Sadly, due to rising fuel costs, I am thinking of having to sell my much beloved magna, and downsize to a lancer of some description. Don't know if I will be able to cope with the performance loss of going from a 3.5 to a 2 litre engine. Anyone have any suggestions on the best model of Lancer that will keep me a liitle bit happy in the performance department? I have up to $13,000 to spend.

Thanks.

Evo :cool:

Man the newer ones are all the same, maybe a VRX model of sorts, just so you can "feel" sporty. None of them will be particularly brisk by comparison to the Magna.

...if you have that much to spend and like your car so much...put it on gas.....

I agree with putting it on gas, if you buy a smaller engine car, you will have to push it that little bit harder to keep up (aka using more petrol), also alot of smaller cars are also rougher to drive, so you will lose out on the comfort as well.

My missus is selling her Daewoo Cielo if you are after something cheap to run, and it's cheap enough that you could still keep the Magna!:D

Yes, gas could be an option. Wasn't to keen on the power loss though. Drove a late model magna, like an 05, and it was so gutless. May investigate direct injection. Hear it has next to no power loss. And looking to stay mitsubishi too!

Thanks

Hey the new MY08 MIVEC 2.0l lancers are great and find they're really good on fuel, much noisier and harsher inside compared to my AWD. i think you need to consider economics of spending the money on a new car vs fuel saving.

It all depends on the milleage you do, for me the increase fuel costs equates to maybe $700 to 1k so hardly worth buying a new car & spending over $10k in the deal because of increased fuel price. unless you want a new car.

Keep what you have and just keep driving it carefully. If you spend $13K on another car (less dubious trade-in value on your existing machine) - how much fuel can you buy for that? If you travel say 20,000 km per year and your new Lancer will do say 8 litres/100 Km, and your existing car is doing say 10 litres/100 km - that's 400 litres of fuel you save annually - that's $660 at today's prices. Is it worth changing over for that?:eh: .
If you are moving from a Falcodore V8 or a Toyota Toorak tractor which is using 15-20 litres/100 Km the economics might work - but I doubt it on a Magna.

Sadly, due to rising fuel costs, I am thinking of having to sell my much beloved magna, and downsize to a lancer of some description. Don't know if I will be able to cope with the performance loss of going from a 3.5 to a 2 litre engine. Anyone have any suggestions on the best model of Lancer that will keep me a liitle bit happy in the performance department? I have up to $13,000 to spend.

Thanks.
performance loss? You won't notice it. We have a 3L V6 auto TS and a 2L 2004 manual lancer. Guess which pulls harder? Is more fun to drive? Handles well in the hills? Has a boot almost the same size as a 380? Has the best fuel consumption? Seats 5 like the magna? Hah? Just guess (HINT: the answer starts with an "L")

I agree though - keep the magna! Put the $13K towards fuel for the next 5 years!!

All very good points guys. My maths was this. When fuel hits 1.70 a litre, in August supposedly, 60 litres of fuel will cost me $102. That 60 litres of fuel will get me 600 klms at the moment. If I get a car that averages 7 litres to the 100 klms, I would only use 42 litres per 600 klms and spend only $71.40 on fuel. that is a difference of $30 give or take. So my reasoning was. If I get a 3 year loan for $10000, it will cost me $70 per week to pay off. I would be saving $30 in fuel, meaning i really only have to find an extra $40 per week. In three years then, i would have a car that is 5-6 years newer then the magna, and as fuel prices get dearer, as they will, my savings per week will only increase. Does this make good economic sense?

Wasn't to keen on the power loss though.


How much of a power loss would a Magna on gas be compared to a Lancer??

Except that you forget about the depreciation on the newer vehicle. The Magna has done most of its depreciating, so you won't lose much by keeping it. Your $10K that you borrowed will be worth about $4K in 3 or 4 years time. My rule is 'don't borrow money on a depreciating asset' - only borrow for things that will appreciate in value - like houses.
Better to drive the Magna until it has a major problem or wears out. Then take it to the wrecker and buy another car for CASH.:)

smaller cars are keeping value better than larger cars..... so his 13 grand now i reckon it will still be worth 7-8 in 4-5 yrs.....

where his 10-13k magna will definately be worth 4-5grand.... in the same time... and COST more to run...

I say doit....

I have been looking into doing this too, I found out my car is worth a bit less than i thought on a trade so I might try selling it privately for a month or 2 if it doesn't I'll go LPG. In the mean time i might just drive my nan's seca on weekdays and save the magna for the weekends.

