Boring Commuter Spec
Discussion
Hi Guys,
Hoping for a bit of assistance, I have currently got a Clio 172 PH2 which I bought whilst I was working 4 miles from home. It was a fairly uneventful drive and didn't really highlight the Clios best bits.
I have just moved jobs and its a 45mile round trip 5 days a week, the problem is its a great drive, 90% A roads with some great sections also as I am getting into work reasonably early (8am ish) and I miss most of the traffic.
So my predicament is that the car is getting used daily around some great roads, but its costing in petrol. Avg 30 Mpg (I know is not horrific compared to some of you guys) roughly 4 tanks per month = £240
Not sure what I'm asking really? Do I chop the Clio in for a Mondeo Diesel etc.? I spend a lot of time lurking in the Best smoker Barges and would love an E39 or similar. If I do sell (still undecided)
I need something with a bit of grunt for overtakes
Handles well
Comfy
Good speakers (happy to upgrade the headunit to a USB Bluetooth device)
Ideally RWD
Any advice much appreciated, haven't got many Petrolhead mates to bounce ideas off.
Cheers
Chris
(apologies for the excessive use of brackets)
Hoping for a bit of assistance, I have currently got a Clio 172 PH2 which I bought whilst I was working 4 miles from home. It was a fairly uneventful drive and didn't really highlight the Clios best bits.
I have just moved jobs and its a 45mile round trip 5 days a week, the problem is its a great drive, 90% A roads with some great sections also as I am getting into work reasonably early (8am ish) and I miss most of the traffic.
So my predicament is that the car is getting used daily around some great roads, but its costing in petrol. Avg 30 Mpg (I know is not horrific compared to some of you guys) roughly 4 tanks per month = £240
Not sure what I'm asking really? Do I chop the Clio in for a Mondeo Diesel etc.? I spend a lot of time lurking in the Best smoker Barges and would love an E39 or similar. If I do sell (still undecided)
I need something with a bit of grunt for overtakes
Handles well
Comfy
Good speakers (happy to upgrade the headunit to a USB Bluetooth device)
Ideally RWD
Any advice much appreciated, haven't got many Petrolhead mates to bounce ideas off.
Cheers
Chris
(apologies for the excessive use of brackets)
chrisnic0 said:
Hi Guys,
Hoping for a bit of assistance, I have currently got a Clio 172 PH2 which I bought whilst I was working 4 miles from home. It was a fairly uneventful drive and didn't really highlight the Clios best bits.
I have just moved jobs and its a 45mile round trip 5 days a week, the problem is its a great drive, 90% A roads with some great sections also as I am getting into work reasonably early (8am ish) and I miss most of the traffic.
So my predicament is that the car is getting used daily around some great roads, but its costing in petrol. Avg 30 Mpg (I know is not horrific compared to some of you guys) roughly 4 tanks per month = £240
Keep the Clio and buy yourself a decent calculator Hoping for a bit of assistance, I have currently got a Clio 172 PH2 which I bought whilst I was working 4 miles from home. It was a fairly uneventful drive and didn't really highlight the Clios best bits.
I have just moved jobs and its a 45mile round trip 5 days a week, the problem is its a great drive, 90% A roads with some great sections also as I am getting into work reasonably early (8am ish) and I miss most of the traffic.
So my predicament is that the car is getting used daily around some great roads, but its costing in petrol. Avg 30 Mpg (I know is not horrific compared to some of you guys) roughly 4 tanks per month = £240
45*5=225 miles per week (225/30)*4.54 = 34 liters per week. Even if you are wasting your money on super unleaded that's still under £50 per week.Learn to drive it more economically, I do 60 miles per day in my Civic Type R and I get about 36mpg and still have the odd blast. Then again I suppose it depends on your priorities; I'd much rather spend an extra few quid and arrive at work with a smile on my face than suffer a crappy diesel.
No petrol E39 will do 30mpg if you are pulling overtakes. There are only two Diesels (530D and 525D) which with the running costs chucked in probably won't save you any money vs a Clio.
If you are thinking of changing to save money (nothing wrong with that, I have), then get something that's alot more economical. Try a Diesel Clio or something with the 1.9 Pd engine (Golf, Audi, Octavia VRS).
If you are thinking of changing to save money (nothing wrong with that, I have), then get something that's alot more economical. Try a Diesel Clio or something with the 1.9 Pd engine (Golf, Audi, Octavia VRS).
