For those that are interested, about 5 weeks ago i said goodbye to my lovely yellow Z4 coupe which i had owned for 18 months, and bought a Vauxhall Monaro CV8 of 2004 vintage. The reasoning behind the move was to down cost the car i was driving, by selling the Z4 and buying the Monaro, i have been able to get a nice new kitchen fitted, yet i still have a fairly cool and unusual car, which is important to me.
Anyway, whats the Monaro like? To start of and for those who don't know much about them, the Monaro CV8 is the sleeves down version of the cars that were brought to the UK. It is a tiny 5.7 manual with no Supercharger fitted. After this model, the cars were either 5.7 with S/c or 6.0 or 6.0 with S/c. So mine is the baby of the bunch, with just 338bhp as standard. My car also has the biggest boot of the range, as the newer models have a different fuel tank which steals a lot of space.
I am the 4th owner of my car, and owner no 2 decided he didn't want a slow Monaro, so he then went about a set of upgrades to bring up the bhp and also sharpen the handling a little. There is a company called 'Monkfish' in the UK who are basically the most respected tuners and parts supplier for Monaro or Holden or any HSV vehicles in the country. My car was shipped off to Monkfish and the followingwork was done:
-Performance Package. Basically the wheel geometery gets set up to the car better to sharpen the handling. A strut brace is fitted as well.
-New De Fillipo exhaust manifolds which are free flowing and custom made stainless steel exhaust system (its loud)
-Higher capacity injectors
-K+N air filters
-AP Racing big disk and caliper conversion front and rear (very impressive)
-Stereo upgrades
A few other bits and bobs that i can't remember. The car came though with receipts for every single job that has been done, and these receipts stack up to around £15k, so its been well fettled. Power is now believed to be in the region of 410bhp, but i have no idea to be honest.
How does it drive? Well i'll be honest, it doesn't handle like the Z4 coupe, so i'll not try to kid you that it does. Its big, heavy and you can feel that it is a big car. It does handle well for what it is, but it prefers straight lines to bendy ones! With all the power available to your right foot it will happily spin up the rear tyres all day long, even when the T/C is on. I sneezed whilst driving and that was enough to spin the rears in 3rd! I don't drive with the T/C off too often, which i know is a bit soft, but in the wet, it will try to put you in the nearest ditch, backwards if you are not respectful of the power.
0-60 comes up in about 6 secs and 100 (on a private road of course) in about 9. It is at the top end where you really feel the extra power. If you keep the pedal to the floor, it just won't slow up and builds pace at a silly rate, keeping you pinned well into the chair. I have had it on a private road where it hit 145mph as indicated by the GPS, but i then had to brake as the road was running out. I was only using about 2 thirds of the pedal when i backed off, and it was still pulling hard!
The cabin is a nice place to be at and very well appointed. Again, its not as nicer place to be as the Z4, but it is still very comfy, and the seats better than those in the Z4 Coupe. The car will eat miles all day long and never do i feel any back ache in it. It has pretty well all the toys you would want in the car, but the Z4 is just far more classy and refined. There are some touches though that i would never get tired of, my favourite being the following. The Speedo and Rev Counter both have black dials and white needles, but at night, when you build revs or speed up, both needles change colour from white to red as you get faster and the engine spins up. I never get tired of this and rate it as one of my favourite car features ever! It has a warning chime for everything, including one that comes on after 2 hours of motorway driving, suggesting a might want to have a break??? Brilliant.
Running costs. Right, its got a 5.7 V8 Chevy engine believed to be pushing 400+bhp. It AIN'T CHEAP to run. That said, it can be fairly economical to run in the right circumstances. I drove to birmingham and back from Chester recently, filled the car before leaving (i'm on 1st name terms with all petrol stations now) and took a steady drive there and back along the motorways. Cruising between 70-80 mph with a bit of urban driving at either end of the trip, i manged 30 mpg, which sounds terrible, but it is much better than what i normally get. If you were to do a proper long run, say to London or Scotland, i think you would easily see 34-35mpg out of it. And i'm doing a london run soon, so we'll see how it goes.
Sadly i use the car on commuting roads, and my average is about 22mpg. The worst tank i have had was 17mpg, but this was my 1st tank, and everytime i took it to a friends house, they just wanted me to sit there revving it, which i happily did for them. On a good tank with a bit of motorway use, i'll get 24mpg, but 22mpg seems to be the average.
Noise. It sounds amazing, as any V8 fan will understand. My brother made the comment that it sounds bigger than a 5.7 V8, but i'm not sure what that really means? What is much bigger than a 5.7 V8? I now have to drive everywhere with the windows open, just because i love the noise. I took it through the Mersey Tunnel the other night and nearly wet myself when i floored it in 2nd gear and heard the noise bouncing off the walls all around the car. BRILLIANT. I will never get tired of the noise it makes.
I do like owner the Monaro, but do miss the Z4. That said, my new kitchen will be lovely, and on this occasion, i was sensible to sell the Z4, its just a shame i bought a silly car instead. It does get lots of attention, especially because of the noise and the way it goes. It has also been fully rebadged as a Holden, and this confuses people.
Would i keep it long term? I doubt it. If i did more motorway use, than yes i would, but 22mpg hurts after a while, and my 2nd car, a 3.0 turbo diesel Toyota 4Runner isn't much better on the juice. I do enjoy it alot a am very happy to have owned one, as its another car i can cross off the list and say i've owned. Anyone eagle eyes on the web will know it is for sale at the moment, but we'll see how it goes.
