Time for change, MPG help please

Howard said:
I averaged 29mpg in the one I had
icon14.gif
Click to expand...

I averaged 59mpg in the one I borrowed, doing motorway miles at 70mph most of the time.

If you can manage to drive sensibly, they are great on MPG. Not really exciting or fun but then, sitting on a motorway isn't exciting or fun anyway.
 
[TW]Fox;18389790 said:
No, you were not.
Click to expand...

You really need to stop making statements like that :P

I agree with what you are saying though, he needs to look at his car or his journey to at least get near the proper figures.


As for buying a new car to save money, again that makes no sense especially when considering a 1.6 for so many miles!
 
Morba said:
You really need to stop making statements like that :P

I agree with what you are saying though, he needs to look at his car or his journey to at least get near the proper figures.


As for buying a new car to save money, again that makes no sense especially when considering a 1.6 for so many miles!
Click to expand...

So the 1.6 will be flat then I take it? My current is rated 10.3 or 10.5 to 60 I think, and this was 10.9 so I assumed with it being a smaller car, it would be roughly comparable.

Hence why I need the help!

If what I'm looking for isn't viable or achievable, I'm perfectly happy to be told that, just throwing it out there looking for some real-world advice rather than sales-person advice.

Thanks for all your comments so far, I didn't expect such a response so soon.
 
ACE01 said:
I have the paperwork sat in front of me.

£5600 deposit (£5200 trade-in for my merc), 3 years IFC £235. Ford Focus Zetec Sport 1.6.

I could take the same car over 2 years on Ford's Options scheme (PCP) at £184 with a 6057 GFV.
Click to expand...

So not 200 quid a month at all then, its 11k down and 200 quid a month!
 
That just sounds like a waste of breath to me, you might as well just bite the bullet in the merc than end up owing money and driving a Focus.
 
ACE01 said:
£235 pcm and 5600 deposit total (leaving me the merc +£400 cash to pay).

Based on the 1.6 diesel with a bit more discount from the salesperson.

Hopefully that clears it up.
Click to expand...

I was going by the typical finance quote. You are obviously either paying interest or have options selected which make the car more expensive.
 
Ok let's do some simple numbers. Your Merc is doing ~35 MPG with an official combined of ~41 MPG. Assuming your car isn't broken (cars don't generally drop 5 MPG with age, it'll have something that's faulty or not) and that it's your roads/driving style causing the economy, you are returning 87.5% of the quoted figure.

The combined for the Focus is 64.2 MPG, and so when adjusted I'd expect ~56 MPG on your commute. At 30,000 miles per year and diesel @ £1.339 per litre, the fuel cost is £3,260.94. Your Merc costs £5,217.51, or £1,956.57 more per year (£163.05 per month).

So, in order to save £163.05 per month on fuel, you are going to pay £400 above your Merc's trade-in value in deposit, and then £235/month for 3 years?

You are going to see little difference in TCO with the Focus vs. the Mercedes.
 
Last edited:
PMKeates said:
Ok let's do some simple numbers. Your Merc is doing ~35 MPG with an official combined of ~41 MPG. Assuming your car isn't broken (cars don't generally drop 5 MPG with age, it'll have something that's faulty or not) and that it's your roads/driving style causing the economy, you are returning 87.5% of the quoted figure.

The combined for the Focus is 64.2 MPG, and so when adjusted I'd expect ~56 MPG on your commute. At 30,000 miles per year and diesel @ £1.339 per litre, the fuel cost is £3,260.94. Your Merc costs £5,217.51, or £1,956.57 more per year (£163.05 per month).

So, in order to save £163.05 per month on fuel, you are going to pay £400 above your Merc's trade-in value in deposit, and then £235/month for 3 years?

You are going to see little difference in TCO with the Focus vs. the Mercedes.
Click to expand...

So based on 3 years by those numbers as you say, seems the saving would come from Tax, Insurance, and lack of unexpected repairs (warranty). So it breaks even after 3 years.

I'd get a new car and known car costs for 3 years, but my monthly outgoings would increase approx £75pcm.

Food for thought, very helpful, thanks. Not sure why I didn't apply the business logic myself. Just didn't think to.
 
Dont forget the most important bit, you go from a Merc to a focus.
 
ACE01 said:
So based on 3 years by those numbers as you say, seems the saving would come from Tax, Insurance, and lack of unexpected repairs (warranty). So it breaks even after 3 years.

I'd get a new car and known car costs for 3 years, but my monthly outgoings would increase approx £75pcm.

Food for thought, very helpful, thanks. Not sure why I didn't apply the business logic myself. Just didn't think to.
Click to expand...
Almost.

If you assess the 'price' of your Merc now as £5,200, and then a +3 year value of say £2600, then it's going to 'cost' you £2,600 in depreciation, £15,652.53 in fuel (£5,217.51 * 3). £2,600 + £15,652.53 = £18,252.53.

The Focus is costing £5,600 in deposit + £8,560 in payments + £9,782.82 (£3,260.94*3) in fuel. The value at the end of those 3 years will be ~£5,000. £5,600 + £8,560 + £9,782.82 - £5,000 = £18,342.82. Very similar to the Merc.

Of course the Merc will have other additional costs in that period, and so will the Ford. Ford servicing isn't particularly cheap in my experience, and you'd probably be comfortable with taking the Merc to a specialist whereas you'll take the Ford to a dealer.

All in all you could change to the Focus and probably realise a small overall saving, and you get closer to 'fixed cost' motoring. However, in doing so, you are driving a 109 hp Focus (ableit a new one) rather than a ~150 hp Mercedes-Benz.

Let me recommend something - if you want to change, don't buy a new car. Buy one that's one between 1 and 3 years old. You will get a better car for the same money. A 320d would probably return 46 MPG on your drive. You will struggle to find a way to save money buying a new car.
 
Last edited:
I was originally looking for a used car around £10-11k. But it does seem like for this, you end up with something that's 3+ years old with ~80k on the clock, and the older diesels (from the quoted figures at least) don't seem to return the same mpg.

That's the only reason I looked at new tbh.

Perhaps I can find a slightly older hotter diesel which will cost in.

Thanks for all the help so far.
 
It seems odd to me that your car is only doing 35mpg when you say your journey is mostly A-road and motorway, I'd expect you to be achieving low to mid 40s. The fact that it's an automatic certainly hampers things, but my experience of auto's is that the difference in economy is much less on A-roads and motorways.

The main thing is that you will not be happy going from your car into a Focus. It's not that they're bad cars, but it's like going from business class to economy on a plane - not easy when you've been used to the blankets and fluffy pillows.

Have you tried to adapt your driving style at all? Being slightly lighter on the throttle while accelerating and anticipating braking are 2 things which can make a huge difference to MPG.

If you were dead set on changing, I'd look at an e46 manual 320d. It won't cost you much to change (realisticaly a 05 SE with 90k is worth the same as your car), it'll get better MPG and you won't feel like you've downgraded. I was consistently impressed by the economy of my flat mates e46 when he had it. The only time I drove it for any length of time, I got over 50mpg driving from the UK to Ireland.
 
Makes sense changing for the focus, especially as the merc will be potentially facing bigger bills as mileage keeps going up at your rate.

Commuting in a focus isn't that bad either.

As others have said try to adapt your driving to see if you can improve mpg. Will help with any car.
 
Last edited:


Set off extra early to achieve this in a 2.0 petrol :o

Speeds on the M60/M62 were between 45-50mph and 40mph Dual Carriageways :p

Picture taken when I got home
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom