Morris Minor Owners Club

ok here goes!
what are your thoughts (there i did it i've opened the can of worms!) about using a moggie as my daily drive as i have got bored with the modern stuff!
so here are the problems.... my comute is a 60mile round trip on a motorway (i ownly normaly do 50-70mph anyway)
and have established i dont want to do do this in the convertable which is soon back on the road (i just have to assemble it )
and as i havent really driven a moggy too far before for testing mpg i wondered what a 1098 does to the gallon. i would look at puting in a tall diff ratio as nearly all work is m-way or possably a type 9, 5 speed.

would the concensous of opinon be im nuts (probabilly as also considering a locost type thing) or that it would work ok?

i know they require lots of maintanence but i have spare time that i can tinker.....

jon

well i do 40 miles a day tuesday to thursday rural driving
then fri eve drive to london bout 70 miles and part motorway
then mon morning drive back 70 miles

When I first had Phyllis I commuted a 50 mile round trip on A-road (and occasionally the motorway) and found that sticking to 50-60mph was quite comfortable and she generally averaged mid-thirties mpg. Occasionally I got more, but on mixed driving found that 35 was about average. I didn't much care for motorway driving in her; she seemed to be buffeted by lorries and the like. If you stick to the inside lane then there's little problem, really.

Obviously you need to keep on top of servicing but there's no reason why a well-maintained Minor wouldn't be capable of such a commute, certainly for the more clement summer months - daily commuting isn't much fun in winter if it takes an hour for your fingers to thaw out before you can begin work!) these cars were meant to be used

thats kina of what i was thinking.. unfortunately i have a choice of route to work up the m5 as its a straight run or fiddle through towns Taunton and bridgwater the cold isnt an issue normall though u just wear more clothes!!! (until the rain sticks to the windscreen!)

You wouldn't want to fit a lower final drive ratio AND a type 9 five speed gearbox. Best you can hope for is 35 mpg - but frankly even that may be out of reach if you try to keep up with the traffic. One option is to get an LPG kit on the Minor -which effectively doubles the miles per £. Otherwise - a small diesel engine car may a better bet for the commute!

I would probably put a more Ergonomically designed seat in for regular Motorway driving. Why does everyone complain about Heaters in Moggies,have I just been lucky in the 2 I've got,or do I not feel the cold. I drove mine back from Anglesy to Yorkshire in Feb,it never got above -2 and the Heater was adequate. I did have 2 jumpers and a scarf on!

yes the small diesel would be more "sensable" (its what i am currently using) or the small petrols which do 50mpg ish which when you factor in the extra tax and fuel cost of the diesels makes them about the same to run....
but the problem is they lack sole, character or in the case of the colt i have just plain unreliable and you need to plug them in to do anything!!! at least an a series i can hit with a hammer when the thing doent go (not to fix the problems you understand just to make me feel better) and nothing would fall off......

LPG Minor it is then!

If you have your heart set on it and it's what you want to do, go for it. It's what the car was designed to do afterall.

hi I run my moggie almost full time between April and late October mostly a mixture but with a lot of motorway 60 mph cruising and I'm getting 37 mpg I had it Crypton tuned ,when fitting electronic ignition last summer,this gave me around 2 to 3 % more mpg

I used my standard spec Traveller for 12 years as an everyday car. Used to get an average of 38.8mpg and up to 45 mpg on a run.

No need to modify the car, just maintain it thoroughly and keep applying the underbody and cavity wax to ward off rust!

Morris Minors were designed to be used as an everyday car so there is no reason why one cannot be used as such now.

You must be doing at least 60 mph to be safe and overtake lorries, otherwise it will be dangerous. You want some soundproofing if you don't already have it, and a rear demister and wing mirrors for sure.

I don't know if later Minors had hazard warning lamps, but these are a simple installation and absolute necessity.

Funnily enough, my car always got its best gas mileage figures at top engine speed!

" this gave me around 2 to 3 % more mpg " - so that would be < 1 mpg extra........ Hard to measure accurately. And have you calibrated the mileometer ? They are AT LEAST 5% fast on a standard Minor.....

I drive my minor daily, from Bromsgrove to Coventry and back each day. That's about 70 miles round trip, adding up to around 1000 miles a month. Sure there is maintenance to keep on top of, greasing nipples every month, changing the engine oil every 3 months. But you know that's coming and can plan accordingly.

Every now and then something will drop off or pack up, and you'll have to spend the evening fixing it ready for the next day. Sometimes i've had to resort to borrowing my girlfriends modern car, or jumping on the train instead, but not often by any means.

I drive it quite hard, but it's got a five speed and disc brakes, so is happy to cruise at 70mph and stop when the traffic suddenly backs up. Even with my 'enthusiastic' driving style i get high mpg in the high 30's, even low 40's if i'm careful.

I've never felt the need for a heated rear screen. On some winter days i wish i had one, but driving with the window open an inch or two is enough to clear all the windows, it can just get a bit draughty!

chrisryder wrote:
Every now and then something will drop off

That made me laugh!

bmcecosse wrote:" this gave me around 2 to 3 % more mpg " - so that would be < 1 mpg extra........ Hard to measure accurately. And have you calibrated the mileometer ? They are AT LEAST 5% fast on a standard Minor.....

I regularly drive through one of those speed detector smiley/sad face, MPH read out, "thank you!" speed trap devices.

Have driven through in my modern and indicated 35mph flashes up as 30MPH on the speed trap screen, amazingly in the Traveller, indicated 30 MPH actually does flash up as 30mph!

Indeed - but the MILEOMETER is what counts with MPG calcs. And on standard Minors is invariably 5 -7 % fast. In part this may be due to almost universal use of radial tyres these days.

thankyou for your comments... other than the point noted about mirrors and rear heated screens, it seems positive!! just have to decide when to bite the bullet and get a minor to do it in (the wife wont let me use the convertable and it may be a tad draufty in the winter!!)
the MPG figures suggested are similar to the modern i curently run but the minor has cheaper tax insurance tyres servicing etc etc (the colt plugs were £40 for 3 last time )