What is it with people and MPG's???

^JP^ · 23 Jan 2013 at 21:42

I almost always get asked my mpg before anything else. Even by supposid car people.

It is like the mpg is the only thing stopping them from buying it or something.

Rilot · 23 Jan 2013 at 21:57

When selling the Jag people were always asking me the mpg.
When I would tell them 20mpg average and they would reply with "oh, that's pretty bad" I felt like yelling down the phone "IT'S A BLOODY TWO TONNE CAR WITH A FOUR POINT TWO LITRE, SUPERCHARGED V8. WHAT DO YOU EXPECT?"

Dogbreath · 23 Jan 2013 at 22:32

AshD93 said:
The 40MPG was just a example. And look, it's just a point about caring about money in general. Been brought up to not spend like a idiot, that's all.

Which is fair enough, but if you are worried about mpg then it's pretty obvious you shouldn't be considering dropping 30k on a Porsche 911. It's nearly as bad as the idiots who buy a new car so they don't have to pay so much VED.

Dr House said:
Really? if your going to buy a 6+ year old 911 with a 3.6l engine why would that be one of only 3 questions you ask???

"You'll have to ask my butler, he fills the tank for me"

[TW]Fox · 23 Jan 2013 at 22:40

AshD93 said:
The 40MPG was just a example. And look, it's just a point about caring about money in general. Been brought up to not spend like a idiot, that's all.

That has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that if you are buying this sort of car, you'll already know the answer.

Conscript · 23 Jan 2013 at 22:54

For a forum populated by people who usually champion being thorough when purchasing a car, I'm surprised that so many are scoffing at someone asking this question. It seems a perfectly reasonable thing to ask, and there's no reason to assume that the buyer is expecting, nor basing his buying decision on, an optimistic answer.

Could just be curiosity. And even though a prospective Porsche buyer might know the quoted factory figures, it surely doesn't hurt to ask the owner what their 'real world' experience is?

[TW]Fox · 23 Jan 2013 at 23:07

Conscript said:
For a forum populated by people who usually champion being thorough when purchasing a car, I'm surprised that so many are scoffing at someone asking this question. It seems a perfectly reasonable thing to ask, and there's no reason to assume that the buyer is expecting, nor basing his buying decision on, an optimistic answer.

Could just be curiosity. And even though a prospective Porsche buyer might know the quoted factory figures, it surely doesn't hurt to ask the owner what their 'real world' experience is?

Sure, it comes up in conversation but as one of only 4 questions asked? If you had to think of 4 questions to decide whether the car was worth viewing why would that be one of them, yet nothing about condition or history?

Raymond Lin · 23 Jan 2013 at 23:17

Is there a limit as to the number of questions he can ask?

or was 3 the maximum?

Is there an order someone should ask these questions?

Or is one not allowed to ask mpg just because it is a Porsche and only exclusive to eco boxes?

Does rich people not care about money? and can't care about money.

Does this forum knows the mindset and thinking of every car buyer in England?

Is the answer of any of the above a Yes?

Firestar_3x · 23 Jan 2013 at 23:40

Raymond Lin said:
Is there a limit as to the number of questions he can ask?

or was 3 the maximum?

Is there an order someone should ask these questions?

Or is one not allowed to ask mpg just because it is a Porsche and only exclusive to eco boxes?

Does rich people not care about money? and can't care about money.

Does this forum knows the mindset and thinking of every car buyers in England?

Is the answer of any of the above a Yes?

You don't buy a 911 and care what mpg it gets, if he cares about the mpg figures then it's not a car you should be looking at, or the owner can't really afford to run it.

Raymond Lin · 23 Jan 2013 at 23:47

Firestar_3x said:
You don't buy a 911 and care what mpg it gets, if he cares about the mpg figures then it's not a car you should be looking at, or the owner can't really afford to run it.

I think we got that answer already but you didn't answer a single one of mine.

And

Housey said:
I got circa 30mpg out of mine on a trip to the south of France and my father got 34mpg on a similar trip. Much more than people imagine when driven normally on motorways.

May be like most people he didn't care, may be he expects nothing above 20. But knowing the above information wouldn't be a nice surprise? Albeit unexpected one.

It's merely a question, its not like he asked something irrelevant and nothing to do with the car.

At least the email was courteous, polite and has the correct grammar too. But no, we don't give credit for that.

s0ck · 24 Jan 2013 at 00:07

Firestar_3x said:
You don't buy a 911 and care what mpg it gets, if he cares about the mpg figures then it's not a car you should be looking at, or the owner can't really afford to run it.

