Roadtrip car suggestions? Big, auto, good on fuel, cheap?

[bigfatnick]

Hi all. I wanna do some euro roadtrips towards the end of this year (assuming the pound still has any worth). I dont wanna spend much more than a grand, but could probably find £1500 if i wanted.

I wanted something cool and bargey so i thought of something jagish/lexus ls400/7series ish but i dont think i could afford to fuel it unless its on lpg, and even then, but a sub grand car with an lpg kit is unlikley to work properley.

So i looked at early 90's merc E series, the E300 diesel auto keeps popping up, but i dont know much about them,, my research implys they'll do somewhere in the region of 40mpg but also they wont pull the skin off custard, which is a shame, because i was kinda thinking of using it for towing in the future. And ditto for E34 BMW 525tds's,powerful, but not so good on fuel, and i always feel bmw's should be petrol, and i hear they can be unreliable.

It also seems you can get diesel auto mk3 mondeos in budget, i had a petrol one a few years ago and it was awesome, but crap on fuel, so this is kinda an option, but its not very PH.

Then, fiat multipla, some would say its ph, some would say it isn't, however, it'd be handy for my hobby of mountain biking, so thats kinda cool, plus, 6 seats and uber practical.

So, ladies and gentlemen. I'd love to here your suggestions of an awesome cheap roadtrip monster, the more unusual the better! And more seats means fuel economy can be crapper and shared by more people, If its not auto, its not the end of the world, if its not big, i guess thats not so bad, but i'd love it to be cheap and good on fuel. Does anyone know of any petrol cars with auto boxes that do good fuel economy cheaply avaliable in the uk? i got a hire car hyundai elantra a few weeks ago in canada that did 50mpg with a mix of A road and city driving, that had a 2litre engine/auto box, but was sooo boring!

Thanks guys!

[Stu R]

Merc W124 e-class

[anonymous-user]

Volvo C70!

[bigfatnick]

Merc - kinda at the top of my list at the moment, but as listed above, i'm a litte concerned by their lack of power (for towing, once its back in the uk) and poor fuel economy, anyone know much about those bits?

Volvo C70 - love it, but 2.4litre turbo looks like it might be as juicy as a big petrol bmw/lexus?

[Bill]

A big, petrol auto that's good on fuel??





































Nope, that's me stumped....

TBH given the plan and the budget I'd just settle for reliable and accept mid 20s mpg.

Omega V6 is a good option though.

[bigfatnick]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2002-VOLVO-S80-D5-SE-AUTO-BL...

Volvo S80, these managed to stay under my radar pretty damn well! bargainous! Anyone have any experience with them?

Edited by bigfatnick on Sunday 9th May 10:06

[plg]

Not sure on fuel, but bullet proof and a good tow car:

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/1688423.htm


Or (Bad on fuel):
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/1436726.htm

Or:
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/1665456.htm

[Big Performance]

W124 diesel 300.
Mine works really well on CostCo cooking oil which is 60p per litre, as for towing I have towed loads of stuff with mine.

[Stedman]

bigfatnick said:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2002-VOLVO-S80-D5-SE-AUTO-BL...

Volvo S80, these managed to stay under my radar pretty damn well! bargainous! Anyone have any experience with them?

Edited by bigfatnick on Sunday 9th May 10:06

They are VERY good. My dad had a Tdi version (Audi diesel lump before the D5), he easily got 50mpg out of it.
Seats are excellent, better than the best seats Jaguar offered int he XJ just phased out. I think that is saying quite a bit.

Don't expect any handling though.

Excellent mile muncher.

[wiliferus]

plg said:

Not sure on fuel, but bullet proof and a good tow car:

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/1688423.htm

3.0l V6 Turbo Auto... I reckon you'd be lucky to hit 20mpg! And if you're towing anything of any substance you could halve that again! I love the spirit though!

[PHmember]

Before you start worrying about MPG, on a long motorway journey there isn't much in it.

I used to have a BMW 730i that I frequently did 550 mile jaunts in, it used to cost me £80 - one time I had to do the 550 miles in a Mitsubishi Lancer (1.6ltr 4 cyl) so thought that at the very least it would save me some petrol money. Over the 550 miles I saved FIVE POUNDS!

Granted, it was ALL motorway, but the difference was a 3ltr V8 running just over 2000rpm all the way & 1.6ltr 4 cylinder running at nearly 4000rpm all the way. The engine may be virtually half the size, but if it's doing twice as many RPM's for the entire journey then it will use nearly as much fuel. The big V8 was a MUCH smoother, quieter & less stressful drive as well.

Again though, this is ALL motorway, if your fannying about in towns & on minor roads then the bigger engine will be thirstier. To help with your calculations my 3ltr V8 would return 30mpg on a motorway run, around town about 15 -> 20mpg around town & on a cold engine run to the local shop about 8mpg.

Edited by PHmember on Sunday 9th May 10:24

[Rothgo Wooft]

Easy. This

Not an auto, but it would loose PH points if it was. And bring some 5mm hydraulic hose with you, just in case...

[wiliferus]

How about one of these...

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/1551326.htm

Not huge, but not small. A genuine 45mpg, german reliability, not loads of poke but plenty of torque so a good towing slag, and to cap it all off not a bad looking old bean either!

ETA - Not an Auto, but you can't have everything!

Edited by wiliferus on Sunday 9th May 10:29

[PHmember]

Rothgo Wooft said:

Easy. This

Not an auto, but it would loose PH points if it was. And bring some 5mm hydraulic hose with you, just in case...

I think that would be a great wafter, look at those sofas in the front! A few niggles, but what do you expect with a car of this age & price. Although this did make me chuckle:

PHadvert said:

Heater temp hard to control - tends to stick on "slightly warm' which means it's not a problem, just control heat with the fan and vents

Perfect for driving through France in the summer.

[Rothgo Wooft]

PHmember said:

Rothgo Wooft said:

Easy. This

Not an auto, but it would loose PH points if it was. And bring some 5mm hydraulic hose with you, just in case...

I think that would be a great wafter, look at those sofas in the front! A few niggles, but what do you expect with a car of this age & price. Although this did make me chuckle:

PHadvert said:

Heater temp hard to control - tends to stick on "slightly warm' which means it's not a problem, just control heat with the fan and vents

Perfect for driving through France in the summer.

The windows still mostly work. That sounds like a good one if the listed items are the only things wrong with it. A mate relentlessly badgered me into selling him my white 2L space ship... I want another at some point.

[fathomfive]

I'm in the early stages of planning something similar for next year and have been looking at Volvo 850 estates or something like this (I know this one isn't auto)

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1703834.htm

[PHmember]

This:

[disco!!!!]

i cant believe no one has mentioned this

http://pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f... SOTW: BMW 735i (E23)

this weeks SOTW

job done

Edited by disco!!!! on Sunday 9th May 11:36

[jamoor]

I would say a Honda Shuttle, well that's what I chose, I also happen to know of one for sale

[bigfatnick]

Thanks guys, i'm loving the big old citroens, as well as the 7 series (which was my original idea, i've wanted one for ever) though i'm not conviced about the earlier post saying that big cars dont cost much to run on a run, 30mpg vs 50mpg is always gonna cost more to run, as much as i'd LOVE to own a 7 series!

I've also noticed some peugeot 607's, but i'm concerned their new stuff is st, however, a 605 might be cool.