Worth getting rid of my S Type R?

Worth getting rid of my S Type R?

Author
Discussion

Zanderman

Original Poster:

1,090 posts

211 months

Thursday 13th January 2011
quotequote all
Evening all,

Bit of background, and I know its a marmite car!!

Had the S Type R for 1 year and love it, love the sound (V8 with supercharge whine is a thing of beauty!), prestige, the acceleration, reliability and overall been a damn good car! . She is a late 06 with all the bits an pieces with 55K miles and just done all the tires, brakes and large service. Black and in great condition, on finance with some equity.

I have recently started a new job where I need to do a fair few more miles and the 16 mpg is killing me. Filling up for £80 and getting around 210 miles which is poor! Doing about 3-400 miles per week.

So do I get rid and go for something economical or do I keep an grin and bear it?

Is life to short or do it do 'the right thing'?? If I do the 'right thing' what the hell do I go for?

rfn

4,530 posts

206 months

Thursday 13th January 2011
quotequote all
Surely it'd be better to modify your driving habits?

I know someone who is on his 2nd ST-R, and he averages low to mid 20s, whenever I've been in it the MPG screen has shown 23ish? The difference between that at 16 would surely be noticeable?

vit4

3,507 posts

169 months

Thursday 13th January 2011
quotequote all
Not sure if this would hold any appeal, but getting a dirt cheap old Citroen ZX non turbo diesel (or similar) for ~£4-500 and using that for the work stuff? 50-60 mpg (so a quarter of what you're using currently effectively, not including the Jag needing less maintenance etc). Keep the S type for fun stuff (or indeed, get something else smile) Probably what I'd do smile

Edited by vit4 on Thursday 13th January 23:08

LukeBird

17,170 posts

208 months

Thursday 13th January 2011
quotequote all
At an average of 350 miles/week I'd get rid and get something more economical.
As mentioned a cheapy hack would do the job!

v8will

3,301 posts

195 months

Thursday 13th January 2011
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How would one of these respond to LPG?

pilchardthecat

7,483 posts

178 months

Thursday 13th January 2011
quotequote all
Get busy with a spreadsheet. You can change cars, but don't forget you can easily spend 6 months fuel savings on fixing something on a car you don't know. If the R is in good nick and near the bottom of the depreciation curve, you might be better off swallowing the fuel costs.

Zanderman

Original Poster:

1,090 posts

211 months

Friday 14th January 2011
quotequote all
I think in the end that this seemed like it made sense, selling my car and buying something else might end up costing more than the extra fuel. Its just killing me watching the poxy fuel gauge drop at such a ridiculous rate!!

pilchardthecat said:
Get busy with a spreadsheet. You can change cars, but don't forget you can easily spend 6 months fuel savings on fixing something on a car you don't know. If the R is in good nick and near the bottom of the depreciation curve, you might be better off swallowing the fuel costs.

richardxjr

7,561 posts

209 months

Friday 14th January 2011
quotequote all
rfn said:
Surely it'd be better to modify your driving habits?

I know someone who is on his 2nd ST-R, and he averages low to mid 20s, whenever I've been in it the MPG screen has shown 23ish? The difference between that at 16 would surely be noticeable?
Check the 'stat too. Warms up quickly? (<5mins)

Then look at lpg as also suggested.

McSam

6,753 posts

174 months

Friday 14th January 2011
quotequote all
richardxjr said:
rfn said:
Surely it'd be better to modify your driving habits?

I know someone who is on his 2nd ST-R, and he averages low to mid 20s, whenever I've been in it the MPG screen has shown 23ish? The difference between that at 16 would surely be noticeable?
Check the 'stat too. Warms up quickly? (<5mins)

Then look at lpg as also suggested.
Sorry to hijack, but how much difference would you expect a knackered 'stat to make to the fuel economy, in terms of percentage? Purely because I know mine's toast and I'm wondering how much better I can expect fuel to last in these cold conditions when I replace it!

richardxjr

7,561 posts

209 months

Friday 14th January 2011
quotequote all
McSam said:
richardxjr said:
rfn said:
Surely it'd be better to modify your driving habits?

I know someone who is on his 2nd ST-R, and he averages low to mid 20s, whenever I've been in it the MPG screen has shown 23ish? The difference between that at 16 would surely be noticeable?
Check the 'stat too. Warms up quickly? (<5mins)

Then look at lpg as also suggested.
Sorry to hijack, but how much difference would you expect a knackered 'stat to make to the fuel economy, in terms of percentage? Purely because I know mine's toast and I'm wondering how much better I can expect fuel to last in these cold conditions when I replace it!
A lot. It will be running rich (like when cold) all the time. 25%+ I reckon

Zanderman

Original Poster:

1,090 posts

211 months

Friday 14th January 2011
quotequote all
Would LPG be a viable option? Can anyone explain what it would entail and what the benefits (and negatives) would be likely to be.

