3.6 tdv8 or lpg 4.4 v8

[DKL]

We quite fancy one of these as a family waggon and I'd always envisaged having a lpg bmw v8. But decent ones of these are harder to find as they are older and tend to have huge miles on them but I inagine they are out there.
But the 3.6 tdv8 has the same bhp and mpg and as its a stock LR vehicle should be a better bet for trouble free travelling.
They are a bit newer so a bit more expensive but £10k still gets you a 07/08 sub 100k car.
I might save £3 or £4k on the older car but I can't decide if I'd probably spend that anyway on repairs.
Anyone run both?

[rupertrr]

I can't comment on the 3.6 TDV8 because I've never driven one (nor would I want to as it is powered by the fuel of Satan - just my personal opinion) but I have owned and run my '02 registered 4.4 V8 (BMW engine) for nearly 13 years and had it converted to LPG in 2007. It has certainly proved reliable in that time. I do mainly long journeys up and down the A1 and it does the "petrol cost" equivalent of about 32mpg. I believe the 3.6 TDV8 is shown as doing about 25-28mpg from something I was reading.

With the petrol/LPG V8 you have the benefit of a car that sounds like a proper V8 instead of sounding like a cement mixer. I know they don't really sound that bad, but there is always that underlying clackety-clackety noise from the engine, and to my ears that is the sound of disappointment. I am not trying to court controversy with these comments, I just don't like diesel engines in expensive cars.

[DKL]

Thanks for the reply. I need to see one of each really and hear just how bad the diesels are. I've never had a diesel. My rrc is lpg or rather it will be when I reconnect it. The problem is that specialists who know what they are doing are getting fewer and farther between. My local one lost their premises and wound it up altogether.
The bmw 4.4 cars are that much older so I am a little concerned about ongoing costs between a £5k lpg car and a £10k tdv8.
I think it will depend on what comes up.

[Register1]

Also interested in views.

My wife likes the RR.
Her does a 10 mile round trip to work, 5 days a week.
So even a normal petrol only, is affordable, fuel wise.

Bookmarked.

[Bellini]

Why not meet somewhere in the middle and find one of the, admittedly, rare Jaguar-engined 4.4 petrol V8's?

These are a little more economical than the BMW V8 and will benefit from the ZF 6-speed rather than the ZF 5-speed found in the BMW version. You'll have none of the EGR and turbo maintenance concerns of the TDV8 and you'll be buying what many consider to be the most reliable of all L322 variants, so your whole-life costs will be lower.

[Fatlad1973]

My wife has run a 2008 plate 3.6 TDV8 Vogue for about the last six years. We bought it with 50k miles on the clock and it's now up to 94k, so far without serious issue. Non-serious and fairly common issues it has suffered include:

- coolant sensor failure: tells us to check coolant most journeys
- satnav died (probably from hitting car park height indicator: part of the unit is on the roof)
- reversing camera died (they have notoriously weak soldering but YouTube seems to have quick/cheap fixes)
- rear screen wash died some years ago

Considering the wife uses it mainly to take the kids to school 0.7 miles away ( We lived further away when we bought the car) I can't believe how little trouble we've had (just one battery killed so far!) and it averages 20mpg.
You know it's on satan's fuel when accelerating, but tbh I think it suits the car: performance is decent and refinement excellent when cruising along. I did 400+ miles in it last Wednesday in the snow and it was superb.

There's a reason most 3 car dream garages have a FFRR

[DKL]

Thanks, always good to hear positive stories. Missed the car I liked due partly to logistics and partly due to pessimism! But there will be others.