Slimy38
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| posted on 10/1/16 at 10:49 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by David Jenkins
I don't know about anyone else, but I'm just grateful that petrol is cheap. If I buy another car (and I plan to soon) I will still be
looking for something that gives me good mpg. I'll take any savings as a short-term bonus (as I'm sure it's going to be).
Not me, I've given up trying to get good MPG. Any car can do good MPG if you drive at 55 and control the throttle well. Conversely the most
efficient cars can become gas guzzlers if you have a bit of fun.
I will save more money by going for a cheaper car that no-one wants, rather than going for a premium price fuel efficient car. Even the move from
diesel to petrol will save me a huge chunk of money, both from car purchase and from maintenance costs.
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coozer
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| posted on 10/1/16 at 11:30 AM |
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Correcto, dude at work sneers down his nose at my dobbie calling it an ice cream van... He claims I'm wasting money on road tax cause his
brand new Audi is £40 a year... Useless turd doesn't realise how many years road tax I can get for what he's paying to buy his piece of
crap.. He got very upset when I said it was the shape of a shed 
My next purchase will be the newest plate I can get for £2k and if it does 40+ mpg I'm very happy!
1972 V8 Jago
1980 Z750
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Andybarbet
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| posted on 10/1/16 at 01:59 PM |
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Yep, my Cordoba coupe is 17 years old, I paid £2500 for it ten+ years ago, still going strong so it's staying with me, only pay running costs
now, no monthly payments on finance etc.
Makes sense to me.
Give a man a fish & it will feed him for a day, give him a fishing rod & you've saved a fish.
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Irony
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| posted on 11/1/16 at 09:22 AM |
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I drive a 2004 SEAT ibiza 1.4mpi and it costs nearly nothing. All my co-workers take the micky with their AUDI's and BMW's which are
bought on finance and they loose more money in 6 months than I paid for my car. I don't need to look cool driving to work nor does it need to
look cool in the works car park.
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hughpinder
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| posted on 11/1/16 at 11:02 AM |
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Just come back from New Zealand - Diesel is $1.05/l (45p) there! You do pay a separate mileage tax that works out to about £0.04p/mile on top though,
but that doesn't encourage you to get a small engined diesel. Petrol was about 80p/l, with no mileage tax.
I was quite amazed by the age of a lot of cars still apparently being driven daily - several MGB GTs and loads of older cars (especially around Napier
- part of the art deco city thing). If you are into old trucks/buses/cars, there were loads of restorable ones parked up in peoples gardens/fields
etc
Hugh
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craig1410
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| posted on 11/1/16 at 11:21 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Irony
I drive a 2004 SEAT ibiza 1.4mpi and it costs nearly nothing. All my co-workers take the micky with their AUDI's and BMW's which are
bought on finance and they loose more money in 6 months than I paid for my car. I don't need to look cool driving to work nor does it need to
look cool in the works car park.
To be fair, I don't think it's all about looking cool. All due respect to your 12 year old Ibiza but I'm sure it doesn't
compare in terms of driving enjoyment to a new(er) executive saloon. Then there are things like safety where the larger, newer car will generally
always be better.
Last time petrol prices were high, back in 2008, I got rid of my 4 year old SEAT Leon Cupra and bought a new Toyota Aygo for about £7.5k and put 90k
miles on it over the next 5 years. I saved a small fortune through a combination of 3 years of warrantied MOT-less driving (got a new engine in that
time) and low fuel consumption and low insurance/tax costs. However, although it could be fun to drive at times, it was not that much fun on my 115
mile motorway commute each day due to lack of comforts, general noise and the feeling of vulnerability driving at motorway speeds amongst HGVs and
larger cars. This was especially so on the M80 in the dark and rain with heavy surface water where I felt the need to slow down but nobody else did.
It was pretty scary at times.
So, since my engine was showing signs of stress again and winter 2013 was approaching, I decided to trade the car in against a 2nd hand BMW 535d (2009
on a 58 plate). I got something like £2500 trade in for my Aygo and added about £13k to that to secure the BMW. Bear in mind this is a £45k car new
but I got it for about a third of that price with just over 70k miles on it and still feeling like new. The difference in driving experience between
the Aygo and the BMW was incredible and well worth the investment. Would I have bought it new? Certainly not! But as a 2nd hand car with hopefully
many years of useful life it was a great buy. I've had it for 2.5 years now and still love the car as much as I did at the start. It has been
kind to me so far in terms of maintenance/repair costs and long may that continue. I've probably lost £4 to £4.5k in depreciation but I get 40
MPG from a very fast, comfortable and safe car so that to me is well worth paying. I can't see me every going back to a lesser car.
