To change, or not to change?
Discussion
Folks, Currently have a 2007 Volvo V 70 D5. In most respects it’s a nice car, with decent seats, good stereo and automatic. Relaxing. But actually it’s waaay bigger than I need for just me.
My commute has recently gone up to 55 miles a day. This wouldn’t be a problem, but it’s along a really crap A road so I don’t feel any car would be doing particularly good mpg. However at present my average on the last two tanks is 33, which seems painful.
Part of me thinks I should change for something more economical however would I really save much? My partners new golf, which is a boring 1 L and which he drives like a granny gets around 52 mpg on the same journey.
Volvo cost me a grand three years ago so owes me absolutely nothing.
My commute has recently gone up to 55 miles a day. This wouldn’t be a problem, but it’s along a really crap A road so I don’t feel any car would be doing particularly good mpg. However at present my average on the last two tanks is 33, which seems painful.
Part of me thinks I should change for something more economical however would I really save much? My partners new golf, which is a boring 1 L and which he drives like a granny gets around 52 mpg on the same journey.
Volvo cost me a grand three years ago so owes me absolutely nothing.
Want a new car then buy one. It won't save money though. Your 2007 car has pretty much fully depreciated. Buy anything newish and you are dropping at least £1k a year in depreciation.
A 55 mile round trip commute and a few weekend miles is 16k miles per year. 33mpg - around £2400 fuel. Get a 50mpg car and its £1600 fuel.
On the other hand get a 50mpg car for £3000 - £4000 and it will pay back the cost of buying it in 4 or 5 years and you will be in a newer car.
If it was me and my 33mpg car was comfortable I'd just keep it on the basis it is now a disposable car. Anything major goes you can scrap it and lose nothing. Better the devil you know than taking a chance on an older second hand car?
A 55 mile round trip commute and a few weekend miles is 16k miles per year. 33mpg - around £2400 fuel. Get a 50mpg car and its £1600 fuel.
On the other hand get a 50mpg car for £3000 - £4000 and it will pay back the cost of buying it in 4 or 5 years and you will be in a newer car.
If it was me and my 33mpg car was comfortable I'd just keep it on the basis it is now a disposable car. Anything major goes you can scrap it and lose nothing. Better the devil you know than taking a chance on an older second hand car?
By my (rough) calculations you'd save about £17-18 a week -- on fuel -- by switching from a 33mpg car to a 52mpg one.
Here's how I worked it out. You commute 275 miles a week (55 miles a day x 5 days). Your V70 does 33 miles per gallon. You therefore need 8.3 gallons of diesel to cover those 275 miles. Diesel where I live costs 129.9ppl, which is about £5.85 per gallon. So you probably spend something like £48 a week on fuel. (Might be less, if diesel costs less where you live.)
Your partner's Golf is presumably the 1.0 TSI petrol. So at 52mpg, you need 5.3 gallons of fuel to cover the week's miles. A litre of petrol (again, here) is 125.9ppl or £5.67 for a gallon. £5.67 x 5.3 gallons needed to do 275 miles = about £30 a week. (If it was a diesel car, it'd be £31 a week.)
TL;DR the V70 costs you about £48 a week in fuel, whereas if you drove the Golf full-time you'd be spending about £30 a week.
Of course, these figures are rough because they're based on averages.
£18 a week isn't insignificant -- about £860 annually, assuming a 48-week work year -- but given that you own the V70 outright, it would still take a lot of weeks to cover the other costs of a new/er car. Purchase cost, depreciation, insurance, tax, unknown maintenance/servicing etc.
Your decision, of course. If it were me, I'd stick with what I had. For longer commutes I value comfort over economy anyway.
Here's how I worked it out. You commute 275 miles a week (55 miles a day x 5 days). Your V70 does 33 miles per gallon. You therefore need 8.3 gallons of diesel to cover those 275 miles. Diesel where I live costs 129.9ppl, which is about £5.85 per gallon. So you probably spend something like £48 a week on fuel. (Might be less, if diesel costs less where you live.)
