Honda Car Forum

Pls help...6 cyl or 8 cylinder Luxury autos ?

My sister in California is thinking of buying a "used" Luxury car /
sedan around 5 years old like a Mercedes or Lexus.

She is confused as to the gas mileage for 6 cylinder and 8 cylinder
luxury cars and the related cost of gas.

I was told that for normal driving say 10,000 miles or so in a year,
the cost difference wasn't much on a weekly basis even with these high
gas prices.

Is the story any different with 6 cyl and 8 cyl SUVs ?

Pls educate us on this as we are NOT all knowledgeable



Thanks
Anna

"anna" <annabaum100@yahoo.com> wrote in news:1165157461.923634.271620@
16g2000cwy.googlegroups.com:

> Pls help...6 cyl or 8 cylinder Luxury autos ?
>
> My sister in California is thinking of buying a "used" Luxury car /
> sedan around 5 years old like a Mercedes or Lexus.
>
> She is confused as to the gas mileage for 6 cylinder and 8 cylinder
> luxury cars and the related cost of gas.
>
> I was told that for normal driving say 10,000 miles or so in a year,
> the cost difference wasn't much on a weekly basis even with these high
> gas prices.



You will lose more in depreciation of your luxury vehicle than the
difference in fuel costs between a six and an eight.

Plus, as the car ages, repairs (*especially* with the Mercedes!) will dwarf
gas expenses for either.



>
> Is the story any different with 6 cyl and 8 cyl SUVs ?


Nope.


>
> Pls educate us on this as we are NOT all knowledgeable
>
>


Check the mileage of the vehicle you're interested in, then do some
calculations.
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/findacar.htm

These numbers aren't trustworthy as absolutes, but are good for comparison
purposes.


--
Tegger

The Unofficial Honda/Acura FAQ
www.tegger.com/hondafaq/

On 3 Dec 2006 06:51:01 -0800, "anna" <annabaum100@yahoo.com> wrote:

>Pls help...6 cyl or 8 cylinder Luxury autos ?
>
>My sister in California is thinking of buying a "used" Luxury car /
>sedan around 5 years old like a Mercedes or Lexus.
>
>She is confused as to the gas mileage for 6 cylinder and 8 cylinder
>luxury cars and the related cost of gas.
>
>I was told that for normal driving say 10,000 miles or so in a year,
>the cost difference wasn't much on a weekly basis even with these high
>gas prices.
>
>Is the story any different with 6 cyl and 8 cyl SUVs ?
>
>Pls educate us on this as we are NOT all knowledgeable
>
>
>
>Thanks
>Anna

If you just look at the milage estimates, you will see that the
penalty for the V8 might be 1-3 mpg. However, that assumes that you
drive both cars very conservatively. If your sister has a lead foot
and/or drives a lot of city miles, it could be significantly worse.
OTOH, at least she might be appreciating the benefits of the bigger
engine. If most of her miles are done with the cruise control on, she
probably won't notice much difference, good or bad, between two
engines.

The above is pretty hypothetical since few cars are available with a
choice between V6 and V8. There may be large differences between
different cars and different engines of the same configuration. If
the V8 is a super high-performance engine in a top-end Mercedes
luxo-barge, it's going to suck fuel like the Queen Mary.

anna wrote:
> Pls help...6 cyl or 8 cylinder Luxury autos ?
>
> My sister in California is thinking of buying a "used" Luxury car /
> sedan around 5 years old like a Mercedes or Lexus.
>

Cost of ownership wise a good used Lexus is likely to be much cheaper to
run than a similar Mercedes based on maintenance and repair costs alone.
V-6 vs. V-8 is probably 1-4 mpg depending on the vehicles in question.

John

Gordon McGrew wrote:
> On 3 Dec 2006 06:51:01 -0800, "anna" <annabaum100@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> >Pls help...6 cyl or 8 cylinder Luxury autos ?
> >
> >My sister in California is thinking of buying a "used" Luxury car /
> >sedan around 5 years old like a Mercedes or Lexus.
> >
> >She is confused as to the gas mileage for 6 cylinder and 8 cylinder
> >luxury cars and the related cost of gas.
> >
> >I was told that for normal driving say 10,000 miles or so in a year,
> >the cost difference wasn't much on a weekly basis even with these high
> >gas prices.
> >
> >Is the story any different with 6 cyl and 8 cyl SUVs ?
> >
> >Pls educate us on this as we are NOT all knowledgeable
> >
> >
> >
> >Thanks
> >Anna
>
> If you just look at the milage estimates, you will see that the
> penalty for the V8 might be 1-3 mpg. However, that assumes that you
> drive both cars very conservatively. If your sister has a lead foot
> and/or drives a lot of city miles, it could be significantly worse.
> OTOH, at least she might be appreciating the benefits of the bigger
> engine. If most of her miles are done with the cruise control on, she
> probably won't notice much difference, good or bad, between two
> engines.
>
> The above is pretty hypothetical since few cars are available with a
> choice between V6 and V8. There may be large differences between
> different cars and different engines of the same configuration. If
> the V8 is a super high-performance engine in a top-end Mercedes
> luxo-barge, it's going to suck fuel like the Queen Mary.

FWIW, I used to drive a Jaguar XJR (a very heavy car) with a
supercharged V8 and it got about 15-16 mpg. A friend drives a Chevy
Trailblazer with a V6 and gets about the same mileage. As another
poster wrote, it varies from car to car and person to person. At the
end of the day, it's not so much the savings from gas mileage, but
whether the added premium of paying for a V8 is going to be worth the
benefits a V8 confers. A good example is the Lexus GS350 vs. GS430.
Substantially identical except one has a V6 and other a V8 and one
costs about $6000 more than the other.

When in doubt, I go with whatever has more horses (eg, I drive a Type-S
TL as opposed to the regular TL) but that's a personal preference.
Most drivers with today's cars (especially higher-end cars like Lexus
and Mercedes) will be just fine with the acceleration that a V6 will
provide.