Roelf,
Is your new transport a lot better?
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"Better"?
Nothing I'll ever buy again will be better, but yeah, my new ride uses much less fuel
Nothing I'll ever buy again will be better, but yeah, my new ride uses much less fuel
My 3,8L V6 goes very nicely from pump to pump, but I am not losing too much sleep over it. During a trip to Oudtshoorn & back to Cape Town averaged 7,25 km/L at 120 GPS kph (speedo is about 5 kph optimistic) where possible. So far the only major repair cost was replacing the cracked exhaust manifolds with branches at a total cost of R4200
324000 Km on my '96 3500 24v and no major problems, changed hydraulic lifters on 270000 Km and running quiet since then with no other problems. Thirsty? Yes, depending on speed & conditions but 7.9 - 8.1 Km/l driving at 100 km/h open road and 6 - 6.5 km/l around town not too bad. Same consumption when towing caravan at 100 km/l ( 6 km/l) good enough. Longer service intervals than diesel and also cheaper, without concerns about diesel pump or turbo failure. Very reliable motors.
I will start worrying about consumption when the honeymoon is over. Should take a few months 
Hi David,
Looking thru old stuff I found this one. Baught my 3.5 in 2003. Using Car mag's consumption.figures at the time and the service costs (dealer's figures) it worked out to more than R100k. 220k km later, R3500 for manifold and lots of petrol money later it is still the best car I ever had. Never even thought of overheating hammering it up the Machadodorp hills at 4000 revs pulling the caravan. Still ubsolutely reliable, starts first time every time, runs like a swiss watch from cold, still thirsty. Because of the torque the Did is nicer to drive. Enjoy your car.
Looking thru old stuff I found this one. Baught my 3.5 in 2003. Using Car mag's consumption.figures at the time and the service costs (dealer's figures) it worked out to more than R100k. 220k km later, R3500 for manifold and lots of petrol money later it is still the best car I ever had. Never even thought of overheating hammering it up the Machadodorp hills at 4000 revs pulling the caravan. Still ubsolutely reliable, starts first time every time, runs like a swiss watch from cold, still thirsty. Because of the torque the Did is nicer to drive. Enjoy your car.