Not saying all this to blow my own trumpet or anything like that, I'm just pointing out that you don't need to go to extremes when buying
a car, there is always a middle ground depending on your needs or wishes. That said, I realise there are those who can come across as a bit too smug
when they have a brand new BMW/Audi which "only costs £350 a month" or whatever when they've not factored in the deposit nor the
balloon payment and the fact the car will never be theirs etc. On the other hand, it does make you feel a bit special when driving a car such as a 5
series as it just eats up the miles beautifully and perhaps that emotion comes across as smugness sometimes when it's intended more as genuine
satisfaction.
Linky: http://www.meerkats.uk.com/log-book/2013/10/18/bmw-535d-replaces-toyota-aygo
[Edited on 11/1/2016 by craig1410]
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coyoteboy
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| posted on 11/1/16 at 01:03 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Irony
I drive a 2004 SEAT ibiza 1.4mpi and it costs nearly nothing. All my co-workers take the micky with their AUDI's and BMW's which are
bought on finance and they loose more money in 6 months than I paid for my car. I don't need to look cool driving to work nor does it need to
look cool in the works car park.
I appreciate the sentiment, and I have a knackered old diesel estate that I use to do workhorse things like tip runs or long distance trips to places
I don't know with dodgy roads. But commuting in a nice, fast, comfy warm car is orders of magnitude nicer and I don't care about traffic
when I'm sat in my 370Z getting 20mpg. That said, I bought that as an immaculate high mileage Cat D for half the going price so I can't
really claim the same argument I guess.
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mcerd1
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| posted on 11/1/16 at 01:13 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by coozer
And I still wonder why the engine in my old (96) 106 gave me 85mpg yet new cars are know where near that..
the old NA 1.5 diesel tuned for very little power in a car that weights not much over 800kg with skinny tyres and a while not perfectly aerodynamic it
does have a small frontal area...
my old (92) 106 only gave me 37-45mpg normally (country roads, depending on how heavy my foot was) but could top 65mpg on the motorway - and that was
a 954cc petrol with 4 gears and a single choke carb! (also used to pass MOT's with 0.1% CO and 3ppm HC - my modern catalysed cars can match
that!)
unfortunately most folk these days won't buy a car with minimal safety features and strength, with next to no sound proofing (inc. thinner glass
and trim that doesn't cover all the metal inside)
and most folk want an engine with enough power to give you a 0-60 time nearer 10 seconds than 20 while still needing to pass the new emissions
laws....
all that just makes the cars bigger, heavier and less fuel efficient - working against the improvements that can be made elsewhere - so the car
makers deliberately make them safer with more features and refinement on each new model to keep folk buying and that means they can only normally
squeeze few % better fuel economy out of them (and sometimes that improvement is only on paper rather than the real world) - the alternative being to
use fancy materials and make them much more expensive....
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Irony
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| posted on 11/1/16 at 05:13 PM |
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I can't believe anyone is touting safety as a factor on Locostbuilders. I'd quite like to see the safety rating on a locost.
Don't get me wrong I've owned nice cars. The best car I owned was a mk4 Golf GTTDI Anniversary Edition. I put 140K on it before I had to
swap it for a safe baby hauler. I am just out of that phase in my life now. I see daily drivers as a mode of transport. I just want cars that are
reliable and safe for mine and my partners cars. But I also want to spend as little as possible. I can spend that money on days out with my boy and
holidays. Some things are just more important to me.
Theres a guy in my office, earns a lot less than I do and he's just leased a VW sirocco for £300 a month. Its a nice car, fast and economical.
But at the end of the day its just traffic.
Each to their own I suppose.
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craig1410
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| posted on 11/1/16 at 05:30 PM |
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Re safety, I think the difference is that we generally don't commute 20k miles a year in our locosts in peak traffic hours.
I agree about priorities, my kids are aged 22, 19 and 17 so do their own thing most of the time but if having a nice car meant I couldn't afford
family holiday then I'd probably choose the holiday. However, in our case the holiday usually starts with the drive to Manchester or Newcastle
airport to avoid the silly Scottish airport surcharges and the family are all in 100% agreement that the 5-series is a more pleasant way to get family
and luggage to the airport than any of our previous cars. The fact that I got the 535 for well under the price of a new Ford Focus makes it incredible
value for money.
What's more important to me these days is time! I don't want to be spending time keeping an old car running. I've been there and
done that many times over the years and I'm glad I don't have to deal with that any more. I still do the maintenance on my 535 but so far
that's mainly oil and various filters. I replaced the brake discs and pads but that shouldn't need done again during my ownership. Service
costs for the BMW are surprisingly inexpensive given the type of car it is and it's so well engineered that it's a pleasure to work on.
My intention is to keep the 535 for a few more years and then replace it with another 3 or 4 year old car before it starts to go wrong. For me,
that's the sweet-spot in good value motoring. Your mileage may vary as they say. (literally in this case...)
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