Pre-purchase Advice

[NJD-1992]

IRS Commodores are no good for towing I totally agree, but the only vehicle better than a Falcon XR6 Turbo Ute for towing race cars that I've driven, is a Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT. V8 Landcruiser's are no good on the open road trying to pass trucks etc and the 4 cylinder diesels are dangerous performance wise. Moving forward I guess a Silverado or Ram could be a decent tow vehicle!

The only SUV id be tempted by would be the Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat, because how could one not have fun with the sheer stupidity and lunacy that is that glorious Hellcat engine. I mean if youre going to go the "full flog" mode buying an SUV like that to drive around the city and piss people off, at least you can be inside smiling at all the supercharger noises

The other truck I just dont understand, is those new wide body style Raptor Wildtrax's with the 4 Cylinder engine. Bit like those flogs who get all juiced up on steroids. They think they are impressive, but all shrivelled in the area it really counts

 

[RevNev]

The other truck I just dont understand, is those new wide body style Raptor Wildtrax's with the 4 Cylinder engine. Bit like those flogs who get all juiced up on steroids. They think they are impervious, but all shrivelled in the area it really counts

A few weeks ago in a 110kmph zone, there was a flogger in one these Raptor things sitting on my tailgate approaching an uphill overtaking lane. He pulls out with this diesel nearly on the rev limiter at 3000rpm and got up alongside me and I couldn't resist giving him a bit of SV6 action and squeezing the throttle. Sure enough, the mighty Raptor ran out of horsepower before the SV6 got to 30% throttle and I thought, what a pile of crap this Raptor thing is, all show and no go whatsoever!

 

[VS 5.0]

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/fed...lars-helped-pay-for-them-20231022-p5ee5v.html

 

[someguy360]

People like to have a sook about petrol prices but the majority aren’t doing themselves any favours by choosing lard arse SUVs they don’t use for their intended purpose.

Our 7 seat Kia Sorento full size SUV gets waaaaay better fuel economy than my SV6, has more torque than my SV6 and pulls my VR to the the strip 120km away and back regularly with ease.

Averages around 8L/100km around town (Diesel, the correct fuel for a daily driver)

 

[Forg]

^ I think you typo’d, it’s spelled “diseasal”.

 

[John_ 3:16]

Our 7 seat Kia Sorento full size SUV gets waaaaay better fuel economy than my SV6, has more torque than my SV6 and pulls my VR to the the strip 120km away and back regularly with ease.

Averages around 8L/100km around town (Diesel, the correct fuel for a daily driver)

I currently have a Kia Sportage and I was considering the Sorrento a little while ago until I got a recall for my Sportage just to say we need to check your engine, we are replacing a lot of the engines as in the manufacturing process, I can’t remember if it was the crank or the block on a lot of the motors was not cleaned properly in the manufacturing process, and it was the same on the carnivals and Sorrento‘s and a few other models and I didn’t really want to take the risk on getting a Sorrento.

 

[John_ 3:16]

I was talking to a mate in Geelong yesterday, and his neighbour has a VF Commodore that has just over 300,000 km on it and he uses it for towing his 19 foot caravan and he’s car trailer with his HQ show car on it, I thought that was pretty impressive!

 

[J_D 2.0]

Our 7 seat Kia Sorento full size SUV gets waaaaay better fuel economy than my SV6

(Diesel, the correct fuel for a daily driver)

Wrong comparison then obviously. You can’t compare diesel economy to petrol. If it was a petrol it would use more fuel than an SV6.

I used to average about 8.5L per 100kms in my SV6 when I had it, which isn’t too bad but would be much lower with a more modern equivalent car, or better still a smaller car.

If you actually have a reason to have an SUV (carrying 7 people, carrying loads, towing etc) then by all means use one but the vast majority of people buy an SUV for the wrong reasons or out of vanity and then have a sook about the cost of driving it.

I physically see the manifestation of that all the time with land yachts driving and accelerating slow af everywhere they go, presumably to either try and save fuel in their non-aerodynamic brick or to be mechanically sympathetic to something that has way more complexity (4WD) than someone who never leaves tarmac needs!

The problem moving forward is that this is translating into EVs as well. Everyone wants SUVs but the biggest killer of range in an EV is weight. The biggest killer of the environment when making an EV is weight. You cant claim to give a shite about the environment while driving around a lard arse electric SUV, it’s a non-sequitur.

 

[John_ 3:16]

The problem moving forward is that this is translating into EVs as well. Everyone wants SUVs but the biggest killer of range in an EV is weight. The biggest killer of the environment when making an EV is weight. You cant claim to give a shite about the environment while driving around a lard arse electric SUV, it’s a non-sequitur.

There’s EV’s catching on fire and the fireies not being able to put them out! The way the batteries are produced are also not good for the environment and I’ve heard of people charging their EV’s with a generator during a power blackout. They were purpose built generators.

 

[Forg]

I used to average about 8.5L per 100kms in my SV6 when I had it, which isn’t too bad but would be much lower with a more modern equivalent car, or better still a smaller car.

Smaller car yes, but I don't think there's been that much gain in recent years for an equivalent. Due to safety & performance desirements stuff's gotten heavier, so any efficiencies that've been eked out of better control of the combustion process or the poofteenth of a percentage-point of gain with stop-start engines has been negated by needing to lug more mass around.
Probably the closest thing to an SV6 that's currently available would be ... if we're comparing sedans, probably a Benz E350 which is RWD with a 2L 220kW engine. That's 7.7L/100km combined, under ideal conditions; 10.3L/100 city-cycle. And that's going to have absolutely every efficiency trick in the book (short of hybrid) chucked at it.
Our cast-iron OHV ancient-tech truck-motor Ecomoo VS Berlina used to get better highway fuel economy than the E350 ...