I've done some long journeys in a diesel V40. Well, they felt like long journeys anyway.... Definitely not a drivers car - very underpowered and dynamically poor. I'd look at the Mondeo and Volkswagen alternatives very closely - far better engines and generally more modern.
Whilst shopping for the V70 I happened upon several 2.4 lpg cars which seem to suffer phenomenal depreciation from new. These are factory lpg installations, so fully warranted and nicely integrated. I wanted more than 140bhp, but the prospect of an 18-month old V70 with all the toys for 14K was very tempting indeed.
"Lofty" wrote in news:ccmp5s$1pm$ snipped-for-privacy@hercules.btinternet.com:
We used a 1.8 petrol Freelander for 4 years (about 75,000 kilometers). We typically got around 10.5l/100km. The car permanently had roof bars on, though - ski racks in winter and bike racks in summer. The worst we got was carrying mountain bikes on the autoroute - 12.5l/100km! We only ever did one trip without the roof bars (about 1000km, mostly autoroute, but rather more heavily loaded than normal use), and we got around 9.5l/100km.
We recently replaced the Freelander with a new TD5 Disco, which is currently giving around 10.2l/100km. Diesel is 20% cheaper than petrol in France, so the Disco is considerably cheaper to run. We've done 1600km in the Disco so far - can anyone tell me if the fuel consumption will change with further use?
Thanks. Why is it when you are looking for a new car, no matter what your budget, the best one to have is always the one which is just outside one's budget ? :-/
On or around Tue, 13 Jul 2004 17:52:28 +0000 (UTC), "Lofty" enlightened us thusly:
rule of nature, innit.
but you might, at that, be better off with a low-mileage well-looked-after rover-engine one (L-series, ISTR, which might be a derivation of the Perkins Prima and might not, according to who you listen to) than a bargain-basement thrashed-for-miles BMW-powered one.
newer ain't always better, when buying second-hand motors.
But I am in a real quandry. My local friendly garage (by that I mean they are locally known to be 'good honest sorts') has a T reg 3dr in beautiful condition with only 30k on the clock. Right colour, and priced at £5k.
After reading all the negatives about the petrol engines, I was heading for a diesel, but a similar vehicle with a diesel engine is going to cost me a grand and a half more. I have calculated that if I put the extra money aside for the increased fuel costs, it will see me though 5 years.
It's very tempting, but flies in the face of everything I have been told since I asked my first question.
At 30k, the petrol engine is _incredibly_ likely to be within 10k of a head gasket failure (honestly, even my local LR dealer tells me that almost all
1.8s have had the head gaskets go by 50k). Depending on the damage done when it goes, and who you get to repair it, it will cost between £500 (head skimmed and refitted by an independant) and £6k (LR dealer declaring the engine scrap and fitting a replacement) to have it sorted. Having had it sorted, you can expect to be within 40k of it going again.
Here's a potted history of our 1.8 (a not atypical one, at that):
36k Head gasket failure, 2 weeks in the workshop, repaired under warranty (2 years old). I have to say that the engine always felt rougher afterwards, but I've no idea what they changed.
48k Catalytic convertor breaks up. A decent contribution from LR as it was just out of warranty.
78k CCU controlling the 'ancillary' electrics packs up rendering rear door inoperative £450 to have a replacement CCU fitted by my local independant LR repairer
78.5k Head gasket failure. LR offer 50% contribution toward cost of replacing cylinder head. Total quoted was £3000, or which we'd have to pay £1500. Took it to my local independant (after paying £440 to get it back from dealer) who skimmed head and refitted for £500.
78.8k IRD (Intermediate Reduction Drive) showing signs of failure. Estimated cost to repair, £1000. Got rid of it right sharpish.
Trade-in value at 79k, 4 1/2 years old (V-plate): £4500.
I said ours was atypical: our next door neighbour had a '98 1.8 which threw a head gasket requiring a replacement engine, shortly followed by IRD failure. They own a Mazda 323, now.
The £1500 price difference between a petrol and a diesel _might_ just pay for the head gasket to be repaired. Once. Note that LR almost certainly won't contribute because of it was out-of-warranty when you bought it.
An out-of-warranty Freelander is a bit of a liability. An out-of-warranty
I had a chat with the land rover man at the garage today about your head gasket issues.
He said that there is a mod which can be done to replace some plastic parts (don't ask me what, he lost me after sentence two), and that any freelanders they get in have the mod done, to avoid any come back on the head gasket issue. He is so sure of his facts that he is prepared to give me an 18 month warranty on the head gasket. He will also give me a 12 month warranty on any mechanical breakdown (apart from the usual exhaust and tyres etc), underwritten by the garage.
Normally I would be very sceptical, knowing what garages are like when you go back with a problem, but this one is very well respected in the area, and I have heard so many good things about them that I am inclined to take their word. Someone in our villag bought a car from them 2 years ago, and after 8 months it suffered a mechanical failue. They took it back to the garage to get the work done, and they did it for free as they said they took responsibility for all cars they sell.
I have heard similar stories from other people, and anyone you mention the garage to immediately says something like "You wont go wrong with them, they are very fair and honest".
On that basis, I may try the petrol freelander for a year and see how I get on. If I like it, I will robably be able to afford a T4 Diesel by then, and if I don't it's back to a Volvo V70.
Thanks for taking the trouble to get me clued up on the potential problems.
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