Main criteria when buying a car - will No1 ever be MPG for you?

NIMAN · 12-03-2012 10:38am #1

I was recently thinking of changing my car, and was enjoying having a good old look around at the various websites.

In the past it would have been looks, features, reliability etc that would have been my main boxes that needed ticked.

Then it turned into road tax considerations/insurance group.

Now with unleaded at 164.9 in my local petrol station, I am more and more looking at MPG of cars.

I honestly think that in 5 or 10yrs we will be looking at MPG 1st before anything else, and we will be happy to drive 'uglier' cars than we would have in the past, as long as they have big mpg figures.

If I could get a car now that looked like dung but gave me 150mpg, I'd buy it tomorrow.

shedweller · 12-03-2012 10:46am

It depends on where a person is at in their lives.
Single, no kids? Drive whatever you want!
Married, with kids? Well then, you better make sure you can afford to run whatever you buy.
I drive a crappy little d4d yaris and get 1200-1300km per tank.
Because i have to. Anything less efficient and i have to make sacrifices elsewhere.

NIMAN · 12-03-2012 10:48am

Yeah admittedly your circumstances might still make certain cars unsuitable for you eg a little Yaris would be no good if you have 5 kids, but I think that if you had such a family then you might look at cars suitable for you, and have MPG near the top of the list on that shortlist of cars? In the future of course.

When I was single and carefree, I drove a 2 seat sports car. Couldn't have give a toss about mpg, luggage space, lack of seats for passengers. But it suited me then. Now I married with 2 little 'uns its different of course, but there are still many cars available to me, and MPG is going to be a main buying point from here on in.

keithclancy · 12-03-2012 10:54am

NIMAN wrote: »

Yeah admittedly your circumstances might still make certain cars unsuitable for you eg a little Yaris would be no good if you have 5 kids, but I think that if you had such a family then you might look at cars suitable for you, and have MPG near the top of the list on that shortlist of cars? In the future of course.

Depends how much time you spend in the car,

If I didn't commute to work and just wanted a runaround for the weekends I'd buy a banger and have it sitting outside for runs to wherever. Then on long trips i'd rent a car.

With commuting however MPG would be a factor but not the only one, generally the low MPG cars are not really suitable racking up 40-50k / year.

With high mileage Motor tax would be the least of my worries.

Anan1 · 12-03-2012 10:56am

Fuel costs are still a very small proportion of my overall cost of car ownership, so MPG doesn't matter much to me. That said, looks matter even less - I can't see my car when i'm in it, and i'm not overly worried for the aesthetic gratification of passing pedestrians. I value ability, the car needs to be able to do everything that I want it to do.

CiniO · 12-03-2012 12:09pm

Anan1 wrote: »

Fuel costs are still a very small proportion of my overall cost of car ownership, so MPG doesn't matter much to me.

Hmm.. Opposite for me.
Over 4 years ownership of my Fiat Bravo, I spend more on petrol for it, than on sum of anything else (including cost of purchase, maintenance, tax, insurance, parking, motorway tolls, etc).

TestTransmission · 12-03-2012 12:21pm

MPG isn't a big concern for me at the moment with the mileage I do, god knows what petrol prices will be like in a few years so I might as well enjoy it while I can.

smash · 12-03-2012 12:25pm

MPG and Co2 levels are top priority for a lot of people these days. But after the next budget that will probably change back to engine size when they change the motor tax system.

djimi · 12-03-2012 12:40pm

Im still at a stage in my life where I can afford to blow a high percentage of my wages on running a high expense car, so for the moment MPG isnt really an issue for me. If I decide to change car I cant see it being a high priority; certainly not at the expense of things like performance or comfort.

That said, I have no idea what the future holds, and spending €60+ a week on petrol might not always be an option.

smash · 12-03-2012 12:46pm

djimi wrote: »

That said, I have no idea what the future holds, and spending €60+ a week on petrol might not always be an option.

