(Headline changed by HJ for clarity, quite late, 20.00 on 8-5-05, so after some of the posts that sought to make this clearer.)
I like to go green and I have £7000 to spend.
I am thinking of importing a 3L car either A2 or Lupo,where should I start looking?
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And I thought 3L meant 3000 CC and lots and lots of ponies when I read the title... ;-)
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PS - Yes, I do know what 3L actually means in the intended context!
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How about sharing it then?
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The expense of importing such a car will outweigh the cost benefits. Better to buy a small diesel like a Renault Clio, or Citroen C3 which offer up to 70mpg on the extra urban cycle.
A2 is also expensive to buy anyway and awkward to get into the back even with four doors as the cill is very deep and there is little leg room.
--
Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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How about sharing it then?
3L = 3 liter.
means it will cover 100Km on 3 liters of petrol.approx 95mpg
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The standard Lupo tdi 1.4 gets silly fuel economy anyway, up in the 60s on a run, so the benefits of the 3l (1.2tdi) are pretty minimal.
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"means it will cover 100Km on 3 liters of petrol.approx 95mpg"
Thanks, whoever thought that up sure went out of their way to make it confusing.
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Hey, no one have some practical ideas? I am really intend to import one of these (for green reasons that is), I know it might be difficult but I don't only think about the money here!
And with oil about to hit $100/barrel in less than a year time why should I ignore the 20-30 mpg I get above a regular 1.4 Lupo TDi?
Still looking for advice on importing from the continent.
If there is a car that might be a classic one day it can be a 3L.
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Just remember that you will have all the problems of driving a LHD car and after having a quick look on the dutch autotrader site it looks like your £7000 won't go very far on one of these.
tinyurl.com/d8tdd
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3L translate to 95 mpg, but can you be sure that you'll get this day in day out?
Also as BH mentions, it'll be left hand drive. And then it'll need servicing or fixing at some point, and this sort of car may be alien to a VAG dealer. It'll probably be the first one that they would have seen. Then again it may not.
A Citroen C2 or C3 which apparently give 60-70mpg would be a better bet in my view. Or if you're determined to go "green", how about a Toyota Prius or Honda Insight?
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Trancer, everyone else in Europe thinks of fuel economy in terms of litres per 100k. I monitor the Astra that way now - 6.8litres on a run. It´s easy when you get used to it, honest.
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" Trancer, everyone else in Europe thinks of fuel economy in terms of litres per 100k. I monitor the Astra that way now - 6.8litres on a run. It´s easy when you get used to it, honest."
My confusion wasn't to do with litres, kilometres or anything to do with fuel economy measures, but with the naming of cars by their economy rating which is very similar to the more common engine size.
You wouldn't call your Astra a "6.8 litre car", would you?. Even if you did, everyone would think you were mad to fit such a large engine in an Astra 8-).
Hands up anyone who thinks a Range Rover 4.6 goes 100k on 4.6 litres of fuel.
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"means it will cover 100Km on 3 liters of petrol.approx 95mpg" Thanks, whoever thought that up sure went out of their way to make it confusing.
To be fair much of Europe measures fuel consumption in liters per 100Km.
Somehow 10.57 Kilometers per liter doen't have the right ring.
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Ok Just contacted a seller in Holland and I can have a 2001 model for € 6,500 that's about £4500 so within the budget. Going on a Ryan air flight in 2 weeks to Amsterdam for £10 and all other arrangements around £450, will fill with diesel to get me home to Essex and still have some left to drive around.
And for the image? Well it is a unique car that not many have.
Maybe a bit expensive for a 4 years old Lupo at £5000 but travelling like me about 25,000 miles a year is also expensive.
Thanks for the link Blue Haddock:)
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Will you have to pay UK VAT on it when you import it? If you pay Dutch VAT can you get it refunded on proof of export? As it isn't sold in UK might you have to have the 'special' one off MOT done on it (don't know the proper name) but it applies to Japanes and USA cars imported as one offs SFAIK. What about spares in UK for a car that isn't imported or sold here? You may save money on the fuel but I can see a bit of a downside on this! Good luck in any event.
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Is that MoT called Single Type Approval....? Seems to ring a bell. Someone will know more.
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SVA - single vehicle approval.
Don't forget insurance on a LHD car thats never been imported into the country will probably be steep too
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(TIC) if you're really green shouldn't you avoid that plane trip and all the pollution it makes and take the boat? But then I guess the plane's gonna fly anyway.....
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and also remember that in the region of 95% of the pollution created by a car is whilst it's being produced. If the environment means that much why not use public transport?
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I am a horse/cattle vet, I dont think there are many farms with direct public transport:)
My point is buy the car if it is make sense in your specific case.
By the way it is greener to buy an older Lupo than a new C2 (or any new car for that point). Taking the boat is out of the question for me as I do get sea seek on these. By the way the single approval test dont cost an arm and a leg if the car is ok. Apart from the power train the 3L share most of it's components with regular Lupos. I contacted 'swedish and German' and they said there is no problems getting cheap parts in the UK, they looked at the specifications and they don't think servicing and parts will be much different than other Lupos/Arosa's. Driving in an LHD is the only big drawback but than this is less important to me than using a diminishing resource sparingly.
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"They looked at the specifications and they don't think servicing and parts will be much different than other Lupos/Arosa's". That isn't really a ringing endorsement is it? Spare parts won't be much different isn't good enough or is it? Exactly similar is what I'd be looking for!
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You could, in the name of greeness use PPO.
Pure Plant Oil.
Here's a document detailing the results of a test in Denmark using exactly the same vehicle.
www.folkecenter.dk/plant-oil/emission/Emission_tes...f
also see the "round the world in 80 days " website:
Average over 12,000 miles is around 95mpg!
www.lupo80days.com/
Imagine adding acetone and getting an extra 15% mpg??
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Sound good, using veg oil will make sense but I don't think it will contribute to engine life isn't it? after all I want to run the 3L to the ground and keep it for at list 5 years.
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