Hopefully a close to new second hand hatch for <$10,000 will pop up soon.

It;s probably been covered multiple times but this seems like a good thread to get some prices for LPG off of people who have it. I'm keen on Duel fuel, injected.

The thing that makes the decision hard is that the engine has only done about 130,000, and the gearbox about the same. Spent around 4k doing the conversion into my Tf not too long ago. Got Greddy, exhaust extractors, suspension etc. Hard to get rid of it. Would be interested in hearing others comments who have gone to gas, especially if anyone has done direct injection. Redbook has said that 2 litre lancers have 92KW, but are obviously a bit lighter too.

hardly fair comparing a TS 3.0L to a 3.5L
anyway if you decide to go gas go dedicated gas
LPG has a higher octane than petrol and therefore burns slower releasing more "potential" (key word) power than petrol
the key is in the tune
i personally don't like small cars so when i needed a daily so i could make the VN use 30L/100km i wasn't thinking about anything smaller than a magna / verada

Was thinking of duel fuel maybe. But have a Greddy, so that might help to get a good tune.

get a push bike

Don't believe teh fuel economy hype of smaller cars. They won't get 7.5 l/100km around town driven hard.
Our TW returns exactly 12l/100km around town exclusively (not driven sedately either) and will dip into teh 7's on teh highway, and for teh resale value of it, we couldn't get anything decent in a smaller car that used significantly less fuel. Not many cars of any size will get much better than that.
Besides, it's worth the extra litre or two per hundred to have a bit of room, soundproofing, handling, comfort etc, and not have something that'll wear you out after 300km on teh highway.
When considering gas, consider how long you'll have the car, your average kilometres per year and divide it by the money you might save. Also factor in gas's pooere fuel economy.
Every time I have done the sums, it comes back as not worth it. Factor in teh rising excise on PLG as wel, it will continue to go up in price. The government has said that.
I also love how LP gas installations went up in cost the exact same amount as the rebate.....
Borrowing money to buy a car is a fool's game. You will lose roughly half or more of teh purchase price in depreciation and interest. Factor that in to your equation.
The real way to save fuel is keep the car well tuned, run good tyres at a proper air pressure, and drive anticipating teh traffic.
Or buy a motorbike. Worked for me.

Regards, Andrew.

How much interest would you be paying over 3 years on a loan?

Then factor in depreciation and its a no brainer...

Also consider what maintenance you've done to your car, and think about what could go wrong in a car you know nothing about.

All very good points guys. My maths was this. When fuel hits 1.70 a litre, in August supposedly, 60 litres of fuel will cost me $102. That 60 litres of fuel will get me 600 klms at the moment. If I get a car that averages 7 litres to the 100 klms, I would only use 42 litres per 600 klms and spend only $71.40 on fuel. that is a difference of $30 give or take. So my reasoning was. If I get a 3 year loan for $10000, it will cost me $70 per week to pay off. I would be saving $30 in fuel, meaning i really only have to find an extra $40 per week. In three years then, i would have a car that is 5-6 years newer then the magna, and as fuel prices get dearer, as they will, my savings per week will only increase. Does this make good economic sense?

As an economic evaluation, no it still doen't work out, as you said, money is stilll gonna flow out of your pocket. & its still flowing out at a greater rate than if you'd kept your magna.

Now if you want a new car then that's a totally different consideration. If not I'll encourage you to put the $13k into a savings a/c to buy a house.

Maybe we should run a poll on this one. Who wants to set one up?

Here is a quote from another part of the Magna forums.:confused:

Another thing to consider when thinking about getting another (smaller) car - We discovered how little a 2001 TJ Exec with 120,000Ks is worth as a trade in on a medium-size car - a Ford Focus 2006 model ($19K) - a whole measly $3000.

I told the guy and that the car was worth a whole lot more than that to me, and that the focus couldn't save $500 per month in fuel.

It always amazes me how a small car can hold its value so well (focus in this config worth about 22K) and yet a 2 year old 380 VRX (worth about 38K) is now worth $19K with 50,000K on it!!! Ouchies! 10/100 is quite achieveable in a 380, I know which I would be rather driving between the focus and 380...

Time to run on BBQ gas methinks...:doh:

Another opinion for AZKAZ. Is a changeover worth it?

just keep the magna and do some mods to it.

like a K & N, Barrys Fuel Rail kit+ gaskets, those mods on my car has gotten my fuel consumption down from 12.9-13.5 to 10.8 around town and around 8< on the highway.

and thats from a TJ Manual Sports