Morning all

Have fun. I've got to Wash and wax the Octavia and pull all my crap out. Yes,it has sold and the hunt is now on for a fun but practical large automatic. Saabs are out this time, because there isn't a diesel in my price brand and very few turbos get LPGd. Yanks are out as the missus moans she can't handle a really big one. ;)

And the diesel automatics are not reckoned to be the best either.

Hmm.

I'm hoping that a local one will come up. Only a couple of hours to go on it. Plan is, I want it for less than they had it on Loot for. It isn't a vogue and it is a 3.5, so it will be slower, but should be cheap because of that. But it does have 12 months ticket on. Looks OK, but needs a tidy not a rebuild.

And I might just save someone's marriage.

black one that I fancied a lot more, and would have gone higher for, sold off the bay before the auction ended.This one have to be cheap but has the advantage of a long ticket.And this one one has a nice beefy engine but needs a little work to finish. think this one might finish too high, even with the short MOT, and it is a way to travel for one.http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270101511749

It would never be the best but might be a slowish smoothish option

Shame really, I know a nice LPG Turbo 9000 would actually be a pleasant car to drive.

Just seen this and wonder. hmmmmm,

Hmm. Seat comfort: excellent. The rest? Not so sure.

Yes it would; there are certainly LPG'd ones about, it just takes some leg work.

My own solution to the motorway congestion is early mornings and Dire Straits. :-) When I had the Accord after my crash, traffic jams hurt my back. Now in the Saab, I don't have back problems any more...

Actually, I like Johnnie Cash and Robert Johnson, along with other stuff in between. But the thing is, to get to work for 9am with a few minutes spare to park and grab a brew before I start, I need to set out at 7.30AM. To avoid all traffic and take my time, I would need start out at 6.30, but be there by 7.45, and have to wait outside the gates until 8.45 until someone came to unlock the compound.

Blimey. You need the train you do. Ewww commuter train.

When I have the joy of going to Pontefract, it's a 45 minute drive at Captain Slow pace. When I'm in the Leeds office, if I set off for 0645 I get there at 0720 or so. Leave home at 0730 and I don't get there until

0900 at the earliest. I don't visit the other sites of a morning commute often enough.

My solution was to blag a set of keys, though... :)

i do like the old skool mercs just something bout them i like that! 2.8 not nearly big enough though :)

I used to use the train. That was why I learned to drive 6 years ago.

If I set out at 6.30, I could be there a lot before 7.45, probably closer to 7.15, but then I would have far longer to wait. Easier to form an obstruction. As it is I get up at 6-6.30 to get ready to be out for 7.30-7.45.

And that is for a 20 mile trip each way. That is why I want a comfy auto.

If I leave at 7.30AM I get there at 8.30AM if nothing happens. If I leave at 7.40AM I get there at 8.55AM if nothing happens. If a butterfly farts in the Amazon, all bets are off as a bus will break down on the M60 contra flow arround Stockport, or a wagon will fall of Barton bridge onto Trafford Centre shoppers wanting to throw away all their money and will to live.

The way things are, I spend most time in either first, or top. What is the point of manually moving the lever between them, when a halfway modern auto box can do that without me getting an aching leg. And can even crawl along itself in real slow traffic without me even having to think about feathering the gas and balencing the clutch.

Oh, so there is a way of arriving somewhere in between. What seems to be the problem?

I'm all for Auto gearboxes, especially for the sort of driving you'll be doing. I still have reservations about the auto being in any sort of cheap doggy LPG range rover and getting to work without breaking down or low running costs are on your list of priorities.

Take a Thermos and a paper.

What's the journey split? Which end of the 20 miles is the slow bit?

TBH 20 miles in 1.25 hours is a bit shit...

cheers, clive

I just don't like autos in small cars.

2-2.5 petrol is the smallest car I would consider an auto in, and then it would need to be a turbo. I wouldn't be happy in anything less than a 3 litre NA.

On Dervs I might consider a 2.5 because I know that would be slowish anyway. My only reasoning of an LPG rangie is, they are known quantity, so LPG conversions are easy to do and fix, there are a lot of them, and the auto boxes seem pretty solid. The V8 is a bonus. LPG legality/redtape wise is easier for cheap fuel than a diesel on chip fat, and might actually still be cheaper. I've got 3 LPG stations near me, and 4 near work, and petrol and diesel is creeping back up. I would still do the 50/50 veg oil mix, but even cheap new veg oil is

50p a litre wholesale, highest I've seen LPG for is 41p Petrol locally is 87.9 a litre, and 90p a litre near work.

Low running costs aren't a priority and I'm hardly going to be stressing it so reliability shouldn't be too much of an issue either. I know old cars break sometimes, I've had enough of them. But they have always gotten me home without a call out needed, except once in a new car I hadn't put my tools into, and an inability to idle or run at lowish revs due to a carb full of crap. AA cleaned and it never had starting problems again.

Begining and end. Begining, 4 miles that on a good day can be done in a few minutes as it is almost all national. But on a morning commute it is nose to tail for the whole 4 miles. That takes between 25 and 45 minutes. Then about 13 miles of Motorway that starts off at a crawl because it is the western stretch of the M62 Bottleneck, whch rises to 70 by the last mile, then drops off as the M62 becomes the M602. The M602/A57(Regent Road)/A57(M) is 70/40/50 split. At any time that can slow to a 1st gear crawl. Worst time split is 1.5 hours to do the 1.5 miles of the A57(M). After that there is 15 minutes of Hyde Road, at a steady 30, except the traffic lights seem to be geared to stop you doing that, but cars who ignore the limit and camera signs seem to hit about

40% more green lights than you. And there are a lot of traffic lights on Hyde road.

Photos from the day:

And some of the older regulars - look closely at the silver Noble!

Oh, and I want a Lotus Europa! :D

Cool pics dude :-) Although the only Noble I can see is Aqua-Greeny sorta colour?

Check out the pic before!

The bonnet up threw me :-) I see the old regular link now hehe.