Anyway, hope you like the write up, feel free to ask any questions about the car you may have.
Anyway, whats the Monaro like? To start of and for those who don't know much about them, the Monaro CV8 is the sleeves down version of the cars that were brought to the UK. It is a tiny 5.7 manual with no Supercharger fitted. After this model, the cars were either 5.7 with S/c or 6.0 or 6.0 with S/c. So mine is the baby of the bunch, with just 338bhp as standard. My car also has the biggest boot of the range, as the newer models have a different fuel tank which steals a lot of space.
I am the 4th owner of my car, and owner no 2 decided he didn't want a slow Monaro, so he then went about a set of upgrades to bring up the bhp and also sharpen the handling a little. There is a company called 'Monkfish' in the UK who are basically the most respected tuners and parts supplier for Monaro or Holden or any HSV vehicles in the country. My car was shipped off to Monkfish and the followingwork was done:
-Performance Package. Basically the wheel geometery gets set up to the car better to sharpen the handling. A strut brace is fitted as well.
-New De Fillipo exhaust manifolds which are free flowing and custom made stainless steel exhaust system (its loud)
-Higher capacity injectors
-K+N air filters
-AP Racing big disk and caliper conversion front and rear (very impressive)
-Stereo upgrades
A few other bits and bobs that i can't remember. The car came though with receipts for every single job that has been done, and these receipts stack up to around £15k, so its been well fettled. Power is now believed to be in the region of 410bhp, but i have no idea to be honest.
How does it drive? Well i'll be honest, it doesn't handle like the Z4 coupe, so i'll not try to kid you that it does. Its big, heavy and you can feel that it is a big car. It does handle well for what it is, but it prefers straight lines to bendy ones! With all the power available to your right foot it will happily spin up the rear tyres all day long, even when the T/C is on. I sneezed whilst driving and that was enough to spin the rears in 3rd! I don't drive with the T/C off too often, which i know is a bit soft, but in the wet, it will try to put you in the nearest ditch, backwards if you are not respectful of the power.
0-60 comes up in about 6 secs and 100 (on a private road of course) in about 9. It is at the top end where you really feel the extra power. If you keep the pedal to the floor, it just won't slow up and builds pace at a silly rate, keeping you pinned well into the chair. I have had it on a private road where it hit 145mph as indicated by the GPS, but i then had to brake as the road was running out. I was only using about 2 thirds of the pedal when i backed off, and it was still pulling hard!
The cabin is a nice place to be at and very well appointed. Again, its not as nicer place to be as the Z4, but it is still very comfy, and the seats better than those in the Z4 Coupe. The car will eat miles all day long and never do i feel any back ache in it. It has pretty well all the toys you would want in the car, but the Z4 is just far more classy and refined. There are some touches though that i would never get tired of, my favourite being the following. The Speedo and Rev Counter both have black dials and white needles, but at night, when you build revs or speed up, both needles change colour from white to red as you get faster and the engine spins up. I never get tired of this and rate it as one of my favourite car features ever! It has a warning chime for everything, including one that comes on after 2 hours of motorway driving, suggesting a might want to have a break??? Brilliant.
Running costs. Right, its got a 5.7 V8 Chevy engine believed to be pushing 400+bhp. It AIN'T CHEAP to run. That said, it can be fairly economical to run in the right circumstances. I drove to birmingham and back from Chester recently, filled the car before leaving (i'm on 1st name terms with all petrol stations now) and took a steady drive there and back along the motorways. Cruising between 70-80 mph with a bit of urban driving at either end of the trip, i manged 30 mpg, which sounds terrible, but it is much better than what i normally get. If you were to do a proper long run, say to London or Scotland, i think you would easily see 34-35mpg out of it. And i'm doing a london run soon, so we'll see how it goes.
Sadly i use the car on commuting roads, and my average is about 22mpg. The worst tank i have had was 17mpg, but this was my 1st tank, and everytime i took it to a friends house, they just wanted me to sit there revving it, which i happily did for them. On a good tank with a bit of motorway use, i'll get 24mpg, but 22mpg seems to be the average.
Noise. It sounds amazing, as any V8 fan will understand. My brother made the comment that it sounds bigger than a 5.7 V8, but i'm not sure what that really means? What is much bigger than a 5.7 V8? I now have to drive everywhere with the windows open, just because i love the noise. I took it through the Mersey Tunnel the other night and nearly wet myself when i floored it in 2nd gear and heard the noise bouncing off the walls all around the car. BRILLIANT. I will never get tired of the noise it makes.
I do like owner the Monaro, but do miss the Z4. That said, my new kitchen will be lovely, and on this occasion, i was sensible to sell the Z4, its just a shame i bought a silly car instead. It does get lots of attention, especially because of the noise and the way it goes. It has also been fully rebadged as a Holden, and this confuses people.
Would i keep it long term? I doubt it. If i did more motorway use, than yes i would, but 22mpg hurts after a while, and my 2nd car, a 3.0 turbo diesel Toyota 4Runner isn't much better on the juice. I do enjoy it alot a am very happy to have owned one, as its another car i can cross off the list and say i've owned. Anyone eagle eyes on the web will know it is for sale at the moment, but we'll see how it goes.
Anyway, hope you like the write up, feel free to ask any questions about the car you may have.


