Buying Second-Hand Car: Fuel Consumption Question

jArgHA

I have decided to change car, mainly due to the soaring cost of petrol and the consumption of my current car, a 1987 BMW E30. It's not particularly bad/thirsty on fuel (probably around 35-40mpg), but I would like to switch to diesel at this stage and get a car with upwards of 50mpg (on a motorway / long trip).

At the moment my shortlist is at either a hatchback 5 door Audi A3 1.9TDi, or a hatchback 5 door Toyota Corolla (both diesel). I don't know too much about the fuel consumption / how economical these cars are against eachother though, in particular the Corolla. I will probably be buying a car in the year range 2001-2006 due to my budget.

I did find a useful website (http://www.whatmpg.co.uk/) which gives table information on fuel consumption of various cars, but I think it's section on Corolla's is not very complete. The table for the A3 is quite impressive on fuel consumption for the A3, especially the 110bhp engine.

Could anyone point me in the direction of more information on fuel consumption, in particular for the various diesel Corolla's from year 2001+ ? Or would anyone have any advice /pros & cons in choosing between these 2 cars?

Gumbo

any pictures or info on your E30?

ShadowHearth

you wont save money, by getting an expensive newer car.
25-40mpg is great. by getting extra 10mpg, you will have to save a ton of money for a change and then running costs will be way higher on modernish diesel, then good old trusty, simple oldtimer.

if you are doing this only for better mpg, then i would recomend not to bother with change, if you just looking for a change and more comfort with added better mpg, then go for it,

Vikings

Even if you were doing only long trips in a 316 I would be surprised to see you hit 40mpg regularly.

My old 320 would have been in the low 20's and the 318 I had would not have been a whole lot better.

Calculate it properly and check your figures. Also what kind of mileage are you doing? As shadowhearth pointed out you will not be saving money by paying out money for a diesel. On the other hand if you just want a change of car then by all means! But don't let fuel economy taint your decision making.

jArgHA

Thanks for the honest replies.

@ShadowHearth
Interesting response I hadn't thought that the overhead of extra running costs of a modernish diesel would amount to much? Do you mean that the higher running costs would come in the form of an increased amount of servicing / repairs needed? Obviously there would be an initial outlay to buy the car (and this is a big factor), but after the car is bought, assuming it is solid, reliable and not a lemon, would the running costs not be lower with a lower fuel consumption?

@Vikings & kceire
My 318i E30 has the older original M10 version of the engine (1760cc or thereabouts). To be fair I haven't calculated the MPG exactly on long trips, but I am judging roughly from what I am paying on petrol for a return trip from Cork to Galway, or Cork to Dublin, as well as looking at the feedback of the MPG meter in the instrument panel (which typically stays around 40 give or take when the engine has warmed up nicely and I'm out on the motorway). The fuel consumption for urban driving is much lower of course, at a guess somewhere between 20-30mpg.

@kceire
It's a 1987 pre-change 318i, it is in Lach-silver colour with chrome front and rear bumpers and is in fair condition (could do with paintwork). Unfortunately its age is starting to catch up on it with some rust and other quirks that add to it's character but it is still driving well and the engine is still solid at 166k miles.

This is the only photo I have to hand..
E30 318i

ShadowHearth

most impartant thing is to sit down by your pc, or with a pen and piece of paper and do some calculations m8.

If your current car is in good condition and wont need extra spent on it, then check how much it costed you to run last year. petrol included.

then check the car you want to buy and how much will the change cost you in plain money. Find out how much mpg it will return to you ( this can be a great ruff estimate http://www.fuelly.com/car/ ).
When you going up to newer car, it will have more modern technologicaly. what does that mean? more computers, sensors, egr filters, turbos etc. There is way more stuff to go wrong on modern diesel then on old simple BMW. Even if engine blows, you can get e30 full engine for around 250eu, where 1 sensor can cost you almost the same amount.

Do the maths with every single penny involved. extra repair money, price of change, how much saving on fuel done, tax difference, insurance difference. see how you stand in the end of change and how much money you will save over the year with new car, will you break even? or will you still be in negative?

i do sound a bit pessimistic, but you better expect the worse. I would give more trust in old BMW, then any newish diesel reliability wise.

Now if you do want an upgrade and drive something newer and nicer, then its a bit different story. it will depend how much you are willing to spend money ( not save ), to have more comfortable driving experience. At this moment, you are in bangornomics bracket, which means you got minimal spending on running costs, if you go up, it will go costs wise up too.