Xedos 6 2.0 V6 - thoughts?

[Betaphile]

Or a Eunos 500 to us Antipodean types. Seriously thinking about one of these as a daily smoker - anyone have experience of one? Always loved the looks and the 24V V6 is offbeat enough to be interesting - anyone run one before/things to look out for etc? Fuel consumption compared to a four doesn't bother me the way it might do some others because it will be taking over daily duties from the HPE which regularly gets sub-25mpg bombing around town.

 

Alternative options, with the same engine, are a 323 Astina:

 

 

Or Astina Hardtop (er, sedan):

 

[gtd2000]

Or a Eunos 500 to us Antipodean types. Seriously thinking about one of these as a daily smoker - anyone have experience of one? Always loved the looks and the 24V V6 is offbeat enough to be interesting - anyone run one before/things to look out for etc? Fuel consumption compared to a four doesn't bother me the way it might do some others because it will be taking over daily duties from the HPE which regularly gets sub-25mpg bombing around town.

 

Alternative options, with the same engine, are a 323 Astina:

 

 

Or Astina Hardtop (er, sedan):

 

Always thought the 323 "Astina" was a great looking car

[Volksy]

The late model 323's are supposed to be cracking cars. the V6's make a lovely noise too.The lower spec models always look a tad 'underwheeled' IMHO, they need to bigger wheels of the V6 to look right.

[Roc 24v]

Xedos 6 is a great car, good chassis and cheap as chips now.323F with the same engine is great too.KFDE is the engine in question, easily(ish) replaceable by KLDE or KLZE 2.5 for extra shove.The engine is super sweet.I run an online store that has those amongst its specialist vehicles, and they are pretty bulletproof.

[Mike D]

I had a '97 323F ZXi as a daily for 2 1/2 years, it was a cracking motor, went pretty well and was comfy too.Watch out for a rattly engine mind, there is a thrust shim on the cams and these can wear making them a bit rattly. Also, when I had mine, parts were pretty much dealer only, and quite pricey. Depending on how i drove it, i used to average around 280 miles to a tank, I do have a bit of a heavy boot though!Mike

[Betaphile]

I really like the styling of the Astina hatch too, but they're surprisingly expensive for what they are - to the point that they cost the same nowadays as the Xedos. The interior is considerably cheaper too, so I'm figuring, well, why not get the latter? The Xenoses have also more or less managed to avoid the chav crowd, which is more than you can say for a significant element of six-pot 323s.

[Roc 24v]

I had a '97 323F ZXi as a daily for 2 1/2 years, it was a cracking motor, went pretty well and was comfy too.Watch out for a rattly engine mind, there is a thrust shim on the cams and these can wear making them a bit rattly. Also, when I had mine, parts were pretty much dealer only, and quite pricey. Depending on how i drove it, i used to average around 280 miles to a tank, I do have a bit of a heavy boot though!Mike

Friction Gear, cosmetic for noise only, if a bit of rattling doesnt bother you, it makes no difference to the engine or performance luckily.

[r.welfare]

Nice cars. I saw a lot of those Astina hardtops in both Oz (when we went for lunch!) and HK also, but the Xedos is the more cohesive design. Should be pretty bulletproof if you can find one that's been looked after.I saw a Eunos 500 for sale over here a year or so ago, quite an offbeat car to import...perhaps a crate "filler"? IIRC, it had the 1.8 V6 from the MX-3 rather than the 2-litre - engine choices here (for UK market cars) were 2-litre for the full run (92-99), and a 1.6 4-cylinder for later years.

[Betaphile]

If it had the 1.8 and Eunos badging it would (I guess) have been a Jap import - we only ever got the 2.0.

[Betaphile]

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Eunos-500-1996-1 ... 286.c0.m14

 

BARGAIN-TASTIC (and would be even at twice that price, you just have no idea how good you guys have it in the UK when it comes to cheap tat).

 

I get the impression at least one of the bidders hasn't quite figured out how this fleabay process works, and seems to think he needs to be the top bidder ALL THE TIME. No matter, there's only one time that matters...

 

Anyway, went and had a look today - generally seems very tidy. Brakes squeal but pull up fine, also has the engine tappet/friction gear thingy going on (they all do that sir etc) but looked well-maintained. Autoboxes have a reputation for going bang on these things but this one shifted smoothly, no fuss at all. Engine is an absolute gem - very smooth at idle, but punches pretty hard and as some intimated above, a lovely noise once you get the revs wound up.

 

WANT.

[Betaphile]

Eunos update - purchased, collect tomorrow morning... (dodgy ad pics until I get hold of it...)

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm inexplicably excited about this, given that it's only a '90s Japanese executive saloon. This one is a '95 manual 500 with the 2.0 V6 and drives extremely well. It also comes loaded with an embarrassment of riches - full leather, electric driver's seat, alloys, climate control, cruise, 'leccy windows, fogs and ABS. (I'm becoming lazy in my young age, see.)

 

Generally it's in really nice nick, especially the interior. Body is very straight; the paintwork is not quite as good as it appears in those pics and has a few sunspot blemishes, but it's not bad.

 

Looking forward to tomorrow...

[CIH]

Nice motors but why bother with 6 cylinders if it's only two litres ?

[Ratdat]

Nice motors but why bother with 6 cylinders if it's only two litres ?

Torque and smoothness.

[Betaphile]

Nice motors but why bother with 6 cylinders if it's only two litres ?

It's true - but then, no-one ever said anything about the 320i being an inline six, or Rover making a two-litre KV6. It's the same family as the 1.8 V6 in the MX-3/30X and the 2.5 V6 in the 626/MX-6/Probe, so I guess there was some parts commonality there (?). I agree though, an inline four would be much cheaper to build at this kind of capacity. You kinda get the feeling it was Mazda's marketing department which drove the whole compact V6 phenomenon? Gotta remember this was the time that Mazda was going beserk with capital expenditure, trying to establish itself as one of Japan's biggest makers. Some of their product decisions were utterly mental too - apparently, the 5-door 323F/Astina/Lantis and 'Hardtop' (first post) were based on a different platform to the four-door Protege sedan, and (ugly) three-door 323F. Why would you do that?!

[shite_meister]

Nice motors but why bother with 6 cylinders if it's only two litres ?

To give a smoothness a 4-pot can only dream about whilst still being fairly economical not to mention the taxation classes of certain countries with cars over a certain cc.

[shite_meister]

It's true - but then, no-one ever said anything about the 320i being an inline six, or Rover making a two-litre KV6.

What car had the 2.0 KV6? I wasn't aware that there was a 2.0 KV6 only a 2.7

[Ratdat]

Two litre sixes are not uncommon, especially straight sixes which go back donkeys years.The primary reason for their popularity in Japan is taxation classes which tend to penalize anthing over 2.0l. This is why som many large Japanese cars were available with 2.0l engines. making them multi cycling helped to get the extra grunt needed for a larger car as well as making them suitable for the luxury car market.

[Betaphile]

It's true - but then, no-one ever said anything about the 320i being an inline six, or Rover making a two-litre KV6.

What car had the 2.0 KV6? I wasn't aware that there was a 2.0 KV6 only a 2.7

Rover 75 and 45 saloon.Pretty sure the only other KV6 capacity is 2.5, not 2.7? (Sure you're not mixing it up with the Honda V6 in the 800?)

[shite_meister]

It's true - but then, no-one ever said anything about the 320i being an inline six, or Rover making a two-litre KV6.

What car had the 2.0 KV6? I wasn't aware that there was a 2.0 KV6 only a 2.7

Rover 75 and 45 saloon.

Fuck me I never knew that, I worked for a garage that had the MG Rover Parts franchise so we used to see loads of modern MG Rovers but I've never seen or knew about a 2.0 KV6, we only ever got a couple of 75s in the workshop though. Learn something new everyday.

