140 mile daily commute 70mpg - realistic ?

[ZX10R NIN]

You're doing 35k a year so you're going to want something with around 50k on the clock so you could get around three years from it, if you go the Volvo route the car is going to cost you around 10k


http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

Or you could buy one of these for less then half the price of the Volvo with an auto box cruise etc (all the things I'd regard as essential when doing that number of miles but it does mean 50's instead of 70mpg.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

[clarkey]

cib24 said:

Old school Honda Insight will do it if you can find one and it also isn't rusted away.

This one:

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/h...

Edited by cib24 on Friday 24th February 10:59

I averaged a genuine 69.16mpg in mine over 13,000 miles. In a healthy one 75mpg is easy at 65mph.

[Birky_41]

austinsmirk said:

you've missed out servicing costs, tyres and everything else. A lot of stuff probably needs doing to a car if you're doing 35k a year.

joking aside- get a "leaf" IF you can do a fast charge at work/near work. in fact if the car was sat at work all day, you could even conventionally charge it up on a slow charge.

they do the equivalent of 343 mpg.

My brother and I work in the motor trade. He opted out the company car scheme and bought a Nissan leaf 30kW for his daily commute of Eastwood to Colchester. It works out about £1 a day in costs as he can slow charge at work and same again at home

Depending on what the latest kW capacity is I would seriously look at these. They have crap residuals and dealers are giving them away

If they claim 120 miles and you're doing motorway expect a realistic 70-80 miles. It might only have a few miles left each morning (range anxiety is a common word for electric users) but it should do it. I just can't stress that you need to get the highest kW capacity possible

I know there's a few starting to build 60kW for the masses cheap but I don't think it's out yet. That would easily do the range

[H6Nathan]

H6Nathan said:

PixelpeepS3 said:

H6Nathan said:

I've been doing 140 miles a day commuting round the M25 for the last 8 months....

Get a VAG Diesel with adaptive cruise (and a Tesco Club Card).

My Passat GT 150 (non adblue) on lease was sourced specifically for this grind, and it's working well. Comfy seats, iPod Dock, 20k service intervals, 50 mpg and about 25ppm all in.

how did you manage to get such high mileage on a lease to work out cost effective ?

The more miles you do the cheaper it gets (per mile). Got a spanking deal on an 'old spec' stock car that was sat at the docks just before the facelift last year, sourced through a main dealer so no fees and max deposit support at end of quarter.

The VWFS excess is max 7.2ppm up to 999,999 miles, less if you renegotiate once into the term.

I knew I wanted comfy, auto, non ad blue diesel and ACC, beyond that I just worked with the sales chap to get into something he needed to shift, and something I could pile some miles onto. Worked out well tbh.

Just to add, a colleague at work got a stock Golf GTD DSG from the same Dealer for about £30 pm less, and he's seeing a regular 60mpg against my 50mpg in the Passat.

MPG aside, we both agree that ACC & Auto are must haves for this job, roughly halves the workload on the motorway.

[matsoc]

50-55 mpg is easily achievable in many diesel medium sized cars, 70 becomes a difficult target. Also not all the motorway miles are equal. I live in Italy and in the last weeks I did a similar distance 230km daily commute to a customer plant (luckily next week will be over) but about half of it is on the crowded A4 and the other half on the low patroled, fixed speed trap free and semi deserted E25: both are not the best for fuel economy as I slow down and accelerates between 65-80 mph on the A4 and when I finally get on the E25 I cruise at 105 mph that would mean a €169 fine in the remote event of a speed control.
I got low 40-43 mpg with the 530xd which is not bad but driving on the same route and same traffic/speed with my colleague in a Passat tdi he got more than 50mpg.

[slk 32]

I too would recommend cheap first gen polo bluemotion 1.

Bought mine in November 2014 with 120k on the clock. I'm now up to 135k.

Mpg- 75mpg + at 60/65
Once you get above 90 it drops down to about 50-55

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

PixelpeepS3 said:

TooLateForAName said:

so 70 miles each way?
charging available at work?

