chriscarterstevens wrote:sir kitch, u talking to me?
tell me more... it would need to be a good un as i got a daughter on way (e.t,a 9 weeks)
Its the ex-pink one whcih is now red! I've been doing it up for some time now. Body isn't and won't be mint without some TLC, but mechanically very good. I'll put a year's ticket on it too. The idea was to make it pristine, price it out of the vulture's hands and return a bit of money toward the twin fund for my efforts. But the body will never be pristine, so top money won't be achieved. But if I make my money back, I'd be happy to sell it to someone I know will look after it.
Sounds gimpy, but I don't want to put all the effort in to see it get broken up in a year's time. I know it'll be someones car to do as they please, but I'd still feel gutted, because I had to make the call whether to break it or not.
anyway, if you're interested pm me sometime and I'll update you on the car's progress.
As I think everyone has concluded... go for the 14. Served me well as a first car, and although I generally got nearer 37-38 mpg, it was incredibly cheap to run on the whole.
And, to be fair, the 14 only seems slow if you are surrounded by other cars... on an empty B-road, you can still have a laugh Mine's not for sale sadly, but I'm sure one will turn up soon enough.
Welcome to the club by the way
Regards,
Matt
(oh and Kitch... If you want to swap your pink/red Phase 2 for a White Phase 1 give me a shout )
Matt H wrote:the 14. I generally got nearer 37-38 mpg,
I suspect something may not have been set up correctly on that then. I'm currently getting those sorts of figures from a two-litre CX. I'd expect a lighter vehicle with a much more modern 1.4 engine to get significantly better fuel economy than I can achieve in my old bus.
I'm sure some people have reported high 40's from a BX14
Well, you could say that... But to be fair. it was more the fact that I didn't do that many motorway miles at college, and I used to thrash the thing. I did once get 45 mpg... but I was really trying, and that was on a long run.
As with every car, driving style plays a bigger part in fuel consumption than anything else.
Matt H wrote:the 14. I generally got nearer 37-38 mpg,
I suspect something may not have been set up correctly on that then. I'm currently getting those sorts of figures from a two-litre CX. I'd expect a lighter vehicle with a much more modern 1.4 engine to get significantly better fuel economy than I can achieve in my old bus.
I'm sure some people have reported high 40's from a BX14
They may have done, but they'd be full of shit, or not doing their maths correctly It's too short geared to achieve that. 40mpg would be an average for a well setup car, possibly more on a gentle run. In fact on a run, it would be no better than a 16 I reckon, because of the gearing (the mk1 manual 16 I had did 42mpg to Huntingdon a couple of years ago, but then that was a good day....even the valver hit 36mpg!) Around town is where the 14 gets better than the 16, thanks to lower gearing and being more efficient in general.
Truth be told there isn't a fat amount between them, but then your savings don't all come from fuel. Lets be honest, 5 mpg doesn't add up to much in the grand scheme of things.
I used to get around 25mpg or so from mine, but then I did fit the AX GT carb and I was 17. I spent everyday trying to v-max my car in residential areas.
Very slightly OT, a TZD turbo will do over 700 miles on a tank. My GTi auto around 350. Over a typical year the TZD would cost £850 less in fuel. Ouch!
Philip Chidlow wrote:Very slightly OT, a TZD turbo will do over 700 miles on a tank. My GTi auto around 350. Over a typical year the TZD would cost £850 less in fuel. Ouch!
I'll agree with your figure for the GTi auto Phil but can't see how you arrive at the figure for the TZD Turbo. You're saying that it consistently returns an average of 60+ mpg? Maybe a n/a may achieve that when driven conservatively but I doubt it for a turbo.
Well Phil (Kermit) is getting regularly between 50 and 60 mpg out of the Green Hornet. I'll ask him what the average is... I understand after 3k miles in his hands it's doing about 52-55 mpg. It's been in the upper 60's on long trips.
I average between 620 and 680 miles to a tankful in Monica (my 17TXD Turbo). That's normally a mix of motorway and town driving.
I don't cane it these days as much as I did in my younger days, but I do like to maintain 70-75mph on motorways, and tend to drive "economically" around town (i.e. no burning rubber away from traffic lights, clog down hard, then brake hard for the next set of lights!).
Don't forget that TXD and TZD ( I'm pretty sure?) both have the extra fuel tank fitted too, taking capacity up to around 66 litres.
I reckon that any Turbo-diesel engined BX, in decent mechanical order, should be getting well over 50mpg, and quite likely approaching 60mpg, if driven a tad conservatively!
btw....IIRC, my 14 used to average 36mpg overall, with 39-42mpg on a run.
Mine's not for sale sadly, but I'm sure one will turn up soon enough.
Maybe a n/a may achieve that when driven conservatively but I doubt it for a turbo. 
