Would you go back?

[martinholmesuk]

Would you sell your 480 Turbo and get a N/A 480?

Reason being. Turbo is costing much in petrol and I'm doing loads of miles to Reading then meeting my girlfriend who lives in Fulham (london) It's costing me so much cash it aint funny. I do however suspect my stat is dodgy as I can never get over 77c on the motorway (bad mpg however my 480 goes 45mpg on infocenter but petrol don't last 5 mins)

How much a petrol saving is to be found from turbo to N/A.

[guitarcarfanatic]

I really felt the diffderence when i changed up from the 1.7 to the turbo. Ultimately this led to me having to sell my turbo when I started doing more miles. I think if I went back to a 480 it would be a 2ltr as fuel consumption can be a little better. I used to get 22mpg going to uni in a traffic jam in the turbo! My 406 gets 45mpg in traffic and 50 on a run It is a 406 though...

[Big Brother]

I remember you saying Mart that your N/A was actually quite fast, plus being an N/A isn't it true that there is less to go wrong?

[martinholmesuk]

I like 480's (again) but..... I would drive a N/A 480 these days but looking back I'd never ever go back to N/A after turbo...

I would love another Vader spec with T25 and all that stuff but I also have a spitfire which is costing so much you won't believe!!! It's the toy. The 480 is a motorway mile eater.

It's all about the cost of turbo lol.

[martinholmesuk]

Yes my 480S was quick and easy to work on.

instant power is very nice of course.

[SteveR]

My GT is running a bout 38mpg as long as there is some long journeys mixed in. Mind you I cant get 38 at motorway high cruise speeds.
Betstes was 41.7 when I got stuck behind a bus (max 50) on a 20 mile stint.
Too much 40mph limit down here in the New Forest but I have worked myself a nice little road test route having found some unrestricted - but not straight - roads.
Thing with the 2Ls is gearing is higher than 1.7 although not sure what the 1.7T gearing is like.

[lee]

@MHUK I was doing my sums myself not so long ago with commutting a fair old distance. I wayed up the facts and figures and decided to take the plung again on my pool car and LPG'D the bastard. Now even though it is not completely set up so it is running rich I am still achieving 100 miles around town for £8 of gas. On petrol the figures were more like 45 miles for £10. You do the sums yourself and you may or my not come to the same conclusion as me. I am now running Volvo 850 T5, Range Rover V8 turbo and the 480 turbo on lpg. If even one of these were on petrol only i would have to get rid of it.

Overall MPG per vehicle is as follows

Volvo T5 20mpg
Volvo 480 30mpg
Range Rover 10mpg

Bear in mind that the above figures are average to include some fast roads and a fair bit of town driving.

My lpg in Birmingham is currently 0.39 a litre and petrol is 101.9 per litre

PM me if you want some more details mate.

But as for your original question the answer is yes. It will be strange at first but within a couple of weeks you will be used to it. But you will never forget that turbo feeling. I would also go for the 2ltr mated in your case to an auto box should be quite a smooth ride.

[Tee]

I wayed up the facts and figures and decided to take the plung again on my pool car and LPG'D the bastard. <snip>...and the 480 turbo on lpg.

I've been thinking about if you could get a 480 put onto LPG, does the tank have to go into the boot? What sort of costs are involved?

Cheers

Tee

[Big Brother]

I wayed up the facts and figures and decided to take the plung again on my pool car and LPG'D the bastard. <snip>...and the 480 turbo on lpg.

I've been thinking about if you could get a 480 put onto LPG, does the tank have to go into the boot? What sort of costs are involved?

Cheers

Tee

You can't have a donut tank in the spare wheel bay because its upright, I can't actually remember how big the tank in the boot of my 480 is but it was the smallest and it still filled it.

I didn’t want a horrible big hole drilled in the body work so I had the filler attached to the towbar, this gives the advantage of being able to go to either side of the pump. See pic below:

[Tee]

You can't have a donut tank in the spare wheel bay because its upright, I can't actually remember how big the tank in the boot of my 480 is but it was the smallest and it still filled it.

