Is there such a thing as an economical petrol car?

Amtmann

OK, so I've been hanging out on this forum a lot lately because I'm on the hunt for a car to replace my 1996 1.3 Hyundai Accent, which, quite frankly, has seen better days.

The thing is, it has a great engine - not an ounce of trouble has it ever given me (bangernomics at its best ). And from reading here, petrol engines seem easier to maintain than diesel ones, which brings me to my point.

I'm set on a diesel because of fuel economy. My Accent only does about 33 mpg. Between June 2010 and June 2011 I put 28,000 miles on it, so it's a killer at the pumps. Diesel therefore seems a good cost-cutting solution.

However, I've recently moved to Cork and I would say that over the next year I will struggle to do 16,000 miles. And of those 16,000, quite a bit will be done on Cork's South Ring Road, doing a 30km round trip daily. At the weekends I will probably do an extra 140km in longer journeys. And, in summer time especially, I am prone to driving very far indeed on a whim, but I wouldn't do this very regularly; perhaps once every 3 or 4 weeks.

So, given that my budget for a new car is €4000, that I will probably only do 16,000 miles per year, and that I intend to keep my new car for a maximum of 2 years, would I be better off buying petrol rather than diesel?

If I get a petrol, I really want to get a car with better fuel economy than my Accent, but it would want to be a 1.4 at least.

Please advise.

Bigus

€4000 will buy you a lot of diesel trouble unless you're very lucky or know someone trying to sell a car that you know has been looked after.

A corolla or golf petrol would be quiet economical but i think the accent is probably the same consumption wise .

heres a car that'll do mid 60's

http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/2581805

trad

I'm driving a 96 Corolla 1.3 and on a 26 mile round trip to work cruising at about 55mph I'm getting almost 140 miles per 20 euro @ 1.49 per litre.

The wife's newer corolla does about 130 miles to 20 Euro so my suggestion would be to head corolla way or maybe even Yaris country.

Amtmann

Bigus wrote: »

€4000 will buy you a lot of diesel trouble unless you're very lucky or know someone trying to sell a car that you know has been looked after.

I could pick up a very well maintained 2003 Audi A4 1.9 TDI (130BHP) with 150,000 miles on the clock from my uncle for *probably* under €4,000. But, I can't help but feel that it's excessive for my needs and it would be more expensive to tax and insure than a more moderate petrol.

A corolla or golf petrol would be quiet economical but i think the accent is probably the same consumption wise .

heres a car that'll do mid 60's

http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/2581805

Cheers, and based on the above post, I will consider corollas now. Golfs too - but I did own a Mark III Golf a few years ago and found it very sluggish. It also annoyed me no end when its head gasket blew and left me stranded on the M8. :mad:

Bigus

I'd go chasing that Audi and pay the tax, maybe from the savings your uncle gives you !

Amtmann

trad wrote: »

The wife's newer corolla does about 130 miles to 20 Euro so my suggestion would be to head corolla way or maybe even Yaris country.

Only getting about 116 miles in the Accent for the same amount. Corolla sounds better alright.

coolbeans

Are you sure the 33mpg figure for your venerable Accent is correct? That's a poor figure for an economy car. Was it serviced regularly?
Anyway, in my experience a Civic or Focus 1.4 will do 40mpg average all day without having to drive them carefully. I'd also recommend a Honda Jazz, my mother averages 50mpg with mixed driving. The only drawback would be the choppy ride and mumsy image, which, when set against its reliability and van like practicality could make one a very tempting purchase depending on your circumstances.

Amtmann

Bigus wrote: »

I'd go chasing that Audi and pay the tax, maybe from the savings your uncle gives you !

LOL - every single poster here is telling me to go for the Audi. I think it's basically mine if I want it next spring, so I don't need to snap it up. They *want* me to buy it. But, if I can get a more modest car that is cheaper to run (and by that I mean fuel, tax, and insurance) for the next two years, I will go for the more modest car.

Bigus

Bigus wrote: »

€4000 will buy you a lot of diesel trouble unless you're very lucky or know someone trying to sell a car that you know has been looked after.............

€4000 will get a lot of diesel 406, C5 or Rover 75, none of which are troublesome cars.

