Trade for fuel savings ?

Shades

Hey

Im hoping to get some advice on deciding if its worth trading my 04 BMW 318ci es coupe for a 06 Peugeot 407.

I drive 300 miles each week for work. The display says im getting 32 mpg. Its 90% motorway driving. I love the car but its a pain paying so much for petrol and tax.

If i trade in for a diesel while not looking to spend much cash the 1.6hdi 407s look to be the best option , great for motorways and decent mpg. I have 2 06 cars in mind. Cant post link.

Is it worth the trade for the saving on fuel ? 32mpg vs 50+ ?
Im worried the less reliable 407s end up just costing me more in the long run.

The reason im keen to trade plus not spend much is so i can see a return on my money sooner rather than later.

Thoughts ?

Idbatterim

its a pity the 318's dont have a 6th gear for motorway driving, tax isnt a killer on the 2L. Have you considered LPG? One other way but potentially not that attractive is slowing from 120 to 100kmph and giving yourself a bit more time to get to work and back...

doctorchopper

I wouldnt say a 06 407 would get over 50 mpg

bazz26

Any garage you try to trade up will want money from you. To be honest 300 miles a week is not huge mileage, it's just over 15k miles per year which is just edging diesel territory. You also have to factor in the cost of higher maintenance/repairs that potentially comes with diesel cars.

INEEDANID

Shades wrote: »

Hey

Im hoping to get some advice on deciding if its worth trading my 04 BMW 318ci es coupe for a 06 Peugeot 407.

I drive 300 miles each week for work. The display says im getting 32 mpg. Its 90% motorway driving. I love the car but its a pain paying so much for petrol and tax.

If i trade in for a diesel while not looking to spend much cash the 1.6hdi 407s look to be the best option , great for motorways and decent mpg. I have 2 06 cars in mind. Cant post link.

Is it worth the trade for the saving on fuel ? 32mpg vs 50+ ?
Im worried the less reliable 407s end up just costing me more in the long run.

The reason im keen to trade plus not spend much is so i can see a return on my money sooner rather than later.

Thoughts ?

4.546 Litres per gallon @ €1.55 per litre petrol = €7.04 per gallon

32MPG over 300 miles a week = roughly 10 gallons or €70.40

If you had a Peugeot @ 50MPG (I have a 1.6 HDI 05 407 and get this)

50MPG over 300 miles a week = 6 gallons or €42.24

Saving per week = €28.16
Per year = €28.16 x 52 = €1464.32

You would also be saving in tax and the above should cover any extra costs.

Idbatterim

you have to factor in cost to change though, finance potentially, more to go wrong with a disel although bm have weak cooling systems etc, so potential future work on them is a bit of an unknown... If 50mpg is achievable from it and the tax savings, it sounds worthwhile to me, certainly 10=15 wouldnt tempt me out of the bm, but at E30 per week or E1500 grand a year, its certainly worth contemplating...

INEEDANID

INEEDANID wrote: »

4.546 Litres per gallon @ €1.55 per litre petrol = €7.04 per gallon

32MPG over 300 miles a week = roughly 10 gallons or €70.40

If you had a Peugeot @ 50MPG (I have a 1.6 HDI 05 407 and get this)

50MPG over 300 miles a week = 6 gallons or €42.24

Saving per week = €28.16
Per year = €28.16 x 52 = €1464.32

You would also be saving in tax and the above should cover any extra costs.

It would actually be a little more as diesel as 10c per litre cheaper.

Leonard Hofstadter

Bear in mind that while an E46 318i with Valvetronic (as yours has being a 04 model) is hardly a model of reliability, the 407 has no shortage of issues, too. Also, with only 110 bhp a 1.6 HDi 407 is going to be dog slow besides the 143 bhp in the 3 series. In addition, the 1.6 HDi is infamous for turbo failure if it hasn't been serviced bang on time. Personally I would not buy a 1.6 HDi unless I could verify that it has been serviced bang on time (and of course, it needs the correct grade oil) right throughout its life. Knowing the usual Irish attitude towards car maintenance, it could be a long time before you'd find a 407 with a full and correct service history. If the turbo went you'd be waiting a fair old amount of time before those mpg savings would give you a net saving in cash. And then there's the dual mass flywheel, and diesel particulate filter, granted the kind of driving you'll be doing won't put either of these items under pressure, but depending on the car, if it's spent a lot of life driven around town and/or has a lot of miles on the clock, I'd be budgeting for one of these components to fail as well, again these are very expensive to put right. Then there is the small matter of the fact that the 407 is a pretty crap car and is in no way comparable to a 3 series.

Perhaps you should get your own car looked at, as 32 mpg is somewhat below what I would expect any petrol car of that size to be doing on a motorway, I would have expected 35-37 mpg depending on driving style. Has it been serviced recently?

Idbatterim

http://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/skoda-octavia-coasts-to-top-of-value-for-money-poll-30319144.html

bazz26

INEEDANID wrote: »

4.546 Litres per gallon @ €1.55 per litre petrol = €7.04 per gallon

32MPG over 300 miles a week = roughly 10 gallons or €70.40

If you had a Peugeot @ 50MPG (I have a 1.6 HDI 05 407 and get this)

50MPG over 300 miles a week = 6 gallons or €42.24

Saving per week = €28.16
Per year = €28.16 x 52 = €1464.32

You would also be saving in tax and the above should cover any extra costs.

What about the cost to trade up from his current petrol car to a diesel car in the first place? What about the potential cost of replacing a diesel particle filter (DPF), flywheel (DMF), turbo, etc? These are all common enough failings on modern diesel cars and any one of those would wipe out the small savings in fuel or tax the OP might get.

