tinyurl.com/kborj8d
The 406 / Soarer combination is still going strong but I've always got an eye open for something interesting.
For a while I've fancied a GS450h, but only really high mileage ones falling to a price I'm willing to pay.
The 406 is good at what it does - provides very cheap motoring. The Soarer is also good, a fast GT that performance wise makes me smile, I also love the external looks, but the interior lets it down a bit.
I want Luxury from my next car and the attached also ticks the V8 box (the way fuel/tax is going, it's a box that needs ticking sooner rather than later, I think).
I could probably make it work for a year or two as a daily getting rid of both current cars, but who knows where the value of a petrol V8 will be 2 years from now! but then again, my Soarer is probably in the same position anyway.
Am I kidding myself that the 4.4l V8 will trundle up and down the motorway giving 30mpg?
General Servicing - are they known to be horribly expensive?
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Strangely enough I looked at a beauty last night...
www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201410128147752 (link changed to remove postcode, in case it was yours?)
Insurance quote £210
VED £285
I assumed 6k miles at 20mpg @ £6.30/gallon £1890
Repairs/maintenance etc say £600
Tyres: £250 per year (but in reality around £1000 every 4 years).
So.. excluding tyres £2,9885 pa..
Edit
Lexus servicing is NOT cheap..
30mpg: yes if you drive at 45mph.. And if you do, it defeats the purpose of a V8
Last edited by: VxFan on Fri 24 Oct 14 at 12:49
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>>>And if you do, it defeats the purpose of a V8
GS450H is a 3.5 ltr V6 + battery electric motor - can go like a V8
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As a reference point, my 20 year old Audi A8 4.2 Quattro averaged around 27mpg on a 500 mile journey from Edinburgh to West Sussex, which is mostly motorway, with perhaps 60/70 miles of A/B roads either end. Add on a couple of mpg for not dragging the 4WD gubbins around, and optimistically the same again by keeping to 70mph and it's probably possible. But any urban mileage at either end will kill the economy I reckon.
But it is a V8, and petroleum getting cheaper - £1.21/litre at my nearest Esso - so go for it!!
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That GS does look nice madf - My link was to a BMW 545i by the way, just incase I confused matters mentioning the 450h?
Currently I'm doing about 12k/year in the 406 and another 5k in the Soarer (limited mileage Classic policy)
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>> That GS does look nice madf - My link was to a BMW 545i by the way, just incase I confused
>> matters mentioning the 450h?
I didn't click on the link so I assumed you were talking 450h. Now a BMW 4.4l V8... nice. I know someone at work (in one of our German offices) and his everyday car is a 760i L. Very nice car. It has all the options you can imagine. It's about 8 years old so he probably got it as a bargain.
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My LS430 - same engine - gave me a maximum of about 28mpg actual measured consumption when driven gingerly, but only fell to about 25mpg when pushed a bit. I could get it to display about 35 on occasion but not for sustained periods. I think I did get a 30 odd run once.
Servicing - Lexus publish fixed price tables, so you won't pay MORE than these. You might get them less at a Lexus dealer. Outside the network, who knows what you might get. They don't look too bad to me.
www.lexus.co.uk/owners/lexus-servicing/#/FixedPricePromise
Horror stories of expensive part failure exist of course, but you if you do actually need a new satnav display or something, at a quoted two grand from the dealer or something, you can see them on ebay for a few hundred if needed.
Not a mad idea at all, if you don't mind the general running costs, and are indeed nice cars.
Last edited by: Crankcase on Thu 23 Oct 14 at 14:24
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There's a Jaguar for sale beside the road near here, the buck-toothed looking one which may be a Mondeo in drag. Metallic grey green, very clean, no apparent rust, tinted glass... couldn't see the mileage when I stepped out to look at it.
It's a 2.4 diesel I think, bound to be fairly frugal on fuel. It's probably a nice enough motor although you have to drive them to tell. But even if I had the £4,000 being asked for it I'd hesitate to pay that much for a car I didn't know off a road verge. Never had much bottle.
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Not driven an X-type, if that's what it is AC, but I suspect - no more than that - it's not as "nice" as an S-type. I owned an S-type and that was certainly not as "nice" as any Lexus I ran - although it looked much better and Mrs C would buy one again over a Lexus, as she found it very comfy.
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Seriously considering going to see the 545i linked in the first post.
Anyone any experience of the 4.4 V8? I think its the N62 engine.
I'll sing the praises of Toyota V8's all day long, but I don't really know a lot about BMW engines. I know the predecessor to the N62 was the M62 and that was a timing chain, I assume the same for this?
A proven durable engine? Any weaknesses?
Anything in general to watch out for with the E60 5 series?
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I think the thing with buying and driving older, cheaper, cars which were originally very sophisticated and expensive, is that one should not spend more money than one can afford to write off.
Buy well and it probably won't come to that, but a car that used to be £50,000 will have equivalent costing problems, even if you did buy it for 25p.
Bit like going to Vegas, don;t gamble more than you can afford.
Provided you're staying within that, then I reckon you should buy the most fun thing going.
As for running costs, pretty much they will always cost more than you expect. Just try to make sure its not more than you can afford.
And I;d have that Lexus in a heartbeat.
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2 and a bit years down the line, I've finally got that V8.
The 406 was scrapped, I posted on here somewhere about the Alfa Sportwagon that replaced it, that was moved on for a V70 D5 and sold in December for a Lexus SC430.
Some might say it's an acquired taste, but they really are a lot better looking in the 'flesh'.
Lovely inside, where it really counts and the engine is a peach.
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Certain Financial Ruin? - madf