Your partner's Golf is presumably the 1.0 TSI petrol. So at 52mpg, you need 5.3 gallons of fuel to cover the week's miles. A litre of petrol (again, here) is 125.9ppl or £5.67 for a gallon. £5.67 x 5.3 gallons needed to do 275 miles = about £30 a week. (If it was a diesel car, it'd be £31 a week.)
TL;DR the V70 costs you about £48 a week in fuel, whereas if you drove the Golf full-time you'd be spending about £30 a week.
Of course, these figures are rough because they're based on averages.
£18 a week isn't insignificant -- about £860 annually, assuming a 48-week work year -- but given that you own the V70 outright, it would still take a lot of weeks to cover the other costs of a new/er car. Purchase cost, depreciation, insurance, tax, unknown maintenance/servicing etc.
Your decision, of course. If it were me, I'd stick with what I had. For longer commutes I value comfort over economy anyway.
Cheers, interesting stuff. I work slightly fewer days since I work shifts but roughly the figures I’d worked out. I get a shift allowance in new role which balances some of the whopping mileage out too 
To be fair I’d never get 52mpg out of, for example, his car as he drives in a painful, 5th gear manner everywhere and I tend to drive rapidly in lower gears
Since mine is remapped it’s quite entertaining too.
I think it’s true that the cheapest car is the one you own... I’m buying a house next year so can’t do any big purchases anyway, so if Helga dies, it’s a shed for a while.
After then, considering an Audi A5 3.0TDI which definitely won’t be more economical but will be nice!
Popped the aircon off yesterday which seems to account for about 3mpg!
To be fair I’d never get 52mpg out of, for example, his car as he drives in a painful, 5th gear manner everywhere and I tend to drive rapidly in lower gears
Since mine is remapped it’s quite entertaining too. I think it’s true that the cheapest car is the one you own... I’m buying a house next year so can’t do any big purchases anyway, so if Helga dies, it’s a shed for a while.
After then, considering an Audi A5 3.0TDI which definitely won’t be more economical but will be nice!
Popped the aircon off yesterday which seems to account for about 3mpg!
davek_964 said:
This thread does remind me that I should get a more economical car for commuting - the OP is complaining about a car that gets pretty much exactly twice the mpg that mine does! At least my commute is short I guess.....
Haha yeah, sorry... It’s just a shock to the system after living less than a mile from work!Diesel at 116p in the nearby Asda though, long may this last!
If it is a dependable old bus, then keep it.
I have a 2007 Focus, which has done 177,000 miles and is worth about 10 rupees.
It owes me nothing and is presently running well. So I will be keeping it as long as possible.
If you replace it with another old car, then you might buy a dog that throws up a big bill.
If you replace it with a new or nearly new car, then you are buying into a load of depreciation.
Better the devil you know.
I have a 2007 Focus, which has done 177,000 miles and is worth about 10 rupees.
It owes me nothing and is presently running well. So I will be keeping it as long as possible.
If you replace it with another old car, then you might buy a dog that throws up a big bill.
If you replace it with a new or nearly new car, then you are buying into a load of depreciation.
Better the devil you know.
Changing a low cost/paid for car rarely saves money.
However saying my frugal commuter is dying and I've been considering cars in the sub £30 tax bracket as over 4 years this is potential grand or so saving. Then there is the potential fuel savings even switching to a new small turbo'd petrol. So like perhaps you, you look at a potential change and compare to the next 4 years.
So you could have some tax and MPG savings that will help offset the initial extra spend and then the new car should be longer lasting than the current, but might be of lesser quality?
