OK, the idea of a V6 is appealing at the moment.....

Right, it comes down to this:

I get 28mpg from my Marea on my commute.

The company pays a pittance - 20p / mile. However, roughly speaking,
given that the first 10 miles each way come out of my pocket, I claim
back roughly 70 quid per week..... of which I like to put some away for
maintenance.

Now, my commute is mainly dual carriageway interupted by roundabouts
with a mile of town driving at the other end and 3 miles of slower
traffic at my end.

In all honesty, so long as I'm not silly, I can't see a V6 being *that*
much worse than the Marea - maybe a few mpg overall?

What say the group?

--
Steve H 'You're not a real petrolhead unless you've owned an Alfa Romeo'
http://www.italiancar.co.uk - Honda VFR800 - MZ ETZ300 - Alfa 75 TSpark
Alfa 156 2.0 TSpark Lusso - Fiat Marea 20v HLX - COSOC KOTL
BoTAFOT #87 - BoTAFOF #18 - MRO # - UKRMSBC #7 - Apostle #2 - YTC #

SteveH wrote:

> Right, it comes down to this:
>
> I get 28mpg from my Marea on my commute.
>
> The company pays a pittance - 20p / mile. However, roughly speaking,
> given that the first 10 miles each way come out of my pocket, I claim
> back roughly 70 quid per week..... of which I like to put some away for
> maintenance.
>
> Now, my commute is mainly dual carriageway interupted by roundabouts
> with a mile of town driving at the other end and 3 miles of slower
> traffic at my end.
>
> In all honesty, so long as I'm not silly, I can't see a V6 being *that*
> much worse than the Marea - maybe a few mpg overall?
>
> What say the group?
>
I say you're trying desparately to justify it. Face facts. You want one.
You can probably afford one, just pick some figures out of the air and
pretend they're accurate, then go and buy one.

HTH
--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
Alfa 116 Giulietta 3.0l (Really) Sprint 1.7 75 TS 156 TS S2
Triumph Speed Triple: Black with extra black bits
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

SteveH wrote:
> Right, it comes down to this:
>
> I get 28mpg from my Marea on my commute.
>
> The company pays a pittance - 20p / mile. However, roughly speaking,
> given that the first 10 miles each way come out of my pocket, I claim
> back roughly 70 quid per week..... of which I like to put some away for
> maintenance.
>
> Now, my commute is mainly dual carriageway interupted by roundabouts
> with a mile of town driving at the other end and 3 miles of slower
> traffic at my end.
>
> In all honesty, so long as I'm not silly, I can't see a V6 being *that*
> much worse than the Marea - maybe a few mpg overall?
>
> What say the group?

Not sure if it applies but I can claim back the tax from the difference
between the 40p per mile standard government rate and the 16p my company
pays me in my opt out scheme. This might bridge the gap.

The real issue is you don't want to become obsessed with trying to eek
out 1-2 mpg as you won't enjoy the car. Just make sure when you are
stuck in traffic you drive as economically as possible and enjoy the
other moments you can!

I would say 23-24mpg is a good bet.

Cheers
Tony

"Catman" > wrote in message
...
> SteveH wrote:
>
>> Right, it comes down to this:
>>
>> I get 28mpg from my Marea on my commute.
>>
>> The company pays a pittance - 20p / mile. However, roughly speaking,
>> given that the first 10 miles each way come out of my pocket, I claim
>> back roughly 70 quid per week..... of which I like to put some away for
>> maintenance.
>>
>> Now, my commute is mainly dual carriageway interupted by roundabouts
>> with a mile of town driving at the other end and 3 miles of slower
>> traffic at my end.
>>
>> In all honesty, so long as I'm not silly, I can't see a V6 being *that*
>> much worse than the Marea - maybe a few mpg overall?
>>
>> What say the group?
>>
> I say you're trying desparately to justify it. Face facts. You want one.
> You can probably afford one, just pick some figures out of the air and
> pretend they're accurate, then go and buy one.
>
> HTH

Yeah, I went through this stage too. If you want to be economical, use the
bike. I did some initial search on mpg from the V6, and then decided it
really wasn't worth worrying about.

Rgds

Stuart

Tony Rickard > wrote:

> > Now, my commute is mainly dual carriageway interupted by roundabouts
> > with a mile of town driving at the other end and 3 miles of slower
> > traffic at my end.
> >
> > In all honesty, so long as I'm not silly, I can't see a V6 being *that*
> > much worse than the Marea - maybe a few mpg overall?
> >
> > What say the group?
>
> Not sure if it applies but I can claim back the tax from the difference
> between the 40p per mile standard government rate and the 16p my company
> pays me in my opt out scheme. This might bridge the gap.
>
> The real issue is you don't want to become obsessed with trying to eek
> out 1-2 mpg as you won't enjoy the car. Just make sure when you are
> stuck in traffic you drive as economically as possible and enjoy the
> other moments you can!
>
> I would say 23-24mpg is a good bet.

Right, not *too* bad, really, given that the Marea only manages 28mpg -
shockingly the Fiat 5 pot is *worse* around town (according to official
figures) than the Alfa V6.
--
Steve H 'You're not a real petrolhead unless you've owned an Alfa Romeo'
http://www.italiancar.co.uk - Honda VFR800 - MZ ETZ300 - Alfa 75 TSpark
Alfa 156 2.0 TSpark Lusso - Fiat Marea 20v HLX - COSOC KOTL
BoTAFOT #87 - BoTAFOF #18 - MRO # - UKRMSBC #7 - Apostle #2 - YTC #

Mr Flipflops > wrote:

> > I say you're trying desparately to justify it. Face facts. You want one.
> > You can probably afford one, just pick some figures out of the air and
> > pretend they're accurate, then go and buy one.
> >
> > HTH
>
> Yeah, I went through this stage too. If you want to be economical, use the
> bike.