In a leaf or zoe you'd be saving nearly £3K a year compared to ice fuel costs.
Depends on the journey - its certainly at the upper limits of distance for a cheapish ev, but worth looking at.

Yeh, 70miles each way. Majority of that on motorways... M11, M25, A127 - CB7 to RM14

that's about 4 hours each way!

[Crusoe]

My BMW F30 320ED with 8 speed auto and the high pressure 16in wheels with eco tyres does 80mpg on a long run with an actual 68mpg average just now after 20k miles in the last 6 months. Nice cruiser that has good seats and reasonably quiet plus upgraded lights, heated seats, dab radio and auto box all worth having when I'm in the car 4hrs a day.

[RobM77]

Crusoe said:

My BMW F30 320ED with 8 speed auto and the high pressure 16in wheels with eco tyres does 80mpg on a long run with an actual 68mpg average just now after 20k miles in the last 6 months. Nice cruiser that has good seats and reasonably quiet plus upgraded lights, heated seats, dab radio and auto box all worth having when I'm in the car 4hrs a day.

I pointed this out early on (I have an E90 ED), but nobody seems interested, probably because it's "a BMW" and this is a UK based forum . Shame, because you also get FE/RWD and 0-60 in 8 seconds, unlike most 'eco' options.

[Super Slo Mo]

RobM77 said:

Crusoe said:

My BMW F30 320ED with 8 speed auto and the high pressure 16in wheels with eco tyres does 80mpg on a long run with an actual 68mpg average just now after 20k miles in the last 6 months. Nice cruiser that has good seats and reasonably quiet plus upgraded lights, heated seats, dab radio and auto box all worth having when I'm in the car 4hrs a day.

I pointed this out early on (I have an E90 ED), but nobody seems interested, probably because it's "a BMW" and this is a UK based forum . Shame, because you also get FE/RWD and 0-60 in 8 seconds, unlike most 'eco' options.

I would think it's more that it might be tricky to get one under the OP's all in budget of £500 a month inc fuel and maintenance

[RobM77]

Super Slo Mo said:

RobM77 said:

Crusoe said:

My BMW F30 320ED with 8 speed auto and the high pressure 16in wheels with eco tyres does 80mpg on a long run with an actual 68mpg average just now after 20k miles in the last 6 months. Nice cruiser that has good seats and reasonably quiet plus upgraded lights, heated seats, dab radio and auto box all worth having when I'm in the car 4hrs a day.

I pointed this out early on (I have an E90 ED), but nobody seems interested, probably because it's "a BMW" and this is a UK based forum . Shame, because you also get FE/RWD and 0-60 in 8 seconds, unlike most 'eco' options.

I would think it's more that it might be tricky to get one under the OP's all in budget of £500 a month inc fuel and maintenance

My E90 320d ED is a 2010 model and I bought it from my Dad at 70k miles for £6k, but I think it's worth about £8500 private sale. It has leather sports seats, upgraded stereo and nav (with a HDD that rips your CDs and stores them - very handy!), an aftermarket tow bar, folding mirrors and few other extras. I bought mine cash, and I know nothing about loans, but just on the back of an envelope: if you borrowed £8k at 4% over 3 years that'd be £235 a month. Servicing costs me about ££150-200 a year from a BMW specialist (figures from the last 6 years with my 320d SE), which is £16 a month if we assume £200. Fuel at the OP's 35k a year and 70mpg would be £2800 at £1.23 per litre, which is £232 per month. That's £483 a month total so far. The 16" Tyres are about £80 each and for motorway miles I'd expect the OP to replace all four every two years, which is £13 a month. That's £496 a month. The extra fiver can be to have it washed by your friendly local car wash people

The only thing I should say is that the standard suspension is awful - way too bouncy and it understeers. It's still better than an everyday FWD car, but then again, most things are. I'm currently looking into upgrades for the suspension, and may get the Birds kit with springs, dampers and ARBs for £1500. If you like driving once you're off the motorway then I'd add that to any purchase costs. On the motorway it makes no difference.

