P38a and Fuel Economy? Surely an Oxymoron?

I just got 20 mpg average out of my unconverted 4.6 P38a on a 340 mile round trip to Essex!!! Now I'm feeling really smug about not having a nasty LPG installation fitted. Okay, so when the other half uses it for clogging the roads around the school morning and afternoon she only gets about 14, but then she only does about 60 miles a week. If I got it chiipped it might get even better...

Simon U

Reply to
SimonU
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Way to go, that's not far off half the economy of a normal car! :)

I'll stick with my LPG thanks very much, even if the price *is* going up.

D
Reply to
David French

Don't blame you David. If I end up getting a second P38a I might get one of them converted, but I've just got to keep one as god intended. At the moment after having spent a week with the thing, and experienced the 'Land Rover' elevated driving position mixed with the V8 performance and more 'sorted' suspension on a couple of long commuting drives I'm seriously thinking of chopping in the Audi S3 for a very late P38a. In the nose-to-tail traffic of the M11 on a Monday morning and Friday afternoon it just felt safe. I could see way ahead and, if I needed to, I could dive out into a space in the outside lane without holding people up. I haven't got a heated screen on the Audi either - that was a boon with the icy mornings last week!

Simon U

Reply to
SimonU

Careful Simon, you might get me started on the whole driving position thing...

I find driving in a Land Rover more (a) relaxing - you can see what's going on ahead, which somehow makes things less stressful; and (b) safe - I often find I'm reacting to hazards long before people around me who can't see what's going on.

I have to say, I think there's also some primordial feeling of superiority which comes from being higher than most other people, which makes me feel less road-ragey. And you definitely get more respect from other road users, probably because they are frightened you will squash them and don't want to take the risks they would with smaller cars.

However, we as members of the afl fraternity need to keep this quiet, because once everybody starts driving around in a Land Rover, the whole thing is ruined and we're back to square one.

The Range Rover is a bit odd for me as a teetotal vegetarian semi-anti-capitalist (but hey, I work for a giant US-based multinational capitalist corporation, so I'm not entirely sold out to the Green crowd). I like to do my bit for the environment, and I do feel a bit of a hypocrite driving around in a big, heavy, gas-guzzling leviathan. But I don't think I'd be happy in anything else right now. At least if I ever go to an anti-capitalist rally, I'll be quite distinctive, as I'll be the only one in a Range Rover. (Hmm, probably best take the bus.)

I had the wheels balanced earlier (they were full of tyreweld, all 4 of them, so were unbalanced and unbalanceable until it was all slooshed out) and it's now smooth as anything on the motorway. Hmm, lovely. I'm currently very happy with it, but I'm not kidding myself it won't take this opportunity to break something expensive and get me all cross again.

David

Reply to
David French

Taken as read with a LR product but I also like the insular Club Class feeling I get in the RR.

Doesn't have that effect on White Van Man though, does it?

You have to have a certain tolerance to use a LR product as a long-range vehicle and that quality alone would make people a lot more pleasant to share the road with.

Yes, I've already replaced the drivers window winder mechanism and as soon as I can get my laptop, daylight, time, a level surface, my tape measure and a spirit level together I need to calibrate the suspension on mine. It keeps dropping the back end down to the bump stops and evacuating the reservoir and I know it's not calibrated correctly on at least standard height setting.

Simon U

Reply to
SimonU

Let me know how you get on, I can't work out what the hell mine is doing. How do you calibrate it?

David

Reply to
David French

You are doing your bit for the environment. The EU recently worked out that over 90% of the total pollution caused by a vehicle was generated during it's manufacture, not out of it's exhaust during it's life. QED driving an older LR is 9 times more green than your muesli sandal wearing wankers in their new and regularly replaced Insights and Prius's. So tell them to f@ck off if they try and pull any green rank on you! :)

Reply to
Exit

Just got 19mpg out of my Disco V8 lpg on a gentle 60-70mph run to Lymington and back. At the price I paid for the gas thats around 42mpg cost equivalent. . . . . . . :)

I don't think i could afford to run an ordinary car with their 35mpg thirst. . . . . . ;-)

Reply to
Exit

That's the problem. I only get about 26mpg out of the Audi because of the way I drive it!!! So keeping my licence, driving more legally and safely and in slightly more comfort seems a better way, even if it does mean the journey is 45 minutes longer!

