Discussion
Yes.
Parents have one, very early car, late 03 I think.
I have also borrowed it for a week at a time. I pay attention to the mpg, not because I want to save, but because I think it's technically interesting. As such neither me or anyone else do the whole 'driving economically do you can boast about it' thing. So here's my lowdown:
When car was acquired at about 55k miles, it had 22.5mpg as a long-term average on the computer. This was 4 years ago. After another 40,000 miles (now at 90k ish) of driving it has been used for a lot of country lane type driving. It has also done numerous trips to Europe, France, even Spain, often towing a trailer and race car, and usually absolutely laden with toolboxes, race car parts and passengers. It reads, last time I looked, 21.5mpg.
Now, to when I borrow it. I drive it, just me driving, no luggage. I also do nearly all town mileage at rush hour times. Because it's a novelty to have such a car (compared to my 1990 Mercedes), I drive it a lot more briskly than I would if I owned it myself and it wasn't novel. I also like to see how well it handles (bloody well for the size). As such, it gets a lot of safe acceleration and use of the paddle shift. In this driving it does about 17mpg, but I stress this is when driven uneconomically. To compare, my 206 1.6 did 39mpg normally, but when I started doing only town mileage it dropped to 30mpg.
In the motorway it doesn't top 25, I guess due to aerodynamics.
What else to say...? For some reason when I first borrowed it, years ago, I expected 30mpg plus, 'because it's a diesel'. Never mind 2.3 tons, ~330bhp (note that the official power figure is underrated), automatic gearbox and large frontal area!
For the performance and size of car it's great economy but it still takes adjustment. But it's still a very difficult mpg figure justify when compared to many more 'normal' cars. However to compare like for like I sat in a 3.2 v6 petrol Touareg once, looked at the long term average consumption - 17.5 mpg. Shocked I was.
I test drove a 2003 Merc SL500 last month. It did 13mpg on the test drive. I was stunned. In the same condition the Touareg would have done about 17-18.
I can't understate the all round appeal, though. For me it's the comfort, usability, the characteristic performance, and the handling. Yes the handling. The v10 is I think the only one with adjustable damping, and the sport mode firms up the front end turn-in feel, a lot. But make sure you can afford to run it if you get the v10. This one has largely been reliable, but I wouldn't want to be paying if I picked up a lemon.
Oh they go through tyres quickly... Surprise.
Parents have one, very early car, late 03 I think.
I have also borrowed it for a week at a time. I pay attention to the mpg, not because I want to save, but because I think it's technically interesting. As such neither me or anyone else do the whole 'driving economically do you can boast about it' thing. So here's my lowdown:
When car was acquired at about 55k miles, it had 22.5mpg as a long-term average on the computer. This was 4 years ago. After another 40,000 miles (now at 90k ish) of driving it has been used for a lot of country lane type driving. It has also done numerous trips to Europe, France, even Spain, often towing a trailer and race car, and usually absolutely laden with toolboxes, race car parts and passengers. It reads, last time I looked, 21.5mpg.
Now, to when I borrow it. I drive it, just me driving, no luggage. I also do nearly all town mileage at rush hour times. Because it's a novelty to have such a car (compared to my 1990 Mercedes), I drive it a lot more briskly than I would if I owned it myself and it wasn't novel. I also like to see how well it handles (bloody well for the size). As such, it gets a lot of safe acceleration and use of the paddle shift. In this driving it does about 17mpg, but I stress this is when driven uneconomically. To compare, my 206 1.6 did 39mpg normally, but when I started doing only town mileage it dropped to 30mpg.
In the motorway it doesn't top 25, I guess due to aerodynamics.
What else to say...? For some reason when I first borrowed it, years ago, I expected 30mpg plus, 'because it's a diesel'. Never mind 2.3 tons, ~330bhp (note that the official power figure is underrated), automatic gearbox and large frontal area!
For the performance and size of car it's great economy but it still takes adjustment. But it's still a very difficult mpg figure justify when compared to many more 'normal' cars. However to compare like for like I sat in a 3.2 v6 petrol Touareg once, looked at the long term average consumption - 17.5 mpg. Shocked I was.
I test drove a 2003 Merc SL500 last month. It did 13mpg on the test drive. I was stunned. In the same condition the Touareg would have done about 17-18.
I can't understate the all round appeal, though. For me it's the comfort, usability, the characteristic performance, and the handling. Yes the handling. The v10 is I think the only one with adjustable damping, and the sport mode firms up the front end turn-in feel, a lot. But make sure you can afford to run it if you get the v10. This one has largely been reliable, but I wouldn't want to be paying if I picked up a lemon.
Oh they go through tyres quickly... Surprise.
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