Mad moment

[Eric]

Now it's no secret that although I really like the drive and comfort of my HDi I find the car dull, sluggish and uninspiring to drive.
That's not to say it's a bad car - anything but.
Any car that I've had for a year then not needed any work for it's MOT, never broken down and never put a foot wrong as well as being pretty good on fuel can't be a bad car.

But it's like a woman, yes reliable, safe and dependable is all well and good but it's when you have a girl that is a bit of a risk that you feel really alive!

Also with the price of Diesel climbing faster than petrol at a scary rate combined with the fact that I'm a driving enthusiast and this is my first "normal car".

Do you think I can manage to justify getting a V6 coupe for around the same price that mine is worth and although it may cost more to run it would make up for it with having some performance and the lower petrol cost may compensate slightly?

Or am I just utterly barking?

Me and the mrs could afford a little more in fuel a month but as long as it wasn't like like my old MR2 turbo that did around 20mpg
And that was taking it easy, on full boost it barely got into double figures.

I'm wondering what the real world mpg is like - most of my journey everyday is 30-40 mph cruising with a good section of 90mph+ dual carriageways with a few roundabouts but not much in the way of traffic.
I do about 850 miles a month and the HDi gets through approx £100 of diesel.

Any ideas if I should give it a go or are my maths so bad I'll be left crying and wishing for the slow HDi back?

[lawsys406t]

vvvvvvvvvvvvv66666666666666666666666666666666666 + phat induction kit =

[Eric]

vvvvvvvvvvvvv66666666666666666666666666666666666 + phat induction kit =

Oh yes the sound.
That's another one for the V6 - They do sound stunning on full chat, in tunnels *love*
Trouble is if a V6 is double the fuel cost it won't sound very nice just sat on the drive because I can't afford to run it

Anyone ever owned both?
How much more does it cost to run a V6 than the HDi in real world terms?

Actually thinking about it, a GTi-6 wouldn't be too expensive to run (wouldn't buy another one though, want something different.)
How much would the V6 406 differ in running costs from the GTi-6 which most people agree is fairly heavy on fuel and nowhere near the book figure of 32mpg more like 25mpg.

[Welly]

Interesting point.

I can offer some advice based on what a couple of reliable V6 saloon/estate drivers said on here a while back and that is that the 3.0V6 will do 35MPG on steady runs and possibly up to 38MPG.

I've just worked out that your fuel bill should rise to about £130.00 if you can average 35MPG but I think in reality your average will be 26MPG overall at a cost of £174.00 a month

Why not pop over to the Coupe forum and ask them about MPG's too? (you have our permission as long as you come straight back here ).

Oh and the other thing is that the V6 appears to never ever go wrong, ever. Just factor in a cambelt change if requred because that is expensive.

Welly

[Eric]

Interesting point.

I can offer some advice based on what a couple of reliable V6 saloon/estate drivers said on here a while back and that is that the 3.0V6 will do 35MPG on steady runs and possibly up to 38MPG.

I've just worked out that your fuel bill should rise to about £130.00 if you can average 35MPG but I think in reality your average will be 26MPG overall at a cost of £174.00 a month

Why not pop over to the Coupe forum and ask them about MPG's too? (you have our permission as long as you come straight back here ).

Oh and the other thing is that the V6 appears to never ever go wrong, ever. Just factor in a cambelt change if requred because that is expensive.

Welly

Well £174 a month is a bit less pleasant than £100 a month I admit and I suspect as do you that the lower fuel figure is going to be a lot more like the real world figure I'd get.
An extra £70 a month on fuel probably isn't out of the question and is affordable.
The Mrs may not agree but she did say as long as the car doesn't cost anymore to buy than I can sell mine for then I can get what I want.... I might hold her to that

[mbell666]

What kind of driving do you do?

If you do lots of short journeys than a v6 will be really bad on fuel <20mpg probably. However if you do a few longer journeys then it shouldn't be too bad 30 to 35 mpg.

I just gone from the a HDI, where i normally got well over 50 mpg to the lude. I've had between 29mpg and 35 mpg out of it so far, but the 35mpg was all long distance motorway stuff, but if i put my foot down and start enjoying the VTEC kick i can see it it doing more like 20!

I suppose it also depends on how much self control you have, if you can have the v6 and drive it like a grand dad then it shouldn't be too bad, but if having all that power under your right foot turns you to then it'll be costly.

Also need to be careful with road tax, Y reg or later v6 will be £400+ in road tax soon!

[Welly]

as long as the car doesn't cost anymore to buy than I can sell mine for then I can get what I want

Ahh, err.....I think you may be dissapointed here Eric

[Eric]

as long as the car doesn't cost anymore to buy than I can sell mine for then I can get what I want

Ahh, err.....I think you may be dissapointed here Eric

Should be able to get just under £1.5k for mine I think... Well I'd hope

Spoke to the Mrs about getting the V6 and she's not happy with the thought of an extra £50-£70 fuel costs a month
So I think that's a no go.

But as my workmate has done no reason I can't get a big engined LPG conversion.
He filled up for £25 this morning and that should get him around 200 miles.
Not that far off my HDi really when you factor in the cheaper costs of the fuel.

On top of that his car is a 3.2 V6 Jag and has more poke even on LPG than my car could even dream off.

Hmmmm....
A plan is forming....

*Scurries off to see what sub £1.5k LPG cars are on Autotrader*

[Welly]

I think (and I maybe wrong) that if you can get a V6 coupe for £1500.00 then it will be tatty and nasty

Also - LPG *really* shags the head of an engine as they run so hot the valves take a hammering and it normally ends up in a right state even after 30000 miles or so

The only anwer here is to remap your existing car for more smiles on the "torque wave"

[Blue406]

Spoke to the Mrs about getting the V6 and she's not happy with the thought of an extra £50-£70 fuel costs a month
So I think that's a no go.

Just as well. The V6 is a pig to service and to replace the Cambelt will set you back £350 easy

[Eric]

Well i know I shouldn't but I'm going to look into getting a Lexus 4.0 V8 LPG.
Yes it's mad, but LPG so it won't cost more than mine to run and have more power than I can shake a silly stick at.
The downside to it is if it breaks then it's going to be proper expensive
And it's also a lot older than my HDi.
But still... It's a Lexus.. what can go wrong!? (shhh... I can convince myself, really I can.)


Still... Nothing stopping me being silly and buying one apart from common sense... and who needs that

And the fact the Mrs will probably drag my arse over hot coals if I got one...
Still, it is a V8

I think you are right Welly - a cheap 406 V6 would probably be a right dog anyway.

[Blue406]

Lexus is an American brand of Toyota.
So, the engine will go and go till the end of the Earth.

I've not heard much in term of negative experiences about the bodywork etc.

Though it may be cheaper for fuel, check the tax and insurance. Make sure you're not saving on Fuel and getting raped elsewhere!

Most insurance companies rub their hands with glee when V8 is mentioned!

[Eric]

Lexus is an American brand of Toyota.
So, the engine will go and go till the end of the Earth.

I've not heard much in term of negative experiences about the bodywork etc.

Though it may be cheaper for fuel, check the tax and insurance. Make sure you're not saving on Fuel and getting raped elsewhere!

Most insurance companies rub their hands with glee when V8 is mentioned!

Very true.
The car would be a 1993 so no worries about tax.
At 35, with 7 years NCD and a clean license I don't think the insurance will be all that terrible tbh.

Apparently from what I read these things go on forever, they just do not break and are well known as a buyers car above 100k.
Buying an LPG converted one just sounds like the only way to go and apparently as long as the LPG system is set up properly and not just a cheapy install they should run fine for mileages that are way above what I'll ever need.

Sounds promising

[STALLED]

Spoke to the Mrs about getting the V6 and she's not happy with the thought of an extra £50-£70 fuel costs a month
So I think that's a no go.

Just as well. The V6 is a pig to service and to replace the Cambelt will set you back £350 easy

True that!

To change one bank of sparkplugs it means taking off the exhaust manifold and the cambelt + pump + tensioners is a pricey outing to the mechanic! The V6 petrol can be more efficient than the XU10 - afterall its A LOT newer and pretty high tech!

Oh and that quad cam V6 rorty exhaust note

[Eric]

Well I went home and some sense was banged into my thick head.
Apart from the fact we have to replace the wife's water pump (4 year old car, good going pauxhall! )
The thought of the Lexus needing two CATS at over £600 a piece made me think for a moment.
If the yearly consumables are Tyres and and brakes at maybe £500 for a set of each and the exhaust is a couple of grand the fuel savings with LPG might be wiped out very quickly.

And it is the worlds ugliest car, have to agree with her who knows nowt about cars on that point.

So she decided to pick a car for me.
A mk3 Mondy.
They are ok, but I'd have to have the GhiaX spec and if it's a mondy it has to be a V6 to make up for the fact that it's a Mondeo ;)
Unfortuantly Mk3 V6 Ghia Xs are rarer than hens teeth at the price range of a 406 HDi.
So it'd have to be a Mk2, old fashioned, slightly ugly but good engine and supposed to be good to drive, damn sight cheaper to insure than the 406 and all the other joys of a Ghia X spec.
Lots around for well within the budget of mine.
Obviously higher fuel costs than the HDi but I cant help think it'll be cheaper to maintain than a V6 406 Coupe because there are so many of them.

Apart from a plastic water pump and weak head gasket I can't think of any reason why a v6 mondy with all the trimmings wouldn't be a nice drive with a little bit of poke and not require my own oil refinery to run.

Going to go look at some this weekend, but have to wait until the Corsa water pump is fixed to know how much I have to play with.

Damn, I didn't realise my new car would be decided by her indoors when she said I can get what I want as long as it doesn't cost anymore.
Should have guessed