Real world running costs and Worth buying a more economical car?

robnut

robnut

robnut

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Joined
12 Jul 2005
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Dursley
As you guys have noticed from my other boring posts is that my Girlfriend has got a new job that requires her to commute 30 miles a day. At the moment she can walk to work in her current job.

Our current car is a 1995 bmw 328 sport.

The commute is a/b roads mostly 50mph. I put the real mpg on these roads at around 28mpg.

Now I have had a huge arguement with my dad with him stating that useing the Bmw for the commute will ruin us and that i MUST buy a diesel.

Using http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/cost-of-your-car-calculator The bmw works out around £250 a month give or take using these figures

Purchase cost £2500
Change after 5 years
Resale, around £2000
Annual mileage - the commute is around 7000 a year + the odd trip and for pleasure so 9000
28mpg
130ppl fuel
Tax 0 as i get dla
Service £100
insurance is £400
breakdown i dont have as i know someone with a truck
Maintenance costs £500 a year

Using the car 6 days a week on average.

Realistically i could sell my car for between £2500 - £3000 But not any time soon. If i did change to a diesel that did 50mpg I would obviously save money then but loose the use of a "fun" car.

The other option is i take a motability car, one of the ecomotive/greenline yada ones that does 70mpg but i would have to drive the Girlfriend to work and back everyday as it doenst cover her using it to get to work.

What would you do?
 
I think the £3k was to convince myself im never gonna sell it. To throw a spanner in the works, I just contacted mobility and my partner is allowed to use the car to commute to work.

Now im having a little trouble working out the real cost of doing this? I get £275pm Dla. I would lose this if i took a mobility car. But i then pay 0 insurance or servicing and get a brand new car (ive had two in the past) + the cost of fuel i aint sure if its actually cheaper over the 3 year period as i get nothing back at the end of it?

Also fox what would you value my 328 sport at? mechanically 100% 103k fsh only bodywork is a few parking dents?
 
A new car will be costing you £3,300 per year + Fuel + No asset

Just work out if keeping the current car is more or less expensive to run per year.

Is your working out bang on or have you over egged a few? If not please add a bit more on...do these cars suffer the cooling system failure?

In my eyes you are best off keeping the BMW and running it into the ground.

Just roughly worked out the following:

Your car:

£2,901 per year including all the above
3 year period = £8,703

New Car:

£12,760 in 3 years (based on Diesel @ £1.40 & 60mpg)

As i said very quick calculations...may be way of the mark but £4k + no asset is a fair amount of difference for the option of a boring mobility car
 
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So many people are chopping in costly to run cars for smaller ones apparently. Me being one of them. I dont know what i'll be saving exactly yet, but i'm looking forward to finding out.
 
SpazzyCazzy said:
So many people are chopping in costly to run cars for smaller ones apparently. Me being one of them. I dont know what i'll be saving exactly yet, but i'm looking forward to finding out.
Click to expand...

If me calculations above are indeed in the right ball park, how does it work out cheaper? It is actually costing him £4k to move from a 'big' engine car to a supposidly cheaper to run car..
 
SpazzyCazzy said:
So many people are chopping in costly to run cars for smaller ones apparently. Me being one of them. I dont know what i'll be saving exactly yet, but i'm looking forward to finding out.
Click to expand...

Why people leave these things to chance i will never know, certainly explains a lot though.
 
GinG said:
If me calculations above are indeed in the right ball park, how does it work out cheaper? It is actually costing him £4k to move from a 'big' engine car to a supposidly cheaper to run car..
Click to expand...

The mobility car may not be the best move, but people that are selling their cars & buying a cheaper to run one for the same price or less even (4wd's still sell for more than a 1.6 car costs to buy) then they cant lose can they. That stands to reason.
 
@GinG, the m52 suffers from cooling system failure but i have had it all replaced. The car is paid for and mine and unlikely to sell in this climate too. Its so easy to look at better mpg figures and use that as a basis to justify a purchase. Ill try the bmw for a few months, if it ruins me ill re evaluate.

Thanks.
 
SpazzyCazzy said:
What do you mean leave things to chance?
Click to expand...

Lots of people sell car X and buy car Y without doing any research, they basically hope because it costs 2p less a year to tax and gets slightly better mpg its going to save them enough to buy three sausage rolls at the end of the month instead of two.
 
Firestar_3x said:
Lots of people sell car X and buy car Y without doing any research, they basically hope because it costs 2p less a year to tax and gets slightly better mpg its going to save them enough to buy three sausage rolls at the end of the month instead of two.
Click to expand...

haha yeh, if it was only 2p cheaper tax, that would be a silly move. Sometimes a cheaper to run car can make the difference between having monthly direct debits & being able to pay insurance outright for example though, then you're also saving on the interest they charge for the installments. And not having to pay 135 quid for 6 months tax, & only have to pay 70 can mean your water rates get paid.
Quite often it's beneficial for people like me with only one income to admit defeat & get rid of the gas guzzlers & get back into a smaller car.
Breaks ya heart, but some people have to accept they cant afford to run a bigger car. Hurts, but that's life.
 
But you don't know how much you will save at all, so you made a change without knowing if the change was worthwhile.

I still think you are an ex member of some kind mind, so taking all your posts with a pinch of salt.
 
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