Are you *serious*?

Have you ever worked out the cost of running something like a VFR800? -
aside from sub-30s mpg if you use it's performance, there's the 200 quid
a pair tyres and 120 a set chain and sprockets..... on the positive
side, it only needs servicing as often as a car does, which is unusual
for a big bike.
--
Steve H 'You're not a real petrolhead unless you've owned an Alfa Romeo'
http://www.italiancar.co.uk - Honda VFR800 - MZ ETZ300 - Alfa 75 TSpark
Alfa 156 2.0 TSpark Lusso - Fiat Marea 20v HLX - COSOC KOTL
BoTAFOT #87 - BoTAFOF #18 - MRO # - UKRMSBC #7 - Apostle #2 - YTC #

On Sat, 06 May 2006 08:03:43 GMT, Catman
>, wrote:

>> What say the group?
>>
>I say you're trying desparately to justify it. Face facts. You want one.
>You can probably afford one, just pick some figures out of the air and
>pretend they're accurate, then go and buy one.

Exactly. You Know how much it costs to run and you how much a nissan
micra costs to run - which would get you to work reliably. How much
a day are you willing to pay to Not sit in a micra? Easy really. :-)

Pete
--
>
156 2.0 TS (2001) - Proteo Rosso

Pete > wrote:

> On Sat, 06 May 2006 08:03:43 GMT, Catman
> >, wrote:
>
> >> What say the group?
> >>
> >I say you're trying desparately to justify it. Face facts. You want one.
> >You can probably afford one, just pick some figures out of the air and
> >pretend they're accurate, then go and buy one.
>
> Exactly. You Know how much it costs to run and you how much a nissan
> micra costs to run - which would get you to work reliably. How much
> a day are you willing to pay to Not sit in a micra? Easy really. :-)

There is another possibility.

Now, hear me out on this one.....

It's a 166. 2lt TSpark. OK, so it's not the best engine, but they're
loaded with kit, and I like them.
Anyway, it's seen better days, it's a bit tatty around the edges, but
you'd expect it to be..... it's done 158k miles. Yes, you did read that
right.

Anyway, it's not far from me, and I've sneakily found out it has a
reserve of less than half the trade price.
--
Steve H 'You're not a real petrolhead unless you've owned an Alfa Romeo'
http://www.italiancar.co.uk - Honda VFR800 - MZ ETZ300 - Alfa 75 TSpark
Alfa 156 2.0 TSpark Lusso - Fiat Marea 20v HLX - COSOC KOTL
BoTAFOT #87 - BoTAFOF #18 - MRO # - UKRMSBC #7 - Apostle #2 - YTC #

SteveH wrote:

> There is another possibility.
>
> Now, hear me out on this one.....
>
> It's a 166. 2lt TSpark. OK, so it's not the best engine, but they're
> loaded with kit, and I like them.
> Anyway, it's seen better days, it's a bit tatty around the edges, but
> you'd expect it to be..... it's done 158k miles. Yes, you did read that
> right.
>
> Anyway, it's not far from me, and I've sneakily found out it has a
> reserve of less than half the trade price.

Misquoting Catman, I would say you are desperately trying to find an
Alfa to go and buy!

Firstly you seem to be leaning towards a V6 156 over a fairly large
number of available TS 156s (unless you have seen a real bargain V6) so
a 2.0 166 would seem an odd alternative.

Secondly you said you wanted to get something a bit more up market yet
have described this as having seen better days and being tatty around
the edges, perhaps swayed by the bargain status?

You did ask!

Cheers
Tony

On Sat, 6 May 2006 19:20:33 +0100, (SteveH),
wrote:

>There is another possibility.
>
>Now, hear me out on this one.....
>
>It's a 166. 2lt TSpark. OK, so it's not the best engine, but they're
>loaded with kit, and I like them.
>Anyway, it's seen better days, it's a bit tatty around the edges, but
>you'd expect it to be..... it's done 158k miles. Yes, you did read that
>right.
>
>Anyway, it's not far from me, and I've sneakily found out it has a
>reserve of less than half the trade price.

I have had several larger exec cars <whisper mode> XM, Frog eye
Scorpio, etc.,</whisper mode>. Not company cars. Owned. I had them
for the comfort and luxury interiors. The difference being that I did
not have to drive them, and parked at home for me to run around in
was always a 2lt 156 sized car. I sat in the rear of the barges and
travelled long-hauls and got loads of work done on-route.
I seriously looked at a 166 before buying the 156. I still love 166.
On the rare occasions that I see one I drawl. I went for the 156
because my life had changed and I did not need the exec barge, and
really only wanted to have the 1 all-round car. Hence I drove all
models of the 156 and bought the 2.0TS.

166 v 156 in your case.
Running cost - not really going to be so much more.
Servicing - there are a lot more toys to break
Alternative fun - you still have the bike (which I had to give up)
Big car and a little car / big car and a bike. Same difference.
Admittedly not the same fun, buy hey, I can't get me leg over.

The point that bothers me is that I remember you saying that you
wanted to get away from having to change the car every x months and
have something that you could enjoy for a couple of years or more?

Pete
--
>
156 2.0 TS (2001) - Proteo Rosso