Keep or trade up

chillinpenguin

Hi,

Looking for some advise. I have a 07 Petrol focus 115km on the clock.

She is due a service and at this point needs the timing belt and water pump done and I would expect one or two other things to pop up during the service (change of break fluid etc)


Car drives perfect otherwise and i dont owe anything on it.

Here is thing thing tho,

Due to a recent house move and job move. Im now doing 150km a day in the car all motorway!

So im starting to really consider a diesel car. Can anyone tell me would I be better sinking in the €1500 or so into the 10 year old petrol car

or should i just get a new one (131 diesel focus)

Because of the low millage im tempted to keep my car.
But because of the age and millage i am now doing i think it might now be better to get a new one monthly repayments on the car would be 200 a month.

JohnBoy26

Those jobs won't cost anywhere near €1500 to do. Id keep the car tbh if it's serving you well and you are happy with it.

Of course if you fancy a change that is fine too but I wouldn't be changing purely because I thought my old car was too expensive to maintain. In this case it's definitely not anyway.

bazz26

Agree that none of that work will come to €1500 but on the flip side doing 150km per day 5 days a week will generate a hefty fuel bill especially if it's an underpowered 1.4 Focus. Of course buying a newer diesel car will cost money too.

Toyotafanboi

Personally, I do around 150kms a day in my petrol car, costs around €60 a week. What would I save by going diesel? A tenner a week? You'd be a long time saving back the cost of a new car at that rate.

kerten

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

Personally, I do around 150kms a day in my petrol car, costs around €60 a week. What would I save by going diesel? A tenner a week? You'd be a long time saving back the cost of a new car at that rate.

This.

I am in a similar situation for last 2 years. Bought a house and 10 km round trip commute became 80 km one.

I drive relatively thirsty 1.6 auto 05 Focus averaging 7.5-8 lt/100 km but car is well maintained owes me nothing like yours.

If I buy something with fuel consumption of 4lt/100 km, I save around 2 grand per year which may be wiped out easily with any issue in a old diesel car.

Only problem with Focus is that they forgot to put noise insulation in factory:D

If you are happy with the car comfort wise and thinking of change for financial reasons.I highly recommend looking into electric cars with enough range. Your money will be well spent with your commute distance.

acronym Chilli

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

Personally, I do around 150kms a day in my petrol car, costs around €60 a week. What would I save by going diesel? A tenner a week? You'd be a long time saving back the cost of a new car at that rate.

what are you driving these days?

I'm in buying space, like OP looking at diesels too in principle. However, also interested in what petrol engines would be relatively more economical for 180km round trip commute (mostly motorway).

Toyotafanboi

I'm driving a 2007 Civic 1.8 petrol. Averaging 45mpg across a tank, mostly motorway mind you.

bmwguy

60 quid a week in a petrol car would cost somewhere between 30 and 40 in a diesel. Probably 40 to be honest. So your fuel saving is 20 quid a week. Tax and insurance more or less the same I'd imagine.

07 focus you are looking at maybe 4k for it, a 131 or 132 would be about 12k I guess?

Depreciation on the 13 reg car would be about 50% in 3 years so that's 6k over 3 years. Depreciation on the 07 would be about 2k.

So 4k over 3 years extra depreciation would be recouped by 1000 a year back in fuel savings assuming everything stays the same in tax regime.

I calculate a 1k extra cost over 3 years for the 131 which should be more reliable and cheaper to repair, all things being equal.

Throw your own figures into that logic and see how you get on but I'd say they are close enough to reality to form an opinion.

I'd say go for it but do your sums if it's only cost saving you are interested in..... however you might just be trying to justify a newer shinier car in which case work away

Cee-Jay-Cee

bmwguy wrote: »

60 quid a week in a petrol car would cost somewhere between 30 and 40 in a diesel. Probably 40 to be honest. So your fuel saving is 20 quid a week. Tax and insurance more or less the same I'd imagine.

