Impossible? 9 Seater van more eco than 1.4l petrol?

cormie

I have a 1.4l petrol Opel Astra Estate and it's surprisingly fuel hungry, especially in comparison to a 1.7 Diesel Astra which is almost identical in size etc. It's used mostly for city driving. I'd been toying with the idea of upgrading to a vehicle with more passenger seats and a bit more room in general, but thinking this might end up costing me a lot more in fuel if the consumption is anything like larger transits etc. It's got only one driver for most of the time it's being driven but would be nice to have the extra seats and space when needed.

Is there anything out there that's super economical with 8/9 seats? Budget would be about 3,000eur probably and electrical etc isn't really an option unfortunately.

Any feedback would be appreciated

Atlantic Dawn

Cheap from a purchase point of view I would say a Toyota Previa but running costs will be higher than what you have already but if you take in to account cheaper cost to buy it may work out overall cheaper.

I think 8 seats is the max you can drive with a standard driving licence.

R.O.R

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Cheap from a purchase point of view I would say a Toyota Previa but running costs will be higher than what you have already but if you take in to account cheaper cost to buy it may work out overall cheaper.

I think 8 seats is the max you can drive with a standard driving licence.

8 plus driver can be driven on a standard licence.

Any 9 seater you can get for 3k is going to be old, thirsty and a bit rough.

porsche boy

Not impossible. Small engined cars with big body's are seriously uneconomical. 1.4 astra estates, 1.4 Skoda Octavia and the like are not an economical choice IMO. A 1.9tdi Ford Galaxy is quite economical as is a 1.9cdti Zafira.

cormie

Thanks for the replies folks. So say I were to increase the purchase cost, would it be possible at all to have a cheaper running cost when it comes to fuel, tax etc with a 9 seater I wonder?

bcmf

I drove around in an Alhambra and a Galaxy for several years. Not 9 seats but on the 1.9 tdi I found it very spacey and nicely economical.
Also drove an 8seater VW transporter and again nicely economical with plenty of space but you always know you are driving a van.
Just a note in MPV mentioned above when all seats are up boot space is seriously curtailed.

btb

Had Transit Tourneo's and VW Caravelle's and Transporters, proper 8+ driver vehicles, if economy in mid 30's is your thing, worse if all urban or motorway driving, along with high road tax, then get a 2.5 Transporter, but unless you are going to spend money, not going to get much more than big repair bills.

cormie

Would the road tax be on the goods rate of €333 for a transporter or how much would I need to be paying? When you say "economy in mid 30's" you're referring to MPG, yeah? We're you closer to 20 or 40? I think my 1.7DT astra is 47 mpg which I'm very happy with, I haven't properly tested the 1.4 petrol astra though. The transits I have are only getting about 20 I think.

Drummerboy08

Nope, a passenger transporter would be taxed as a passenger vehicle, so either on engine cc or emmisions, depending on its age.

btb

As the previous reply, passenger vehicle, private tax, either 1.9 or 2.5, before mid '08 would be cc based, post mid '08 both would be same as emissions in same band iirc. Economy is old school MPG, 2.5 would be better than 1.9.