Super Efficient Motor

TheDean

TheDean

TheDean

Soldato
Joined
3 Oct 2004
Posts
5,020
Location
North East
Looking for a motor that ideally does 50mpg+ combined and doesn't make me look like a metro/homo-sexual male. I have read a lot of Fox's posts basically warding people away from diesel, but as it's pretty much the same price, should that be considered alongside petrol engines?

I do roughly 150miles a week, so not huge at all, but as petrol / diesel becomes more expensive, I would prefer to get something super efficient and spend my money on other stuff.

Up to £8k and dont want to look ridiculous if at all possible (i.e. 6"2 man in Smart car).
 
The problem is that many people see the MPG "merits" of diesel and ignore the other costs like the fact the engines are often less reliable than the petrol counterparts. A turbo, injector, flywheel etc failure will wipe out all the "savings" you've made by getting 5MPG more with a diesel.

150 miles a week = under 8,000 miles a year and that's assuming you do 150 miles all 52 weeks of the year! Diesels only really make sense from an economy POV when you're doing long trips and covering at least about 20,000 miles a year.

Spend less than £8k (or £8k if you really must :p ) on a regular petrol hatchback, is my advice.
 
TheDean said:
Looking for a motor that ideally does 50mpg+ combined and doesn't make me look like a metro/homo-sexual male. I have read a lot of Fox's posts basically warding people away from diesel, but as it's pretty much the same price, should that be considered alongside petrol engines?

I do roughly 150miles a week, so not huge at all, but as petrol / diesel becomes more expensive, I would prefer to get something super efficient and spend my money on other stuff.

Up to £8k and dont want to look ridiculous if at all possible (i.e. 6"2 man in Smart car).
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So you want to spend 8k to save a bit of money to do other stuff? :confused:
 
You do 7200 miles a year. At current prices, with a 40mpg petol car, this is £79 a month.

With a 50mpg diesel, this is £64 a month.

So, for your £8k, you will yeild savings of a whole £15 a month.

This wont even buy you a pizza from Dominos.
 
[TW]Fox;16322832 said:
You do 7200 miles a year. At current prices, with a 40mpg petol car, this is £79 a month.

With a 50mpg diesel, this is £64 a month.

So, for your £8k, you will yeild savings of a whole £15 a month.

This wont even buy you a pizza from Dominos.
Click to expand...

Lies, it will get you two Large Pepperoni Passion on a tuesday!
 
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Firestar_3x said:
Whats up with your current car and what MPG does it get, you only changing to get better MPG?
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My current car is an R reg Corsa 1.4 Breeze. The breeze is important, because it shows I has a sunroof. Once I have 1 yr no claims, touch wood, I want rid.


L0rdMike said:
So you want to spend 8k to save a bit of money to do other stuff? :confused:
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£8k was a max, ideally much less of course!
 
[TW]Fox;16322832 said:
You do 7200 miles a year. At current prices, with a 40mpg petol car, this is £79 a month.

With a 50mpg diesel, this is £64 a month.

So, for your £8k, you will yeild savings of a whole £15 a month.

This wont even buy you a pizza from Dominos.
Click to expand...

This seems to be lots of peoples excuse for a new car, when you point out that spending several ££££ to gain 10mpg they look at you and go oh right, erm well I wanted a new car anyway so it doesnt matter. :confused:
 
Agree with a 3k Focus - Autotrader, Pistonheads classifieds, loads of them about.

Zetec or higher trim, there are 100 within 60 miles of me between 2k and 4k. A 52 plate with 70k on the clock from a dealer is up at £3200 and there will be room to barter that down.
 
A Petrol Focus will be immensely cheap to run, parts and consumables are extremely very good value. With a diesel you will have turbo, injector and DMF worries and your mileage does not warrant a diesel. If you get a diesel with DPF and do loads of short journeys, you could also see issues from that too.

Ensure the cambelt has been done if the car is over 6 years old or has over 60k, if it hasn't, haggle £300 off the price of the vehicle and get it done asap as Ford were a little optimistic with the service intervals.
 
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