Millipede Monaro (it's a bit leggy!)

Millipede Monaro (it's a bit leggy!)

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Discussion

99t

Original Poster:

996 posts

208 months

Sunday 24th March 2013
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Apologies for the title, I couldn't resist, but maybe I should have tried harder!!

Anyway, after an epic journey from Preston to Malvern yesterday, battling blizzards, signal failures, cancelled trains and standing room only, I am now the happy owner of a rather well used Monaro CV8.



The journey home was much more comfortable, effortless and entirely problem free. I took it steady and was rewarded with an indicated 31mpg by the time I came off the M6. The last few miles were dry country roads and it wasn't reading quite that high by the time I got home!! biggrin

So how well does a Monaro wear its miles??









Of course, although the camera never lies, it can be very economical with the truth.

This car has earned its keep pounding the motorways as a business tool and although well maintained (as the thickness of the invoice file confirms), the bodywork hasn't seen much TLC and does have a few issues..









In addition, whilst this should be simple to fix...



...this won't be



Rear bumper has had a repair that water has lifted from behind



The interior is really rather good, only the driver's seat bolster gives the game away




Since taking the pictures this morning, I have adjusted the striker plates on the driver's door and bootlid so that both now close and align as they should, and treated the scratch on the side with rust converter as it was just starting to turn orange where the scratch was down to the primer.

Short term plans are:

Give it a good service as now due.
Treat corrosion to stablise areas of paint damage
Continue to add miles and enjoy smile

Jimmy No Hands

5,007 posts

155 months

Sunday 24th March 2013
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Wow! How much did you pay, may I ask? smile

slippery

14,093 posts

238 months

Sunday 24th March 2013
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Enjoy your new car OP! I tried to turn my VXR8 into a big miler, but it tried to bankrupt me! hehe

Blayney

2,948 posts

185 months

Sunday 24th March 2013
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I kinda like it wearing some scars like that. Lovely car.

Codswallop

5,250 posts

193 months

Sunday 24th March 2013
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Looks great given the miles yes How good does the V8 sound with the standard exhaust system?

Out of curiosity, a quick bit of working out gives a fuel spend of £39,600 to get to 220,000 miles (assuming an average mpg of 25, and average petrol price over the years of £1) eek

Edited by Codswallop on Sunday 24th March 22:15

Mr Tom

618 posts

140 months

Sunday 24th March 2013
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Sorry what is the mileage as I am on my phone and can't make it out....

99t

Original Poster:

996 posts

208 months

Sunday 24th March 2013
quotequote all
Jimmy No Hands said:
Wow! How much did you pay, may I ask? smile
You may indeed ask smile

Suffice to say, I am happy with the price paid and I have seen cut-out LS1's and gearboxes on a pallet for more money!!

Jimmy No Hands

5,007 posts

155 months

Sunday 24th March 2013
quotequote all
Go on then...


wink

99t

Original Poster:

996 posts

208 months

Sunday 24th March 2013
quotequote all
Mr Tom said:
Sorry what is the mileage as I am on my phone and can't make it out....
216,000 and change!! smile

200bhp

5,663 posts

218 months

Sunday 24th March 2013
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Nice cheap buy!

There are lots for sale here in Australia with similar mileage and they go for $15 to $20k (Thats 10k to 14k pounds)

Never seen one here in that blue colour though, most of them are black, red or yellow.

Shinobi

5,072 posts

189 months

Sunday 24th March 2013
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You will enjoy it every day.

99t

Original Poster:

996 posts

208 months

Sunday 24th March 2013
quotequote all
Codswallop said:
Looks great given the miles yes How good does the V8 sound with the standard exhaust system?
With the windows closed and a light foot you would hardly know what is under the bonnet to be honest. Sounds better with a heavier foot and a few revs but is always fairly muted.

I would possibly like a little more burble when pottering around, but not if it was at the expense of it becoming properly loud when pushing on. I've had loud cars before and fallen out of love with them fairly quickly as a result. So for me, it is probably about right, but maybe just a smidge too civilised...

200bhp

5,663 posts

218 months

Sunday 24th March 2013
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99t said:
With the windows closed and a light foot you would hardly know what is under the bonnet to be honest. Sounds better with a heavier foot and a few revs but is always fairly muted.

I would possibly like a little more burble when pottering around, but not if it was at the expense of it becoming properly loud when pushing on. I've had loud cars before and fallen out of love with them fairly quickly as a result. So for me, it is probably about right, but maybe just a smidge too civilised...
Here in Oz, you can get exhausts with switchable baffles. You have a button in the dash that allows you to open or close the baffles to make it noisy when required.

Otter Smacker

6,524 posts

193 months

Sunday 24th March 2013
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Excellent choice of car, sir!


Got me looking in the classifieds for one of these now.

Baryonyx

17,990 posts

158 months

Monday 25th March 2013
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How much did that cost then?

SuperVM

1,098 posts

160 months

Monday 25th March 2013
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This car was for sale for quite a while and I was tempted on several occasions, but given the difference in asking price between this and one with about a quarter of the mileage, I couldn't justify it. I hope you managed to beat the previous owner down a fair touch. smile

LordFlathead

9,641 posts

257 months

Monday 25th March 2013
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Good find! I used to own a Holden SS which favoured the same LS1 engine and box. Along side cars at the lights they thought it was a boggo Vauxhall Omega (shares the same body) but when the lights changed yikes

The tremec T56 has the longest first gear of any car (or did at the time IRC) and the long gears and tall sixth make for ridiculous engine cruising speeds (2k rpm @ 80mph) or for sensible fuel on the cruise. But where's the fun in that? Fuel goes down in the sub 10's when you use it as intended which is what provided me with the balance of not driving it flat out everywhere.

Looks like you got a bargain, have you heard of Monkfish performance? Once introduced the drug will start and before long you will end up with a twin-turbo'd or supercharged monster. It all starts with a 'rip shift' and before you know it, you'll be adding short-shifter, Brembo brake upgrades, switchable exhausts, the tuning potential is ENDLESS!!

Enjoy thumbup

Shaw Tarse

31,543 posts

202 months

Monday 25th March 2013
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SuperVM said:
This car was for sale for quite a while and I was tempted on several occasions, but given the difference in asking price between this and one with about a quarter of the mileage, I couldn't justify it. I hope you managed to beat the previous owner down a fair touch. smile
I think it was the one I linked here http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

DanielJames

7,543 posts

167 months

Monday 25th March 2013
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Excellent buy. True PH car.

99t

Original Poster:

996 posts

208 months

Monday 25th March 2013
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A gentleman never discusses money! smile

All I will say is that I'm sure some people would consider I have paid too much for it based on mileage and condition, whilst others (and obviously I fall into the latter camp) would think it represents a phenomenal amount of car for the money.

The fact that the previous owner has done all bar 10k of the miles whilst maintaining it as an essential business tool gives me much confidence that it has actually led quite an easy life and this is borne out by the way it drives.

Having had immaculate cars in the past, I have found myself stressed and angry each time they picked up a bit of damage. After buying a house a couple of years ago, funds have been more limited and I've been running older stuff instead, eg.

My Rangie bangernomics thread

What a revelation - tatty cars are the way to go in my opinion!! Being able to park where I like and not worry is just fantastic. tongue out