Mr Hardware

you've done well fellas, looks good to me!

man, i could do 2nd gear donuts no worries in my old KE55 too much diff tramp in 1st 2nd was smoooooth

Well, truth to be known, you can get a gas only AUII/AUIII. Mine was the last of the last of the Falcon factory dual fuellers. Just lucky. Cheers. I don't think too many Aussie blokes in their right mind would. Yes, yes indeed. Seeing as LPG is between 100-110 octane. Yes, but the weight of the BA/BF negates the savings unfortunately. Yes, in every regard. Except for Longevity. Commo Motor = low tech, long lasting Falcon Motor = low tech, long lasting Toyota K Motor = low tech, long lasting wait, there's a pattern going on here.

Why do I bother having a dual fuel setup if i'm only going to use LPG? Cos it came with the car like that. Could I get better power and economy from the LPG if i ran LPG straight? It's actually a Tickford Factory Gas dual fuel setup, so the motor's been tuned for LPG already. The only time i've ever used petrol is when my gas converter played up, but i got that fixed the next day. Extended range? Nah. I can get 500klms out of a tank of LPG on the highway, so Petrol isnt really needed. Why don't I take the petrol tank out? Illegal. I would require an engineers cert for that i believe. Too much cost and effort for little benefit. At the end of the day, this is the shopping list for a good car: Space Pace Grace Economy and Built for Australian Conditions I see the Jetta has the pace, and maybe the economy, not quite the space normally accustomed to Aussie cars though. Grace? I don't think it looks like its worth almost 50 FRIGGIN GRAND. And no way is it going to last for ages let alone australian conditions. These set of 5 rules are why Falcons and Commodores rule the road.

ancullen, as much as I agree with what you say, you can't claim the average of the VE dual fuel is 11.1c/km, as no-one with a dual fueller uses petrol as much as they do LPG. I have a Ford Falcon dual Fueller, exactly the same setup as the VE LPG, and I can't remember the last time I used petrol. I have a 4.0L motor and I regularly return 7.5c/km. So compare 'em straight. Other than that I agree with nearly everything else you say. Also, MRMOPARMAN, you've got the right idea. Ford LPG for lyfe yo. AND AS IF A PROTON/VW TSI WOULD BE AROUND AFTER MORE THAN 200,000KLMS. MY FORD HAS 600,000 AND STILL GOING STRONG. BEAT THAT VOLKSWAGEN, DAMN TRY HARD KRAUTS.

^ Ummm, LPG? I find it so amazing that you have been able to get awesome power vs economy for years with LPG, and yet people are still beating around the bush for stupid solutions like TSI. I tell you, for $47K I'd rather a V8 LPG Berlina.

jellybeans for the win

yeah, egas falcon's power is pretty piss poor for a 4L Motor. well if he's spending 40k on a kraut-mobile, i spose fuel economy isn't a high priority. it's a pity it won't last on australian roads/conditions, especially in the NT.

I wanna be seeing something a little more flash for my $40k. I'd rather a Six-Speed LPG Ford Futura for my money. Space, Pace and Grace all at a cheap running cost over several years. Or a LPG VE Commodore or something like that. Do tell me the average fuel consumption for the vehicle when you get it though. I will be thoroughly interested.

ps why not just buy a prius. pps sorry for firing up. i just hate seeing people buy cars that appear to be wonderful, but turn out to be heaps. Mitsubishi stylin'.

hey, i'm not saying that there isn't some value in european cars. One of the cabbies has a 1975 Volvo, interior looks like something from 1985 not 1975... My uncle has run BMWs for years. I have alot of respect for them. But I don't have alot of respect for Volkswagen. When I buy a car, i look for the best value for money. I don't believe a VW represents best value for money in that regard. I think you're paying alot of money into things that don't really matter. I mean to say, if you had the longevity of a camry in a package to rival european cars, i would say that is the way to go... oh wait, i just described the IS250. As if anyone spending 20-50 grand on a car, as if you would look anywhere else other than toyota/lexus. A 2-year old IS250 represents greater value than a brand new kraut-mobile. Hey, don't get me wrong. I think it is very difficult to shop in the 35K+ range. Because in 3-4-5 years time, the car is worth 3/5ths of sweet f.a. compared to what you paid for it. The way to win with cars is to buy something at about 2-3 years old and keep it until you start to need to spend more on it than it is worth. The bottom line is, i don't give a shit about interior build quality, it's only going to go down the dunny after a few years on australian roads any way. What matters to me is engineering build quality, how long will the motor/transmission/diff etc last before you have to go spending big bucks on it. If the answer is only 10years/200,000klms, then i don't wanna know. Any old shit car can do that. The fact of the matter is that Toyotas are one of the most reliable, long lived vehicles around and not too may cars can compare. Toyotas should be more expensive compared to other shit around like Kia's etc. This whole site exists solely based around the absolute brilliance of the reliability of toyota motors. You would be mad to take a step or three backwards into the land of commoner's shit cars. We are toyota blokes. We know far better than to be buying european shit.

i don't see the extra half-a-time-again expense in a VW. Do the motors last longer? Do you get exceptional fuel economy? (and I don't mean 8L/100klms as apposed to 9L/100klms) Does it have wonderful power vs economy? Is it going to go for 15 years without putting a spanner on it? No? Then it's just an inferior camry/corolla for wankers.