Cheers!

braddo

10,399 posts

187 months

Friday 14th January 2011
quotequote all
Is the commuting on the motorway? If so it's probably worth trying to see what kind of mileage improvement you can get if you just stick the cruise control at 60mph for at least some of your journeys.

trickywoo

11,703 posts

229 months

Friday 14th January 2011
quotequote all
pilchardthecat said:
near the bottom of the depreciation curve, you might be better off swallowing the fuel costs.
Unlikely. Late '06 with 55K.


McSam

6,753 posts

174 months

Friday 14th January 2011
quotequote all
richardxjr said:
McSam said:
richardxjr said:
rfn said:
Surely it'd be better to modify your driving habits?

I know someone who is on his 2nd ST-R, and he averages low to mid 20s, whenever I've been in it the MPG screen has shown 23ish? The difference between that at 16 would surely be noticeable?
Check the 'stat too. Warms up quickly? (<5mins)

Then look at lpg as also suggested.
Sorry to hijack, but how much difference would you expect a knackered 'stat to make to the fuel economy, in terms of percentage? Purely because I know mine's toast and I'm wondering how much better I can expect fuel to last in these cold conditions when I replace it!
A lot. It will be running rich (like when cold) all the time. 25%+ I reckon
That much? I knew the bloody thing shouldn't be doing 23mpg, even allowing for snow driving! Cheers, you've improved my day and made me all the more determined to get that done wink

andrewrob

2,912 posts

189 months

Friday 14th January 2011
quotequote all
Zanderman said:
Would LPG be a viable option? Can anyone explain what it would entail and what the benefits (and negatives) would be likely to be.

Cheers!
I've seen the 4.0 Super quoted at £2500-£3000 for a conversion cant imagine the 4.2 being that much different. Does yours have a slimline spare wheel or a full size?
If its slim you will need to put the tank in the boot and loose a fair bit of space.
The fuel is between 65p-70p at the moment, you will loose 5-10% economy but obviously the fuel price still means you will be better off.
It just depends how long it will take you to pay off on the mileage you are doing.

If you do decide to go down the LPG route I'd recommend going with someone that has converted a car with this engine before, you don't want to be a test job.

What kind of driving do you do to get 19.5? Is it mostly town?

Zanderman

Original Poster:

1,090 posts

211 months

Friday 14th January 2011
quotequote all
Sounds like quite a lot, would take bloody ages to recoup that kind of money.

Its mostly motorway, it only has a quoted MPG of 23 so 19 ish or less is probably about right.

andrewrob said:
Zanderman said:
Would LPG be a viable option? Can anyone explain what it would entail and what the benefits (and negatives) would be likely to be.

Cheers!
I've seen the 4.0 Super quoted at £2500-£3000 for a conversion cant imagine the 4.2 being that much different. Does yours have a slimline spare wheel or a full size?
If its slim you will need to put the tank in the boot and loose a fair bit of space.
The fuel is between 65p-70p at the moment, you will loose 5-10% economy but obviously the fuel price still means you will be better off.
It just depends how long it will take you to pay off on the mileage you are doing.

If you do decide to go down the LPG route I'd recommend going with someone that has converted a car with this engine before, you don't want to be a test job.

What kind of driving do you do to get 19.5? Is it mostly town?

Piersman2

6,596 posts

198 months

Friday 14th January 2011
quotequote all
16mpg???

I've a 2007 XJR which I'm pissed off at only getting an average of 21.8mpg at the moment. My old 2003 one did 23.7 mpg.

And, ok, they're not the same car, the XJR is lighter, but I wouldn't expect the S-type R to be that much worse.

To help with the comparison, I'm doing about 80-90 miles a day, mainly consisting of motorway miles down the M4 so similar'ish journeys.

I don't dawdle when it's clear and have little issue with going as fast it's possible at most times so I can't even imagine that your driving style could account for the difference unless you're allowing gaps to form and then doing full bore accelerations to catch up again! Repeatedly. smile

Are you using that watered down petrol? smile







Soovy

35,829 posts

270 months

Friday 14th January 2011
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The Crack Fox said:
Buy a snotter. some lighter boots

buzzsaw

698 posts

268 months

Friday 14th January 2011
quotequote all
I average about 24 mpg in mine with mostly motorway driving with some town driving. 16 seems very low .

Edited by buzzsaw on Friday 14th January 15:11

andrewrob

2,912 posts

189 months

Friday 14th January 2011
quotequote all
I've got my father in laws 2005 XJR at the moment and that is showing 19.5 average with pretty quick driving (his not mine I might add).

ETA Have achieved 24.5 on a run to Manchester airport via cat and fiddle too, not fast driving but not hanging about either.

Edited by andrewrob on Friday 14th January 15:45