should i sell the xr8 or catch the train to work

[290GTP]

If i had a Blueprint AU3 XR8 i wouldn't be selling it. Also you probably wouldn't get anywhere near its true worth anyway. Trust me, i know. I tried to sell my own XR8 for a while & it looked like all i was going to get for it was around 7 grand.
Keep it if you can afford it & enjoy the run from Unanderra to Sutho.

[mik]

buy an old cheap to run crapper to get to work or leave at the station, you can pick them up dirt cheap if you keep your eyes open, you might find one on gas, i picked up an rt104 corona, for 400 buks, roughish body and paint, mechanically very good, bought it so i could leave it at a truck yard where it might get nikked,vandalized side swiped and i did`nt give a toss about it, also found it excellent to leave at the shopping centres to save the good car ;), stress free parking , i like it.

[BPXR6T]

I divide my time between country and city. Have a place 50km from Melbourne and another place 250km from Melbourne. When I drive in from the country in my 4x4 it costs me a heap. When I take the train from my place near Melbourne I non stop get sick. I'm over it, grots always coughing and sneezing on me. I say get a cheap 4 banger for use as a daily. That's what I'm doing. The train sucks.

[Ben73]

I'm a train driver and even I wouldn't catch a train to work. I hate public transport.

If I had a project car, I would be happy with my daily commute in a fuel efficient 4 cylinder

[MrEL]

Get in contact with Gene at Gentek Solutions in Wollongong and get injected LPG fitted to the XR8 and drive it to work.
Will half your fuel bill at least , get the same if not slightly more power then petrol and it is neat and tidy.
Then you get the benefits of cheap running and doing whatever you want in your own time , not stuck sitting on a train.

[GhiaEB]

Car pool is a great option. I've done this in a few different jobs.

[Bud Bud]

Did you buy the XR8 new? Mate if you can afford it, park the XR8 and buy your self a cheap banger on gas. I know you said you have another V8 project but in few years time you will not look back imho.

This is a classic case of coulda woulda shoulda!

Bud Bud

[dieseltrain79]

Sell up and buy an Excel ! Under 2 k and cheap to run ! But doing that many km I would drive an excel into the ground ...

30,000+ km to from work isn't just fuel only costs ... That's at least 3 oil/filter changes( $200) , maybe 1 set of plugs ($120) , set of tyres($1200) , fuel filter($25) , auto service ($120)... Thats $1665 on top of your petrol costs each year !

As well as racking up km on a car you bought to do low kms by the sounds of it .

[vanman_75]

scooter...;)

[atmoxr6]

Originally Posted by ebv8

i can rule out the bike the hills are crazy steep

buy a cheapass 50cc scooter n ride that to the station, leave car at home n take train.

[Franco Cozzo]

Sell the XR8 and put the funds towards a second hand WS Fiesta in manual, they're actually quite fun to drive because they handle like go-karts.

You can pick up WS (2009 models) for like $9-$12K, good on fuel and nice to drive.

Can't go wrong

[hawkgirl]

there is a website (sorry cant remember the name) but its kind of like a carpool system but not. The idea for it came from some guy watching all the cars coming into sydney with only the driver in them. You need to register & it costs a little every week but may be an option?
I bus & train from penrith to museum every day- damned if I will be parking my ute at the bodgy station.

Postie bike perhaps?

[chevypower]

It's nice to have a V8, but it's not always the right time to have the car you want. Don't make an emotional decision about it though. It may cost more to sell it than to keep it, but don't keep it just to have it sitting there either. You can always get another one down the road (no pun intended). If it were me, I would probably sell it and get a car for commuting with the intent to get something else later. I never get attached to my cars though, I always want something different - which is why I am the worst car buyer, I never know what I really want.

I would rule out

bikes and scooters for commuting (I value my life, and it's always the other idiots on the road).

carpooling - I am not organized enough to do that - too much of a hassle.

driving a car that costs too many hours of hard work just to get to work. I drive my F150 to work because I don't live that far from work.

Public transport (unless it takes you right there in a timely manner without change over)

I'd be leaning toward a reliable 4 cyl - maybe a Hyundai Accent. Sell the XR8 you have your project V8. Get another nice car again when the time is right for you.

[The Snout]

Sell the wife.

[ebv8]

thanks for all the comments
i'll drive for a few weeks, train for a few weeks and if i prefer driving i'll most likely sell the xr8 and buy a safe late model 4cyl.
i did think about converting the vx wagon to lpg as it will be the cheapest option and then i don't have to worry about km's building up on the xr8
but i bet as soon as i get my project car running again i won't need the xr8 as the vh wagon will crap all over it in power and fun.

and those who say buy a cheap car to drive, in the past few weeks of looking for houses there are about 4 ef-el falcons, 1 excel and 1 323 parked up on the side of the road from mt ousley to waterfall after they died and have seen 2 overheated vn's but i guess that just a lack of maintainance

[big_landau]

i went though the same sort of thing when we first bought our house.the first 5 years was pretty hard and we didnt do much but after that it oly gets better just dont go booking stuff up on your house and you will do great.i am lucky as my missus loves old cars so i never had to sell any,infact after a while i got more.
your house comes before a car in reality so even if you sell the xr8 you can always buy another one.we will own our house in just over 3 years,mmm what do i buy then

