apart.Taps alittle when cold for afew minutes but then its fine.No smoke ect and it gets abused and run on cheap morrissons oil.
Agree with the xe sump leaking right from new.Double gasket was such a crap design but at least the bonded one does the job.
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I never said mine was standard :P My X20XEV ran 171.8BHP with high lift cams, 4 branch and headwork. Some C20XE's dont get that with the same mods (infact some just get back to "factory" power???). Oh yeah, mines just under 130K and its still kicking ass :P
 
Youve got to love the standard barble that the exhaust makes using a standard XE on a standard factory exhaust
 
v6cesaro said:
If a std xev leaves a xe for dead,even a tired xe,theres something not right with the xe.
What i meant about the xev block wasnt right.The blocks are basically the same,but the xev has the same crank with the 6 boltholes,the same rods ect as the old 8v.Not as strong as the xe`s with the 8 hole cranks.
Nobody wants xev`s for a reason,nothing to do with the xe`s being better.If the xev was anywhere close more people would have used them.But they`re just a crap troublesome engine.I bet if you took one of each both with 100k on them and did a power run on a dyno i bet the xe would still pull more of its original power than the xev.
Mines being in 3 different cars and done nearly 150k.Still onits original headgasket ect and never being apart.Taps alittle when cold for afew minutes but then its fine.No smoke ect and it gets abused and run on cheap morrissons oil.
Agree with the xe sump leaking right from new.Double gasket was such a crap design but at least the bonded one does the job.
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Now the XEV block is stronger due to it having a girdle iirc, I know about the rods, but the cranks aren't weak at all, if they were why hasn't people like Leon binned them in their chase for power
 
I love my XE. But I have been in Leons XEV and love that. They are both good for their own reasons and I think its entirely down to personal preference. If I had struggled to get a decent XE at a decent price, I wouldnt have even hesitated to look for an XEV.

Oh, and my tappets are silky smooth and quiet thank you very much :P
 
The xev aint really that bad an engine, imo its the management/faulty sensors that mainly lets it down, but im standing tall in the xe corner as thats what will be makeing its way into my zafira when ive collected everything for the conversion.. :lol:
 
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