Edited by RobM77 on Sunday 26th February 17:48

[Super Slo Mo]

You're selling to me I have to say . My company car goes back in October and I will be going back to private. I didn't think they were that cheap but the worry for me is the bork potential which could wipe out any saving.
On the handling front, I still think the difference between FWD and RWD isn't as pronounced as it used to be, there are some fantastically handling FWD cars around these days.
My Auris can be hustled along a country road far faster than is prudent, it just doesn't give a great deal of feedback.
That said, for me it doesn't really matter, most of my life is spent on the motorway so a comfy seat, very low NVH and a good stereo will be the big priorities.
Anyway, I have a bike for those occasions I want to enjoy the road.
I will definitely think about the 320 later in the year though, although I am tending to lean towards Lexus for the aforementioned reasons.

[KevinCamaroSS]

RobM77 said:

Blimey! 50mpg?! Is that in a town?

I bought the car at Christmas at 70k miles and have done 6k in it so far (I do a very low mileage in winter time). It doesn't use much oil at all (if that's what you meant by your question about litres put in?).

For my daily commute I have 8-10 minutes of C roads, which I enjoy to the full, and then it's 35 minutes of dual carriageway and motorway, punctuated by some glorious long curving slip roads, which I also enjoy to the full. When I'm on the motorway though I just sit at 70mph with the cruise control on. I tried 65mph for a while, but it made no real difference to my mpg. As I said before, for that journey I average about 70mpg in summer, and right now in winter (so on winter fuel with winter tyres and my old E90 SE wheels), I average about 67. Both those figures go up by 2-3mpg if I'm more careful on the back roads. For longer journeys you can also add 2-3 mpg, because obviously the C roads are a lower percentage of the journey. My other half's parents live in London, and to go and see them is 10 minutes of C roads, an hour or so of motorway and 15 minutes of London roads, and for that journey at Christmas we averaged 75-76mpg if I remember rightly. A friend of mine has an F11 ED and commutes across the North of England (Gateshead to Manchester I think) and his mpg is well into the 70s all the time.

What I was getting at is how much fuel you have put in for how many miles. On-board computers are notorious for inaccuracy. So, how many litres of fuel have you used for that 6K miles?

Example of OBC inaccuracy - Single tank use, full to full. real mileage 53.2 mpg, OBC 82 mpg.

[GreatGranny]

ZX10R NIN said:

You're doing 35k a year so you're going to want something with around 50k on the clock so you could get around three years from it, if you go the Volvo route the car is going to cost you around 10k


http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

Or you could buy one of these for less then half the price of the Volvo with an auto box cruise etc (all the things I'd regard as essential when doing that number of miles but it does mean 50's instead of 70mpg.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

The Volvo in real terms will do about 50-55 IMO while the Merc will probably do 40 ish.
Its a relatively old tech diesel with a auto box.
Apart from the mpg it looks an ideal car at a good price.

[ZX10R NIN]

Yes I agree it's old tech but it's old reliable tech the engine has been around forever & is only now getting replaced by a new 2.0 engine, the gearbox needs the filter & fluids replacing every 40k for mainly motorway you're looking at low to mid 40's I used to see mid to high 40's on my mapped 270cdi.
In terms of modern tech I retro fitted a newer head unit in my so I had DAB/Bluetooth/Streaming etc

The Volvo is newer but when you're adding 35k a year to the car the car's value will be dropping, why spend the extra the fuel difference is 10-15mpg it won't add upto 5k, but I can understand someone just preferring a newer car.

OP if you like Volvo's why not look at the earlier C30 Model

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

[PixelpeepS3]

The Leaf looks an interesting option - just seeing if anyone would be mad enough to let me have one on a 35k miles pa deal

Charge all day at work charge all night at home.

Only issue i could see is traffic... do these things turn off when stationary ?

[Rich135]

I do a 140 mile a day commute as well, but in a 10 year old Honda Accord Diesel.

The car has been great, it's top spec so has most of the bells and whistles BUT it's a manual, and that is a pain in the traffic. My next car will be auto for sure, and auto cruise would also be a nice to have.

