Question about the 1.4 litre engines

[Jimp]

Going to look at a 1995 Vento next week with a 1.4 litre petrol engine. According to Wikipedia there were two different 1.4 litre engines available in the mk3 range in 1995, the ABD with 59 hp and 107nm torque and the AEX/APQ with 59hp and 116nm torque. My last Vento was a 1997 so it had a AEX/APQ and I thouht it was fine really, but I remember reading in random posts about the earlier ABD engine being pretty bad. Only had a 4 speed box and different injection or something? Does anyone have more info on the earlier engine and if possible how to identify it in case the sticker with the engine code is gone?
Thanks guys 

[chrisford_vw]

get the reg and type it into a car parts website such as euro car parts

[adamrob69]

Try and get the AEX, especialy if you have had one in the past, as you wont like going back to the older type!

Basically the AEX has multi-point injection system, although still as slow as the earlier engine, it deffinatly has more about it.

The earlier engines are single point (Basically an electronicly controlled Carburetta). In my experiance these are very sluggish.

As for gearboxes, i had five speed on both types, so not sure on that.

Other then how the fuel is injected the 2 engines are pretty much the same.

[avengedslayer]

my old 1.4 had 5 speed that was ABD, never had a problem with it at all! was slow but you should know this if your happy to get a 1.4

[Jimp]

Being slow is no problem I won't be in a rush anywhere  Thanks for the info guys 

[Ashley]

I know this is late, but I've got an ABD 5 speed, and it's crap.

Don't buy it.

[VR6-Joe]

I'm with the dude above..

First car I drove on the road was a 1.4 ABD 4 speed and it was the slowest thing I've driven since a pedal powered go-kart when I was a little kid!!

Second car was a 1.4 AEX and it felt a hell of a lot faster.. it could roughly keep up with my mates 1.8 from 0-30mph lol

Now I'm driving a 1.6 AEE and that's faster still.. I manage to pull away from my dads 2.0 Bora pretty easily!

Although it's no real match for all the VR6's I've driven

[Rmachines]

My AEX was pretty much the same as my AAM 1.8,  the ABD is under powerd for the MK3 really,  the AEX is far more responsive, has a lot more torque and is multi point.

The AE series engine was a diffrent block in its self, although the ABD looks similar its not quite so well built,  although to be honnest if you arnt worried about having a bit extra power... either would do the same. 

[LazyLunatic]

just for speed comparsion, my old AEX was on par with clio 1.2 16v. my m8s leon 1.4 16v had a slight edge over it. but was faster than the 1.0's out there.

not sure what the 0-60 figure is on paper, but i think mine was around 12-13 seconds.

LL

[Rmachines]

12-13 secconds is spot on,  they are good for a bit of ignition advance, makes it a bit more lively