The maths on fuel

[Vytalis]

So, £1.40 a litre. I do 12,000 miles a year at 30mpg = 400 gallons a year (1800 litres a year). That is an annual fuel bill of £2,520.

Now I pay £308 a month and have about £3000 equity in the car based on trade in value. I have free servicing for 3 years.

I must be a fairly typical car owner with that scenario. Is it me, or would it only cost me more to move to a 60mpg BMW / vag? Fuel is still only a small percentage of total cost of ownership.

So why are everyone changing their cars?

[James_N]

Because people see cars that will do 60+ mpg and think they will save money before taking any of the other costs into account

[alfabadass]

I'm in the same boat.

Do I take the hit and buy a small 1.2 or continue with my TT and spend the cash elsewhere.

So far it's been to keep the car.

[Engineer1]

FFS because you don't just change to save money. Lets assume they want to change their car now, maybe it's paid off, maybe it's getting too old for them to be happy with it, too high mileage etc, well they are going to change so now they look to reduce the running costs. I drive the diesel variant of my car because the mileages I was doing at the time and the intended use of the car meant i would be better off buying a diesel.

[Kiltox]

Some people blindly follow fuel consumption stats - some people are forced into more economical cars because their insurance company says they can't have something a bit mental, some people think about the tax implications of a certain company car, etc etc etc.

[Vytalis]

Engineer1 said:

FFS because you don't just change to save money.

I get all your points but the entire state of the second hand Market implies that you are one of the few people who think that way. Tbh I was surprised that fuel was such a small percentage of the total expenditure considering it is a gas guzzling 4x4

[daemon]

Vytalis said:

Engineer1 said:

FFS because you don't just change to save money.

I get all your points but the entire state of the second hand Market implies that you are one of the few people who think that way.

What do you mean by the entire state of the second hand market?

[badlands1]

I am selling the wifes car as it is a freelander (04) and she is putting about £40 to £60 in fuel per week, she does a lot of running around.
I have ordered a car that does 64mpg and is only £30 per year in tax and is only approx 12 inchs smaller than the freeby.

Fuel is a main factor but she does need a new car so it suits me, and the tax is a bonus.
It says 64mpg but I bet she only gets about 43mpg.

[daemon]

badlands1 said:

I am selling the wifes car as it is a freelander (04) and she is putting about £40 to £60 in fuel per week, she does a lot of running around.
I have ordered a car that does 64mpg and is only £30 per year in tax and is only approx 12 inchs smaller than the freeby.

Fuel is a main factor but she does need a new car so it suits me, and the tax is a bonus.
It says 64mpg but I bet she only gets about 43mpg.

You do know that you will lose far more in depreciation on any new car over the next three years than you will save on fuel?

[Rawwr]

It's worth changing if you're due to change your car anyway but otherwise it seems to be a false economy in most scenarios. I know I'll be keeping my 51mpg Ka for a looooooooooong time for the commute

[badlands1]

Yeah, I know I said 3 years, but if she likes the car, it might go to 5 years. fingers crossed.

Plus if I lose on selling the car I think its better than handing over more money in fuel to the gov.

[anonymous-user]

The fact that the "average man in the street" is so bad at maths that he is unable to correctly add up 2 and 2 probably shows that most people don't even think about it. They just see ">60mpg" or whatever and buy it.............

[Caulkhead]

Max_Torque said:

The fact that the "average man in the street" is so bad at maths that he is unable to correctly add up 2 and 2 probably shows that most people don't even think about it. They just see ">60mpg" or whatever and buy it.............

And gets annoyed when they start driving it and realise that although it mananged to squeak 60mpg on the official test, they'll never see more than 45mpg in the real world. . . . .

[badlands1]

Well my wife went on the look of the car, not the mpg.
The last car I took her to see was a Audi A1 and she said it had a unhappy face, so I walked out the showroom and got drunk.

[Kiltox]

badlands1 said:

Well my wife went on the look of the car, not the mpg.
The last car I took her to see was a Audi A1 and she said it had a unhappy face, so I walked out the showroom and got drunk.

Must've been some night if you spent the list price of an A1!

[Ozzie Osmond]

It is IMO virtually impossible to save money by buying a new car!

[SWH]

My calculation was a fairly new French oil burner vs a rail season ticket....

...even if the DMF leaps out of the bonnet on the M25 a couple of times, at 50mpg I win by a good margin all the way up to diesel at £1.50 per litre... the personal space within the vehicle vs a crammed train from the south coast makes a notable difference too.

The initial calculation was more along the lines of spending say £1K or so making my 850 T5 as good as new, but then still only ever getting 25mpg; a Laguna isn't anyway near as comfortable (the A/C does function however!). Being the commuter box, I priced it up more like I would a washing machine, complete with a date where throwing it away is acceptable

Basically, crack out Excel, enter all the costs and work it out; fuel is only one consideration (albeit a large one)

[tyranical]

I do not know anyone who would do what you describe, its utterly stupid and you'd have to have next to no brain capacity to think that buying a new car with better fuel economy will automatically save you money.

For me its the whole ownership experience, if the car looks good, handles well etc and is also fuel efficient then thats a bonus but I would be buying the car for the overall package not just because its going to save me money on fuel but cost me stloads to buy.

The only other way to look at it depending on your lifestyle is yes your spending alot of money outright on the car but in terms of "disposable" income per month, you would have more to play with.

For example, in my case I currently spent approximately £200 a month on fuel in a car that does around 30mpg average. If I buy something else I might only be spending £150 a month on fuel so you've got an extra £50 a month to do what you want with. As I said, it depends on your lifestyle though. If your buying the car on finance then it goes the other way of course.

[badlands1]

Kiltox said:

badlands1 said:

Well my wife went on the look of the car, not the mpg.
The last car I took her to see was a Audi A1 and she said it had a unhappy face, so I walked out the showroom and got drunk.

Must've been some night if you spent the list price of an A1!

No, no I never bought that A1, it had a unhappy face, I got drunk because I was fed up from looking.

[Kiltox]

badlands1 said:

No, no I never bought that A1, it had a unhappy face, I got drunk because I was fed up from looking.

I meant spend that amazing amount on beer