OP, I dunno how you only got 33mpg from a Hyundai Accent doing 28,000 miles a year, my ole lad's one gets over 40mpg on a run and 30mpg around town easily.

andyseadog

if speed/ power isn't an option then a mk1 yaris or k12 micra might well be an option, both cars would both do 50mpg if driven right and are very cheap cars to maintain. neither is much of a looker or insanely comfortable but coming from a 96 accent you havn't got much to lose in those respects.

i'd expect a 1.4 corolla/ golf to return low 30's in the mpg scale which is pretty bad, but i'm even more shocked someone recommended a 1.4 golf as a good car.

for your 4k you'd get a much nicer, much newer small engined petrol than what 4k would buy you in a diesel at the mo.

*awaits obligatory octavia recommendation*

http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/2532141 - petrol option
http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/2542764 - diesel option

both have the same cost price, but the petrol option will have cheaper tax/ insurance/ servicing costs/ be less likely to develop any major faults down the line and they both will return similar economy.

Tremelo

Tremelo wrote: »

Only getting about 116 miles in the Accent for the same amount. Corolla sounds better alright.

at €1.50/litre that's 39.5 mpg from the Accent, hardly un economical.

coolbeans

I doubt the Audi would be a great purchase to be honest. While they're a decent enough car reliability wise they do have a few problems and I have the feeling that one with 150k on it would require maintenance more often than a smaller car as previously suggested. It also blows your budget, has an excessive tax bill and none of this could in reality be justified against the annual mileage you mentioned. You should easily get a decent 1.4 petrol for E2000-E3000.

bazz26

If you are only going to be doing 16k miles a year then buying a diesel doesn't make much sense. On a budget of €4k you would a get alot more car by buying petrol over diesel.

Something like a Mazda 3 1.4 litre will be light enough on fuel, nothing complex or expensive to repair under the bonnet either. Something like these:
http://www.driving.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=201139204705468
http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/2559308

n97 mini

coolbeans wrote: »

I'd also recommend a Honda Jazz, my mother averages 50mpg with mixed driving. The only drawback would be the choppy ride and mumsy image, which, when set against its reliability and van like practicality could make one a very tempting purchase depending on your circumstances.

Great car. Had a rental. Tons of space inside and would do 4.4l/100km on a run if you took it handy.

Amtmann

RoverJames wrote: »

at €1.50/litre that's 39.5 mpg from the Accent, hardly un economical.

I must be doing my calculations wrong. It's like this: If I fill the 40l tank, I get 330 miles out of it consistently. It just seems to be a very thirsty car to me.

Amtmann

coolbeans wrote: »

I doubt the Audi would be a great purchase to be honest. While they're a decent enough car reliability wise they do have a few problems and I have the feeling that one with 150k on it would require maintenance more often than a smaller car as previously suggested. It also blows your budget, has an excessive tax bill and none of this could in reality be justified against the annual mileage you mentioned. You should easily get a decent 1.4 petrol for E2000-E3000.

That's kind of what I'm worried about alright. Plus, I know for a fact that the majority of those 150,000 miles were done on pretty bad L and R roads.

Nforce

How about a VW Polo 1.4 TDi,and get it remapped?

http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/2573883

coolbeans

Tremelo wrote: »

coolbeans wrote: »

I doubt the Audi would be a great purchase to be honest. While they're a decent enough car reliability wise they do have a few problems and I have the feeling that one with 150k on it would require maintenance more often than a smaller car as previously suggested. It also blows your budget, has an excessive tax bill and none of this could in reality be justified against the annual mileage you mentioned. You should easily get a decent 1.4 petrol for E2000-E3000.

That's kind of what I'm worried about alright. Plus, I know for a fact that the majority of those 150,000 miles were done on pretty bad L and R roads.

Feck that so. VAG cars in my experience tend to have creakier suspension with big miles than others. That's my experience and opinion mind. The case for the A4 is looking weak.

Tremelo

Tremelo wrote: »

I must be doing my calculations wrong. It's like this: If I fill the 40l tank, I get 330 miles out of it consistently. It just seems to be a very thirsty car to me.

That's 37.5 mpg.
Using the full 40l, if you put in less than 40l when "filling" it than your mpg is better again.

Ardennes1944

If the lack of looks and comforts don't bother you then I really would stick with the accent . No 1. 4 petrol will beat it by much if at all in terms of mpg

n97 mini

RoverJames wrote: »

That's 37.5 mpg.
Using the full 40l, if you put in less than 40l when "filling" it than your mpg is better again.