People need to look beyond the headline savings.

INEEDANID

bazz26 wrote: »

What about the cost to trade up from his current petrol car to a diesel car in the first place? What about the potential cost of replacing a diesel particle filter (DPF), flywheel (DMF), turbo, etc? These are all common enough failings on modern diesel cars and any one of those would wipe out the small savings in fuel or tax the OP might get.

People need to look beyond the headline savings.

What if's..........

So you reckon the best thing to do would be to worry about what might happen if you changed and do nothing.

If the OP wants to save money on fuel/tax then his best bet is a diesel.

bazz26

INEEDANID wrote: »

What if's..........

So you reckon the best thing to do would be to worry about what might happen if you changed and do nothing.

If the OP wants to save money on fuel/tax then his best bet is a diesel.

Save a penny by spending a pound! Going into this without looking at all costs involved is just daft and silly. Yes he will save a bit on fuel and tax but putting blinkers on and ignoring the other associated costs is silly and typical of many Irish motors who buy diesel cars only for the cheap tax and fuel.

I'm on my 4th diesel car, replaced a DPF in one of them and another one needed a new clutch/flywheel and gearbox, luckily the latter were replaced under warranty but paying for any of these would put small fuel/tax savings into real perspective. Diesel cars have great benefits but they are also have potentially expensive pitfalls these days even people chose to ignore or acknowledge them.

INEEDANID

bazz26 wrote: »

Save a penny by spending a pound! Going into this without looking at all costs involved is just daft and silly. Yes he will save a bit on fuel and tax but putting blinkers on and ignoring the other associated costs is silly and typical of many Irish motors who buy diesel cars only for the cheap tax and fuel.

I'm on my 4th diesel car, replaced a DPF in one of them and another one needed a new clutch/flywheel and gearbox, luckily the latter were replaced under warranty but paying for any of these would put small fuel/tax savings into real perspective. Diesel cars have great benefits but they are also have potentially expensive pitfalls these days even people chose to ignore or acknowledge them.

I've replaced the flywheel, clutch and removed the DPF in mine in the 2.5 years I''ve had it.

The total cost of this was €1500.

Compared to the costs I've saved by having the car its a small price to pay.

I had a E39 520 2.2 Petrol before this which did about 30MPG so getting the 407 has saved me money is the time I've had it.

Bpmull

Buying a 06 407 1.6hdi to save money what could go wrong. Tbh if you are trying to save a few bob drop back a few years and buy something vag 1.9tdi or an astra 1.7 cdti something along them lines. I know logically one would think the newer the car the less chance of things going wrong but that's not the case. Sure you could buy a 407 1.6 hdi and drive it for a few years and have no hassle but you'd be well in the minority. But if (mostly it will) the sh!t hits the fan with one of them cars the 1500 euro saving wouldn't even cover the maintenance cost for the year. I'm speaking from experience with that engine.

Shades

Thanks for all the replies.

I was really on the fence about this but having given the responses some thought i feel its not the best idea. Theres too much of a gamble involved. If something did go wrong id be left with making little savings and id be driving a car i prob wouldnt be happy with. That 30e extra i pay by keeping my car can be seen as the cost of my happiness and reliability. Other than the radiator being changed and an oil leak its been faultless.

The only way i could make this work , would be to sell my car private and use only that money towards another car. Will take a look at the older vags but maybe id prob be better off saving and buying something 08+ down the line.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

Bpmull

Shades wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies.

I was really on the fence about this but having given the responses some thought i feel its not the best idea. Theres too much of a gamble involved. If something did go wrong id be left with making little savings and id be driving a car i prob wouldnt be happy with. That 30e extra i pay by keeping my car can be seen as the cost of my happiness and reliability. Other than the radiator being changed and an oil leak its been faultless.

The only way i could make this work , would be to sell my car private and use only that money towards another car. Will take a look at the older vags but maybe id prob be better off saving and buying something 08+ down the line.

If you like the car and it seems to be working well for you. I think the best thing to do is keep driving it for another while and put a bit aside to as you said when you want to change you can get something a bit more reliable. I really think the 1.6hdi 407 could do you more harm than good. I know it is a pain paying out that much for fuel but for the moment I think it may be your best option.

I have a 1.9 tdi golf 07 and I love it and they are known to be quite reliable. But unfortunately you won't buy a decent golf for the budget you had in mind for the 407. Sometimes its worth waiting and paying the extra for something that won't give you hardship. I previously bought a 1.6tdci/ hdi focus same engine as the 407. I thought it was great save several thousand over buying the more expensive golf believe that engine made me pay for it the 1500 wouldn't even come near to covering what I spent on mine to keep it on the road for a year. And even at that I done a lot of the work on it myself and was only buying parts in a lot of cases never again will I touch one. I know a few people who have been lucky with that engine but there few and far between. If you bought a new car with that engine and minded it like a baby you mightened be too bad. But buying one second hand. If it gets the slightest abuse by the previous owner your screwed.

Leonard Hofstadter

Patww79 wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Typically sixth gear in a six speed box will be higher than fifth in a five speed box. But fifth in a six speed box will usually be shorter than fifth on a five speed box. It's rare enough for a six speed box to be exactly the same as the five speed in the first five gears and then just an extra gear on top.

Despite this, because sixth in a six speed box will be higher than fifth in a five speed, it will result in better mpg on the motorway and main roads. At the very least, the car will be quieter because it will be running at lower revs. It will also reduce engine wear slightly unless you're absolutely flooring it in sixth to maintain speed, in which case a lower gear with higher revs is better for the engine (not to mention power).