Okaaaaay... whilst we're comparing apples with green & red round things...
Dug up my old Black Book, and the 1979 CM valiant I used to own, and did over 200,oookm in, gave me 22.4 and 21.1 mpg (12.7 l/100km and 13.369 l/100km) on a return trip to Adelaide in Xmas 1983/84.
This included several hours driving on a melting highway. A VERY hot day. Naturally the air-con was on 110% of the time.... and driving fearfully fast on the way home... Suffice to say that the new South Australian built HD gas shocks were fantastic at over 160km/h.....
When you consider that the 4.0 litre hemi was pre-1978 technology, Carby, standard exhaust, 1.5 tonne car with solid SUN VISOR... never mind the rain channel !!! and carried nearly half a tonne of spares, tools, water, oil and petrol (40 litres at all times) as well as my rotund self... it mileage was quite acceptable.
And no, the ELB was not the be-all and end-all, though I could never stop the engine no matter how much I hosed it down, though a fire-hose manage it by unseating the dizzy cap. I still reckon he hit it with the nozzle.....
In the month before selling (355k+) , it gave me 20.5 mpg / 13.9 l/100km.
So, if we whizzed back in time and put the same tired old design engine into a constant 4WD vehicle, and took 3 to 4 mpg off it... for the extra drag of 4WD and 400kg, then the older crude & rude Yankee engine still outperforms the Pommy Perfection !
My 3.9 litre has nearly TWENTY years better technology, fuel injected, hopefully better exhaust system, better gearbox, and only a few hundred Kg's heavier... and grudgingly gives 14 mpg (20 l/100km) to 16 mpg (17.4 l/100km) and only has a pathetic little rain channel above the windscreen to drag it down... (yes, PhillipI had to go outside just now and check !! ;-) )
- I really don't think Rover deserves any sympathy, hence my leaning toward diesel.
The only real choice is whether the 300tDi or something foreign...Like Isuzu, but am advised that it may not fit into the engine bay...
Or put it onto LPG with lots and lots of gas tanks everywhere to give me a decent range out of the metro area...
Or sell it... VERY tempting !
On the bright side, I've been told by many folk that the 3.5 V-6 Jackeroo I was looking at had a worse thirst...
I would'nt be so grumpy if it gave me the power to balance the equation, but it fails miserably there too.
Its still NICE to drive, sort of.... ;-/
Nostalgic James in Gosnells.