[Cheese3]

Originally Posted by ebv8

thanks for all the comments
i'll drive for a few weeks, train for a few weeks and if i prefer driving i'll most likely sell the xr8 and buy a safe late model 4cyl.
i did think about converting the vx wagon to lpg as it will be the cheapest option and then i don't have to worry about km's building up on the xr8
but i bet as soon as i get my project car running again i won't need the xr8 as the vh wagon will crap all over it in power and fun.

and those who say buy a cheap car to drive, in the past few weeks of looking for houses there are about 4 ef-el falcons, 1 excel and 1 323 parked up on the side of the road from mt ousley to waterfall after they died and have seen 2 overheated vn's but i guess that just a lack of maintainance

well be ready to get alot of PM's asking when your selling and price

[flappist]

Big picture.

This is your life not a dress rehersal.

If you keep for XR8 what do you get for your $70/wk $14/day?
1) You get 2 hours per day of driving practice in a car you love to drive.
2) You get to have available on weekends a car you love to drive.
3)You enjoy the 2 hours each day or at least not hate it as much.

Even a single minute wasted doing something you do not want to do can not be bought back by all the money in the world.

This is your life not a dress rehersal.......

[Smoke Pursuit]

Keep the XR8... As above.

[justrod]

keep the car
stay at home
TELL THE MISSUS SHE HAS TO WORK HARDER THAN SHE DOES

[Dusty1]

I car pooled once. Set the rules put early on with the guy who worked in the same place as me.

It was $30 a week for the trip every day. Picked him up from home, and dropped him off again. He paid me once in three months. I asked every week, and he never paid up. In the end, I told him I found a faster way to get there and if he wanted to come he'd have to walk to a new pick up place. He said he would, I said it would be $50 payable on a Monday upfront two weeks in advance. . He said no.

I'd never carpool again.

[TheSneakiness]

Originally Posted by xisled

Melbourne public transport is a joke. The bus to pick me up takes 30 minutes to get to the station. The train takes 48 minutes from my station to the city. The tram from the city station to my work is around minutes. All up that works around 3.5 to 4 hours of travel by public transport a day and that is when the everything is running on time. I have known it to take 3 hours either to or from work.

My Drive to work may cost me heaps more, but it takes me 30 to 40 minutes to drive, from my driveway to the door of my work.

But I do make a choice to drive my GT to work everyday. I could sell it and get something smaller, but that would be no fun.

I understand that. I suppose it is easier for me as my train station is 10 minutes walk, fairly flat and 40 minutes to the city when on time (unlike yesterday when I got stuck for an hour and a half at one station cause some stupid truck driver decided to be impatient and drive into the boom gate destroying it).

Horses for courses and it all depends on your personal situation.

[Resurrection]

Sell the XR8. It is only an AU so it is not worth much. I'd only keep an AU if it was a T3.

[Cheese3]

Originally Posted by Resurrection

Sell the XR8. It is only an AU so it is not worth much. I'd only keep an AU if it was a T3.

[The Snout]

Originally Posted by ebv8

thanks for all the comments
i'll drive for a few weeks, train for a few weeks and if i prefer driving i'll most likely sell the xr8 and buy a safe late model 4cyl.
i did think about converting the vx wagon to lpg as it will be the cheapest option and then i don't have to worry about km's building up on the xr8
but i bet as soon as i get my project car running again i won't need the xr8 as the vh wagon will crap all over it in power and fun.

and those who say buy a cheap car to drive, in the past few weeks of looking for houses there are about 4 ef-el falcons, 1 excel and 1 323 parked up on the side of the road from mt ousley to waterfall after they died and have seen 2 overheated vn's but i guess that just a lack of maintainance

Good sensible choice. See what works for you then make a commitment one way or the other.

[big_landau]

you could always buy one of these

[Donny]

Is the XR8 a manual or auto? If the XR8 is factory manual, Id seriously be considering keeping it as they only made 358 manual S3 XR8's.
Getting another in Blueprint wont be a real easy task.

Only downside to the manual is it may be a bit of a pain punting around daily in heavier traffic to work n back.
I'm assuming going on how much fuel use you mentioned above that not a lot of the driving is at highway speeds as my AU3 XR8 gets over 600klms per tank on the highway.

[290GTP]

Actually Unanderra to Sutherland is mostly 100 -110 kays, with only a bit of stop - start at Heathcote & Engadine.

Perfect for an XR8.

[Donny]

Well if that's the case, either his car has a seriously worked donk or there's something seriously wrong with it.
On the highway I can easily drive from the QLD/NSW border over half way to Sydney on one tank, and that is with slow downs in nearly every town you drive through.
Just another thought, the auto versions of our XR8's aren't that much thirstier are they?

[ebv8]

the XR8 is auto because I couldn't find a manual and this one was cheap
i only drive 10km max a day now and its reasonably hard because thats why i got the xr8.
i have never done a highway fuel test but a mix got me 13l/100km but last tank of 95ron did 23l/100km (20l/100km on 98 ron)
so i would say proper highway driving should get me about 10l/100km and 600km per tank.
my old 1.8l 323 did 9l/100km all day no matter what roads and my mates 1.6l gets does 9l/100km highway driving.