What car instead of my GTV

Havent had my GTV for long, put £75 in done 270 miles and the red lights come on, not sure i can afford to run it

Thinking of maybe getting a diesel, thinking golf gt tdi, or bmw 320d, will have around 4k any suggestions

an Alfa GT 1.9 TDI? Or are you looking to go away from Alfas

too expensive, not really i want something sporty

cant get that for 4k though i suppose, guess ill have to swallow the mad fuel costs, and just get on

Is your car a TS of a V6?
The TS should do 33mpg which isn't a lot worse than a 2.4 Diesel when you take into account the higher cost of fuel..

147 JTD would be the obvious choice for 4K - assuming they can be bought for that amount

I have a TS, I put £70 worth of V-Power in which filled the tank, and I did 250 miles on the weekend. The needles now on the halfway mark. Don't know what mpg I'm doing as I've never worked it out, but that doesn't sound bad. I'd suggest that if you have a V6, consider changing it to a TS; if you already have a TS, then find out why it's drinking so much fuel!

ETA: Just read through you old posts and note you have a TS. You really should be getting more than that out of it, unless you drive it like a mad man everywhere! I also recently ran some injector cleaner through the system, so that may also help my better fuel consumption.

If that's a TS that definitely isn't right.

My V6 has been giving me over 300 miles to a full tank (and I don't hang about!)

Some ideas for saving fuel:

Motorways - Drive at an indicated 70, rather than 80-85, saves a surprising amount of fuel.
Town Driving - use as high a gear as possible (which doesn't require a full depression of the accelerator), smooth up your driving and anticipate traffic flows, try to reduce sudden acceleration where possible (this is the hardest to stop, and I might say almost criminal in an alfa )

Originally Posted by tomcole19

Havent had my GTV for long, put £75 in done 270 miles and the red lights come on,

Then get your car checked, I put £75 quid in my GTA and didn't get the low fuel light til around 280 miles. First thing would be faulty MAF, get it on an examiner to find out.

Just had a recon engine, so been taking it easy to, i have just been driving it around town, no motorway at all, Ill see what happens with the next tank. thanks for the advice though guys

Maybe you should take it back to the garage that fitted the recon engine and get them to check the car over.

My 2 litre Spider does 40 mpg on a run. 32 - 35 normal combined. And I don't run V-power.

Originally Posted by tomcole19

Just had a recon engine, so been taking it easy to, i have just been driving it around town, no motorway at all, Ill see what happens with the next tank. thanks for the advice though guys

is it a v6 or t-spark?

If the car seems to be running faily well I would guess at a thermostat or lambda sensor issue. The thermostat is eay to check, if it has failed it will run cold. Normally at around 60ºC, and rise in traffic.
It should run at somewhere between 80 and 90ºC all of the time maybe rising a bit more until the fun come in.

The lambda sensor may need an exhaust emission check which any MOT station can do for a couple of quid. The car might otherwise run OK.

Lambda's are only supposed to operate at peak efficiency for around 40,000 miles apparently.

If your doing lots of short 1 or 2 mile journeys it may explain it.

I live it wales too and its really hilly

On the temperature; It sits between 75 and 90 most of the time, but i have noticed that when in traffic it does go slighly over 90 when the fan kicks in it goes back down to 90?

Newport is the flatlands Tom - you need to get it checked out before you make any rash decisions.

Try waterfall garage in bridgend - quite a few people in here use them and they come with decent recomendations.

Originally Posted by tomcole19

I live it wales too and its really hilly

On the temperature; It sits between 75 and 90 most of the time, but i have noticed that when in traffic it does go slighly over 90 when the fan kicks in it goes back down to 90?

Mine too. It worried me at first, but it's just how it is.

In purely town driving I am getting between 320 - 350 miles on a full tank, so there is something amiss with your car. As the others have said, have it checked over before doing something rash like buying a diesel Golf.

Originally Posted by tomcole19

I live it wales too and its really hilly

On the temperature; It sits between 75 and 90 most of the time, but i have noticed that when in traffic it does go slighly over 90 when the fan kicks in it goes back down to 90?

It will rise a bit in traffic, but mine never goes OVER 90. When I first bought mine, I was having similar concerns over the consumption, I was really wandering what I had let myself in for. Turned out I needed a new thermostat, and the difference in consumption was HUGE

how much is a new thermostat

lc motors say £127 + vat fitted, ill prob fit it myself.

But.... Ive been done a few miles today and its up to 300 miles now and thats 95% in town driving. If the car goes slighly above 90 before the fan cuts in is that a fault with the thermostat?

Its a fairly easy job to change. It shouldn't take any longer than an hour or so. Just make sure you have some fresh Anti freeze, and a selection of jubilee clips to replace the crappy OE Alfa ones.