It's killing my bank account currently spending €100 a week on petrol. :mad:

pcardin · 12-03-2012 1:19pm

djimi wrote: »

Im still at a stage in my life where I can afford to blow a high percentage of my wages on running a high expense car, so for the moment MPG isnt really an issue for me. If I decide to change car I cant see it being a high priority; certainly not at the expense of things like performance or comfort.

That said, I have no idea what the future holds, and spending €60+ a week on petrol might not always be an option.

What car is it or how many miles you do per week?

CiniO · 12-03-2012 1:22pm

djimi wrote: »

That said, I have no idea what the future holds, and spending €60+ a week on petrol might not always be an option.

In a country where you get €188 per week on the dole, where minimum wage is nearly €350 per week, and generally on average people get over €500 a week, I think €60 spending on fuel a week is negligible cost.

creedp · 12-03-2012 1:33pm

CiniO wrote: »

In a country where you get €188 per week on the dole, where minimum wage is nearly €350 per week, and generally on average people get over €500 a week, I think €60 spending on fuel a week is negligible cost.

In a country where a €1,500 a month (just shy of €400 pw)mortgate in pretty common; where full time childcare costs are approx €800 per month perchild (€200 pw) and the cost of living other than that (e.g. groceries) is sky high, I can assure you that €60 a week on fuel on top of everything else is not a negligible cost. Maybe OK for someone living at home or is lucky not to have high mortgage/childcare costs .. I wouldn't know

keithclancy · 12-03-2012 1:39pm

creedp wrote: »

In a country where a €1,500 a month (just shy of €400 pw)mortgate in pretty common; where full time childcare costs are approx €800 per month perchild (€200 pw) and the cost of living other than that (e.g. groceries) is sky high, I can assure you that €60 a week on fuel on top of everything else is not a negligible cost. Maybe OK for someone living at home or is lucky not to have high mortgage/childcare costs .. I wouldn't know

So really the Mortgage is the problem then, not the Fuel costs.

800 a month for Childcare ... thats pretty cheap, runs at about 1100 / month / child here.

Groceries are sky high compared to what ? Their pretty much on par with here and Germany imo.

creedp · 12-03-2012 2:01pm

keithclancy wrote: »

So really the Mortgage is the problem then, not the Fuel costs.

800 a month for Childcare ... thats pretty cheap, runs at about 1100 / month / child here.

Groceries are sky high compared to what ? Their pretty much on par with here and Germany imo.

Yes mortgages are a big problem but because they consume so much of people's disposable incomes they don't have a whole lot left for other items of expenditure including fuel. So my point being that €60 a week is therefore significant. Maybe if we started off and said fuel is paid for 1st and then we'll see what's left for mortgate then you comment might be appropriate.

I'm glad you think that €800 a month is cheap .. tell that to someone with 3 kids. Any tax relief for childcare costs in your neck of the woods as a matter of interest?

I sure you aware of the phenomenon of the cross border trade with NI. I don't think people were heading across for the fun of it! It may be less lucrative now give currency movements. Also the differential is less if you buy foregin products ... the buy Irish campaign is fine but unfortunately its costs ... the problem I sometimes have difficulty rationalising is that its very often cheaper to buy Irish product abroad than at home.

Henry Ford III · 12-03-2012 2:05pm

MPG is only a factor in overall ownership and running costs. People are really hung up on it though, much like road tax.

keithclancy · 12-03-2012 2:11pm

creedp wrote: »

Yes mortgages are a big problem but because they consume so much of people's disposable incomes they don't have a whole lot left for other items of expenditure including fuel. So my point being that €60 a week is therefore significant. Maybe if we started off and said fuel is paid for 1st and then we'll see what's left for mortgate then you comment might be appropriate.

Not really, if you bought a house you cannot afford then you cannot afford it, thats a problem created by the person that bought the house. Cheap fuel isn't going to fix that.

