Diesel or Petrol Best For Future Investment?

[Darcydog]

Originally Posted by Paul129

I have been thinking about this problem and I think a company should make electric kits for older cars so you can take out the petrol / diesel engine and fit electric one with all the components needed remove fuel tank and fit batteries, this would be cheeper than buying a new car and all the classics would be able to stay on the road. A company in the u.s. is doing this and fitting it for you there is a VW beetle and a mini.

Totally agree - you may like to look at the articles on “Dragon EV” - Telegraph one covers their Triumph Herald conversionto electric. Old article now - and they used old technology batteries - six in the boot and six in the engine compartment.

I suspect modern battery design has allowed them to improve on that.

[Comfortably Numb]

Going back to the OP's original question, - the point of an investment, is to make money. The point of a car is (mainly) to be driven, and be enjoyed. If you can enjoy your car simply by looking at it, and polishing it, and occasionally taking it out on fine days, then get a V6, it shouldn't cost you too much to maintain and run, but you'll still need to change the belts every 5 years, and tax it for £300+ a year. If you intend to use it as a daily long distance, supremely comfortable commuter, that doesn't look like an old banger, get yourself a cared- for diesel, and enjoy saving money on fuel, engine maintenance and road tax while the going is good. 13 years ago, I bought a Renault 19 16V cabriolet, thinking that it would become a desirable classic in a few short years, as well as getting enjoyment out of driving it. 10 years and 70,000 miles later, running as beautifully as ever, and on LPG, having tried to sell it on autotrader twice with no luck, for £750 to buy something more versatile, I eventually took £350 trade-in for it on a diesel Audi Avant. 75/ZT prices are all over the place, if you know them well, there are some lovely, well maintained bargains to be had. But you can also spend over the odds for a dog, and you'lljust keep spending. Fashions come and go, and as said before, the money cars are the cheap GTs of our youth, I should have bought a Pug 1.9GTi if I wanted an investment when I bought the Renault, because they used to be common. Enjoy your 75/ZT while you can, and get rid when it's no longer worth the bother! Or stick it in a shed, and one day it will be some-one's 'barn-find!'

[andymc]

Heating in winter is a non-issue for EVs such as the Hyundai Ioniq, which use a heat exchanger that consumes minimal power to heat the cabin. Sadly that car only has a 28kWh battery, which means its maximum real-world range on a single charge is around 125 miles. That would still be more than enough to do me for a normal week's driving, but for any of the longer trips I regularly take (nearly 600 miles per weekend, about 8 times a year) it just wouldn't cut it. While Hyundai have just started selling the Kona with the options of 40kWh or 64 kWh batteries, there's still no sign yet of them fitting either of those to the Ioniq, and it looks as though that won't happen till next year at the earliest. That said, demand for their cars vastly outstrips supply, so I guess they're under no pressure.

Anyway - here's a Fully Charged vid of a converted Beetle:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXsQGWWz3Is

... and here's one of a converted Porsche 911, done by the same people
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJLdzRJdKrs

If this could be done to one of our cars for say £5-£6k, giving similar power and even just 200 miles of range, I'd go for it. At that price, and with the mileage I cover, it would probably pay for itself in terms of the savings on fuel, servicing and maintenance inside four years. Sadly, at the moment you'd have to triple the budget for conversion, so it's a non-runner for now.

[Carbootboy]

Ok, thanks for all the views guys. Can a mod please close this now. Thank You

[LeRich]

Of the fwd cars, only an early build 2.5 Conny SE or ZT 190 will attract any great interest in the years to come. The base cars, diesels, 1.8s won't be anything like as sought after. Mine's a 1.8T mk2 and despite it being a fairly rare model, I'm not concerned about preserving it.

[Mike Trident]

In the motorbike world, it is usually the very early and the very last ones that that are the most sort after. Like it or not, the facelift is the last and also a rare one simply because it was only made for a year.

[marinabrian]

LOL

[alanaslan]

Originally Posted by Carbootboy

As title really, what are peoples thoughts on this?

If you had the choice of two identical Rover 75's or MG ZT's, same spec, condition, etc, but one was the Diesel and the other a Petrol, which would you buy and why?

