Been asked about a HGT Bravo from a guy I know.
His question is about 20V engines and the VIS non VIS version, this is his question:

"Is there actually any difference between those engines, major stuff like?
I'm guessing neither is more reliable its just a few updates and a little bit of extra power."

I don't know much about N/A 20V's myself apart from they sound fantastic

Has one drive a VIS engined car vs a car with non VIS engine???

I've tried both back to back.
I think the technical difference is that the vis has a variable inlet manifold.
The difference you feel is that the vis is a lot zippier from low revs, but by the time they are in the upper reaches of the rev range the performance is similar.
Once you've accepted that the vis is the better engine on the road you also need to appreciate that the older engine has a proper cast aluminium inlet manifold and rocker cover.
The vis has a horrid plastic engine cover and a failure prone plastic inlet manifold assembly which warps over time with the heat from the engine.
I'd probably choose the vis engine.

Cheers Skinflint, nice colour Coupé btw

Yes they do. ( what good taste you have! )




Never seen a VIS , so can't comment really..............they have about 5bhp more though

Thirded

Just turn on the subwoofer, dim the lights, get a box of Kleenex ready and click on this... http://s157.photobucket.com/albums/t47/Bodger_photos/?action=view&current=02062007003.flv

One day, after leaving a shop in town, I could hear a car revving away at the lights, sounded brilliant, but I couldn't see it because of a slight hill.
I said to myself 'that's no Jap hatch! '
So I waited to see what it was, if it came my direction, it roared away from the lights,

I thought it must be a V6 engined Alfa, it was a.....................................20V Marea !!

I had seen it about town parked up, and this was the first time I'd seen it be driven.
I think it has some sort of a sports exhaust and 17" aftermarket wheels and thats about it, no body kit/spoilers.

A young fella drives/owns its, it's probably insured as the parents car, but top marks to him for not going the usual Civic/Corolla route

I do hope he checks the oil though, all the revving and roaring away from lights will use a bit of oil.

Where was this dude?

Ross

The VIS engine is very different, it is very complex and costs a fortune if something electrical goes wrong.

the earlier 147 BHP engine is far easier to work with, and costs less to repair. VIS cars are very reliable, but due to a very modern electronic management system (modern compared to other coupe ECU's) they will cost money to fix if something fails.

my money would be on a early 147bhp model everytime if you have the option.

Cheers Rog !!

@Hyper
The guy who's asking about the 20V is in Dublin, but he's after a Bravo not a Coupé

The guy with the 20V Marea is in the West of Ireland near where I live.

If you insist

20V non VIS

Is that a Cybox exhaust Kevcrab? Sounds ever so nice!

Agreed. That sounds awesome

I would go VIS every day of the week! The VIS engine is much easier to extract more power out of because it produced the higher power whilst also meeting more stringent emissions regulations.
It isn't that complicated once you understand the CAN bus system that all the components hang off. The Stilo Abarth has the VIS and same sort of ECU arrangemnt.

I've just bought a VIS JohnS, what things different to a non-VIS can I do to extract more power?

Whats the VIS look like under the plastic engine cover?

The VIS has a two-part cover. There is a black plastic unit that attaches to the cylinder head which you would describe as functional, and there a plastic cover which then attaches to that which is the equivalent of the rocker cover I suppose except it covers everything.

The VIS engines respond very well to having some carbon intake (BMC CDA I think). There are two cam sets available - the 20V Coupe C&B cams and the 20V stilo abarth C&B cams. The latter have more lift as far as I recall. You will only get the benefit from them if you lose the airbox.
The downside to fitting an induction kit is you lose some of the bottom end grunt. Don;t fit a K&N filter as it will kill off the bottom end and destroy the benefit of VIS
There is some sort of partial decat kit available I think which also makes a big difference.
VIS works in a very similar way to the Porsche 993 VarioRam

Just to clear up the complexities of the ECU. The VIS ECU works on a bus basis. The bus is controlled by the ECU and every major component has its own controller that registers on the bus. So if one component goes wrong with the right OBDII reader you can identify the component and the error signal it is firing onto the bus and then replace only the faulting component rather than having to work your way around everything. The expense comes if the controllers themself fail or the bus fails or something like that.

An example benfit is that if you buy a Stilo without cruise control but it was available as an option you can retrofit the cruise control and it will register itself and work. If it doesn't work a flash of the main computer with the right program will allow it to work. Not much use on the coupe other than if you can write the program to allow a new component to operate but there you go

Yep , its a Cybox , couldn't believe the differance it made !