I'm glad you think that €800 a month is cheap .. tell that to someone with 3 kids. Any tax relief for childcare costs in your neck of the woods as a matter of interest?

Here when you do your yearly return its tax free (same as Ireland):
http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/it/leaflets/it1.html#section5

I sure you aware of the phenomenon of the cross border trade with NI. I don't think people were heading across for the fun of it! It may be less lucrative now give currency movements. Also the differential is less if you buy foregin products ... the buy Irish campaign is fine but unfortunately its costs ... the problem I sometimes have difficulty rationalising is that its very often cheaper to buy Irish product abroad than at home.

Its the very same here, Coffee is cheaper in NL than in Germany, Beer is cheaper in Germany than in NL.

Only time i've seen an Irish product cheaper abroad is due to VAT/Duty. (Whisky for example)

djimi · 12-03-2012 2:16pm

pcardin wrote: »

What car is it or how many miles you do per week?

Integra Type R. I only have a 20ish mile round trip to work every day and whatever other mileage I might do in the week; probably no more than 200 miles in a normal week.

I usually get about 40 miles for €10 petrol in my car (whatever that equates to in MPG) which to me makes it a high expense car!

djimi · 12-03-2012 2:18pm

CiniO wrote: »

In a country where you get €188 per week on the dole, where minimum wage is nearly €350 per week, and generally on average people get over €500 a week, I think €60 spending on fuel a week is negligible cost.

I dont do a lot of driving in the week, so its not negligible when you take that into account. If I was doing 50+ mile round trip to work every day Id be paying well over €100 a week on petrol.

keithclancy · 12-03-2012 2:24pm

djimi wrote: »

I dont do a lot of driving in the week, so its not negligible when you take that into account. If I was doing 50+ mile round trip to work every day Id be paying well over €100 a week on petrol.

I think he's hinting that where he's from where the average income is much lower, the cost of fuel is pretty much the same and people manage it.

creedp · 12-03-2012 2:34pm

keithclancy wrote: »

Not really, if you bought a house you cannot afford then you cannot afford it, thats a problem created by the person that bought the house. Cheap fuel isn't going to fix that.

The point being made that €60 a week on fuel is not negligible when you have other cals on your limited dispsable income. I wasn't pleading for lower fuel costs I was sipmply making a statement of fact. Others may disagree and thats their perogative.

Here when you do your yearly return its tax free (same as Ireland):
http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/it/leaflets/it1.html#section5

Its the very same here, Coffee is cheaper in NL than in Germany, Beer is cheaper in Germany than in NL.

Only time i've seen an Irish product cheaper abroad is due to VAT/Duty. (Whisky for example)

Handy for the stay at home mon/dad to supplement their income in the same way as the rent a room scheme .. so good for the service provider but doesn't change the fact that the service user still has to pay for the service. Not getting any further into this topic as I have been pulled back for derailing threads in the past

keithclancy · 12-03-2012 2:48pm

creedp wrote: »

The point being made that €60 a week on fuel is not negligible when you have other cals on your limited dispsable income. I wasn't pleading for lower fuel costs I was sipmply making a statement of fact. Others may disagree and thats their perogative.

Ah ok, just in your earlier post you seemed to be making a statement for everyone and not just yourself.

Yes mortgages are a big problem but because they consume so much of people's disposable incomes they don't have a whole lot left for other items of expenditure including fuel. So my point being that €60 a week is therefore significant.

Do you mean yourself or 'everyone' ?

smash · 12-03-2012 2:49pm

keithclancy wrote: »

Here when you do your yearly return its tax free (same as Ireland):
http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/it/leaflets/it1.html#section5

You know that article is to do with people who earn income from childcare, it's not about a tax relief for paying childcare.

"When the gross annual income from the provision of childcare services does not exceed €15,000 in 2010 or 2011 the income is exempt from tax. The childcare service must be provided in the carer's home, not the children's home and no more than 3 children may be cared for at any time."

