RE: PH Blog: V8 = v. good

[hman]

Had the pleasure of a v8 disco and a v8 range rover burble burble and so Torquey LUSH

[fphil]

have a ml 420 v8 twin turbo diesel with kleemann on it get 401bhp and 619lbs of torque its very very surprising to everyone!!!

[tosh.brice]

Isn't it nice to read a PH thread where no-one is slagging anyone else off! Is it the topic or the festive spirit(s)?

[p-car]

Hmmm, I'm not sure V8 diesels count? Not a case of the best of both worlds as far as I'm concerned!

An old (2001) E430 T (7 Seater) does the daily beater duty for me. I love the big "wooomph" it does on start-up before providing creamy smooth, effortless power for the rest of your journey. It's not fast, too big and heavy for that, and as others have commented almost encourages a more sedate driving style. However it is very satisfying and on my mixed motoring has returned 25.5mpg over the last 10,000 miles.

Cheers

Mark

[Lippy Kid]

tosh.brice said:

Is it the topic or the festive spirit(s)?

Yes

[cayman-black]

Those Range Rovers are really something special. Diesel or supercharged they just encourage you to waft along calmly. Where as the new Cayenne edges you to push on.

[tomoleeds]

had a range rover 2002, first of new shape for a few weeks recently, 4.4 petrol, very quick,could not belive the acceleration, unbelivebly coomfy on the road. IT HAD THE MULTIPOINT LPG CONVERSION, so lpg being nearly half price of petrol the you get 30mpg around town ! paid £8700 for the RR when i looked through the reciepts it had the auto box overhauled a year earlier (£1,800 )4 new tyres,full history done 101k, plus you get half price road tax on a lpg,

[Jammez]

I've got a 4.4 V8 Rangie with an LPG conversion, what more could you need cheaper than the diesel to run and you still get that v8 noise. Mind you I do hark back to when I first had it and LPG was only 37p

[marksx]

I'm on my second v8. I love it! There's nothing quite like the joy of starting it up and coasting away down the street, with that sweet, sweet music on the background. Even if the current one has used 30 litres of fuel and moved about 20 yards this year!

[b4bby]

Yep another newly aquired v8 here - 4.4 x5 with 280 odd bhp.

Missed my old ml430's engine so should love this.

[jbi]

goron59 said:

I'm on my second v8. Love them. They'll be gone in a few years, so if you can, enjoy them now.

No they wont... not while the USA, Canada, Mexico and practically the entire middle east still walk and breathe.

[Itsallicanafford]

...I have a four pot in both my Audi and my mx-5, technically I own 8 cylinders...I got 50 mpg out of the Audi yesterday on a Run then trashed the pants out of the mx-5 later on, do I win or am I an idiot?

[JonesyVXR8]

Everyone needs a V8 in their lives.
Had mine for 2 1/2 years as a daily driver & wouldn't be without it.
Sounds glorious, people love it & with its outsize engine is so beautifully out of step with the current obsession for Eco motoring.

Buy one while you still can.

Jonesy

[Bencolem]

Used to have a 535d Touring, gone back to the V8 version, noise had something to so with it (as did the manual box not available with the derv drinker!):

http://youtu.be/gO-rFUbcdE4

Edited by Bencolem on Sunday 25th December 14:41

[rigga]

For crimbo I had a PH T shirt,8 pistons on the front with the legend ..... its what's inside that counts .... v8's are the biz.

[Elwood]

I love V8's I'm running 3 at the moment, Jaguar XJR, TVR Griffith, and an old school Rover P6 3500S, I'd have more if I had the space.

[GT2CS]

WeirdNeville said:

I'd love a V8 - preferably fitted to an E39 M5 or failing that a 540i Touring (proper 'box though!).

The thing is, when you factor in all the other costs of running a car, unless you do silly miles the petrol bill pales into insignificance. Because my car has a large engine, it was worth nothing. So I bought it for £700. Which means that with zero depreciation, 20p a mile on fuel equates to 30p a mile total running cost!

I worked out that the diesel equivalent of my car, costing £1000 more, only pays for itself somewhere after 21,000 miles. And that's ignoring the added complexity and cost of modern diesels.

Big cpaacity petrols: The educated, frugal, exciting choice.

20p a mile on fuel is 30mpg - from a V8 - are you driving it properly?
10p a mile for other costs - well that might cover you for tyres - but if you manage 30mpg then who knows!
I'm a big fan of V8's - my Cobra 500bhp Holley carb'd engine got about 12mpg on average but the noise was amazing. 50-70mph was 1.4 secs in second gear - that was intoxicating.

[cerb4.5lee]

I like v8s also & currently run two, TVR Cerbera 4.5 & X5 4.8is, not that keen on the X5 though its far too quiet for my liking.

You cant beat the grumble of a higher capacity engine

[papercup]

Bought a bimmer 540 after reading the barge bargains thread and getting all enthusiastic....4 years later and I still own it. Its the best car I've ever owned. It does everything. It evens tows a trailer with the V8 RX-7 on it perfectly happily......and was instrumental in the reasoning for fitting a V8 into said Mazda.

I can't imagine life without V8s :tearsineyes:

[over_the_hill]

tosh.brice said:

Isn't it nice to read a PH thread where no-one is slagging anyone else off! Is it the topic or the festive spirit(s)?

Well why don't you stop being such a cheerful bastid and fook off. That OK for you ?


On a serious note looking to the future you have to wonder how many of todays big engined motors will still be going in 15-20 years.

At present there are loads of old Mercs and BMWs still going, because although they were the height of luxury at the time, underneath they were still quite simple cars with easily accessible repairable bits. For sure the automatic seat belt extender or automatic head restraint adjuster might have packed up but does that stop the car from running. Of course not.

Now the engines and associated management systems are so complicated that once something goes on a car - that's it, and it's not the kind of things you easily can sort out yourself with a few spanners and time. In 10 years time no one is going to spend several £k on new electronics to fix an older car worth not much more than that.