Daily Driver..

[JimmyST]

Hi all,

Sorry if this a done to death topic, but does anyone drive a 6.0 Monaro VXR as a daily? Thinking about levelling up to one at some point but don't know how it would handle my 30mile daily commute

[Steve_T]

As long as the fuel and running costs are within your budget, I'm sure the car would cope fine.

[Brave Fart]

Well, yes and no. I tend to take the train to work (it's a 10 mile drive to the office) but only because the traffic in Southampton can be terrible, and the train only takes 20 minutes. I drive in usually two days out of five, typically if the weather is nice. My VXR has the 6 litre LS2 engine and it's fine as a commuter; I like driving along at modest speed, windows down, enjoying the V8 noise. Typical commuter mpg is around 18 for me.

I must say, if you've had a bad day at work,the drive home in a Monaro is a lovely thing.
Mike.

[throwyourbike]

Daily drove my 6.0 Monaro for the first two years of ownership.

It was my only car and saw at least 50 miles a day.

Only let me down twice. The first was when the power steering cooler went with a bang and the second wasn't really the cars fault I guess. I attempted to drive it in the snow but had to give up after a few hundred yards.

[300bhp/ton]

The Monaro might be fairly niche in Blighty. But it's a mass market car using mass market components. Daily use should be no bother for it at all from a mechanical point of view.

30 miles a day, if that is in total, then budget at 2 gallons/day. It should do better mpg obviously, but this will probably allow for warm up, traffic and putting your foot down a bit.

Current prices would make this £50/week or just over £200/month to fuel. And probably one or two services a year, depending how many additional miles you do. And probably a pair or a set of tyres every 12-18 months.

[bimsb6]

Use mine as a daily , a whole 5 miles round trip ! Been using it like this for 3 years now , i need to charge the battery every month or so just to give it a boost but no issues .

[Magic919]

I used a Monaro VXR as a DD. Later replaced it with a VXR8. Both were fine.

[V8BHA]

had mine 2 years as a daily driver and no issues

[DCLXIV]

Mine's my only car, so gets used for a daily 12 mile round trip. Only issue from daily use is that it is likely rusting faster than if it were locked up away from the salty roads during winter.

Plus, walking out of the office and pressing the loud pedal never gets old.

[Dagerous]

I use my Monaro VXR as my daily driver and have done for the past 10 months or so, mostly commuting the 5 miles or so from my house into Southampton. So far it has been completely reliable (Famous last words) and never fails to put a smile on my face for the thunderous noise and comedic wheelspin it manifests every time I drive it.

My one proviso would be to be prepared for the fuel bills. I commute 5 miles each way in heavy traffic (So cold engine, stop start etc.) and have averaged out at 11.2mpg. Having said that I only live 5 miles from work and I'm sure the mpg would improve if the (Full Wortec) exhaust system didn't sound so damned good! I'm forever finding myself blipping the throttle, using wider throttle openings and holding higher revs for longer just to enjoy the truly wonderful sound of the LS2. As others have said though longer commutes and steady speeds will drastically improve your mpg.

So yes, I love mine as a daily.

[Aitch 'H']

I use my modified CV8 as a daily and it's fine. I've got AAS headers, sports cats running through mid boxes with no back box with heads and cam & a fast intake and throttle body etc, it's LOUD but other than that it's fine. I do a 34 mile round trip and return about 14-16mpg driving on mostly dual carriageway depending how hard I push the loud pedal but as a previous post said, after a sh*t day at work it's a great drive home. Mechanically it's no problem as it's a pushrod engine that will go on forever if looked after correctly its just a case of running costs.

[MonaroMad]

I use mine to nip to the shops for a pint of milk even

[ksithumper]

My cv8 was my daily drive for 6 years and 80k miles. Enjoyed every single mile. Then a weekend toy for a couple of years but now back in daily use for a bit, as as my wife's Mazda lunched its engine and she is temporarily using my wonderful, efficient, capable, utterly soulless Merc.

I am not rushing to repair the Mazda :-)

[Sohlman]

I bought my 5.7 vxr monaro 18 months ago and have completed 20k in that time. It's been used in all conditions including snow with winter tyres for poor road conditions.

It can handle things well. In comparison to a modern car it's flawed in a lot of ways, but has lots of character.

Fuel wise the worst I have had is 15mpg in a tank largely sitting in traffic and best has been 27mpg on a long run to Manchester and back. I average about 18mpg in winter and 19mpg in summer.

Fuel is not the worst cost mind you as maintenance wise in that time I have had two services and each one has been £1000 and in total I have spent over £3000 on maintenance. I guess I have been a bit unlucky, but have needed a radiator, drive shafts, top mounts, tracking, clutch slave cylinder. The next service is going to be a whopper as I require new AP diss and pads and I suspect another set of top mounts.

If you go down this path it's a lot of fun, but make sure yours eyes are wide open and buy the best car you can afford. That's what I did and bought from James at Elite. Despite that it's been more expensive then I thought, but I don't regret the decision.

[Codswallop]

Sohlman said:

Fuel is not the worst cost mind you as maintenance wise in that time I have had two services and each one has been £1000 and in total I have spent over £3000 on maintenance. I guess I have been a bit unlucky, but have needed a radiator, drive shafts, top mounts, tracking, clutch slave cylinder. The next service is going to be a whopper as I require new AP diss and pads and I suspect another set of top mounts.

If you go down this path it's a lot of fun, but make sure yours eyes are wide open and buy the best car you can afford. That's what I did and bought from James at Elite. Despite that it's been more expensive then I thought, but I don't regret the decision.

To be fair, those are mostly age related wear items which once done won't need doing again for years and years. Better to pay for upkeep on something older and interesting than depreciation on something dull/ newer.

Just got a new clutch/flywheel and need some driveshafts for my car, but considering the parts on there are probably originals it's not a big expense spread over the years.

And if you think AP or VXR brakes are expensive, you could always get a CV8. Cheap as chips that way (and with braking performance to match! )

[Sohlman]

I don't disagree but with my car with the exception of the radiator all other parts have been upgraded in the past and are wearing out for the third time if that makes sense. Thus why I feel I was a bit unlucky as a bought the car knowing a lot of these wear and tear jobs had been done.

[300bhp/ton]

Sohlman said:

I don't disagree but with my car with the exception of the radiator all other parts have been upgraded in the past and are wearing out for the third time if that makes sense. Thus why I feel I was a bit unlucky as a bought the car knowing a lot of these wear and tear jobs had been done.

You need to shop around for parts IMO.

I don't know for sure, but suspect a Pontiac GTO uses the same rad as the Monaro. New rad delivered from the USA for £91 all in:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2987-New-Radiator-for-Po...

Not sure what you'd cost to buy a "Monaro" one in the UK. You should be able to fit a rad yourself if you are inclined to do so. Or just find a reputable local mechanic and throw them some pound notes to do it.

[Glyn84]

300bhp/ton said:

You need to shop around for parts IMO.

I don't know for sure, but suspect a Pontiac GTO uses the same rad as the Monaro. New rad delivered from the USA for £91 all in:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2987-New-Radiator-for-Po...

I had one of these, and they do fit. The only difference is they have the automatic transmission cooler connections, but otherwise the same and they are a direct replacement. I found the build quality wasn't great though, and after just over a year the side tanks had split. I replaced with with a decent one from Monkfish (who are no more expensive than buying a decent one from the states) which has been much better.