Everyone cares about MPG. Anyone who says they do not are kidding themselves.
Healthy MPG = healthy engine. If the owners MPG figures fall within range x, y or z you can begin to build a picture of how it was driven or you can build a picture of failing lambdas, air leaks, low compression, etc.

I see these threads across all sorts of forums, they always follow a similar vein.

AYE HAZ LOTS OF MONEY LOOL WHO CAREZ ABOUT MPG HAHAHAH

Alrighty then!

Rotty · 24 Jan 2013 at 00:13

Rilot said:
When selling the Jag people were always asking me the mpg.
When I would tell them 20mpg average and they would reply with "oh, that's pretty bad" I felt like yelling down the phone "IT'S A BLOODY TWO TONNE CAR WITH A FOUR POINT TWO LITRE, SUPERCHARGED V8. WHAT DO YOU EXPECT?"

20mpg, that's shocking :eek:

dessimpson · 24 Jan 2013 at 07:38

MPG can also give you an indication on how the car is running.

[TW]Fox · 24 Jan 2013 at 08:19

s0ck said:
Everyone cares about MPG. Anyone who says they do not are kidding themselves.
Healthy MPG = healthy engine. If the owners MPG figures fall within range x, y or z you can begin to build a picture of how it was driven or you can build a picture of failing lambdas, air leaks, low compression, etc.

This is completely true but one of the 4 only questions you ask? Really? More important than 'Is there a big scrape down the side' or 'Have you ever bothered to get it serviced?' or 'Is there finance outstanding?' or 'Has it ever been in a huge crash'?

jigger · 24 Jan 2013 at 11:53

[TW]Fox;23621454 said:
This is completely true but one of the 4 only questions you ask? Really? More important than 'Is there a big scrape down the side' or 'Have you ever bothered to get it serviced?' or 'Is there finance outstanding?' or 'Has it ever been in a huge crash'?

All but the servicing will come up on a HPI check if you decide to view the car. The seller could be unaware or lie about the rest. The cars MGP is in my top 4 questions.

[TW]Fox · 24 Jan 2013 at 12:01

jigger said:
All but the servicing will come up on a HPI check if you decide to view the car.

Not true at all, only the finance one can be relied upon to show up in HPI.

Damage, accidents, etc etc will only show on HPI if the car is a total loss.

The cars MGP is in my top 4 questions.

It's a meaningless question IMHO. Many people either don't know, flat out lie, or just come out with random numbers. We have people on here for example convinced the Civic Type R does 30mpg around town. MPG is such a variable that specific user numbers are irrelevent. He could say 16mpg and you could think 'wow, thats terrible'. But he might only drive it 2 miles day in horrible traffic, in which case 16mpgi s reasonable. Or perhaps he says 35mpg and you think 'its really good' but he drives everywhere at 56mph and only ever does 250 mile trips..

Tom_ed1987 · 24 Jan 2013 at 12:03

Repaired accident damage does not show up on a hpi unless the car was written off. It's a moronic first question.

Peerzy · 24 Jan 2013 at 12:06

Care to link to the advert (you're clearly not advertising it here and I'm interested to see the car)?

gigeorge · 24 Jan 2013 at 12:11

Fox has this one nailed.

Dr House · 24 Jan 2013 at 12:30

Peerzy said:
Care to link to the advert (you're clearly not advertising it here and I'm interested to see the car)?

http://911uk.com/ads_item.php?id=3919

The funny thing its hard time to sell but I have no shortage of people interested in the car, I just have not been able to show it to anyone as I have been out of the uk for about 2 months now.

I fly back on the 31st and have a couple of people waiting to see it so hopefully it will get sold.

Im going to start to stay home before my wife leaves me lol

Raymond Lin · 24 Jan 2013 at 12:31

Whilst I don't dispute the MPG is not such a high priority when buying a performance car in this instance (especially when looking at it from a mindset of the people in this board who are into cars) but why do we give no leeway for the possibility that there are people out there who would ask such question? People who are not as much into cars as yourselves, people who has money and just want a nice car. Do you claim to know the thinking of all potential Porsche buyer in this country? We all know that MPG is all the rage these days so is that that outrageous to ask the question? And when people ask the question, why are they treated with such contempt?

As a seller. do you expect your buyer to know the spec and running cost of your car like the back of their hand ? Can a buyer not just be someone who is looking for a car, came across yours and firing a general question to start off with?

It seems very presumptuous to judge someone by a question they ask just because they don't ask them the way you expect them to.