Should I change car?

TheUmpteenth

Hi Everybody!

I recently did a budget and found that I spent about 450 on diesel per month. I think it may be closer to 400 if I was to work out the EXACT figure, but that's still a big chunk of my budget.

I have a 1994 BMW 525td, bought this year, supposedly a 44mpg car, I get maybe 28-33. I commute 45miles to work and 45miles back, daily. on the M25.

Could I get a better car for under £1000? should I spend some more? or should I try to save money somewhere else?

crazyguy

I would downsize the engine to a lot smaller petrol one maybe a 1000cc you should then save quite a bit on fuel !

TheUmpteenth

I thought so too, but I look at the quoted mpg, and my car's about the same. I don't know who to believe!

hcb42

We get about 58mpg from a yaris auto diesel, and 54mpg from a renault scenic. I would definitely change that car, you would also no doubt save money on insurance and on car tax.

rodenal

Depends on your type of driving - if you buy a small capacity small car then drive it on the motorway you'll see nothing like the quoted mpg figures.

The diesel engine in your 525 is renowned for being the first good 'modern' diesel engine, but terrible on fuel. Depending on the type of car you like something like a 306 Dturbo would see you closer to modern day diesel figures.

You'll also get an easy 35mpg out of something like a mk2 mr2 (motorway) so really depends what you want. If you like the e34 then in all honesty I dont see too much reason to spend more cash and change it - it cant be worth more than a few hundred so you'd need to spend at least say £600 of your own money, that's alot of fuel at 10mpg extra

TheUmpteenth

hcb42 wrote: »

We get about 58mpg from a yaris auto diesel, and 54mpg from a renault scenic. I would definitely change that car, you would also no doubt save money on insurance and on car tax.

I think the problem is that we can't spend a lot on a car, so we'd still have an older car. we might be able to gather up £1500, max. I bet none of those would be that cheap!

rodenal wrote: »

Depends on your type of driving - if you buy a small capacity small car then drive it on the motorway you'll see nothing like the quoted mpg figures.

The diesel engine in your 525 is renowned for being the first good 'modern' diesel engine, but terrible on fuel. Depending on the type of car you like something like a 306 Dturbo would see you closer to modern day diesel figures.

You'll also get an easy 35mpg out of something like a mk2 mr2 (motorway) so really depends what you want. If you like the e34 then in all honesty I dont see too much reason to spend more cash and change it - it cant be worth more than a few hundred so you'd need to spend at least say £600 of your own money, that's alot of fuel at 10mpg extra

I'm not really that worried by the type of car I drive, I mean the BMW's nice, but 10mpg equates to £10 per week, roughly. A year, £520. I could have a Corsa for less.
I'm not a BMW nut, but I do think that it's reliability is going to be a saver, not sure at this age though...

hcb42

No, my vehicles are 54 and 08 plates. But even older smaller vehicles will be more efficient than that. With the cost of fuel now, it's just dead money.

We just swapped the 08 yaris - we used to have an 08 avensis, which returned about 44mpg. It cost me a few hundred to swap, but I figured I would make that back in a year with lower insurance, much lower tax and better economy

TheUmpteenth

yeah, the insurance is a kicker too, it's in group 15, I think, but since I've only been driving for 2 years, I won't have much hope of getting low insurance

rodenal

Just have a look around then and see what takes your fancy - but please dear god do not buy a corsa (c that is).......I shudder at the thought of driving one.....that horrible horrible steering...ewww...

Have a look at the 99 on seat toledo tdi. The cheapest of the VAG diesel bunch at that age, well specced and really a very good car if not the most exciting.

For a petrol alternative, something like a megane (again the 99ish shape) 1.4 16v will give you very good mpg for a petrol - pretty slow but incredibly cheap to buy.

citykid5

rodenal wrote: »

Just have a look around then and see what takes your fancy - but please dear god do not buy a corsa (c that is).......I shudder at the thought of driving one.....that horrible horrible steering...ewww...

Have a look at the 99 on seat toledo tdi. The cheapest of the VAG diesel bunch at that age, well specced and really a very good car if not the most exciting.

For a petrol alternative, something like a megane (again the 99ish shape) 1.4 16v will give you very good mpg for a petrol - pretty slow but incredibly cheap to buy.

you should be able to find a v a g tdi i.e seat skoda vw tdi for about ££1500 in not to bad nick,very reliable.i've just bought a seat arosa 1.4tdi 2001 for £1500 and i'm pleased as punch with it,very nippy and fun to drive and i've just got 60mpg on mainly around town driving.so impressed that were dumping the much newer 55red bmw 320d and useing the arosa to go camping in france

TheUmpteenth

Thanks everyone, I think its really worth thinking about, but I'm glad Rodneal brought up my selling price, I need to include that in my calculations!