Anyway, this is a motoring forum.

creedp · 12-03-2012 2:51pm

Henry Ford III wrote: »

MPG is only a factor in overall ownership and running costs. People are really hung up on it though, much like road tax.

+1 on this. It's amazing how many people traded in their pre-08 cars to save money on tax when the additional depreciation on the newer model will ecllipse the saving from the lower motor tax. A friend of mine traded an 07 Sante Fe with €800 pa tax for a new ix35 with €300 odd tax (sorry to lazy to look up exact rate) ..so €500 a year saving even though he far preferred the Sante Fe but wanted to save on tax. He freely admitted however, that he got a poor trade in on the perfect Sante Fe with only 70k km on it because of the Motor Tax. I wonder how long will it be before the tax savings on ix35 compensate for this lower trade in?

smash · 12-03-2012 2:56pm

Henry Ford III wrote: »

MPG is only a factor in overall ownership and running costs. People are really hung up on it though, much like road tax.

That's because it's cost is a variable which changes on a daily basis.

creedp · 12-03-2012 2:57pm

keithclancy wrote: »

creedp wrote: »

The point being made that €60 a week on fuel is not negligible when you have other cals on your limited dispsable income. I wasn't pleading for lower fuel costs I was sipmply making a statement of fact. Others may disagree and thats their perogative.

Ah ok, just in your earlier post you seemed to be making a statement for everyone and not just yourself.

Do you mean yourself or 'everyone' ?

I was making a general statement ... the degree of impact fuel costs will have on a person's disposable income wil depend on their level of outgoings. The higher the overall outgoings the more of an impact fuel costs will have. This comment came as a response to a view that €60 per week is negligible in a country where nearly everyone earns €500pw but the point is if a person' regular outgoings are €450 pw then an additional €60 is not negligible .. the comment is no more philosophical than that ..

12-03-2012 3:08pm

djimi wrote: »

Integra Type R. ............

I usually get about 40 miles for €10 petrol in my car (whatever that equates to in MPG) which to me makes it a high expense car!

Nearly 30mpg, tax will be reasonable on it too as the engine is small enough capacity wise, servicing etc aren't bad at all. Not really a high expense car.

A 1.4 Corolla wouldn't be much cheaper to run really.

af_thefragile · 12-03-2012 3:10pm

For me its fun.

I don't mind saving up a few extra quid every month so that I can have a more exciting/stimulating driving experience and its not that difficult to save up the money.

But I also appreciate cars that are fun to drive and at the same time are economical.

Something like the Lotus Elise is the best example of this. One of the most enjoyable and memorable cars to drive while its 1.8l engine can easily do over 30mpg. The new ones are even better at 149g/km of co2 they're super cheap to tax and the new 1.6l engine will do upto 40mpg if you're careful! Too bad you can't buy one in Ireland!!

And then if you move up the ladder, its one reason I love the Porsche 911 too. Amazing thing to drive. You can squeeze 4 people in it (though 2 of them would need to be rather small people), its not big and scary and it'll do 30mpg if you're careful!

Car manufacturers seem to be improving on efficiency of the internal combustion engine with every new development of their models. If you compare modern twin turbo v8s which can do 30mpg and more to v8s from 10-20yrs ago which would have struggled to achieve even 20mpg and produced less power than the modern variants, you can see how far we've come. If they keep up with this then in the next 10 years we should see petrol cars with more than 200bph capable of achieving over 40 and maybe even 50mpg.

It'll be a sad day to see the internal combustion engine replaced in favour of electrical motors. We really have come a long way towards perfecting the internal combustion engine and making the most reliable and practical source of energy to power vehicles. I would love to see a future where the internal combustion engine still lives on alternate green/renewable fuels and not become a fragment of nostalgic history like the steam engine.

djimi · 12-03-2012 3:52pm

RoverJames wrote: »

Nearly 30mpg, tax will be reasonable on it too as the engine is small enough capacity wise, servicing etc aren't bad at all. Not really a high expense car.

