Fast, Frugal Winter / M Way Hack ?

[V8RX7]

Looking for something to take 2 kids to school, motorway trips and to use in bad weather.

I've plenty of fun summer toys.

Seems silly to spend more than required but I'd like something nice.

Looking around the obvious candidates are:

Saab 9-5 Aero 110k £1200
Passat Syncro (proper quattro system on these) 2.8 100k £1000
Volvo C70 T5 95k £1500

All the above are cars I've seen for sale with FSH, leather etc and should manage 30+ on a run.

Anything else I should consider ?

(No autos, RWD or Diesels thanks)

[CoolHands]

if the passat is a 2.8 v6 petrol as in the golf, you will rarely, if ever, see 30mpg.

[V8RX7]

CoolHands said:

if the passat is a 2.8 v6 petrol as in the golf, you will rarely, if ever, see 30mpg.

It is and is combined with a proper Quattro so likely to be worse mpg than the Haldex.

But the stats gave 35 extra urban so I thought it ought to easily hit 30 on a run (albeit my wife's Mazda6 Sport doesn't)

Edited by V8RX7 on Sunday 10th March 23:43

[otolith]

The Saab will get close to 40 on the motorway.

[Big News]

Don't bank on getting frugal out of the T5. The best I've ever got out of my 850 was 30.1mpg over a 250 mile motorway trip, with cruise set at 60. For the past few weeks it's mostly been town driving and the trip is showing 19mpg.

[CoolHands]

I owned a golf 4motion for approx 7-8 years so I know them well. Lovely engine, but seriously - real world driving they are very poor at mpg. I generally got 22mpg, with 28-30 on a long motorway if I set the cruise control at a conservative number! Put your foot down and it dips straight away.

[CoolHands]

looks like saabs your only option!

[Steffan]

It is if you want economy out of these cars. The Passat and Volvo will generally not average 30+MPG except downhill with a damned big tailwind. Never buy a petrol Honda for the same reason. Great car but not in any way frugal.

[ImpossiblyDaft]

The T5 is bad on fuel, but in manual form its not THAT bad on a motorway run, I used to get 31 out of my 850 T5 on a regular basis at 70 or so, up to about 34 when creeping along at 60 on rare occasions - in terms of higher speed stuff its a 5-speed box so its not really geared for that.

The moment you go onto a road that involves actually making use of the power then it drops in wallet-shattering fashion, but for motorway stuff at legal-within-margins-of-error speeds it scrapes into the definition of 30+ mpg.

[sebhaque]

I used to get between 36-40mpg out of my 1.6 MG ZS. Not prone to HGF (the bigger engines were), it had a reasonable amount of grunt (110bhp @ 1100kg) and it fulfils your requirements. Easily attainable for <£1500 as well.

The Mk1s aren't the best looking of cars but, like the Impreza on TG, it's not all about looks!

ETA - my driving was 80% motorway and 20% town.

[Zad]

A FWD VAG group diesel, with a set of proper winter tyres.

[V8RX7]

Zad said:

A FWD VAG group diesel, with a set of proper winter tyres.

But they aren't very fast compared to a Saab Aero, they cost 3x as much for a comparable one and they can throw up a huge bill.

Plus doing 5 miles to school and back they aren't that much better on mpg.

Looks like I'm getting the Saab as I could do with something half sensible but I don't want a diesel and I'm sure as hell not sitting at 70mph to get reasonable mpg in the T5 / Passat.

Thanks for all the replies.

Edited by V8RX7 on Monday 11th March 07:37

[martin mrt]

V8RX7 said:

CoolHands said:

if the passat is a 2.8 v6 petrol as in the golf, you will rarely, if ever, see 30mpg.

It is and is combined with a proper Quattro so likely to be worse mpg than the Haldex.

But the stats gave 35 extra urban so I thought it ought to easily hit 30 on a run (albeit my wife's Mazda6 Sport doesn't)

Edited by V8RX7 on Sunday 10th March 23:43

It is not, the Golf uses a narrow angle VR6 with a 24v head, the passat on the other hand uses a proper V6 engine (can't remember the bank angle) with two separate cylinder heads, it's actually the same engine as you would find in an Audi A4/6/8

The VR6 is quite a compromised design, as a result its not terribly efficient, I would imagine the passat would break 30mpg if driven gently.

[Zad]

Before you buy the Saab (which you will as you set your mind on it from the start and were looking for pats on the back not creative ideas) check into the price of those special Saab parts. The ones that are nearly like GM standard ones, but not quite. Car Mechanics magazine did an article on it a few months ago.

Heheh. Saab petrol frugal. Nice one.

[otolith]

Zad said:

Heheh. Saab petrol frugal. Nice one.

Not compared to a diesel, but he doesn't want a soot-chucker. They're not bad on fuel for a cheap 250bhp petrol car.

Personally, I'd be more worried about repair costs with a cheap German diesel.

[V8RX7]

Zad said:

Before you buy the Saab (which you will as you set your mind on it from the start and were looking for pats on the back not creative ideas) check into the price of those special Saab parts. The ones that are nearly like GM standard ones, but not quite. Car Mechanics magazine did an article on it a few months ago.

Heheh. Saab petrol frugal. Nice one.

Actually another PH thread put me onto the Saab I was intending to buy an A6 1.8T but the Saab blitzes it.

However the bargain thread suggested a C70 T5 might be worthwhile.

I liked the idea of a Passat 2.8 as it's a bit of a Q car but the increased fuel consumption combined with the slower acceleration is putting me off.

After a poster says he has discounted diesel it's a bit much to get all huffy when you're diesel suggestion is rejected. My van is diesel as is my Manitou I'm well aware of the VAG diesels as my wife has run them - I don't like them and I don't want one.

Compared to the 12mpg I've been getting in my RX7 V8 and the 18mpg of my twin turbo RX7, 30mpg seems an incredible figure - not everyone is as miserly as you.