MPG wise, I get 55mpg cruising at 78mph, and my commute is M25 for a bit (traffic) then M40 (no traffic).

I would definitely go for a bigger car, Honda Accord as a minimum (I tried a civic and it was too noisey), with auto and cruise, and ipod connector/blutooth for your phone to play music/podcasts from the stereo, as mine doesn't have that so I take a bose minidock with me or use one of them FM transmitter things!

Also remember smaller cars have smaller fuel tanks, so you will be refueling 2 or 3 times a week in a small car. I re-fuel once, as I only commute 4 days a week.

Rich

[Dan_1981]

PixelpeepS3 said:

The Leaf looks an interesting option - just seeing if anyone would be mad enough to let me have one on a 35k miles pa deal

Charge all day at work charge all night at home.

Only issue i could see is traffic... do these things turn off when stationary ?

Keep us updated on the potential 35k ppc

I'd like a leaf - rumour has it of £199 a month deals but they are on 10k - I need 30k!

[GreatGranny]

PixelpeepS3 said:

The Leaf looks an interesting option - just seeing if anyone would be mad enough to let me have one on a 35k miles pa deal

Charge all day at work charge all night at home.

Only issue i could see is traffic... do these things turn off when stationary ?

I do 120 miles per days and have been using a Leaf 30kW for just over a year.

It's on a 20k miles per year lease at £292 pcm.
That would have been ok as I had planned on working from home more and using another office much closer to home once a week as well.
However about a month after I started the lease it all changed at work and I have to work 5 days in the office with very occasional work at home days.
It will do a realistic 100 miles on one charge.
However I cannot charge it at work so have to rely on public chargers.
In the last 4 months 2 of the closest charging points have been disconnected so I'm down to one within reasonable distance of work.
I have had several days where I can't charge the car during the day and had to either use a fast charger on the way home (free at large shopping centre but very busy or Ecotricity on m/way but £6 charge now).
Looking back I wouldn't have chosen it for such large mileage.
Also I reckon it costs £50-60 pcm to charge at home. More than I thought.
I'm seriously thinking about ending the lease early paying the penalty and buying a VAG 1.9TDi PD engine car for £2k that will do 55 mpg. I do miss the ability to hammer home on a Friday evening without having to slow down for the last 15 miles so I have enough charge to get home :-) They use a lot of juice at 80+.

They use very little charge when stationary. Heater/climate is the biggest drain.

The tech is nice to have, they are very refined, quick enough especially off the line, very well made and handle well for a relatively heavy car. But for me that's not enough I'm afraid.

[docter fox]

RobM77 said:

My E90 320d ED is a 2010 model and I bought it from my Dad at 70k miles for £6k, but I think it's worth about £8500 private sale. It has leather sports seats, upgraded stereo and nav (with a HDD that rips your CDs and stores them - very handy!), an aftermarket tow bar, folding mirrors and few other extras. I bought mine cash, and I know nothing about loans, but just on the back of an envelope: if you borrowed £8k at 4% over 3 years that'd be £235 a month. Servicing costs me about ££150-200 a year from a BMW specialist (figures from the last 6 years with my 320d SE), which is £16 a month if we assume £200. Fuel at the OP's 35k a year and 70mpg would be £2800 at £1.23 per litre, which is £232 per month. That's £483 a month total so far. The 16" Tyres are about £80 each and for motorway miles I'd expect the OP to replace all four every two years, which is £13 a month. That's £496 a month. The extra fiver can be to have it washed by your friendly local car wash people

The only thing I should say is that the standard suspension is awful - way too bouncy and it understeers. It's still better than an everyday FWD car, but then again, most things are. I'm currently looking into upgrades for the suspension, and may get the Birds kit with springs, dampers and ARBs for £1500. If you like driving once you're off the motorway then I'd add that to any purchase costs. On the motorway it makes no difference.

Edited by RobM77 on Sunday 26th February 17:48

As nice as it may be, I don't think anyone should ever buy a car for economy without taking into account depreciation at the same time. I'd probably spend a couple of grand on a diesel mk2 focus, easily getting 50/60mpg and not losing as much the process.