A 1.4 Corolla wouldn't be much cheaper to run really.

Its a high expense car to run compared to a lot of cars on the road to be fair. Im nearly 30 with 10 years full license and 4 years NCB and my insurance is nearly a grand. €170 for 3 months tax. Compared to what my father pays on his 1.4 diesel Corolla for example my thing is a gas guzzler! It mightnt be the worst car on the road to run, but compared to most it is high expense.

12-03-2012 4:22pm

RoverJames wrote: »

.................

A 1.4 Corolla wouldn't be much cheaper to run really.

djimi wrote: »

Its a high expense car to run compared to a lot of cars on the road to be fair. Im nearly 30 with 10 years full license and 4 years NCB and my insurance is nearly a grand. €170 for 3 months tax. Compared to what my father pays on his 1.4 diesel Corolla for example my thing is a gas guzzler! It mightnt be the worst car on the road to run, but compared to most it is high expense.

I meant a 1.4 petrol Corolla

A 320i would have similar running costs to your car with a few hundred less in insurance.

djimi · 12-03-2012 4:26pm

RoverJames wrote: »

I meant a 1.4 petrol Corolla
A 320i would have similar running costs to your car with a few hundred less in insurance.

Unless a 1.4 Corolla has ridiculously high running costs I doubt it compares to a Type R Integra somehow! My 98 1.4 Civic felt like a Honda 50 to run in comparison to the Integra; I was probably getting twice the fuel mileage I am currently getting.

dr.fuzzenstein · 12-03-2012 4:32pm

Henry Ford III wrote: »

MPG is only a factor in overall ownership and running costs. People are really hung up on it though, much like road tax.

Right now I commute 120 km every day because I live in Clare, which at this stage is nothing but a housing estate and car park to service Galway and Limerick.
I cannot move house or job in the short term, I am stuck where I am for at least another year, because I was not lucky enough to get one of the about 200 jobs that exist in the entire county of Clare (other than farmer or B&B owner).;)
For that very reason I bought a 1.8 TDCI CMax, because it could do around 50 mpg, was big enough for the dogs and to carry the odd load of shopping, wood pellets for the heat and bring rubbish to the dump.
In my case mpg was just about the number one concern before size, comfort and practicality.
Road tax was actually the negligible cost here, since I must have spent the purchase price of the car in fuel over the last two years.
Insurance is actually just about the cheapest thing on the list of running costs, somewhere along tires and oil changes.
Looks where actually also a concern, though the CMax might not be a Ferrari to look at, there is far worse out there and I don't have to wear a bag over my head driving it.

12-03-2012 4:38pm

djimi wrote: »

Unless a 1.4 Corolla has ridiculously high running costs I doubt it compares to a Type R Integra somehow! My 98 1.4 Civic felt like a Honda 50 to run in comparison to the Integra; I was probably getting twice the fuel mileage I am currently getting.

You have detailed your tax rate and your estimate of fuel usage which was 29mpg, I doubt your Civic was returning 58mpg

Petrol was cheaper back than which is why you feel the Civic was cheaper to run in comparison.

Just because it's a Type R it doesn't make it expensive to run.

Your motor tax is €170/quarter, a 1.4 would be €100/quarter, that's €280/annum of a difference, you claim to get 29mpg, a 1.4 petrol Corolla would return 40mpg.

The difference in running costs are quite small really.

CiniO · 12-03-2012 9:11pm

creedp wrote: »

In a country where a €1,500 a month (just shy of €400 pw)mortgate in pretty common;

€1500 per month sound bit high to me, and I'm sure many people pay less.
Besides €1500 a month is about €346 per week,, not €400 as you mentioned.

where full time childcare costs are approx €800 per month perchild (€200 pw)

:eek:
I have a child and I really only spend a fraction of it.
What would €200 a week go into?

and the cost of living other than that (e.g. groceries) is sky high,

I have to agree with it.
For a weekly supermarket food supply for our house (family of 3), I could buy a fuel to travel over 1200km.

I can assure you that €60 a week on fuel on top of everything else is not a negligible cost. Maybe OK for someone living at home or is lucky not to have high mortgage/childcare costs .. I wouldn't know

I can't see a relation with other thing.
You said that some people spend €400 a week on mortgage. Comparing with it, €60 on fuel is like nothing.
I understand it might be hard to pay €400 mortgage a week, when someone earns €400 a week, but no one forced anyone to take such big mortgage with such small earnings.
IMHO if you have to spend more than 25% of your earning on repaying the mortgage, then it means it's too much.

Anyway - it's all irrelevant.
€60 euro fuel in descent MPG car, will take you nearly as far as 600km.
600km is like from Dublin to West coast and back.
All this for one day work on minimum wage, for which kind of job you don't require any qualifications.
There is very few places on earth, where people can have so much.

unkel · 12-03-2012 9:38pm

The worse the fuel consumption, the better :pac:

I bought a large comfortable executive saloon with leather / aircon / cruise / bluetooth etc. Low mileage, service history, excellent condition, taxed and tested. 10 years old and cost me only a bit over a grand. The reason? It's a 2l petrol. Nobody wants them, everybody only wants small diesels (which are extremely expensive to buy)

Yes they save on fuel and have cheaper tax, but they have to fork out thousands more up front to buy it. And of course they will be miserable owning and driving it

Really somebody should do some psychological research into the herd like going for (small) diesels that's been going on here in the last few years

Henry Ford III · 12-03-2012 9:56pm

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

Right now I commute 120 km every day because I live in Clare, which at this stage is nothing but a housing estate and car park to service Galway and Limerick.
I cannot move house or job in the short term, I am stuck where I am for at least another year, because I was not lucky enough to get one of the about 200 jobs that exist in the entire county of Clare (other than farmer or B&B owner).;)
For that very reason I bought a 1.8 TDCI CMax, because it could do around 50 mpg, was big enough for the dogs and to carry the odd load of shopping, wood pellets for the heat and bring rubbish to the dump.
In my case mpg was just about the number one concern before size, comfort and practicality.
Road tax was actually the negligible cost here, since I must have spent the purchase price of the car in fuel over the last two years.
Insurance is actually just about the cheapest thing on the list of running costs, somewhere along tires and oil changes.
Looks where actually also a concern, though the CMax might not be a Ferrari to look at, there is far worse out there and I don't have to wear a bag over my head driving it.

You haven't mentioned the really vital component - reliability.

creedp · 12-03-2012 10:29pm

CiniO wrote: »

€1500 per month sound bit high to me, and I'm sure many people pay less.
Besides €1500 a month is about €346 per week,, not €400 as you mentioned.

Off topic I know so I apologise but €1,500 a month equates to a 200k mortgage over 20 years .. hardly a mansion when purchased in the mid-nineties.

:eek:

I have a child and I really only spend a fraction of it.
What would €200 a week go into.

€200 a week is just for childcare .. nothing else. When 3 kids were under 4 years I/we were coughing up €1640 a month childcare ... had sod all left ..

Back on-topic

Anyway - it's all irrelevant.
€60 euro fuel in descent MPG car, will take you nearly as far as 600km.
600km is like from Dublin to West coast and back.
All this for one day work on minimum wage, for which kind of job you don't require any qualifications.
There is very few places on earth, where people can have so much./QUOTE]

We Irish are abviously mad when 75k of us emigrated last year and the latest crack of choice is to queue up at international job expos. Coupled with collapsing car sales, jobless numbers at record levels, personal debt levels at unprecedented levels, taxation levels rising like the globally warmed sea levels, sure the place is like an oasis in the desert:)

shedweller · 13-03-2012 12:20am

unkel wrote: »

The worse the fuel consumption, the better :pac:

I bought a large comfortable executive saloon with leather / aircon / cruise / bluetooth etc. Low mileage, service history, excellent condition, taxed and tested............

Do you mind me asking, what L/100k you get in your car?

Stheno · 13-03-2012 12:33am

unkel wrote: »

The worse the fuel consumption, the better :pac:

I bought a large comfortable executive saloon with leather / aircon / cruise / bluetooth etc. Low mileage, service history, excellent condition, taxed and tested. 10 years old and cost me only a bit over a grand. The reason? It's a 2l petrol. Nobody wants them, everybody only wants small diesels (which are extremely expensive to buy)

Yes they save on fuel and have cheaper tax, but they have to fork out thousands more up front to buy it. And of course they will be miserable owning and driving it

Really somebody should do some psychological research into the herd like going for (small) diesels that's been going on here in the last few years

I take the same viewpoint tbh, I've a 12 year old alfa gtv that gives 30mpg in mixed driving, cost me about the same, is the same engine size, and I bought i knowing it needed work, which is almost done.

The end result? I've a cheap car that I love, I don't do terribly high mileage and it costs me more to tax and insure my car in a month than it does to fuel it to my needs.

The OH is a tiny mileage person, does maybe 5k miles per year, and is in the market in the next year for a new car. He likes big, comfortable cars, and after talking to me and our mechanic, is considering a 1.8 - 2.0 L Honda Accord fits all of his boxes, and he will be looking for an 05-07 model with a 1.8 - 2.0 L engine and probably will do well.

Leaves him with a decent car and once he maintains it as you have to do with all cars shouldn't cost the earth.

His current car is acting the michael on mpg and returing about 20 mpg on a good day and we track that so for lots of long trips we use mine.

So we are conscious of the mpg and maximise ours when we can, but not to the point of it affecting our choice of cars.

Chris_Heilong · 13-03-2012 12:41am

Fun to drive factor out ways all else at the moment, I have a kid and went down the sensible route but life is short.

shedweller · 13-03-2012 12:54am

shedweller wrote: »

Do you mind me asking, what L/100k you get in your car?

edit:

i found it, i'm guessing you average about 30mpg over the year?
Thats 9.41L/100k.
If i had that car i would use about 2965 litres per year over the 31,549 km i do. Thats 4,773 euro at todays prices.

I currently use about 1070 litres per year, or 1658 euro at todays prices.
Thats 3,115 euro less per year than if i had the 2L petrol car.

Over the three years i have owned this car i have used 5685 litres less than if i had that 2L petrol car. So on a sliding scale. An average of 1.30 per litre over three years? I'll go with that for now.
Thats 7390 euro averaged over three years. Thats a lot of extra money.

I bought my car a little over 3 years ago for 5,000 euro. They are currently ranging from 3,500 to nearly 5,000 on carzone.

So while i agree that buying a new or nearly new high mpg car for a large chunk of money purely for fuel saving is crazy, not all high mpg cars cost so much. I'm also not getting at you with respect to your car; they are a fine machine but simply cost too much for me to run and potentially maintain, given the mileage i do per year.

unkel · 13-03-2012 1:03am

shedweller wrote: »

the 31,549 km i do

Aye, no one can argue with that. Do high miles and it makes no financial sense to go petrol

shedweller wrote: »

you average about 30mpg over the year?
Thats 9.41L/100k.
If i had that car i would use about 2965 litres per year over the 31,549 km i do. Thats 4,773 euro at todays prices.

I currently use about 1070 litres per year

So you average about 85MPG? :eek:

BTW I'm doing nowhere near 30MPG unless I'm on a run

galwaytt · 13-03-2012 1:12am

unkel wrote: »

I bought a large comfortable executive.... It's a 2l petrol.
Really somebody should do some psychological research into the herd like going for (small) diesels that's been going on here in the last few years

LOL, Unk, 2.0 is "large" now ? Oh dear....

