My New Fishing Wagon

[Elton]

Modern engine technology is unreal.

 

I wonder if a small-engined car would be as economical, though? We keep getting told to buy 50cc gnat-powered things, but I'm convinced bigger engines are better once you get out of town.

[Steve Walker]

The old Subaru does 30-ish on a run, but has no performance to speak of.

 

You can have the performance and the mpg - but you have to put up with a little aluminium and plastic car that you need to be a contortionist to get in and out of:

 

 

 

The average mpg isn't that impressive, but the fact is that it still does 28-30 if you drive it hard.

 

I have a new four piece 10' spinning rod that fits in a similar tube to those fly rods and thus fits in the boot of the Elise

[Dick Dastardly]

You boy racers bleating about fuel consumption make me laugh! Get a real fishing wagon and you will then really have something to whine about!

 

(living well beyond his means Range Rover owner!)

[Steve Walker]

Has your beast not been LPG'd, Budgie?

[Dick Dastardly]

last two were Steve this ones diesel.

[Rusty]

last two were Steve this ones diesel.

 

Were the LPG ones any good? What sort of payback period were you looking at?

[Dick Dastardly]

Were the LPG ones any good? What sort of payback period were you looking at?

 

Both the LPG ones Ive had came ready converted when I brought them so never really worked out the pay back period for a conversion. The performance with LPG is (unlike common myth) just the same as petrol re power acceleration etc.Never worked out the mpg and the cost of a tank/mileage return varied a lot as over the period Ive had them (15 years) LPG has gone up a lot.Trouble is that most readily available conversions only have large enough gas tanks to give you around 200miles per fill. Also the "growth" in LPG stations has not only slowed but also many stations that once had it have removed their pumps.LPG however does make Range Rovers affordable although still not cheap!

 

Most petrol V8's Ive owned have done between 8 and 15 miles per gallon.Even if you spend a few grand on all the add on V8 extras from the likes of RPI Engineering (A Buick type block V8 specialists) you will be lucky to return much more than 28.The diesel I have now (a very sluggish 2.5DHSE BMW engine) returns around 26-28.

 

In summary I would say the LPG is the best option as it gives affordable motoring but still retains full V8 performance.The draw backs being limited range and still poor availability.

[Steve Walker]

I think the issue with loss of power occurs more with conversions of engines which are very highly tuned in the first place. The LR V8s are only making 50-65 bhp per litre, so matching that with LPG is no big problem.

[weirwulf]

Nothing sounds bettern than a V8 especially running on blown nitromethane! Roughly 10 gallons to the mile rather than miles to the gallon

[Steve Walker]

Nothing sounds bettern than a V8

 

That's the worst thing about the Elise - the poxy little Toyota four pot sounds rubbish. It doesn't even sound great for a four cylinder engine. I'd love to rip it out and stick a Honda K20A in there instead if I could afford it - more power, more torque and a much nicer sound. They're been replacing Rover Ks with Honda Ks for ages, but the conversion has recently become available for Toyota engined cars.

 

The wife's car sounds a whole lot better, though it's only a V6.

 

Youtube Video ->

 

There are rumours going about that the Exige is going to get a V6 from the factory soon. I think I might possibly be willing to sacrifice the extra weight for the noise (not that they'll be within my budget any time soon).