Hmmm.....I reckon with a breeze block placed on the funny pedal the Nissan would run through a whole tankful in neutral at 7500rpm quite happily whilst Painless wept in a corner whereas the V8 would - probably - do something similar but only at much more economical revs.
When I was a student I had a 2 ltr. Cortina. My mate (not a student) had a 3.5 Rover SDI. His V8 was faster and more economical than my Ford.