The car you compare to is doing 45mpg so unless the OP finds a car that will give a consistent 60mpg+ then he's not going to save €20 a week on fuel, maybe €10/12 tops.

James Bond Junior

I do similar mileage and I've done the sums on spending 5k on an 09/10 focus with the chape tax versus my 1080 a year to tax thirsty diesel Volvo. It would be cost neutral so I'll keep the Volvo until it dies. Changing up to save money is a bit of a falso economy sometimes.

Lantus

Well even at that mileage diesel doesn't offer a massive saving in fuel. Diesel cars often cost several thousand more which the 10cent difference in fuel makes it quite hard to recoup.

If the car is well maintained then even a timing belt is a minor cost. I'd say keep for a year or two and then look to use as scrappage on something newer. Interest rates should remain low until 2019 and then they will rise based on the latest economic reports from Europe.

Of course if you can afford it and want a new car then there is nothing say you shouldn't buy one. Like me you spend a long time in the car so I really appreciate auto android so I can use my Google apps like Spotify and Google music via voice command. Plus my SD card is loaded with podcasts and other interesting bits for me to listen to.

I can't change the traffic but having the best environment I can afford makes it better. The reliability of a newer car takes a weight of my mind for collecting kids etc.

road_high

God i can't think of anything more miserable than a daily commute in a petrol Focus- they're so underpowered and hard on juice.
For the comfort and power alone I'd have to change if it were me
* assuming this is that awful 1.4 l

road_high

bmwguy wrote: »

07 focus you are looking at maybe 4k for it, a 131 or 132 would be about 12k I guess

I'd have thought a petrol 07 Focus would be worth circa 2-3k at a push.

James Bond Junior

road_high wrote: »

I'd have thought a petrol 07 Focus would be worth circa 2-3k at a push.

Sold an 08 this week for just over 3k. Middling to good condition only and in need of the belt being done. Phone didn't ring once all week and then hopped the day after I took a deposit.

chillinpenguin

road_high wrote: »

God i can't think of anything more miserable than a daily commute in a petrol Focus- they're so underpowered and hard on juice.
For the comfort and power alone I'd have to change if it were me
* assuming this is that awful 1.4 l

Its the awful 1.4.....when i was a student and living in Dublin i couldnt have loved a car more. Now i hate it

chillinpenguin

road_high wrote: »

I'd have thought a petrol 07 Focus would be worth circa 2-3k at a push.

10 years old and 1.4 petrol....No dealer wants it lol offering me 1000-1500

Its high spec with keyless entry with low mileage but they seem to all say they cant sell petrol. etc etc

grogi

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

Personally, I do around 150kms a day in my petrol car, costs around €60 a week. What would I save by going diesel? A tenner a week? You'd be a long time saving back the cost of a new car at that rate.

I think you're a bit optimistic here....

150km/day => 750km/week.

Petrol will consume 7.5l/100km -> 56l / week. That is around €75 each week
Diesel will do 5.0l/100km -> 37l / week. That is around €45 each week.

That's €30 savings each week, which gives €1560 of savings each year. Add a bit smaller tax bill and we get ~€1800 of saving a year.

That's a lot of money, but a newer car will cost much more in depreciation. Looking from purely financial point of view, the change does not make sense. But there are other things to consider.

road_high

chillinpenguin wrote: »

10 years old and 1.4 petrol....No dealer wants it lol offering me 1000-1500

Its high spec with keyless entry with low mileage but they seem to all say they cant sell petrol. etc etc

I'd imagine it would suit plenty of people that don't drive much for little money. At least it's a modern, safe car with relatively little to go wrong compared to a modern diesel. I don't believe that entirely, there's a swing back to petrol going on.

road_high

chillinpenguin wrote: »

Its the awful 1.4.....when i was a student and living in Dublin i couldnt have loved a car more. Now i hate it

They're very underpowered, I think only 75 bhp.