Economic cars

SkodaMart · 12 Sep 2011 at 11:54

Trifid said:
That's because you've never used it. The car starts before you are able to select a gear. It is silent when at standstill so you can hear the radio better, saves money and is completely non intrusive.

When it is new

Jonnycoupe · 12 Sep 2011 at 12:47

koolpc said:
What cars on the market have the best MPG? I don't mean battery powered or Dinky sized cars. Just wondered which ones give the best MPG. Thanks

Mine, and it uses the cheaper fuel.

I am struggling with the definition of 'car' in this context though.

edscdk · 12 Sep 2011 at 13:44

I get 500/520 miles per 40L in my gen 2 toyota prius

my diesel 206 1.8 gets 490/520 miles per 60L on the same journeys

90% of journies are 4 to 6 miles,

the prius saves me 750 on fuel and 230 on road tax a year.

longer journies the prius is a bit better @ 560 miles however where as I have used 12 40L tanks to get a 500 - 520 estimate I have only done two long range trips

I would be interested to know what other people get on a tank for short trips especialyl people saying they get 70/80MPG

edscdk · 12 Sep 2011 at 13:47

thats saves me £750 a year if I do 12K miles (might have been 14) - cannot edit previous post...

Dogbreath · 12 Sep 2011 at 15:57

SkodaMart said:
My next door neighbor drives an old Seat Ibiza 8v GTi with an asthmatic 2.0L 115 bhp engine.
He does 30,000 miles a year commuting to work all over the country as an electrician.

I have worked out that the Octavia Greenline II would save him £4500 a year.

(70mpg - 30mpg = 40mpg. 30,000/40 = 750 gallons @ £6 a gallon = £4500)

This is a no brainer for me, drive a knackered old Seat an get 30mpg or drive a brand new Octavia and get 70mpg.

Clearly it was a "no brainer"

1) There is no such thing as an Ibiza GTi 8v automatic.

2) Your calculations are rather suspect!

30,000 miles @ 30mpg = 1000 gallons
At £1.355/liter this costs £6160

30,000 miles @ 70mpg = 429 gallons
At £1.394/liter this costs £2719

6160-2719 = £3441

Still a good saving, but it means he's going to have to finance himself up for several years (I assume he won't be able to afford to by a £16k car for cash), and that he can genuinely average 70mpg.

twe · 12 Sep 2011 at 16:27

I test drove the Kia Rio at the weekend as I was looking at a more fuel efficient car, unfortunately they didn't have the 1.1 diesel engine, apparently out in November.... I did test drive the 1.25 petrol engine and although a nice car that engine struggled with 5 passengers, wow had to rev it hard to move. Would want to test the diesel.....

Also Alfa Romeo Mito 1.3 diesel on that list...

Jay794 · 12 Sep 2011 at 16:32

Any car can be economic, just depends how heavy footed you are, I've head that the new Polo Blue Motion (I think its called that) is supposed to be good, Prius isn't worth mentioning as it's get less than a Ford Focus. My 206 2.0HDi is supposed to get around 45mpg, the way I drive it, I average about 35mpg lol

ubersonic · 12 Sep 2011 at 16:46

Dogbreath said:
1) There is no such thing as an Ibiza GTi 8v automatic.

That word isn't automatic

[TW]Fox · 12 Sep 2011 at 17:09

koolpc said:
Fuel costs going up and other bills skyrocketing. Need to look at cars that can do a good distance on fuel. Not everyone wants the 'In' car at the moment. Not everyone wants to have a fast car or one that can do 0-60 in a few 2nds!

The problem is that the cars that can do the longest distance on a gallon of fuel are generally the cars you'd least want to do a long distance in.

I don't care, for example, if a Citroen C1 EcoBobbins can do 1000000mpg, I still wouldn't want to do anything but pop to Tesco in one, in much the same way that if Virgin Atlantic offered me my ticket for half the price if I stood in the cargo hold I'd say no.

izzy eckerslike · 12 Sep 2011 at 17:30

edscdk said:
I get 500/520 miles per 40L in my gen 2 toyota prius

my diesel 206 1.8 gets 490/520 miles per 60L on the same journeys

90% of journies are 4 to 6 miles,

the prius saves me 750 on fuel and 230 on road tax a year.

longer journies the prius is a bit better @ 560 miles however where as I have used 12 40L tanks to get a 500 - 520 estimate I have only done two long range trips

I would be interested to know what other people get on a tank for short trips especialyl people saying they get 70/80MPG

The Prius is a much maligned car, almost always the first thing you usually get when you mention the Prius is how slow it is & how every other car will do more mpg & it's battery will destroy the planet etc. :rolleyes:

As a Gen2 owner myself I often have to smile when I get some upstart in a Golf or Corsa up my tail & then leave them startled in the rear view mirror when the road opens up to a dual carriageway. Yes folks, the Prius has excellent acceleration thanks to it's 600volt 3 phase motor combined with the engine & no gear change to lose momentum.

Right now I'm getting 60mpg which is good for an automatic, the Prius Gen3 will easily add 10mpg to that. My best ever 68mpg so far. Only compare medium sized automatics to this to be fair.

[TW]Fox · 12 Sep 2011 at 17:36

izzy eckerslike said:
Yes folks, the Prius has excellent acceleration

No, it really doesn't.

Axeboy · 12 Sep 2011 at 17:36

Is the acceleration maybe closer to "ok" rather than excellent?

Disco Boy · 12 Sep 2011 at 17:42

koolpc said:
. Not everyone wants to have a fast car or one that can do 0-60 in a few 2nds!

That is a very strange way of writing seconds.

izzy eckerslike · 12 Sep 2011 at 17:52

[TW]Fox;20053453 said:
No, it really doesn't.

Quotes from people who have no idea?? Let me guess you read it somewhere?

It's listed 0-60 of 9.8 seconds is comparable the cars most of you drive for e.g. to some versions of BMW 3 series, golf etc. Faster than your average Mondeo for example, quotes for auto are even slower

izzy eckerslike · 12 Sep 2011 at 17:53

Rich_L · 12 Sep 2011 at 17:55

I think it would be quite amusing to own a Prius and rag it round everywhere like a cheap bonkers hot hatch, if that's even possible of course

[TW]Fox · 12 Sep 2011 at 17:56

izzy eckerslike said:
Quotes from people who have no idea?? Let me guess you read it somewhere?

No? You've just gone on to prove my point!

It's listed 0-60 of 9.8 seconds is comparable the cars most of you drive

There we go then, no further discussion needed? It's distinctly average.

10 seconds to 60 is not 'excellent acceleration'. I very much doubt its comparable to the cars most of us here own and have owned.

izzy eckerslike · 12 Sep 2011 at 17:59

Rich_L said:
I think it would be quite amusing to own a Prius and rag it round everywhere like a cheap bonkers hot hatch, if that's even possible of course

You can impress your mates with the voice activation for just about everything, adjust the aircon, change the CD track,talk to the satnav, demonstrate the auto parking using the rear view camera that other cars are starting to copy even though the prius has had it for several years. I just love my Prius, I want to make love to it

izzy eckerslike · 12 Sep 2011 at 18:02

[TW]Fox;20053609 said:
No? You've just gone on to prove my point!

There we go then, no further discussion needed? It's distinctly average.

10 seconds to 60 is not 'excellent acceleration'. I very much doubt its comparable to the cars most of us here own and have owned.

& here's me thinking everyone here says the Prius is below average for 0-60

koolpc · 12 Sep 2011 at 18:06

Look guys, i am not after a fast hatch or similar! Just a decent car that is awesome on MPG and very low tax would be good. My car tax at the mo is £30 a year