I spent a coupla weeks searching all the online ads and local papers for an EL XR8, thinking it was exactly what I wanted, but I drove one last thursday and then drove an AU2 V8 forte after that, and the AU was without doubt a much better car all round IMHO, and $4K cheaper too.
EL's are still a very good model though, i just recommend that if you get the option of an AU for a similar price or less it would be worth considering. As for fuel consumption, i'm only halfway through the first tank, but i did 180km over the weekend around town here, and 150km to work and back today (highway) and its still saying 365km distance to empty. so they're pretty good - better than i thought it would be...

Was the EL XR8 an EL2?

Just out of curiosity, what was better about the AU V8 than the EL V8 ?

the EL was a Nov 97 185kw manual. Its hard to say exactly what was better, it was more of an overall impression, a bit hard to describe. I think that back-to-back, the EL felt its age a bit, and the AU seemed to be a better driving experience. I'm not sure if an AU1 would have been different, but from where i was sitting, the AU2 would have been an obvious choice even without the big price difference. Theres probably some resale value stuff to consider as well, obviously the XR will do better there.
Also I sold my EF fmont a year ago for $5K and the EL felt too similar to the EF to justify paying nearly 3 times as much for it ($14k).

G

Agreed. I would have loved it if my old man kept his XC V8 to hand down to me. Unfortunately he sold it before I was born.

the engines on the two cars would be very similar, the manifolds would be different tho i think ..Or was it heads?
i presme the forte may have some sort of special suspension pack, other than that i would have felt that the AU V8 would of been the one feelign a little off the mark..having a crappy restrictive exhaust set=up, whereas the EL 2 XR would of had a sportier designed system, and that little fishbowl cabin in the AU's.. yuk. but hey, each to thier own..had my ef before my EL and still love em'

175 kW @ 4600 rpm (185 kW @ 4500 rpm in EL).
395 Nm @ 3200 rpm (402 Nm @ 4000 rpm in EL).

i was going to get an XR8 but chose against it when i found a fairlane NL Ghia for 8g and talked him down to 6.8g because i had to fly to sydney from adelaide, had 150k on the clock, the xr was nice but the lane was nicer

yeah... as good as an XR looks, there aint nothing like a nice lane dropped on a good set of rims.. low, long and lazy.. but only in e-series.. AU lane looked like volvo's .. !!