Changing to a diesel...

Thanks for he advice fellas. My main query was really what would be the best way to sort out a swap. I realise that moving from petrol to diesel will see a drop in some things, but a rise in others, but that's my goal.

My current vehicle claims to get 38 mpg combined, but it's nowhere near that with me - I'd say I get about 42 mpg on the motorway (judging by the car computer effort - who knows how accurate it is) and much, much less when I'm zipping about :D

Not really thought about what I'd replace it with, however. I like the Focus, it's a nice car, the road can be a little loud at speed, but otherwise a very enjoyable drive - and it takes care of the back roads with style :)

Ok, so a basic calculation (I'd appreciate comments!) - increasing from my average mpg to something approaching 50 (as per PP) combined, with what is virtually no increase in fuel costs.... let's see if I get 40% more mileage, and I spend £50 a week on fuel, that means I'm saving £15 a week, right, or £780 a year, or monthly (on average) reducing my monthly fuel bill from £215 to £150. I guess cost-wise it would depend on what kind of deal I could get, but on paper, it looks a reasonable amount to save.
 
As the Mondeo was one suggestion - I can get 55mpg on a long run and average mid 40s day to day with a mix of driving.

With a smaller car like a Focus, you'll probably see another 5~10mpg on top of that, but the Mondeo is going to be more suited to longer journeys and you'll get a better deal
 
If you can get some money together, an LPG conversion to the existing car is another option you might want to consider.

It's more than halved the cost of my GFs daily commute down from £25 to £12, but then that's on a modified 1994 200SX so the figures probably wont translate the same to a new Focus.
 
I get roughly 48-50mpg from my 2.0TDCI Mondeo, mostly town driving with the odd motorway trip thrown in.
As mentioned, most diesel Mondeos will have higher mileage due to them being used for long commutes, etc.
 
Lum said:
It's more than halved the cost of my GFs daily commute down from £25 to £12, but then that's on a modified 1994 200SX so the figures probably wont translate the same to a new Focus.
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I think the figures would translate the same to any car - economy is the same on LPG (more of less) and the fuel costs half the amount - so it's always going to be half the price ;)

Lets say you are doing 32k per year, an LPG conversion is going be:

32k per year at 40mpg at 101.9p = £3815
32k per year at 40mpg at 61.9p = £2251

Difference = £1564, so would take you abotu 2 years to break even.

If the diesel is a no cost to change option then it makes more financial sense

fullspizz said:
I get roughly 48-50mpg from my 2.0TDCI Mondeo, mostly town driving with the odd motorway trip thrown in.
As mentioned, most diesel Mondeos will have higher mileage due to them being used for long commutes, etc.
Click to expand...

I would be put off by one that was too low mileage wise, motorway miles are good miles in cars like this
 
iaind said:
I think the figures would translate the same to any car - economy is the same on LPG (more of less) and the fuel costs half the amount - so it's always going to be half the price ;)
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Some cars take to LPG better than others surely? A well done LPG conversion on a turbo car is actually quite nice because at 106RON you can run more timing advance even on a hot day where the knock sensor would cause the ECU to retard the timing a bit.

Not so sure these advantages exist on a naturally aspirated Focus.


I mentioned it because it's an alternative to replacing a perfectly good car with a potential unknown and that piece of mind may outweith the 2 year ROI.
 
Indeed, when I was looking for mine, they were all over 80k mileage wise.
I got mine with 94k on it, FSH in Ghia X trim for under 3k. This was last February.
It has been reliable, I just need to get a wheel bearing replaced now.
Cheap as chips to run day to day as well.
 
With the amount of mileage you will be doing, I would resign to the fact the car will be worthless after a few years. So buy something that is already cheap with high mileage, this way you can bin it once it's served it's purpose.
 
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