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

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.

[Deleted User] · 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!

keithclancy · 13-03-2012 8:45am

shedweller wrote: »

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!

83 mpg .... I think you made a mistake.

Fiona · 13-03-2012 8:56am

MPG would not be top of my list when it came to buying a car. Car tax and could I afford to maintain the car in terms of service costs would be my biggies.

dgt · 13-03-2012 10:15am

Mpg top of my list for buying a car? I'd be one of the top three

Is it something I like and not on my no go list?
What's the tax?
Good on petrol/dayysel?

I tend to buy cars because I like them and have an interest in them, not because john and mary bullshipper in the pub said it's a great yoke/ reliable as a tractor/ bag of ham/ everyone else has one etc etc etc. I'll buy the damned thing and form my own opinion

unkel · 13-03-2012 3:39pm

CiniO wrote: »

Simple calculations and it reveals your car does 3.40 litres/100km...

keithclancy wrote: »

83 mpg .... I think you made a mistake.

See post #42

Mr Benevolent · 13-03-2012 3:57pm

Yes, MPG will become a priority. Either that or wipe out the MPG altogether and buy an electric car.

[Deleted User] · 13-03-2012 3:59pm

RXMPS wrote: »

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?

Yep.

SouperComputer · 13-03-2012 4:33pm

Unlikely to be No1 simply because there will always be a range of cars to select from with similar mpg.

13-03-2012 4:41pm

Wouldn't be top of my list by any stretch. But it would be something I would factor in to the overall decision to some degree. This time around I bought a diesel for that reason, the car will do a lot of mileage so it made sense. Top of my list is something I enjoy driving - but I could go a hell of a lot higher with running costs if I were to get my perfect car, but I can't afford it, so I'll settle for something middle of the road that I can look out my window and look forward to driving.

RXMPS · 13-03-2012 11:14pm

RoverJames wrote: »

Yep.

Ohhh yeah.

Mr money with his 2.5l V6 MG ZT.

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

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