As for the small diesel thing.......what are we going to do in 5 years, when there'll be nothing else on the used market...? Gather those petrols now !

nua domhan · 13-03-2012 1:14am

after owning an Rx8 for the last 4 years....MPG will be the first thing i look at.

galwaytt · 13-03-2012 1:21am

CiniO wrote: »

creedp wrote: »

I have a child and I really only spend a fraction of it.
What would €200 a week go into?

IMHO if you have to spend more than 25% of your earning on repaying the mortgage, then it means it's too much

Well I don't know about where you are, but cheapest childcare around here, for cash, is €25 per child per day.

As for mortgages, what you pay is not your 'fault', it's what you've ended up with, and there is no undoing it. You can't 'give it back, and walk away...

unkel · 13-03-2012 1:30am

galwaytt wrote: »

LOL, Unk, 2.0 is "large" now ?

No it's feckin' tiny and the turbo doesn't really help that much either compared to the N/A V8 cars I'm used to. That said, about 99% of cars sold in this country have an engine smaller than 2l so, yes relatively speaking a 2l engine is large

ShiresV2 · 13-03-2012 1:49am

unkel wrote: »

The reason? It's a 2l petrol. Nobody wants them, everybody only wants small diesels (which are extremely expensive to buy)

Yep. I bought a 7 seater Volvo estate recently, and it was half the price or under of similarly aged small engined / diesel people carriers.

So, a safe car with a smidgen of poke plus (notionally) cash back to cover running costs, versus a beat up people carrier that can barely drag its ass down a motorway.

It's bonkers out there!

unkel · 13-03-2012 2:04am

Aye. I believe good condition mid life (about 8-10 years old) large safe petrol cars here in Ireland are the cheapest in the world.

RXMPS · 13-03-2012 2:24am

RoverJames wrote: »

You have detailed your tax rate and your estimate of fuel usage which was 29mpg, I doubt your Civic was returning 58mpg Petrol was cheaper back than which is why you feel the Civic was cheaper to run in comparison.

Just because it's a Type R it doesn't make it expensive to run.

Your motor tax is €170/quarter, a 1.4 would be €100/quarter, that's €280/annum of a difference, you claim to get 29mpg, a 1.4 petrol Corolla would return 40mpg.

The difference in running costs are quite small really.

There is a big difference between 29mpg and 40mpg.

Over 30% infact.

€3000 vs €2100 per year for low milage.

Type R is at least 100% more expensive for anyone 30 or under to insure compared to a 1.4 corolla.

€1000 vs €500

Road tax again is 70% more expensive at nearly €700 a euro.

Tyres are alot more expensive on the Type R, brake pads, discs, suspension etc etc.

Still quite small really?

CiniO · 13-03-2012 2:29am

shedweller wrote: »

If i had that car i would use about 2965 litres per year over the 31,549 km i do. Thats 4,773 euro at todays prices.

I currently use about 1070 litres per year, or 1658 euro at todays prices.
Thats 3,115 euro less per year than if i had the 2L petrol car.

Over the three years i have owned this car i have used 5685 litres less than if i had that 2L petrol car. So on a sliding scale. An average of 1.30 per litre over three years? I'll go with that for now.
Thats 7390 euro averaged over three years. Thats a lot of extra money.

Simple calculations and it reveals your car does 3.40 litres/100km...
Can you please tell us, what car is it?

shedweller · 13-03-2012 2:51am

CiniO wrote: »

Simple calculations and it reveals your car does 3.40 litres/100km...
Can you please tell us, what car is it?

Yaris 1.4d4d. It's a 2004 model, i believe the newer one is ....er...worse. Although by an amount that would hardly make a real world difference!

Main criteria when buying a car - will No1 ever be MPG for you?

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