If you drive yer average warm diesel car the same way as the Clio the MPG will not be all that different. On the whole I would agree with others, learn to drive more economically 70% of the time so that the 30% of the time when you want to stick the boot in, you feel like you've earned it, and it's like dipping into the throttle piggy bank. Unless you really want a new car of course, but then again the new generation of petrol engines looks to be able to offer impressive figures too. Ultimately though unless you have a very small, lightweight car, putting your foot down will always cost, petrol or derv.
A long time ago, I had a series of Alfa-Romeos and a Saab 900. Like you, I thought about economy and bought a Citroen Visa Diesel brand new in 1986. It was a very good car and I'd spend a lot of time measuring my economy by brimming the tank and got 63mpg at one stage though more often it was in the 50s. Before I died of boredom and grew a rally anorak, I sold it and bought a Scirocco GTI.
I suppose that did about 35 though I once managed to get the computer to 60mpg. Woo hoo. It was still going faster than the Citroen ever did.
Keep the Clio. Mondeo diesel is as dull as dishwater.
I suppose that did about 35 though I once managed to get the computer to 60mpg. Woo hoo. It was still going faster than the Citroen ever did.
Keep the Clio. Mondeo diesel is as dull as dishwater.
I would suggest that either you could improve your mpg by changing your driving style or there is something wrong with your Clio. I get 40mpg on that sort of trip in my 182 whilst properly going for it.
I doubt you'll find a car which can match the combination of performance and economy that the Clio offers without it being a very expensive new big diesel barge, I would just keep the Clio.
I doubt you'll find a car which can match the combination of performance and economy that the Clio offers without it being a very expensive new big diesel barge, I would just keep the Clio.
Thanks for the comments guys,
In terms of more mileage, I probably add on 50+ each week. Like some of you mentioned I probably am getting closer to 40 in terms of MPG.
Yeah I do fancy a new car at some point but still definitely enjoying the Clio even more so since the route change.
Think I will stick with what I have for a year or so and see where I am at then. I haven't had a massive car history and want to "tick off" a few.
I am currently looking at for no reason at all, E39 530, E46 330 touring, MX5's, 205 Gti, S4 B5s, Volvo T5s and a couple of other things with turbos. I need to get out and drive some different cars, but as I mentioned earlier haven't got many Petrolhead friends/family so always tricky.
I would like to try more stuff but you guys are right will end up costing more and wont justify the fuel costs,
Cheers
In terms of more mileage, I probably add on 50+ each week. Like some of you mentioned I probably am getting closer to 40 in terms of MPG.
Yeah I do fancy a new car at some point but still definitely enjoying the Clio even more so since the route change.
Think I will stick with what I have for a year or so and see where I am at then. I haven't had a massive car history and want to "tick off" a few.
I am currently looking at for no reason at all, E39 530, E46 330 touring, MX5's, 205 Gti, S4 B5s, Volvo T5s and a couple of other things with turbos. I need to get out and drive some different cars, but as I mentioned earlier haven't got many Petrolhead friends/family so always tricky.
I would like to try more stuff but you guys are right will end up costing more and wont justify the fuel costs,
Cheers
Cemesis said:
No petrol E39 will do 30mpg if you are pulling overtakes.
Depends how many 'easy' sections there are between the overtakes to pull the average up. I often drive from Devon to Hampshire along the A35 and only about 6 miles of it is Motorway. The rest is all A road (Though some of it is dual carriageway though its pretty hilly) with plenty of overtaking. I usually manage about 31mpg. I've done it in a 530d, too, which did about 39.I did once leave at 10pm when the roads were empty and only managed 27, though. No idea how that happened. Honest.
Thats in a manual though. I can't seem to get more than about 28 in the auto.
Of course the problem comes when you look beyond fuel costs and realise that when you depend on the car to get to work miles away you don't want something that might go wrong and you don't want something that costs 170 quid a corner for decent rubber, etc etc.
BusaMK said:
My 2.0 TDI only gets 5 mpg more than you on an A road commute(35 true mpg despite the clock reporting 39). Would you like to swap?
35mpg on an A road from a 2.0 TDI? That sounds really quite low. Heck I manage 32ish around town in 2.0 TDI loan cars and think thats a bit crappy for a diesel... 35mpg on an A road seems wrong to me. Is it healthy?Of course your figure could be a longer term average with cold starts every day at either end etc - my A road jaunts are longer 150 mile journeys where the engine is up to full temperature for a much higher proportion of the trip.
FoundOnRoadside said:
If you like the Clio, why not a diesel one? Even the 86hp 1.5dCi goes quite well, nice globs of torque for overtaking. They're a giggle for hooning in, and you don't really get scooped for speeding though you think you're flying. 
136 lbft of torque is not "globs".Edited by Mr2Mike on Wednesday 16th May 17:54
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