It's probably a 45L tank with a 40L fill. Still, that economy isn't too bad.

coolbeans

Ardennes1944 wrote: »

No 1. 4 petrol will beat it by much if at all in terms of mpg

Yeah they will as I've already outlined. A Jazz or A2 will easily break the 50mpg barrier.

Marcusm

40L is only 8.8 gallons so that would imply 37.5mpg but I assume you're jot emptyingbit altogether. Did you think 4L = 1 gallon?

Amtmann

Ardennes1944 wrote: »

If the lack of looks and comforts don't bother you then I really would stick with the accent . No 1. 4 petrol will beat it by much if at all in terms of mpg

Thing is, I have to replace it. It's quite rusty, and by that I mean you can actually break parts of the door with your fingers. The metal is brittle, like shale. I bought it for 450 euro in an emergency in June 2010 with a full service history. I put a timing belt and new lambda sensor in it and it passed its NCT last June, but it will not pass the NCT in June 2012 because of the rust and possibly other issues. In any case, I am quite sick of it and would go so far as to say that I despise it. It's a total banger and I don't like driving it.

I do want to upgrade in terms of comfort and looks. Now, obviously, an upgrade wouldn't be hard based on the low base

Marcusm wrote: »

40L is only 8.8 gallons so that would imply 37.5mpg but I assume you're jot emptyingbit altogether. Did you think 4L = 1 gallon?

When the clock hits 320 miles after being filled to the brim, the orange petrol light comes on. By 330, the petrol needle is as low as it can go...I have never tried to see how far the car can get on fumes but I suspect that there is about €2 worth of fuel in it at most when I fill it at 330 miles. As for calculating gallons, I never tried it before and thought that a gallon was between 4 and 4.2l.

Pkiernan

For your budget, I'd be looking at a 2002 Golf 1.4l. You should be able to get 40 mpg if you don't have much town driving.

http://www.carzone.ie/search/Volkswagen/Golf/GOLF-1.4/201133204007025/advert?channel=CARS

Pkiernan

Pkiernan wrote: »

For your budget, I'd be looking at a 2002 Golf 1.4l. You should be able to get 40 mpg if you don't have much town driving.

http://www.carzone.ie/search/Volkswagen/Golf/GOLF-1.4/201133204007025/advert?channel=CARS

Quite possible the worst €4,000 anyone could spend on a 1.4l car, that one isn't even priced competively.

shedweller

Nforce wrote: »

How about a VW Polo 1.4 TDi,and get it remapped?

http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/2573883

You won't go too wrong with a 1.4 diesel. 70 mpg without taking it easy and maintenance is minimal. (Well, on the yaris 1.4d4d)
Based on your 16,000 mile annual distance you will use about 870 to 900 litres of diesel per year or about 1220 euro at todays prices. Not bad compared to the 2140 litres of petrol (3210 euro) you are currently using.

MetzgerMeister

More important than an economical car is an economical driving style. If you put the foot down in any car it's going to drink the fuel.

coolbeans

Some of the replies here are a bit off the wall if you ask me. OP, I think you'll agree that your methodology for measuring fuel consumption was flawed. Assuming that you have E2 left in the tank is a very soft parameter and could mean a fairly wide disparity in your actual mpg as RoverJames has ably demonstrated.

The first thing you should do before you go any further is establish your actual mpg using the following formula. Go to the local filling station, top up to the brim and then travel a set distance, say 50 miles, employing your normal driving style. Fill up to the top again and carefully note how many litres it takes to fill the tank. Obviously, now you have two accurate figures, the distance covered and the exact number of litres burned to cover that very distance. From this it's easy to work out your mpg. I suspect you'll find that you're getting much better mileage than you had estimated and using this knowledge you can decide what's acceptable for you in terms of fuel consumption in your new car.

Again, I'm pretty certain that when all beans are counted you'll find the 1.4 petrol variants of the Civic, Focus, Mazda3, Corolla will all do 40mpg easily enough while costing less to tax and purchase than almost all diesels.

Finally, I couldn't recommend a 1.4 Golf. That engine isn't particularly reliable, they're expensive to buy and at 75bhp they're about 15bhp down on power compared to similar capacity units from its rivals. Putting 4k into one would be a terrible idea.

shedweller

coolbeans wrote: »

Again, I'm pretty certain that when all beans are counted you'll find the 1.4 petrol variants of the Civic, Focus, Mazda3, Corolla will all do 40mpg easily enough while costing less to tax and purchase than almost all diesels.

But the same tax as a 1.4 diesel...

si_guru

Aygo, C1 or 107 - in budget and expect 60+mpg.

Amtmann

coolbeans wrote: »

Some of the replies here are a bit off the wall if you ask me. OP, I think you'll agree that your methodology for measuring fuel consumption was flawed. Assuming that you have E2 left in the tank is a very soft parameter and could mean a fairly wide disparity in your actual mpg as RoverJames has ably demonstrated.

The first thing you should do before you go any further is establish your actual mpg using the following formula. Go to the local filling station, top up to the brim and then travel a set distance, say 50 miles, employing your normal driving style. Fill up to the top again and carefully note how many litres it takes to fill the tank. Obviously, now you have two accurate figures, the distance covered and the exact number of litres burned to cover that very distance. From this it's easy to work out your mpg. I suspect you'll find that you're getting much better mileage than you had estimated and using this knowledge you can decide what's acceptable for you in terms of fuel consumption in your new car.

Again, I'm pretty certain that when all beans are counted you'll find the 1.4 petrol variants of the Civic, Focus, Mazda3, Corolla will all do 40mpg easily enough while costing less to tax and purchase than almost all diesels.

Finally, I couldn't recommend a 1.4 Golf. That engine isn't particularly reliable, they're expensive to buy and at 75bhp they're about 15bhp down on power compared to similar capacity units from its rivals. Putting 4k into one would be a terrible idea.

Excellent post, will give it a try. Also, I'm not going to look at a 1.4 Golf ever again. The diesels or 1.6 petrol Golfs might be good, but after having owned a 1.4 Golf before, I wouldn't touch them.

Amtmann

Just browsing used cars, and I'm seeing a few Hyundai Coupes. Seen as how my Accent is very reliable, I'm wondering if Coupes are also reliable. I could pick up a 1.6 2004 with leather interior for under 4k. Any opinions on the dependability of these cars?

_Conrad_

Tremelo wrote: »

Just browsing used cars, and I'm seeing a few Hyundai Coupes. Seen as how my Accent is very reliable, I'm wondering if Coupes are also reliable. I could pick up a 1.6 2004 with leather interior for under 4k. Any opinions on the dependability of these cars?

They seem to be alright.... but would certainly be far worse on fuel than the accent. You couldn't call one of those economical anyway. Maybe compared to the mad 2.7 version they got in america but still...

Bigus

Tremelo wrote: »

Just browsing used cars, and I'm seeing a few Hyundai Coupes. Seen as how my Accent is very reliable, I'm wondering if Coupes are also reliable. I could pick up a 1.6 2004 with leather interior for under 4k. Any opinions on the dependability of these cars?

If you're thinking of paying the higher tax go the whole hog and buy the quality car which is your uncles Audi, different league altogether than pre 2007 Hyundais. 1.6 hyundai Coupes are guzzlers

Joe 90

einheisserschre wrote: »

More important than an economical car is an economical driving style. If you put the foot down in any car it's going to drink the fuel.

Too true. What I get in a given car is not what you will get is not what my wife will get.

Brian?

Tremelo wrote: »

I must be doing my calculations wrong. It's like this: If I fill the 40l tank, I get 330 miles out of it consistently. It just seems to be a very thirsty car to me.

That is not thirsty.

I'd say go for a Micra, I love them.

paulman

get a 1.3cdti Diesel Astra, 60mpg plus, only €333 to tax and a well maintained one will go for a very long time!!

Bigus

here's an 06 Accent for asking 2850(not mine or connected to me)

bonus if the 104 k is km http://cars.donedeal.ie/donedeal/classifieds/viewFullPhoto.jsp?cid=8337070&ad=2625186

MollCW

We are looking for an 04 or 05 1.4 Ford Focus hatchback of a Golf or Polo as these are recommended by our mechanic as they are good cars with strong body if in an accident. would people agree with this suggestion

Idbatterim

if your current car is still going Op, id probably keep it... better the devil you know...

ei9go

Nissan Note has now done 24000 km and the computer says 6.0L/100Km which is about 47 mpg. Have got up to 700km on a fill but usually 550 - 600 before the light comes on. 1.4 Petrol.

Alanstrainor

This thread is old lads. Start a new one if you wish.