What's quick with good mpg?

Something that doesn't weigh 2 tonnes with 100 odd horses.

Yeah, should have mentioned before... not a big fan of small cars (hatches) so really looking at 2 door (but 4 seat) coupes or saloons. Just to make it even less possible to get good mpg :-)

You're going to struggle to better US cars of the 80s for economy vs. engine size/torque, I'm afraid. My old Cadillac did 27mpg. I think my 3.0 Supra does 15-23, but rarely more.

Quick, fun and economical? Mk II Golf GTI 1.8. Large and all of those things? God knows. Lexus maybe?

Richard

calibra/cavalier turbo?

Diesel, obviously. There are any number of ~200bhp derv lumps around these days.

Then you're screwed :)

Fiat Coupe? 220BHP std, high 20s combined - low 30s on a run. 4 usable seats, unlike it's GTV counterpart.

Um.. new and fancy I guess, but I have an stock 03 Astra GSi. 2ltr Turbo - plenty quick quoted as 200 horses.

Fuel economy is ~20mpg for me though (according to the trip computer). Worst I have had is 16mpg for trip to York and back (140 miles) - but I was enjoying the drive a tad.

So, if fuel economy is your bag - don't go for it :)

Mind you - I guess it depends how you drive it - but what is the point of having a turbo if you are not going to make it whistle....

------------------------------------------------ "We are all individuals" "I'm not!"

Put 100 oddly shaped horses in the back of any car and it'll weigh 2 tonnes at the very least.

Peter

-- "The truth is working in television is not very glamorous at all. I just go home on my own at night and sit alone and eat crisps."

If that's the case - one word for you - diesel.

Now what's your budget? Also, how much power and how many mpg do you want - i.e. would you be happy with 25-30 average, raising to 35 on a gentle run, or a bit more than that?

Peter

-- "The truth is working in television is not very glamorous at all. I just go home on my own at night and sit alone and eat crisps."

Depends how new and fancy he can't afford. An A6 2.5TDI (140bhp) can be had in nice condition and saloon guise, for around £3-4k, and you could well get a quattro for that price. They can be chipped up to 170bhp apparently. And they're very economical.

Peter

-- "The truth is working in television is not very glamorous at all. I just go home on my own at night and sit alone and eat crisps."

The Rover 600 Ti :)

Avg 30mpg, 200bhp, 7.2s 0-60, ~140mph

That's a 2 litre engine with a turbo. I *do* reckon that turbo's are the way to go if you want decent economy. After all, driven "normally", it's a 2 litre engine. Driven "enthusiastically" (and they are lovely cars for doing that in) and you've got power equivalent to, say, a 3.0 V6. You've got the choice though, whereas if you just buy a 3.0 V6 then you've got s*it economy like it or not.

Bigus

I should have ran a book on how long it would take someone to mention the "official car" of uk.rec.cars.modifications :-)

Yep, all true. And if you cruise at sensible speeds, they're generally much better on the motorway compared to a V6.

Peter

-- "The truth is working in television is not very glamorous at all. I just go home on my own at night and sit alone and eat crisps."

yup turbos are they forward, drive like an old man, and its sooo economical, drive like a nutter and expect to get less to the gallon then a 5.0 litre

Shame that 90% of them are now well past their best.

Try an Accord 2.2 VTEC as an alternative - the Honda factory screwed their version of the car together much better than the lads in Birmingham did.

But they still cost real money. You can get a nice tidy Ti for a grand, years tax and ticket. Thrash it for a year, and get another.

Alfa 166/164 (good money or peanuts). Choice of 4 cyl or V6.

Drive well, handle well Can be high maintenance, but with the 166, the depreciation has already happened in the last couple of years and the 164 might actually gain in value.

I disagree. Driven correctly a 3.0V6 is just fine. You get hit when idling in traffic and when booting it. My Scorpio estate, 2.9 12v, well past it's best with 208,000 miles /and/ and auto box returned 33mpg on most Edinburgh runs - a good mix of 80mph bypass, 60mph A-road and 4 small towns. Likewise I got 28mpg from my Senator, pretty much regardless of how it was driven, as long as it wasn't all cruising.

If you want to cruise around town, screw the fancy engine, get something weird and small. If you want to drive, there's very little in it between a hard driven Turbo or 6/8 cylinder lump, and very little between a calmy driven 4 cylinder and calmly driven 6.

Even the old Cherokee 4.0 Limited I had - when new - would do 28/30 according to the trip computer, in 2WD mode (and it was usually fairly accurate) on motorway runs and good A-roads - and that should be multiplied by 1.2 to get a real UK mpg figure.

Richard

Quick and good mpg?

Lotus 7-clone with turbodiesel-engine .

Welcome to the world where 3 liters of diesel will get you 100 km far. Not that it will be comfy, but it has its charms.

A dieselpowered Messerschmidt will even keep you dry (more or less) and no more parkings dings! Not sure about the Robin Reliant but also this car (?) in dieselversion should drink fuel in the same ammounts as a Quacker bourbon.

Tom De Moor

How about keeping the V8 and getting an LPG conversion? It won't help the mpg but it should cut the fuel cost quite a lot, for the moment anyway.