The MPG Generation..

MrLOL said:
But for those that only use the car as a tool,the same way we use a washing machine. They aren't happy. And thats where the whole MPG generation thing is coming from.
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It's coming from brainwashing. If people were capable of rational thought and basic maths this would be a non-issue.
 
I guess what Im thinking is that people seem to brag about MPG, like its a super cool feature. I understand the points you guys all raise, insurance and fuel prices cant help young drivers. It just seems people seem so proud of "Omg 60mpg!"

Also I drive 300 miles from my base in Scotland to home in the North east quite often. Sometimes in my 306gti and sometimes in my friends 1.2fiesta. The petrol cost between the two is about £5. The fiesta Averages 39-41mpg. My Pug must be around 30-35 mark.

So some of these cheaper to run cars arent so great when they are having to contend with highland roads and changing speeds. Guess dropping into 3rd to get up hills doesnt help.
 
I would LOVE a mph car.....saldy I dont earn lots, Petrol is pricey, my insurance and tax...is pricey....therefore a cheap to run car...is much better. if/when I get more money....I will get a better car. simples.
 
Dogbreath said:
It's coming from brainwashing. If people were capable of rational thought and basic maths this would be a non-issue.
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That and a lack of thought about purchases

how many people have we had come on here that failed to sit down and do the basic maths of how many miles they do and then work out whether they do enough miles to get back the extra cost of diesel per litre ?
 
All you have to do is look at all the new shape TT's on the road to get an idea of just how many people plucked for the diesel model without any thought, I think I've seen one 2.0 TFSI and one TT-RS, all the rest are diesels
 
Average people worrying about how much the car costs to run more than the amount of mph that they legally are not allowed to use and how fast they can get from the traffic light to the 30mph speed camera. In a failing economy. Shocker.

I have no issue with less newly licensed 17 year olds buying golf GTIs and their ilk and instead buying diesel fiestas instead.

Its a completely different world for enthusiasts just like it is for everything else.

I could decry the amount of people buying point and shoot cameras instead of DSLRs. All becuase they are brainwashed by "teh megapixels"
 
GeX said:
Truly pointless, my VTS returned ~44.3mpg on the last two long trips (300mile and 200 mile) I did.
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The only problem with you both saying this is that you're driving styles could be completely different.

You may have been a lot lighter on the pedal where as Dogbreath was a lot heavier
 
The 1.4TFSI/TSi is a excellent engine. Especially when paired with the fabia/polo/ibiza etc.

Combined MPG of 49 ( I think) Less than 140MG/km C02 and generaly cheap to insure whilst still wacking out 180PS.

The whole MPG craze has lead to some pointless cars but some nice balances between fun and economy.

I have been looking at Ibiza Cupras recently, they use the 1.4 TSI engine, people keep asking me why I haven't looked at the Clio 200. The price of the cars is the same however insurance, tax and fuel are considerably worse(In the Clio). Tax is over £200, insurance is double and MPG is 35 combined.
 
I think the worst bit is people who will dump thousands extra on a car to save a few quid in fuel and tax.

Case in point, my GF's step mum traded in her 06 307 Sport plus an additional £3000 for an 06 307 Diesel, all because it only cost £35 a year to tax.

:confused:

Its the big spend for small long term savings mentality that confuses me most.
 
I wonder if car salesmen are pushing the diesel/mpg to customers more these days? I can just imagine them taking the fuel savings and 'hard times' angle to make a purchase more appealing.
 
A guy at work just spunked around 8k on a Focus 1.6 zetec, traded in his Fiesta 1.6 for it. A week into the purchase he's already complaining that it's not as economical as his old Fiesta.

He's already put plans in place to replace the Focus with, drum-rolll, a Fiesta 1.6. Changeover is going to cost him probably another 2k and he lives all of 2 miles away from work but no amount of talking will convince him otherwise.
 
I think this is something especially bad with RAF lads.

They suddenly have a chunk of disposable income and decide they want to do the "sensible" thing with it. The problem is, they don't understand what sensible is and they end up getting a 3 year old Fiesta/Corsa on finance for £8000-10000 as their first car.

I know plenty of people who did this, they just don't seem to grasp how stupid it is.
 
Zefan said:
I think this is something especially bad with RAF lads.

They suddenly have a chunk of disposable income and decide they want to do the "sensible" thing with it. The problem is, they don't understand what sensible is and they end up getting a 3 year old Fiesta/Corsa on finance for £8000-10000 as their first car.

I know plenty of people who did this, they just don't seem to grasp how stupid it is.
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One of the lads I work with bought a Fiesta. It costs him £190 a month in car payments and £200 a month in Insurance. Hes drove less than 5000 miles in it this year. He bought it because it would be "reliable for the long drive home"... yet he hasnt drove "home" from Scotland in 6 months.

Ive tried telling him and others that its madness too, but they dont take any of it in.
 
I'd be willing to bet they also happen to be the fellas that are counting down the days to pay day in the second half of the month, even though they have no actual important outgoings?
 
Thing is though, I do on average around 26-27k miles a year. Not a huge amount I admit - however, going from 30mpg to 40mpg, saves me well over £1,500 a year, to 50mpg it goes up to over £2,200 a year! That to me is not an insignifcant amount. Ok, so I get paid my mileage at 18p a mile for work, however, irrespective of that, mpg does take the sting out of the pocket somewhat.
 
tbh if speed limites weren't tumbling down and more and more money was spent on enforcing them, paid for by eye watering weekly hikes in fuel prices then I think mph would still rule king.

combine that with the fact that there is apparently nowhere for less than a week's wages for 10 measly laps that you can go and play in your car and the cost of insurance these days and it's no wonder the sapphire cosworth generation has died :(

RIP fun.

EDIT: I live next to an army base and pass it every day going to/from work. I can assure you none of the soldiers drive fiestas - you see rows of beemers, audis, type Rs, scoobys, evos, 350zs, mercs etc. - they are never here to drive them but they own them anyway.
 
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