What's the most economical car?

pennylemon

I am thinking of changing my Ford Focus diesel soon. I drive about 45 miles a day, five days a week and I usually put around €50 diesel in a week. Tax is around €150 every three months.

My question is this; Should I switch to a small engine petrol? Or maybe a bigger engine diesel? The fella I work with has a Volkswagon Passat diesel and he reckons he was only putting €30 diesel a week... which really confuses me!

HELP!

Benny Cake

Why are you taxing your car every 3 months? It will work out cheaper to tax it for a full year....

Plug

With your Mileage I'd go for a petrol. I wouldn't go for anything less than a 1.6 though.

Plug

D_Red_Army wrote: »

Why are you taxing your car every 3 months? It will work out cheaper to tax it for a full year....

Money is tight these days, have you not heard of the recession yet, nasty stuff it is:pac:

Benny Cake

Plug wrote: »

Money is tight these days, have you not heard of the recession yet, nasty stuff it is:pac:

Insightful stuff Plug... The OP may not know that tax is cheaper when you pay for the full 12 month period....

Gumbi

pennylemon wrote: »

I am thinking of changing my Ford Focus diesel soon. I drive about 45 miles a day, five days a week and I usually put around €50 diesel in a week. Tax is around €150 every three months.

My question is this; Should I switch to a small engine petrol? Or maybe a bigger engine diesel? The fella I work with has a Volkswagon Passat diesel and he reckons he was only putting €30 diesel a week... which really confuses me!

HELP!

OK. You drive around 235 miles per week (assuming you drive about 10 miles over the weekend). Assuming 1.44 per litre of diesel, that's 35 litre's of fuel a week, which equates to about 6.7 miles per litre. That's OKish, I suppose, but you can get a lot better. My Dad's Fabia 1.4 gets 75mpg average, which is 16.5 miles per litre! That's close to 2.5 times better than what you're getting.

But you can probably squeeze more fuel efficiency from your car based on the way you drive.

si_guru

If you're going for petrol you need to consider a smaller engine to get some reasonable economy.

You don't mention a budget.

Also "the bloke at work" might not drive as far as you do.

If you're putting €50 of fuel in your car per week, that is more 45 miles a day in a Focus diesel. I get nearly double that distance from €50 in my FIAT 1200cc!

pennylemon

Gumbi wrote: »

OK. You drive around 235 miles per week (assuming you drive about 10 miles over the weekend). Assuming 1.44 per litre of diesel, that's 35 litre's of fuel a week, which equates to about 6.7 miles per litre. That's OKish, I suppose, but you can get a lot better. My Dad's Fabia 1.4 gets 75mpg average, which is 16.5 miles per litre! That's close to 2.5 times better than what you're getting.

But you can probably squeeze more fuel efficiency from your car based on the way you drive.

Thanks that puts in into perspective for me. My cousin drives a 1.2 Yaris petrol and puts the same amount in in petrol a week so my way would be better because I'm going a bit faster! lol

And the reason I pay every three months is because I haven't got €600 just lying around! Hence the inquiries into more economical car!

rcdk1

Gumbi wrote: »

OK. You drive around 235 miles per week (assuming you drive about 10 miles over the weekend). Assuming 1.44 per litre of diesel, that's 35 litre's of fuel a week, which equates to about 6.7 miles per litre. That's OKish, I suppose, but you can get a lot better. My Dad's Fabia 1.4 gets 75mpg average, which is 16.5 miles per litre! That's close to 2.5 times better than what you're getting.

But you can probably squeeze more fuel efficiency from your car based on the way you drive.

6.7miles per litre is approx. 30mpg
Either the OP has their figures wrong or that Focus is seriously knackered.

What size of car do you actually need OP?

pennylemon

Oh and I should probably mention that my budget is under €3000 too!

squod

pennylemon wrote: »

I am thinking of changing my Ford Focus diesel soon. I drive about 45 miles a day, five days a week and I usually put around €50 diesel in a week. Tax is around €150 every three months.

My question is this; Should I switch to a small engine petrol? Or maybe a bigger engine diesel? The fella I work with has a Volkswagon Passat diesel and he reckons he was only putting €30 diesel a week... which really confuses me!

HELP!

225 miles for €50 in a diesel focus? That's 30mpg in a car capable of over 60mpg. I don't think it's going to matter what you drive if that's the case. You're simply doing it wrong.

Gumbi

squod wrote: »

225 miles for €50 in a diesel focus? That's 30mpg in a car capable of over 60mpg. I don't think it's going to matter what you drive if that's the case. You're simply doing it wrong.

Ya, that must be the case. For some reason I looked on 6.7l/mile as about 45mpg - 30mpg is terrible.

Welease

Check your car or check your driving..

I get better mpg in an L200 ( 2.5L Turbo D and weighs almost 2 tons)

squod

Gumbi wrote: »

Ya, that must be the case. For some reason I looked on 6.7l/mile as about 45mpg - 30mpg is terrible.

It's bananas. I remember a focus doing a run from Dublin to Wexford and back and getting 85mpg. Won some award, was in the news couple of years ago. Either OP is buying the worlds most expensive diesel or something is seriously wrong.

rcdk1

OP, I think you should properly test the fuel consumption of your Focus by "brimming" it. To do this, fill the car with diesel until it's completely full. Some people will say that to be 100% accurate you should fill it until you can actually see diesel at the top (brim) of the tank, but the point where the pump automatically switches off is fine. Then reset the trip odometer (mile counter) on the dash. Then drive as you normally would until the tank is nearly empty. Fill the car completely again and record the number of litres of diesel from the pump and the number of miles (or kilometers) you've travelled since the last fill from the dash. Report these figures back here.

I tried to find an online fuel consumption calculator but they all seem to be in US gallons. Anyone come across a decent one?

Quazzie

rcdk1 wrote: »

OP, I think you should properly test the fuel consumption of your Focus by "brimming" it. To do this, fill the car with diesel until it's completely full. Some people will say that to be 100% accurate you should fill it until you can actually see diesel at the top (brim) of the tank, but the point where the pump automatically switches off is fine. Then reset the trip odometer (mile counter) on the dash. Then drive as you normally would until the tank is nearly empty. Fill the car completely again and record the number of litres of diesel from the pump and the number of miles (or kilometers) you've travelled since the last fill from the dash. Report these figures back here.

I tried to find an online fuel consumption calculator but they all seem to be in US gallons. Anyone come across a decent one?

Why the need to fill it. In theory the fuel light comes on at the same time every time, so just as the light comes on, reset the clock, then stick €50 of fuel and see what milage is on the odometer the next time the light comes on.

pennylemon

Ok guys...

Im really confused now.. You're all telling me I'm doing something wrong. Roughly I put in €50 on my pay day and the light usually comes on on my last day, my mileage is spot on so I can't understand where I possibly could have gone wrong. Sometimes I might have to go soemwhere else but I generally just throw in tenner to get there etc.

Ill fill up the tank on my next pay day and we can properly work this out.

P.S. any cheaper cars out there?(while we're waiting) Looked up that Scoda Fabia 1.4. looks nice:)

vectra

Are you driving too hard?
You say you dont have 600 lying around to tax it for 12 months and then you mention that you have a budget of 3k to change car

Has it been serviced recently?
Does it need a service?
Is your air filter clear?

I say
Make sure it is running perfect,
Tax it for 12 months
Fill the tank
Keep the revs down and check your mileage
keep the revs down.

If you are getting hat bad return out of a 1.6 diesel that should be so much better then stay well clear of a smaller petrol car,
You will have to drive it too hard and it will drink petrol.
Purpose defeated.

Welease

pennylemon wrote: »

Ok guys...

Im really confused now.. You're all telling me I'm doing something wrong. Roughly I put in €50 on my pay day and the light usually comes on on my last day, my mileage is spot on so I can't understand where I possibly could have gone wrong. Sometimes I might have to go soemwhere else but I generally just throw in tenner to get there etc.

Ill fill up the tank on my next pay day and we can properly work this out.

P.S. any cheaper cars out there?(while we're waiting) Looked up that Scoda Fabia 1.4. looks nice:)

How do you drive the car? Do you accelerate fast? Do you drive fast? Are you accelerating and breaking a lot, rather than being smooth?

Aggressive driving will use a lot more fuel..

If it's your driving style, then changing car will make little difference..

pennylemon

If I sell the car I have Ill get around 3k for it to buy a new one!

Also... Im serioulsy not sure if I drive the hell out of my car. I drive about 100kmp the whole journey, never break the speed limit but I suppose I would be very nippy in the towns etc. Is that driving the car hard? With revs? Someone should come with me and tell me lol Car broke down a few days ago so got a few bits sorted then.
I usually change cars every two years so the focus is ready to go.Sending it in for a service next week before I sell it. To be fair, I probably don't look after it very well really.

Bruthal

pennylemon wrote: »

I am thinking of changing my Ford Focus diesel soon. I drive about 45 miles a day, five days a week and I usually put around €50 diesel in a week. Tax is around €150 every three months.

Is it possibly 45 miles each way you are doing a day?

pennylemon

It's 22miles each way from the house with a school run half a mile in other direction, each morning too.

rcdk1

Quazzie wrote: »

Why the need to fill it. In theory the fuel light comes on at the same time every time, so just as the light comes on, reset the clock, then stick €50 of fuel and see what milage is on the odometer the next time the light comes on.

Fair enough but the further you drive the more accurate the consumption figure you'll get and "brimming it" is the accepted norm for measuring fuel consumption.

Gumbi

squod wrote: »

It's bananas. I remember a focus doing a run from Dublin to Wexford and back and getting 85mpg. Won some award, was in the news couple of years ago. Either OP is buying the worlds most expensive diesel or something is seriously wrong.

I'd believe it. My Dad's Fabia got just over 86mpg from Galway to Limerick a few months ago! (He drives VERY efficiently).

Nissan doctor

It has to be something wrong with the car or your driving. Have you the boot full of stuff?, tyre pressures alway checked etc?

I just got a 1.7 diesel and drive a constant 100kmh for 80% of my commute and in my first week have got 900kms to €60 of diesel so if your only getting 235 miles(378kms) to €50 then somethings up!

Bigus

Ford focus diesel (should be ) one of the most economical cars you can get your hands on.

Quazzie

rcdk1 wrote: »

Fair enough but the further you drive the more accurate the consumption figure you'll get and "brimming it" is the accepted norm for measuring fuel consumption.

With my method though you can keep adding more money in during the week so that you eventually have €100 worth of petrol in the tank and then take the figure when the light comes on and it gives you the milage used in that €100.

Quazzie

Quazzie wrote: »

With my method though you can keep adding more money in during the week so that you eventually have €100 worth of petrol in the tank and then take the figure when the light comes on and it gives you the milage used in that €100.

Your method also requires the close proximity of a service station for when the light comes on.

Brimming it method is more accurate.

Bruthal

Maybe the engine is running too cool or something, stat stuck open etc, is temp gauge showing normal?

Something would seem to be wrong with the car anyway.

mickdw

Focus should be very economical, something up with the car Id bet as you would really have to be abusing a small diesel car to get that kind of mpg unless you spend hours sitting in traffic or something.

pennylemon

It broke down on my on the M50 the other day, kept overheating. It was the radiator but then it looked like the water pump had gone and therefore the timing belt and waterpump would need to be changed. In the end, the mechanic took out the thermostat, replaced the radiator so I could get the car to my regular mechanic. He's gonna give it a good overhaul next week for me.

I think I might discuss all this fuel price stuff with him too now then!