Excel as a daily driver?
Discussion
Hi,
Anyone here commute in an Excel? Vaguely thinking about one (again - yes, this isn't the first time!) and just done my sums to find I commute nearly 13,000 miles a year
How much of the Lots Of Trouble Usually Serious myth applies to a well maintained example? Are they practical day to day - seem to remember theres a reasonable ammount of room in the boot, but can't remember what access to it is like?
Presume the driving experience is rather good?
Chris.
Anyone here commute in an Excel? Vaguely thinking about one (again - yes, this isn't the first time!) and just done my sums to find I commute nearly 13,000 miles a year
How much of the Lots Of Trouble Usually Serious myth applies to a well maintained example? Are they practical day to day - seem to remember theres a reasonable ammount of room in the boot, but can't remember what access to it is like?
Presume the driving experience is rather good?
Chris.
I do a lot of commuting in my Excel - 20k miles/year.
My first one was a highish miler (120k when I got it) and it died spectacularly after 20k miles.
Hooked on Excels by then I got another one with half the miles, and have put another 20k on that one in the year since.
They're great on both motorways and twisty A-roads, quick and flat-cornering, but in tight spaces, awkward car parks etc they suffer badly from crap visibility at the rear and a front end that goes on forever. They also scuff their front wheels on full-lock, making manoevering a chore.
I like them because they're physical to drive, unlike a modern car.
Long term running costs, I work out to be roughly 50p/mile all-in. My insurance is less than £300 with full NCD and fuel consumption is 23mpg on 97RON although that includes a fair bit of thrashing it
Reliability-wise, I'd say they're on a par with what peoples expectations were 20+ years ago - the old car had to be towed three times in 20k miles. The new one, touch wood... not yet. I know that that's crap by modern standards, but they're old cars!
And you have to rev the tits off them to get into the power band, which is a bit scary when you know that an engine rebuild is more expensive than another Excel.
The boot is plenty big enough - mind you the cars look like a hatchback but they're not - the glass is fixed and just the plastic boot lid opens for access.
My first one was a highish miler (120k when I got it) and it died spectacularly after 20k miles.
Hooked on Excels by then I got another one with half the miles, and have put another 20k on that one in the year since.
They're great on both motorways and twisty A-roads, quick and flat-cornering, but in tight spaces, awkward car parks etc they suffer badly from crap visibility at the rear and a front end that goes on forever. They also scuff their front wheels on full-lock, making manoevering a chore.
I like them because they're physical to drive, unlike a modern car.
Long term running costs, I work out to be roughly 50p/mile all-in. My insurance is less than £300 with full NCD and fuel consumption is 23mpg on 97RON although that includes a fair bit of thrashing it
Reliability-wise, I'd say they're on a par with what peoples expectations were 20+ years ago - the old car had to be towed three times in 20k miles. The new one, touch wood... not yet. I know that that's crap by modern standards, but they're old cars!
And you have to rev the tits off them to get into the power band, which is a bit scary when you know that an engine rebuild is more expensive than another Excel.
The boot is plenty big enough - mind you the cars look like a hatchback but they're not - the glass is fixed and just the plastic boot lid opens for access.
Yeah, I'd heard about the visibility issues - my parking can be a little 'special' at the best of times and theres a chance I might be moving to a nice crowded part of London in the near future. Think a garage would be a necesity for overnight storage though, so perhjaps not such an issue.
23mpg isn't much less than I'm used to and it's about the same as previous cars have done. Can live with the expenditure if it's got a big enough tank for say 250+ miles range.
I realise that with an old car reliability is a relative term. The other cars I'm considering are things like an Alfa GTV6, Porsche 944 or Scimitar GTE, so (with the possible exception of the porker) reliability is going to be a relative term.
23mpg isn't much less than I'm used to and it's about the same as previous cars have done. Can live with the expenditure if it's got a big enough tank for say 250+ miles range.
I realise that with an old car reliability is a relative term. The other cars I'm considering are things like an Alfa GTV6, Porsche 944 or Scimitar GTE, so (with the possible exception of the porker) reliability is going to be a relative term.
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