[ChinaTom]

In China the Epica has a 2.0 straight six. Not sure what it has here though.I'm sure my old man had a Triumph 2000 which was a S6

[meggersdog]

Had an Exodus 9 a while ago.2.5 V6 and very well equiped.It was an auto with a whiny first gear so I traded it on after a week.Nice looking car in dark metallic red and drove very well.Late Rover 45's came in 2.0 KV6 flavour.

[peter9000uk]

I stand to be corrected but I'm sure i read somewhere these are also a non interference engine if the cambelt goes

[155V6]

There was a 2.0 V6 Turbo engine in some Alfa 164s

[AnthonyG]

It's true - but then, no-one ever said anything about the 320i being an inline six, or Rover making a two-litre KV6.

What car had the 2.0 KV6? I wasn't aware that there was a 2.0 KV6 only a 2.7

Rover 75 and 45 saloon.

Fuck me I never knew that, I worked for a garage that had the MG Rover Parts franchise so we used to see loads of modern MG Rovers but I've never seen or knew about a 2.0 KV6, we only ever got a couple of 75s in the workshop though. Learn something new everyday.

I had one, they weren't very common due to the fact that you had less power but hardly any more fuel economy than the 2.5. Most were the earlier 75s, Cowley built a lot of them before BMW thrown in the towel. Later on the diesels become a lot more popular. After the company car tax moved to being based on emissions levels the 2 litre KV6 lost its tax friendliness, and therefore the main reason for its existence as far as UK buyers were concerned.

[Betaphile]

I stand to be corrected but I'm sure i read somewhere these are also a non interference engine if the cambelt goes

I have read this somewhere as well, but was dubious as to the quality of the source IIRC - either way I'd prefer not to test out that theory!

[r.welfare]

Most Mazda 4-cyls are non-interference, definitely.Nice purchase. 2-litre sixes are GR8 - the BMW M20 is one of the sweetest engines I've ever encountered. Certainly the Italians had a punitive taxation system (do they still?) which hit >2.0 engines hard - hence the Ferrari 208, Maserati BiTurbo etc. One assumes the Eunos/Xedos 2-litre is a stretch of the MX-3's 1.8, rather than a downsize of the 626/MX-6 2.5.

[shite_meister]

Most Mazda 4-cyls are non-interference, definitely.Nice purchase. 2-litre sixes are GR8 - the BMW M20 is one of the sweetest engines I've ever encountered. Certainly the Italians had a punitive taxation system (do they still?) which hit >2.0 engines hard - hence the Ferrari 208, Maserati BiTurbo etc. One assumes the Eunos/Xedos 2-litre is a stretch of the MX-3's 1.8, rather than a downsize of the 626/MX-6 2.5.

I've had countless BMW E30s with the 2.0 and the 2.5 M20 and I've always felt the 2.0 was always smoother for some reason (not sure if the 2.5's higher state of tune makes it rougher??) but the 320 has a reputation for being as thirsty as a 325 without the performance.

[UglyAmerican]

Well mates, the first iteration of the [Ferrari] Dino (152 produced according to wikipedia) had a 2.0 V6!IF U BUY THIS CAR U ARE BASICALLY GETTING A 4 DOOR FERARI!____________________Joking aside, all the Japanese car manufacturers all had 2.0 V6 engines going back to the 1980s. Toyota had a 2.0 V6 for the Japanese market Camry in the 1990s, Honda had a 2.0 V6 Legend (JDM only) in the early 1990s. Incidentally, having had one of the more modern direct injection turbo 4 engines when I had a Mk5 GTI, and driving my mom's various V6 saloons over the years, I just love the V6 experience. So smooth.

[gtd2000]

You also get the Mitsubishi 1.6L V6 engine in the older Lancers - same shape as the Proton Persona/Wira

[CIH]

'boss at work had one a later MX3 (323f ?) with the 2.0v6 and no denying it was a nice motor.