Small Petrol Car (ideally £20 road tax) but large fuel tank
Small Petrol Car (ideally £20 road tax) but large fuel tank
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talksr

Original Poster:

31 posts

142 months

Wednesday 11th December 2019
quotequote all
Hi there,

I am looking for a relatively small, cheap used car which is ideally £20 for road tax, but wanted one with a large fuel tank so if I am doing higher mileage in it, I don't have to keep visiting the petrol station (I am in quite a remote area, so this would be a bit of a pain).

Can anyone suggest a vehicle? Was looking at a VW Up, but they have a 35 litre capacity compared to my current 52litre capacity.
Something like a Toyota Aygo has a similar capacity to the Up.

I know fuel tank capacity isn't the only important factor and MPG is also, just looking for something that could do long distances every now and then and isn't going to need re-fuelling all the time.

I had a fiesta about 5 years ago and found myself having to constantly fill it back up. I don't do enough miles to warrant a diesel and need a petrol to get in and out of London.

Any suggestions would be great.

DoubleD

22,154 posts

137 months

Wednesday 11th December 2019
quotequote all
talksr said:
Hi there,

I am looking for a relatively small, cheap used car which is ideally £20 for road tax, but wanted one with a large fuel tank so if I am doing higher mileage in it, I don't have to keep visiting the petrol station (I am in quite a remote area, so this would be a bit of a pain).

Can anyone suggest a vehicle? Was looking at a VW Up, but they have a 35 litre capacity compared to my current 52litre capacity.
Something like a Toyota Aygo has a similar capacity to the Up.

I know fuel tank capacity isn't the only important factor and MPG is also, just looking for something that could do long distances every now and then and isn't going to need re-fuelling all the time.

I had a fiesta about 5 years ago and found myself having to constantly fill it back up. I don't do enough miles to warrant a diesel and need a petrol to get in and out of London.

Any suggestions would be great.
Whats your current car? Can you not just keep that?

gman88667733

1,196 posts

96 months

Wednesday 11th December 2019
quotequote all
What is your ideal budget?

If you had a MK6 Fiesta, that had a 45L fuel tank I believe, so an UP would be much smaller. Although it would get slightly better MPG I believe, so there may not be much in it in terms of miles per tank.

I had an UP a couple of years ago, the 60hp version and that got around 250 miles to a tank.

Edited by gman88667733 on Wednesday 11th December 14:06

C.A.R.

3,992 posts

217 months

Wednesday 11th December 2019
quotequote all
What a mad set of criteria.

No budget? After something modern / old?

Small petrol cars will have small tanks. A large tank is diametrically opposed to having a small engine. It doesn't make sense; I think you're searching for a unicorn.

Or you could just carry a Jerry can.

Or just fill up more frequently, since petrol stations aren't exactly uncommon.

My proposal for small car with big tank forgoes the £20pa RFL, but is PH-worthy.

VW Corrado VR6. Small car. 70 liter fuel tank. £265 tax pa.

mbwoy84

624 posts

141 months

Wednesday 11th December 2019
quotequote all
Would a Prius be a viable option?

gman88667733

1,196 posts

96 months

Wednesday 11th December 2019
quotequote all
mbwoy84 said:
Would a Prius be a viable option?
Bit of a hi-jack, but are the mk2 Prius any good? I'm looking for something dirt cheap to run and good on fuel and mk2 prius' with 100k miles or so fit into my budget just about. Some hate them, some love them... But purely as a reliable, cheap to run vehicle..?

ElectricSoup

8,202 posts

180 months

Wednesday 11th December 2019
quotequote all
gman88667733 said:
mbwoy84 said:
Would a Prius be a viable option?
Bit of a hi-jack, but are the mk2 Prius any good? I'm looking for something dirt cheap to run and good on fuel and mk2 prius' with 100k miles or so fit into my budget just about. Some hate them, some love them... But purely as a reliable, cheap to run vehicle..?
Honda Insights are a bit cheaper, and I prefer the look of them. There's also the Auris Hybrid. All reliable and cheap to run.

Ron99

1,985 posts

110 months

Wednesday 11th December 2019
quotequote all
Driving style and the speed you choose to cruise at have a huge effect on how far a tank of fuel goes.
Full accelerator to move off, then full brakes at the last moment to stop hugely impacts mpg.
Cruising in L1 at 55-60mph with the lorries will get you a lot further on a tank of fuel than sitting in L2 at 80-90mph.

Tyres can make a difference, too.
Eco tyres will often give improved mpg at the expense of grip. The P Zeros on my Insignia are about 5% worse for mpg than the Bridgestone eco-biased tyres it had previously. Similarly, the CrossClimates on my Viva are about 5% worse for mpg than the Conti Eco tyres it had originally.

My Viva is Vauxhall's equivalent of Up/Aygo etc with similar fuel tank and engine size.
In busy city rush hour driving it manages about 350 miles per tank, and about the same if 'pressing on' at best possible speed on dual carriageways or motorways.
Steady cruising going with the flow on long A road journeys manages about 500 miles per tank.

Usually with a full tank my trip computer will estimate the range to be about 450 miles.

I think the overall best mpg would come from a Fiesta/Corsa size car with a 1.3-1.4 diesel engine. Next best would be the very small town cars with 1.0-1.2 non-turbo petrol engines.

Roger Irrelevant

3,383 posts

142 months

Wednesday 11th December 2019
quotequote all
What you're saying in a slightly convoluted way is that you want a small petrol car with as big a range as possible. Our 2009 1.3 Yaris is a small petrol car that never does less than 400 miles to a (42 litre) tank and often gets more than 450. I doubt you'll do much better than that. Tax is £20, you can get a very good one for £4k and it's about as reliable as cars get. If you're looking for excitement please look elsewhere.

Ron99

1,985 posts

110 months

Wednesday 11th December 2019
quotequote all
Generally, as cars get bigger (heavier) they achieve lower mpg so get given a larger fuel tank.

So you'll have something like 30-35 litre tanks in small town cars (60mpg), 40-45 litres in B medium town cars (50mpg), 50-60 litres in small family cars (40mpg), 60-70 litres in large family cars (30mpg).

They will all end up giving about the same 450 (ish) miles per tank.

A500leroy

8,335 posts

147 months

Wednesday 11th December 2019
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panda 1.2

ZX10R NIN

30,523 posts

154 months

Wednesday 11th December 2019
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SCEtoAUX

4,119 posts

110 months

Wednesday 11th December 2019
quotequote all
My Aygo would do almost 500 miles on a tank, surely good enough?

Kiribati268

572 posts

166 months

Sunday 15th December 2019
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Bit of sideways thinking, but buy any car you'd like and just buy 1 or 2 of these

https://www.halfords.com/workshop-tools/garage-equ...

When you fill the car up, fill these up and keep them at home, top up the tank when it runs low.

bluezedd

1,282 posts

111 months

Sunday 15th December 2019
quotequote all
Kiribati268 said:
Bit of sideways thinking, but buy any car you'd like and just buy 1 or 2 of these

https://www.halfords.com/workshop-tools/garage-equ...

When you fill the car up, fill these up and keep them at home, top up the tank when it runs low.
Don't expect insurance to cover a fire if you do this. Max is 30 litres, and you can only store fuel in the 10 litre ones.

EDIT: the original source I checked is wrong. you can store 20 litres in a metal container, + another 10.

Edited by bluezedd on Sunday 15th December 23:25