Running costs

Peerzy

Peerzy

Peerzy

Soldato
Joined
9 Nov 2008
Posts
7,148
Just out of interest (and a bit of a debate here in the office) order these cars in terms of day to day running costs. So say over a 3 year period the cars at the bottom of the list you would expect to be the cheapest to run and the cars at the top the most expensive. Again taking out condition and just assuming they are all in 'good condition' and 3 years old (or the oldest new version of the car if it is less than 3 years old - eg. Merc C class would be the new 2007 shape and not the old shape). This should include insurance, petrol, tax, repairs, oil, tyres, services and anything else that would cost the user money.

S3
130i
330ci
530i
630i
z4 3.0
Focus ST
Mondeo 2.5T
Mustang GT (4.6l)
Civic Type R
S2000
Jag XF 4.2 V8
Elise
3 MPS
6 MPS
RX-8
C Class C350
SLK 350
350Z
Boxster S
Renaultsport Megane
Leon Cupra 2.0 16v FSI
Astra VXR
VXR8
Monaro

(Ordered A to Z by make)
 
Id imagine the Jaaaag and the 630i to be the most expensive to run.

Depends a lot on luck and if you know what to look for when buying, a tatty 330ci could be a minefield of problems, but a decent one cost nothing but consumables.

Depends on milage, driving style and the condition of the car.

Your going to wear the discs/pads out on a VXR/ R26R a lot quicker than you would on a 530i which would be used on the motorway rather than raced/rallied daily. Although they may cost less as a one off purchase you could go through them 3x as fast.
 
list is too long, can't be bothered.

For comparison though, my 530d in its 2 years (36k) of life has cost:

£240 servicing
£220 Tyres
£170 VED
 
Berger said:
Id imagine the Jaaaag and the 630i to be the most expensive to run.

Depends a lot on luck and if you know what to look for when buying, a tatty 330ci could be a minefield of problems, but a decent one cost nothing but consumables.

Depends on milage, driving style and the condition of the car.

Your going to wear the discs/pads out on a VXR/ R26R a lot quicker than you would on a 530i which would be used on the motorway rather than raced/rallied daily. Although they may cost less as a one off purchase you could go through them 3x as fast.
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It's obviously a hypothetical question.

Imagine every car is 3 years 50k mileage in good condition, has a FSH etc...

It's a R26 not R26R btw.

Why the 630i :confused: Surely a 4.6l Mustang or Boxster S would cost far more to run than that?

Completely take initial purchase price out of the question. Just concerned about the running costs.

Yearly mileage would be your average 12k, 6k on motorway, 6k on A/B roads. Obviously with cars like this regularly pushed to the limits.
 
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Peerzy said:
Just out of interest (and a bit of a debate here in the office) order these cars in terms of day to day running costs. So say over a 3 year period the cars at the bottom of the list you would expect to be the cheapest to run and the cars at the top the most expensive. Again taking out condition and just assuming they are all in 'good condition' and 3 years old (or the oldest new version of the car if it is less than 3 years old - eg. Merc C class would be the new 2007 shape and not the old shape). This should include insurance, petrol, tax, repairs, oil, tyres, services and anything else that would cost the user money.

S3
130i
330ci
530i
630i
z4 3.0
Focus ST
Mondeo 2.5T
Mustang GT (4.6l)
Civic Type R
S2000
Jag XF 4.2 V8
Elise
3 MPS
6 MPS
RX-8
C Class C350
SLK 350
350Z
Boxster S
Renaultsport Megane
Leon Cupra 2.0 16v FSI
Astra VXR
VXR8
Monaro

(Ordered A to Z by make)
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That's quite a list, and quite a variety of cost variables depending on usage patterns, mileage etc. (for example the VXR8 is quite cheap to service etc but horrific on fuel consumption).

The most expensive on the list are likely to be the V8s, then the 6's, then the 4's, but there are some anomolies (the S3 can easily cost more in fuel than the straight 6 beemers for example), the RX-8 is a wildcard with some quite scary ability to cost money at points, and the Boxster has the Porsche premium...
 
Dolph said:
That's quite a list, and quite a variety of cost variables depending on usage patterns, mileage etc. (for example the VXR8 is quite cheap to service etc but horrific on fuel consumption).

The most expensive on the list are likely to be the V8s, then the 6's, then the 4's, but there are some anomolies (the S3 can easily cost more in fuel than the straight 6 beemers for example), the RX-8 is a wildcard with some quite scary ability to cost money at points, and the Boxster has the Porsche premium...
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Exactly, I was interested to know if someone could have a crack at the list. People here have simply gone for the bigger the engine the more it's going to cost.

IE RX-8 going to cost less than the Mondeo 2.5T etc....

Personally I said the Boxtser would cost the most, followed by something like the Elise, S3, RX-8, Jag and then the 3.0 BMW's.
 
[TW]Fox;15328069 said:
He's talking 3 years old though so both 530i and 630i will have the N52B30 :)
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So would I be right in thinking that running costs for the 130i, 330i, 530i, 630i and Z4 3.0i *should* all be pretty identical?
 
Peerzy said:
Personally I said the Boxtser would cost the most, followed by something like the Elise
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Boxster is in another league compared to the Elise.

The Porsche tax is definitely a reality, everything commands a silly premium, especially from Porsche themselves. Don't even mention Techart either......
 
The Elise is really quite cheap to run.

Most have a simple Rover, Honda(?) or Toyota engine, and do 45MPG when pottering.
 
Do we count depreciation in this? It would be a real cost to the owner over three years.

I can't be bothered to do the whole list, but for me the Jag will be the worst. All the fuel costs of the other V8s without the compromise of having cheaper servicing and parts. Plus it'll depreciate quite badly I suspect. Horrific depreciation of the RX-8 might outstrip running costs of a lot of the other cars running costs too!
 
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BigT said:
Do we count depreciation in this? It would be a real cost to the owner over three years.

I can't be bothered to do the whole list, but for me the Jag will be the worst. All the fuel costs of the other V8s without the compromise of having cheaper servicing and parts. Plus it'll depreciate quite badly I suspect. Horrific depreciation of the RX-8 might outstrip running costs of a lot of the other cars running costs too!
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No depreciation in not taking into account. Only the money that the owner would have to pay out.

Suprised at the Elise being cheap to run, didn't see that one coming.

How about the S2000 and Type R? Same running costs as same-ish engine?

Focus ST and Mondeo 2.5T?
 
Totally depends on age there.

Stuff like the 5/630i will be quite average on costs, then one day, on schedule, the entire coolant system will turn to dust.

The Civic will probably age more gracefully than a lot of the list, same with the C350 maybe?

A few of these could land you with a massive bill any time they feel like.

I'm not going to put them in any order.
 
Peerzy said:
No depreciation in not taking into account. Only the money that the owner would have to pay out.

Suprised at the Elise being cheap to run, didn't see that one coming.

How about the S2000 and Type R? Same running costs as same-ish engine?

Focus ST and Mondeo 2.5T?
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why are we not taking into account depreciation?
on probably most cars there it will the single biggest cost?

as said above - 8cyl, 6cyl, 4 cyl will give you a rough idea.
 
Peerzy said:
Suprised at the Elise being cheap to run, didn't see that one coming.
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If you're talking about tyres, fuel, insurance then it's a cheap car to run. Even depreciation isn't too bad once it's about 2yr old, they hold their value pretty well.

They can however cost a fair bit when they start getting older and require suspension components replacing and the like but on the whole they're not expensive to run.
 
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