In your case I'd research replacements but just keep using the V70 but trying to sense if that's going to throw any issues (Gearbox shifting changes etc)
My dilemma, 2004 Alhmabra 1.9 TDI PD abs/brake issues aircon stopped working and flywheel been rattly for some time......so considering ditching for scrap. Replace with 30K mile Fiat Tipo estate, £7K zero tax should be 50's mpg and is onyl 3 years old. Man maths (or perhaps even real maths?) says the Fiat could be the way forward, I have to get a fair few years out of it with low running costs?
In four years I'd save over £1K in VED, and another £1K in fuel at least? but I'd be in a Tipo, but vs a 2004 Alhambra that's probably ok? (and I have other nicer to me cars to treat myself with) a V70 to a Tipo or similar perhaps not! A V70 is a very armchairy/low annoyance place to be in my experience, perhaps not exciting etc but I think you could move to lots of newer cars and end up missing something from the V70, perhaps something you don't even appreciate it has/does well now.
However saying my frugal commuter is dying and I've been considering cars in the sub £30 tax bracket as over 4 years this is potential grand or so saving. Then there is the potential fuel savings even switching to a new small turbo'd petrol. So like perhaps you, you look at a potential change and compare to the next 4 years.
So you could have some tax and MPG savings that will help offset the initial extra spend and then the new car should be longer lasting than the current, but might be of lesser quality?
In your case I'd research replacements but just keep using the V70 but trying to sense if that's going to throw any issues (Gearbox shifting changes etc)
My dilemma, 2004 Alhmabra 1.9 TDI PD abs/brake issues aircon stopped working and flywheel been rattly for some time......so considering ditching for scrap. Replace with 30K mile Fiat Tipo estate, £7K zero tax should be 50's mpg and is onyl 3 years old. Man maths (or perhaps even real maths?) says the Fiat could be the way forward, I have to get a fair few years out of it with low running costs?
In four years I'd save over £1K in VED, and another £1K in fuel at least? but I'd be in a Tipo, but vs a 2004 Alhambra that's probably ok? (and I have other nicer to me cars to treat myself with) a V70 to a Tipo or similar perhaps not! A V70 is a very armchairy/low annoyance place to be in my experience, perhaps not exciting etc but I think you could move to lots of newer cars and end up missing something from the V70, perhaps something you don't even appreciate it has/does well now.
Thanks all. I do tend to agree. It is spot on in many respects but is definitely starting to feel a bit ‘saggy’, quite understandable on 245k, but I need to have one eye on the replacement!
I was starting to talk myself into a cheap PCP however friend talked me out of it with all kinds of sensible stuff
I was starting to talk myself into a cheap PCP however friend talked me out of it with all kinds of sensible stuff
carreauchompeur said:
Thanks all. I do tend to agree. It is spot on in many respects but is definitely starting to feel a bit ‘saggy’, quite understandable on 245k, but I need to have one eye on the replacement!
I was starting to talk myself into a cheap PCP however friend talked me out of it with all kinds of sensible stuff
I think when you are in a leggy shed and have been for some time, then you look at running costs potential repair costs you naturally drift to the other end of the scale and consider new or far newer cars, as a treat or a viable economic decision (sometimes man maths sometimes not). They are generally more frugal as the emissions based push has made them so (potentially more delicate though than the 275K mile D5 in the Volvo) and it shouldn't have many issues and last longer (when the V70 'could' be considered a ticking bomb)I was starting to talk myself into a cheap PCP however friend talked me out of it with all kinds of sensible stuff
There will always be someone else (and could be you in 4-5years!) who's getting to the end of a PCP and thinking sod it I'll get a V70 shed and save a few quid. It's the age old used car conundrum of stick or twist when considering the long term costs, the twists usually coming from "fancying a change"/boredom (I know it does with me!)
carreauchompeur said:
Interestingly, as a postscript to this, simple measures like turning AC off most of the time and driving slightly less like a knob (rationing kickdowns etc) has brought it up to a respectable 37.8mpg on the last tank...
A gearbox fluid change will see better fuel too.Gassing Station | Car Buying | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff