Flamin' fuel costs.

[Lankytim]

Just nipped out to fill the saab up with fuel. 70 litres and over £90- ouch! I only do 14 miles a day commuting and two days a week I use the wife's more frugal Astra but still, £90 per tank every month or so is a bit of a pisser.

 

I really don't want to get rid of the Saab, it's just lovely to drive and for a car of it's size it's still pretty cheap to run and insurance and tax is cheaper than the newer 9-5's, however I'f I were doing any larger distances It would have to go.

 

I haven't done the maths but I recon running the saab is still cheaper overall than maybe getting a modern diesel on finance and paying less for fuel, but more on insurance and repairs. Plus with the Saab if it goes bang I can just walk away and buy another for a few hundred quid.

 

How are you shiters getting on with your chod fuel costs wise? Has anybody had to give up their beloved bargain barge because the cost of fuelling it was just too much to bear?

 

Maybe I should just get a bus pass!

[Cavcraft]

I like something with a bit of welly in it now and then but the CLK went due to lack of use and fuel costs (which were linked) and although I'd love a fast car again I just cannot see past the 7.9p per mile running costs of my 306.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I had to do something about the mondeo as I was getting no more than 30mpg average, which is not bad for a V6 auto but still too much, i was spending £20-25 a week more than the Rover was costing me! Luckily Ms_Balls found to he amazement that she loved driving it so she has it and I have adopted her Astra. I'm back down to £75 a week on juice

 

If you're only doing 7 miles each way why not bicycle it? Then you will make a massive saving on fuel even taking into account buying yourself a sausage and egg bap every day, its still cheaper fuel than the texaco stuff.

[Lankytim]

I had thought about that but..

 

A) I don't want to die.

 

I take LT.jnr to nursery on my commute every day. That's once of the reasons behind not having a Rover 100 or something, a Saab or any largish car will be safer in a smash. I know it's a bit paranoid but meh.

[AeroNautiCal]

I had thought about that but..

 

A) I don't want to die.

 

I take LT.jnr to nursery on my commute every day. That's once of the reasons behind not having a Rover 100 or something, a Saab or any largish car will be safer in a smash. I know it's a bit paranoid but meh.

 

 

Both absolutely sound reasons.

 

Especially the one about having a larger car.

[HillmanImp]

I haven't done the maths but I recon running the saab is still cheaper overall than maybe getting a modern diesel on finance and paying less for fuel, but more on insurance and repairs. Plus with the Saab if it goes bang I can just walk away and buy another for a few hundred quid.

 

I was bored at work just now and reading about the Jag the Betaboy2.0 had bought. It got me thinking about how long it would take you to spend the same money running an old Jag as you would to buy a nice newish modern diseisel simply on fuel consumption.

 

So I am looking at a Jag XJ8 with an average fuel consumption of 20.25 compared to an Audi A3 dizzler with an average fuel consumption of 42.9 (both figs pulled from fuelly, not sure how accurate they are). I am looking at the prices for a 2010 A3 and I am settling on a price of £15,000 for the car. I am going to spend £1k on the Jag (the one I looked at the other week had been serviced, new chain and gearbox, no rust, 80k and was £900).

 

Based on current fuel prices of £1.300 for petrol and £1.357 for diesel this works out per gallon at £5.91 and £6.17 per gallon respectively. If you were to do 10,000 miles a year in each car the Jaguar owner would spend £2,918.38 and the Audi driver £1,437.96 per annum on fuel.

 

If you add this to the cost of the cars and it would take nearly 10 years for the Jaguar drivers total spend on the car and the fuel to exceed that of the Audi driver. At the end of the 9th year you would have spent £27,265 on the Jag compared to £27,942 on the Audi.

 

But wait I hear you say, what about the other costs of running a big Jag. It will rust and break down so will probably cost more in repairs. What then?

 

Well, adding into the fact that most people would not keep their Audi more than 5 years, they would be liable to sell the Audi for about £6.5k (about the right price for an 05 or 06 Audi A3?) and buy a new at £15k again it would mean after 10 years of car ownership the Audi driver would have spent £37,880 on cars and fuel compared to the Jaguar drivers £30,184 making a saving of £7,696 which should probably cover a majority of the repairs. On top of that the Audi driver would be due to spend another £8,500 on a new car to replace his 2nd Audi with a new one, spending another £8.5k making the saving for the Jag driver £16,196 before the process starts again.

 

Out of both of these cars which one would you rather have? Assuming my maths is right* I am planning on showing this to as many people who drive Audi A3s as possible.

 

Defo cheaper with an old banger than a modern dizzler.

[R9UKE]

I had to do something about the mondeo as I was getting no more than 30mpg average, which is not bad for a V6 auto but still too much

 

That's bloody brilliant for a V6 auto!!!

[wuvvum]

That's one of the reasons I love the Rovers of Doom so much. RoD2 isn't quite as good as it's a bigger, heavier car and has quite a few more miles on the clock, but RoD1 averaged 50-55mpg and could get to 60 in 8.5 seconds - best of both worlds.

[Spiny Norman]

I don't do enough miles to really worry about fuel costs.

 

Split between the Saab and the Merc, since last year's MOTs I've done slightly less than 5000 miles. The Saab does 30-ish to the gallon and the Merc does 25-ish which isn't too bad I don't think. Not getting stuck in heavy traffic helps, I live on the outskirts of town and most of the places I go are either further out of town or a motorway hop all the way across town. I have taken a car into Glasgow city centre twice in the last year.

[Des]

I did the LPG thing a few years ago because I'm all ideas above my station mahogany gaspipe and think I'm too good for diesel, certainly made running a big engine feasible but LPG now costs what petrol did when I first shunned the stuff, and now I'm back on petrol again, really shoud do something about that.

I've noticed for over a year now, the roads getting far quieter as the month progresses, with week 2 showing a slight surge of chavs being all noisy basslines for a couple of days, during this time I do notice a lot more miles to a tankful. It's a pretty sad situation as it appears there are many car owners paying out considerable coin for tax, ins, finance, and then left unable to fuel them other than at payday, crappy situation, thanks gummint.

[Junkman]

2012 I drove 2995 miles. Most of it with a Rover V8. If I'd do the same thing with a big bloody 8.2 Litre Cadillac, it wouldn't leave me poor. Too bad I don't have one of those.

[gtd2000]

I had to do something about the mondeo as I was getting no more than 30mpg average, which is not bad for a V6 auto but still too much

 

That's bloody brilliant for a V6 auto!!!

 

I'm getting roughly the same mileage with the Dodge Challenger 24US/28.8IMP, got perhaps slightly more with the Chrysler 300. (average MPG)

 

Our Hyundai Entourage with a 3.8L V6 can get 27MPG (US) 32.4MPG (IMP) on the highway, with 6-up, a shit locad of crap in the back and weighs a heck of a lot to start with.

 

Only returns around 16MPG (US)/ 19MPG (IMP) around town though...

[Des]

Just remembered the fuel protests 10 years ago, spurred by fuel costs which were a sight less than now, but we're all just bending over and taking it. Wagwan with that?

[Station]

Fuel prices 'spiral' upwards again as soon as the OFCOM investigation is over. Coincidence?

[Cavcraft]

We just need some fat wanker farmer to start things off again. Oh wait, he's an MP now so that's not going to happen

[Richard]

The fuel protests saw off most of the small independent petrol stations, around here at least, so they probably had the effect of increasing the price of fuel (more than it would have cost anyway) in the long run.

 

I worked out a few years ago that I would be better off taking a minimum wage job close to home than commuting 14 miles in the 50mpg car I had at the time. In the end I got a job with a van, so I don't pay anything at all to get to work. It costs £110 to fill the van and I tend to get 3-4 days out of a tank, thank gawd it's not my money (although it is in a way, they might pay me a bit more if the fuel prices didn't keep rising).

 

Not having to commute in my own car saves a fortune, apart from the obvious fuel saving. There was rarely a month went by when I didn't have to replace some expensive consumable parts and any breakdown had to be dealt with the quick way rather than the cheap way. It's very liberating having a car that's entirely for my own benefit.

 

The media and motoring organisations love to bleat about the level of tax on fuel but the truth is that if all fuel duty was removed right now the prices would be back up within the hour. Fuel is priced on a "how much have you got" basis, nobody is going to sell fuel at £1.00 a litre when they know we will pay more than £1.40. Some remote areas have been given a discount on fuel duty and the petrol stations just increased their prices by the same amount, the people weren't happy but what could they do?

[chaseracer]

Nobody* gives a shit any more, even when they're directly affected - and the very thought of getting off their arse and acting collectively... pffffttt...

 

 

 

 

* obviously this is a gross generalisation and may well be informed by my current total disillusionment.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Fuel costs what it costs doesn’t it, its no good kicking off about it, yeah there might be a load of tax on it but if there wasn’t that tax would only end up being another sort of tax, the UK’s outgoings already exceed the incomings by vast amounts so theres no way the govt can afford to give up the fuel duties. Fuel is cheaper here now than a lot of European countries, that was not the case 10 years ago.

 

If the money was all going into the pockets of some shitehawks like Amazon or tesco or Direct Line or whatever then by all means protest, but almost none of it is so we’re stuck with it. Soz!

[nigel bickle]

Yup,Boll, total agreement.

 

Mrs B commutes 200 miles a day (Arundel to Dorchester) and (when well) I cover arounbd 100-150 most days. We fill up our 2 litre Fiats every couple of days.

 

Our view? Suck it up.

[cort16]

It did make me go ooof this morning when I filled up with diesel and it was £1.46 a litre so much so I had to buy myself a Kellogs Crunchie square bar and a carton of ribena to calm my nerves.

 

I recon those electric pushbikes would be good for a shorter commute. Some of them will do 35 miles on a charge and hit nearly 30mph. Think how great you'd feel when pass some smug lycra wearing bastard on a racing bike while you pedal slowly, steering with one hand and eating a cornetto with the other.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Futha mucka, a 200-mile daily drive is pretty hardcore. I do 50 miles each way and get home half-suicidal at least twice a week after sitting in a traffic jam thanks to some stupid ba$tard whanging off a straight section of clear road or driving into the car in front whilst fiddling with his Ipod/Satnav/phone/cock etc. If someone asked me to double it I don’t think I could hack it even if they offered to pay for the juice!

[Cavcraft]

Most of those electric bikes only manage about 12mph, but they're pretty good and do save you shit loads of money in pez. Obv. there's electricity (charging) costs but you would do this at work of course! There's a bloke round here somewhere who has one of those scooter type ones, it's ace because he's lit up like Blackpool Illuminations and his bike seems to do about 3mph flat out. A couple of times a week I'm faced with nearly being blinded then seeing some fat, mongy bloke just sort of dribbling his way along in the opposite direction.

 

200 miles a day takes some commitment, fair play to your missus, Nigel. I'm with B01 on that one, sounds far too much like hard work to me and I defo wouldn't entertain it.

[cort16]

I was sure I saw one that did 30mph somewhere, still 15mph's still better than pedaling. I imagine it's possible to tune them so they do 70mph but have a 1 mile range and makes the motor glow red hot if you're keen enough with the soldering iron.

[jonny69]

I commute 10 miles each way which I generally do by bike. I drive if I have to and it does hurt the wallet because I'm not generally used to filling the car up and sitting in traffic burning it away at the ~24mpg that I get in traffic. That said, I work in sustainability so I am well versed with the mechanisms that lead to high fuel prices and, unfortunately for the motorist, the outlook isn't good. So be prepared for this to be an upward trend and the only alternative is to eventually ween ourselves off oil.

 

For my 10 miler and the speed I do, an electric conversion makes total sense. I'm talking about the down and dirty lead acid batteries and sodding great big motor strapped to the original gearbox route. Even with a paltry number of batteries I can easily do my daily distance with plenty in reserve, and a full charge will cost ~£1 on conventional electricity and about a third that on Economy 7. Replace the batteries once a year when knackered, couple of hundred quid, still quids in. Pick a car with the smallest engine to start with for low road tax, do it on a pre-'73 car for no tax goodness - even better.

[nigel bickle]

Its the nature of our jobs. Kinda comes with the territory. Luckily her commute is all on dual carriageways so its only 90 mins each way. My journeys are all over the place, but mainly out of hours, so the roads are quiet.

 

We tend to spend around £200 a week each, on fuel alone. Brakes & tyres every few weeks too!

[jonny69]

Dude, that's £20k a year on fuel! I hope one of you is earning a big enough pile to be able to justify that (and living so far away from work)!

[RichardMoss]

Swings and roundabouts. Over here in the UAE I get my unleaded for just 31p a litre (they sell it at a loss!). However, cars are much more expensive to buy and can be quite expensive to maintain (depends on parts shipping prices). My preferred choice of shite car costs me three times as much as in the UK - if not 4 times (XJ Jeep Cherokees are v.cheap in the UK but you rarely see any for less than the equivalent of £2,500 here). I'd love an XJ40 but whereas I could buy one back home for £500 and keep it going using specialists and used spares, here it's £2,500 for a clunker and parts from a dealer.

 

I am eyeing up early Mustangs from the USA though.........................

[splatthefat]

New postby Mr_Bo11ox » Thu Feb 21, 2013 11:42 pm

I had to do something about the mondeo as I was getting no more than 30mpg average, which is not bad for a V6 auto but still too much,

 

I'd love to see 30mpg from my Mundano, according to the Acar app on my phone my 1.8 4 pot is only getting 26.3 as an average, mind you it has done 185,000 miles now and needs a service, and that is mostly stop-start in the city with the odd longer run thrown in. If it gets much worse then I'm gonna start using the XJ8.

 

CJ

[Mr_Bo11ox]

this 30mpg figure is achieved on my long steady daily commute so its probably a bit higher than if I was just blezzing round the doors in it, probably 26-28 would be realistic in more normal use.

[cort16]

It's amazing how a small change in MPG can make a big difference to the £ you put in weekly. I normally take one of my old crocks to work one day a week and went from a BMW that did 22mpg to a v8 Merc that did 15. I thought as I only used it once a week it wouldn't bother me but it did. BMW £19, Merc £28. I was actually convinced it was pissing it out somewhere until I sat down and worked out the figures.