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Turbo and Towing

Cappy

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I tow a 21 foot boat quite a bit. Is the Turbo OK for a lot of towing or is the V6 a better option?
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Multihull

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I tow a 21 foot boat quite a bit. Is the Turbo OK for a lot of towing or is the V6 a better option?
The 2.2 is a better option for towing because the engine produces far more torque (Nm) than the 3.6 litre Penstar petrol engine. For towing it is more important to have more torque than horse power (Kw). A a basic and simple way to describe the two, horse power is "get up and go", quick acceleration. Where as torque is how much pulling power the engine has. This is why trucks have diesel engines not petrol engines.

The 2.2-litre Fiat four-cylinder turbo diesel unit produces 147kW of horse power and 450Nm of torque.
The 3.6-litre ‘Pentastar’ V6 petrol (gasolene) producing 209kW of horse power and 347Nm of torque.

It is also quite easy to get an aftermarket tune or tune box for your 2.2 diesel which can easily produce 530 plus Nm or up to 600 Nm if you want to push it's boundaries
 
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Cappy

Cappy

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The 2.2 is a better option for towing because the engine produces far more torque (Nm) than the 3.6 litre Penstar petrol engine. For towing it is more important to have more torque than horse power (Kw). A a basic and simple way to describe the two, horse power is "get up and go", quick acceleration. Where as torque is how much pulling power the engine has. This is why trucks have diesel engines not petrol engines.

The 2.2-litre Fiat four-cylinder turbo diesel unit produces 147kW of horse power and 450Nm of torque.
The 3.6-litre ‘Pentastar’ V6 petrol (gasolene) producing 209kW of horse power and 347Nm of torque.

It is also quite easy to get an aftermarket tune or tune box for your 2.2 diesel which can easily produce 530 plus Nm or up to 600 Nm if you want to push it's boundaries
Thanks, makes sense.

Anyway, I think I am going to go with the V-6 because my boat is not super heavy. My smaller V6 in my Cherokee does a great job towing my boat.

I test drove Wranglers with the Turbo and it just seems like it is trying too hard or something with the turbo kicking on and off every time I hit the gas a little bit. I guess I am just not used to an engine behaving like that and prefer the smooth but slower feel of a V-6.
 

CaptStarboard

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Does anyone have concern that a 2.2L Turbo Diesel is too small and working too hard to be a long lasting (300,000 mile + engine) in the JLU ? I drove it and it accelerated nicely, just a hint of turbo lag (but the 8 speed tranny masked a fair bit of that). Also the JLUR gets 3.73 gears instead of the 3.6 Rubicon's 4.11 gears... I'm sure this makes a bit of difference as well. Thoughts?
 

CallumJL

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The 2.2 tows great. I recent towed a 2t+ caravan and it did extremely well. Barely noticed it once up and going. Bit slow off the line but was not overly trying to pull away quickly. Still pulled well if you have it a lot of throttle.

The gearing is fine, the engine itself is so low reving it wouldn't suit the higher gear ratio.

The same engine used in a lot of Alfa's seems to have no issues doing lots of km and is very reliable.
 

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Multihull

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Thanks, makes sense.

Anyway, I think I am going to go with the V-6 because my boat is not super heavy. My smaller V6 in my Cherokee does a great job towing my boat.

I test drove Wranglers with the Turbo and it just seems like it is trying too hard or something with the turbo kicking on and off every time I hit the gas a little bit. I guess I am just not used to an engine behaving like that and prefer the smooth but slower feel of a V-6.
I believe you were test driving the 2 litre turbo petrol because they don't have the 2.2 turbo diesel as an option in the USA. It's just for export to Europe, UK, South Africa, Dubai New Zealand & Australia
 

Multihull

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Does anyone have concern that a 2.2L Turbo Diesel is too small and working too hard to be a long lasting (300,000 mile + engine) in the JLU ? I drove it and it accelerated nicely, just a hint of turbo lag (but the 8 speed tranny masked a fair bit of that). Also the JLUR gets 3.73 gears instead of the 3.6 Rubicon's 4.11 gears... I'm sure this makes a bit of difference as well. Thoughts?
This is because the diesel produces it's max torque and KW at lower engine revs so it doesn't need to have the lower ratio diffs
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