I didn’t want a horrible big hole drilled in the body work so I had the filler attached to the towbar, this gives the advantage of being able to go to either side of the pump. See pic below:

Is there any chance you could post a pic of the actual tank in boot? I'd like to see how much room I have to sacrifice

Cheers

Tee

[Big Brother]

You can't have a donut tank in the spare wheel bay because its upright, I can't actually remember how big the tank in the boot of my 480 is but it was the smallest and it still filled it.

I didn’t want a horrible big hole drilled in the body work so I had the filler attached to the towbar, this gives the advantage of being able to go to either side of the pump. See pic below:

Is there any chance you could post a pic of the actual tank in boot? I'd like to see how much room I have to sacrifice

Cheers

Tee

Will do that tomorrow as its dark now, but believe me, you will be lucky to get a loaf of bread in there.

I have my parcel shelf to cover it so its not very noticeable.

[lee]

I have a doughnut style tank in mine. But it sits on the floor instead of in the spare wheel well. I must admit that from a photo it looks like it has eaten the boot. However in practice i can still fit shit load in there. I am a family man and use it to do the shopping followed by xmas shopping and still all went in. A tight squeeze mind you.

Watch my post as i will soon be doing a write up on my install as i am in the process of writing for the voc mag.

[glasgowjim]

Wish I hadnt read this thread as I am in the process of upgrading from a 1.7 to a turbo.
The smoothness and and power on the turbo just creamed my jeans to quote an old comedian.
Just as well my daily driver is a little polo diesel saloon. I kept on at the wife to get rid of a 480 but she just wont let me as she is addicted to the damn machine

Still if push comes to shove she can get a second job to feed my vroom vroom 480 habit

PS I can say this as she doesnt read the forum

[martinholmesuk]

I thought about it tonight and a few things turned up.

I replaced the rear brake lines
rebuilt the rear calipers
replaced most of the suspension
replaced front and rear pads
sprayed the underside/arches with the anti rust stuff.
Fitted 100/120w bulbs
replaced the fog lights
sealed the spot lights
changed the stat/sparks/atf/oil
just got a years MOT

it never misses a beat.

If I got another 480 (N/A) I might aswell start again on a car that I don't know what works and don't work + I'd spend a while swapping parts to the N/A.

For the moment i'll take it on the chin and see how things goes.

cheers

[coyote1980]

Would you sell your 480 Turbo and get a N/A 480?

For me this is easy: as long as it's a 2-liter: yes! I do enjoy my Turbo, but I also enjoyed the comfortable cruising in my previous 2-liter. It always gave me a very smooth ride.

[JohnTurbo]

My 480 lives in the garage.

60 miles per day minimum means gas to me. It saves me £6 a day.

[Murf]

I found that my turbo was more economical than my N/A, guess it depends how you drive it.
My 2 litre celeb was the best on fuel by far!

[Van]

My fuel economy is highly dependent on in city or outside city driving. In the country, freeway, it will easily do 14km/l (39.5mpg). But my work takes me into residential areas and I see the AVG go up. In the end I may end up with 12,5-13km/l (35mpg). That **** avg meter shows exactly the huge influence of cold starts, traffic lights, accelerating and pointless breaking for whatever reason.

Best I ever achieved was about 15km/l (42.3mpg) but that demands non realistic driving conditions, worst is 10.5km/l (29.6) pressing on a German autobahn.

Best economy comes from dumping superfluous weight, accelerating full throttle but up shifting at 2200-2400 rpm, keeping a continuous speed and let the car roll whenever something shows up in front that requires decreasing speed rather than racing towards it and hit the brakes.

[VanDerGraaf]

Best economy comes from dumping superfluous weight, accelerating full throttle but up shifting at 2200-2400 rpm, keeping a continuous speed and let the car roll whenever something shows up in front that requires decreasing speed rather than racing towards it and hit the brakes.

Are you my 480 symbiote? My style exactly.

Turbos can be good on a run due to their taller gearing.
2.0 has the reputation for best fuel economy.
1.7 n/a- I could well believe that it ends up being the thirstiest.....

[Ettore Bugatti]

Dont bother
The difference in fuel consumption would be too small too take the risk (aka buying a unknown car)

Just put a wooden block under the throttle pedal...