Simon U

Reply to
SimonU

You need something like RovacomLite, Rovacom, Testbook or Autologic to read the ECU. The height sensors at each corner provide an analogue input into the ECU which is converted into a digital value typically between 40 and

225. Manufacturing tolerances mean there will be differences between the four corners so the correct 'target' settings for the different heights are 'settable' in the ECU. Calibration involves putting the vehicle on a level surface and ensuring that when the target value for each corner is achieved, the vehicle is level and at the same, correct height at each corner. AndyC has a page on his website
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devoted to this which goesinto a lot more detail if you're interested. Simon U
Reply to
SimonU

Here's one for you then. I've spent the morning checking the height of my P38 every few minutes with a tape measure to see if the air springs are leaking. I've tried both inhibiting the auto-levelling and leaving it to its own devices. More about this later, but one thing I've noticed is that when raised to wading height, both front wheel arches and both rear wheel arches are about the same height from the ground, to within 2mm. But when I leave it at normal height, the front right is about 10mm higher than the front left, and the rear right is about 5-10mm higher than the rear left. Any thoughts as to why this is? Calibration or coincidence?

I'll post more about the leak question later when I have some more results...

David.

Reply to
David French

On or around Sun, 21 Dec 2003 15:08:31 GMT, "SimonU" enlightened us thusly:

that reminds me, was gonna look them up on the web, having seen one of their adverts.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

Excellent piece of kit, with downloads over the internet. Added functionality coming through with each update and all for the original purchase price.

Simon U

Reply to
SimonU

Just been playing with a friends Autologic system and downloading some updates for them. He can now use it to chip TD5 for more poke! Nice piece of kit.

Reply to
Exit

You've really got to want a P38a for it to be worth having one. When we went to buy ours, I was sold the instant the dealer started it up. The cooling fan makes more noise outside than the engine, but watching the thing rock as the throttle is 'blipped' leaves you in no doubt about the potential. Get in, put it in drive and gently prod the throttle and it wafts off down the road like any limo. Put it in sport and gun the throttle and it's a totally different animal. Bit of a brown trouser job if you leave it late with the braking approaching a roundabout - there's a lot of weight to pull up there and the brakes aren't sports versions. I'll worry about the reliability bridge when I get to it.

Simon U

Reply to
SimonU

There speaketh the converted ;-)

Mind you, for all the fact that the 38 is upmarket, when i turn up at farm yards to get bits and pieces I find that people are waiting for me when i'm in the classic, but I have to go and find people when i'm in the mondeo

The bit I like the best tho, whichever way you look at it, is the ability to sit on an A-road, and you get "Ronnie the Rep" two inches of the rear bumper. He's weaving all over the shop, trying to find a way past. So what do you do? You plant your right foot all the way to the underlay and watch the repmobile fading in the rear view. Love it!

Si '93 3.9 v8 Classic

Reply to
simonk

Any ideas on the 0-60 for the 4.6? Also was there a vogue model made or is the best a HSE autobiography?

MC.

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Reply to
Mark C.

At a guess I'd say less than 10, but it's certainly quick enough to embarrass Golf GiTs that aren't in the right gear. Truth is, it's not quick off a standing start but is surprisingly nimble at overtaking, though all along you're aware that it's not got matching handling when you're on a roundabout or going into a fast bend. However, it does behave better at the motorway height setting than the normal setting and I've discovered only today that ours is running about 20mm high on all settings so I could be slating its handling unfairly.

I think the Vogue came out in the '98 or '99MY, and Autobiography was available right through, although that was a personalised option list model.

Simon U

Reply to
SimonU

Ha ha... and what do you suppose I did to a 3-series earlier at the Denham traffic lights? :)

Reply to
David French

I can remember showing up a Golf GTi on the twisty bits, and I was in a Mini van that was getting old twenty years ago.

Reply to
David G. Bell

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