A very interesting question. If the purchase is for investment ie to make money from the purchase down the line the answer is don’t buy a car built by Rover.
If the car is going to be used on a regular basis covering significant mileage the answer has to be Diesel. The engine found in the 75 series cars is a cold running lump with timing chain and is able to be set up to produce anything from 115 Bhp to 175 Bhp.
Maintenance costs are minimal just make sure you change the oil and filter frequently.
The V6 engine is in both its forms a smooth running car but with poor fuel economy and high service costs compared to the diesel.
The straight four version is prone to the same problems of all K series engines for which their are work arounds. For the best work arounds speak to the Lotus boys and again you are looking at timing belts every 4 years or 50,000 miles, again speak to the Lotus boys.
If you are looking for one of these cars that has any chance of increasing in value then your only real option is the V8 Mustang version restore it to factory condition and put it in a car bubble for twenty years.
In my opinion the best 75s were the Launch Connie versions, my First was bought on launch night at Rovers big party it was an oil burner with all the toys abs, esp, cruise, climate, sunroof, heated seats, headlight washers, three button key fob, the third button operating the canal boat heater on a twenty min car preheat cycle, giving you a nice warm de-iced car to get into in the cold mornings. Rear sun blind, sat nav, TV with rear screens mounted in the headrests. It was the best equipped Rover 75 I have ever owned. I even had the leather seats recovered with Bentley leather front and rear having bottom warming pads fitted to the rear seats when I had the leather replaced. I covered just under 400,000 miles in her when she saved our lives on black ice just outside Oban we ended upside down in a gully on the other side of the road bonnet sliding along the grass verge boot lid on the hill side, the car came to rest when the rear trailing arm hit a culvert taking water From the hill side to the loch.
We both got out the car under our own steam my wife suffering a broken collar bone when the pre tension unit fired off on the seat belt. The passenger compartment was completely intact not even a broken window. Very sad to lose the car, the insurance payout was very low due to the high mileage. We then bought our first early Tourer again Diesel. Second hand. I was working both in the Uk and in Germany at the time so I treated myself to a mustang 75 for running about Germany, to put the cruise control on at 230 Kph and the car to sit at that speed on the Motorway was a joy.
The only other time I have driven at these speeds have been on the track. The V8 was happy to cruise at this speed and feel extremely stable. My hat goes off to Rover a fantastic job building their rear wheel drive 75s, the only complaint would be the frequency of visits to fuel stations. Going from mid fifty’s to the gallon to single figures took some of the enjoyment out of it, but to be able to do the 120 mile drive in 45 minuets made up for the fuel consumption. That combined with feeling safe and it being a comfy big car made up for it.
At the end of the day your choice to invest in a 75 means you will have to decide what you want for the car. Personally I would have Diesels every time. To look out the window and see my gold tourer and her silver saloon I hope will be the case for many years to come.
Alan


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[alanaslan]

[QUOTE=Luckygrandads75;2659802]

Originally Posted by Darcydog

Well they are working on ways of cleaning up the exhaust gases of the ICE. I know it is a hobby horse of mine - but why oh why were the politicians mislead by the “Greens” into the tax incentives for urban diesel cars?? When we should have stuck with LPG for our urban areas via the Powershift Scheme!

I still think an electric car with a slave LPG engine to simply run a generator gets round an awful lot of the “range issues”.

EDIT - and the torque of an electric motor is such that those of us that like the power delivery of a diesel will not be disappointed[/QUO

ICE engines are hear to stay whither Gas, petrol or compression fired Diesels. The nasty stuff that comes out the back will still be discharged into the atmosphere just at the power station not the tail pipe when we go electric. To charge a 100 kw battery car takes 160 kw generates lots of heat also. Global warming?
For the UK to be all electric ten years after the magic date we would have to have started increasing the size of the national grid cables to four times their current size thirty years ago to have had any chance of distributing the volume of power required. We would also have to have started building eight atomic steam power stations ten years ago of the size the French and Chinese are currently building for us.
Sadly the electric car for all is still going to be a dream for the next eighty years, sixty years after I have passed away.
The people in government who we elect to represent us and look after our interests. Should ask the pertinent questions before opening their mouths and making statements about time scales. The experts those that know the limitations of the national grid and the amount of power required to be generated to service the pipe dream, is out with the capability of the United Kingdom in twice the time those we have elected.
Never mind the facts, what do they matter. It makes for a good story. They just forgot the opening line “Once upon a time”.
Alan

[andymc]

Indeed. The infrastructure isn't in place yet, which means it will never happen. That's why daft things like Stephenson's Rocket never went anywhere ...

NB offshore wind is now cheaper than nuclear power, with last year's lowest bid a mere £57.50 per megawatt hour, versus £92.50 per megawatt hour for Hinkley Point C, aka the deal of a lifetime. Moreover, the cost of offshore wind continues on a downward trajectory.

NB it might be worth looking into how much of a burden is placed on the grid in providing the fossil fuels we're all using.