I say budget is a car that spends alot of time at the mechanics... LIKE A VW!

why get a jetta/passat when you can get a corolla/camry

that's impressive

it would be much better to have a larger unit doing low PSI than a smaller unit doing high PSI. Longevity and stress reasons prevail. Heh I can't wait until Hybrids become commonplace, I'll be having me an LPG Hybrid doing $2/100klms city.

so in a word or two that sucks

I'm sure you can appreciate that manufacturers quoted figures for a combined city/highway cycle is nowhere near accurate to city figures. I have a mate who has a 2002 diesel Golf and he gets 11L/100klms. I chose 11L petrol, 9L diesel and 15L gas as a good estimate for real world city driving. LPG Hybrid is the way of the future. LPG is the way of the present. I would love a CNG vehicle. Only one problem THERE'S NOWHERE TO FILL THEM UP Sucks to be Volkswagen, living in a fairy land. also, Petrol is roughly $1.10 here atm. I filled up with LPG yesterday at 49.5c/L. If you're interested, I did 380klms of mainly highway for $20.65. Thats with the air-con on all the time too.

Alright, on topic time. ON PAPER the TSI engine looks like a good idea but just remember - fuel economy is not the only thing to look at INSURANCE turbo AND super?? = $$$$$ insurance, negating any savings made by the design. And anyone will tell you, that force feeding a motor will kill it quicker than a naturally aspirated one. So there's no economy there. I'd like to see a TSI motor at 30 years old with 300,000+ on the clock like a K motor. I don't think so So, economy is not L/100km vs kw vs capacity but L/100klms vs longevity and yet again, Volkswagen are proving themselves to be German crackpots.

you are never going to get good economy out of something that weighs over 1200+kgs. lets see (city figures) petrol engine @ 11L/100klms = $12/100klms diesel engine @ 9L/100klms = $11/100klms LPG engine @ 15L/100klms = $7.50/100klms YOU CANNOT SAVE MONEY BY STUPID TDI METHODS. THERE IS ONLY ONE WAY TO SAVE MONEY, AND THAT IS TO LOWER THE UNIT PRICE OF THE FUEL YOU FEED IT. At the end of the day, it's the weight you've got to push that makes a car drink, no matter if it has a mammoth motor or a tiny one, diesel or petrol. LPG is the way of the future. My 1600kg Falcon gets $8/100klms around town with the aircon on. Cynic/Extremist/Revolutionary, call me what you will but i looked at it this way. My KE55 would do, at best, 11L/100klms around town. That's about $12/100klms for the second slowest car on the road, this side of a volkswagen beetle. And then there's a Gas Falcon that does $8/100klms and it has power to burn. I liked my corolla. I love my falcon. /rant.

I read this in wheels too. This is what i thought. Unfortunately, these facts remain: A 1.4L TSI produces 125kw & 240nm, which is very close to the standard camry 2.4L 4cyl A 1.4L motor that has a turbocharger and supercharger probably weighs a very similar amount to a 2.4L camry 4cyl and probably chews a similar amount of fuel, put in a similarly weighted vehicle. I think it is a here today, gone tomorrow thing. I cannot see an engine like this possibly be a reliable alternative, let alone any benefit. Don't get me wrong, i reckon it is a great idea, but i just don't feel that it will be economically viable, reliable, cost effective or anything like that. 125kw and 240nm out of a 1.4 is amazing, but the trade offs prove it irrelevant. IMO

http://www.rollaclub.com/board/index.php?s...mp;hl=v8+corona Come on boys, search function. It's a 3.4L Century V8.

My guess is nothing is the same as any other toyota. I reckon guards, grille, lights, bumper and bonnet are all specific to the AE102R Sprinter and nothing is interchangeable.

Yes, I can confirm that the KE55 Series 2 SE had the 'ke30' style bumpers. The only car that had the huge wrap around bumpers was the KE55 Series 2 CS. Which i had. Looked great for such an ooooollldddd car.

i dunno, i always reckon my square headlighted ke55 had a bit more of a modern look than the old round headlight design