Another Diesel/Petrol dilemma thread...

Mr. Larson

I'll try to be brief. Just looking for other opinions, deep down I think know what I should do.

• Currently own a 2.0l turbo petrol car. 02, 100k miles.
• It's a C70 Coupé really comfy, still looks great after all these years, full leather interior etc.
• I've looked after it very well, full Volvo service history - put a lot of money into it.
• I have a heavy foot although I am learning to ease off a bit more lately.
• I can't imagine I would get a whole lot for the car, I still owe about 4k on the loan :eek: which is way more than I'd ever get for it - and who wants a 2.0l turbo coupé these days?
• It's only getting me about 28mpg, I have a 52 mile daily commute, it's hurting my wallet a fair bit.
• My wife has an older, more practical hatchback car that's in decent nick too.
• I wouldn't have a whole pile of money to spend on another car, any money we are saving needs to go into the house.

What would you do?

1. - should I cut my losses and get shut if it and buy a diesel something for under 10k
2. - should I just carry on and drive it till it won't go anymore and continue to piss away money on petrol

I reckon b is probably the way to go. I would prefer b obviously becuase whatever I got after this would be a disappointment but taxing/insuring/filling thins thing is becoming harder and harder to justify.

Option 1, 28mpg on a decent car that you owe €4000 on.
Option2, 50mpg on a diesel that cost €10000 and still owe the €1500 on the Volvo, I reckon you should see €2500 for it if you sold it.

You probably do 300 miles a week, at best you'll save €20/week on fuel I think, ie a grand/annum.

Surely the €10,000 pain in buying the new one won't be alleviated by a €20/week saving ?

Option 3, buy a 1.6 Focus petrol of similar vintage to the Volvo and enjoy maybe 40mpg.

Top Dog

Option D - keep the Volvo as a weekend toy and buy something cheap, cheerful & economical for €500. You might even see a saving on the insurance if you get it on a much lower, limited mileage policy.

Top Dog

Top Dog wrote: »

Option D - keep the Volvo as a weekend toy and buy something cheap, cheerful & economical for €500. You might even see a saving on the insurance if you get it on a much lower, limited mileage policy.

That's defo a non runner, he'll still only save €20 ish/week on fuel, which won't cover the additional costs of having the Volvo and the cheap runner. Setanta do mirror NCBs but even with that it isn't economically a good idea.

OP, what miles does your wife though, is swapping cars an option to cut fuel costs?

Eoin

My wife has an older, more practical hatchback car that's in decent nick too.

Option e: Unless your wife also has a long commute, use her car during the week?

Edit - RoverJames got there first

Mr. Larson

RoverJames wrote: »

OP, what miles does your wife though, is swapping cars an option to cut fuel costs?

That's a good suggestion. Often the best ones [options] are staring you in the face. My wife does about 1km per day - but she is uncomfortable trying to park the Volvo and it's understandable. Turning circle of the Titanic. I think we might try it out though.

Jabberwocky

Jabberwocky wrote: »

but she is uncomfortable trying to park the Volvo and it's understandable. Turning circle of the Titanic. I think we might try it out though.

Age old problem, you'll reverse a car into very tight spaces that you wouldn't attempt driving into

Mr. Larson

RoverJames wrote: »

you'll reverse a car into very tight spaces that you wouldn't attempt driving into

I hear what you're saying

Top Dog

RoverJames wrote: »

That's defo a non runner, he'll still only save €20 ish/week on fuel, which won't cover the additional costs of having the Volvo and the cheap runner. Setanta do mirror NCBs but even with that it isn't economically a good idea.

Ok, taking your estimated saving of €20/wk, and based on a 45wk working year that makes €900.

So
€400 on small engine car with long test (plenty on Donedeal)
€200 on TP only insurance (who needs more on a €400 car?)
€350 on years tax (rough guess at 1.4 engine rate) if he got lucky he might even find something for the €400 which has a few months tax left on it
Totals €950

Now add to that the possible insurance savings on the Volvo on a lower mileage(risk) policy ... for ease of my maths we'll say €50 ... then over the course of a single year he's broken even. He's also reduced the wear and tear on his Volvo, reduced the frequency (expense) of necessary servicing & maintenance (yes the banger will require servicing, but not likely to cost as much as a 2.0T Volvo), while still being able to enjoy it on the weekends.

Bring on the second year and he's quids in