Right then moneysavers - how many of you moneysave with your car & how many don't?

Nine_Lives

To explain...

As this is a money saving message board, how many of you run something economical, and how many of you allow a bit of slack on this part of your life?


I'm quite a tight wad, i'll admit, though i like cars. I'll grumble at spending a bit here & there in other areas of life, but i'm itching to have something quick.

It's like i'm being torn in two.

I currently run a 1.8 Astra, which is a nippy'ish car. Not quick, but nippy for what it is. I get about 33-36mpg, depending on the time of year.

I'm itching to get a petrol turbo. Specifically another Astra - a MK4 GSi, or SRi-Turbo.
I know the MPG return will be about 26-32mpg. The insurance will be higher. The running/repair costs will potentially be more as there's more to go wrong (it has a turbo, mine doesn't). I can't remember if the tax is higher, though i pay £245 anyway.

But then the money saving tightwad in me tells me no. You CAN live without it, you wont die if you don't buy one. There are more important things in life - saving for a house etc.

Yet i want. lol. And the devil on my shoulder says £2-£3.5k wont be much of a hit to the house deposit. You only live once. Enjoy life while you're here. There's plenty of time to be boring when you get older.

It's horrible :rotfl:


If you're not interested in cars, then i guess you'll be like my mother - A to B motoring & that's all you're interested in. This thread is mainly directed at those with an interest in cars.

BillScarab

Somewhere on this site, I can't remember where, it says something like 'this site is about saving money but it's not about doing without things'. In other words it's about getting the best value for money. So if you want a ferrari and can afford it what is the cheapest way of getting one, not buy a Ford Ka instead to save money.

So you need to decide your priorities and if you want a new car get the best deal you can on what you want.

mattyprice4004

I bought a Rover 75 to save money. I then found out you can tune the CDTi engine from the standard 130bhp to around 200bhp.

All MoneySaving has now gone out of the window, and frankly I wouldn't have it any other way - I'll cut back in other areas to keep her running smoothly.

System

I changed to a Megane dci from a Zafira 2.0 dti. Instead of 40mpg & £160 VED it's now 60MPG & £20 VED

Lindopski

I drive a Rover Diesel on a daily basis which is reasonably economical.
Fairly boring and has no guts, but cheap to run and look after.

I want a classic V8 however, be it a Rover P5,P6 3500 or a Daimler 250 V8 or even a yank-tank 50s/60's V8

I went to see a V8 recently and fell head over heels in love with the sound.

I'd settle for a go kart, Mx-5,Honda CRX etc but Id still be lusting after a V8

AlexisV

Run a 1.6 at the moment.

Definitely looking to upgrade to a 1.8T and 180hp in the next 24 months!

[Deleted User]

I only run a 1.4 Pug 206 but I do enjoy going for drives. I regularly go on 100 mile, 200 mile round trips through the countryside for fun. Saving money on other areas of my life enables me to buy more petrol!

:beer:

Nine_Lives

True. I don't think you should deprive yourself of everything & spend only the bare minimum in life. I like the car that i've got. It's 125bhp, a supposed 0-60 in 8.5sec. As i say, it's nippy, just not fast. I quite like it, but i want more.

Still, i'm a practical person & reason things up 100 ways in my head before making a decision & i can't help thinking that i could spend a few K & have an idiot wipe my car out the day i buy it, whereas that few K could go towards a house deposit or help buy in some furniture when we move etc.

I had thought about buying a turbo diesel & having it remapped. You can buy a 150 Astra or Golf & have them mapped to pushing 200 or slightly more.
That said, the last time i went diesel to beat the fuel prices, they pushed the price up from about 1p difference to about 20p difference. I'm weary about them doing that again the same day that i buy diesel lol.

Hodge4ever

It's hard to explain to a 'non car' people but if your interested in cars that I'd say go for it, though the petrol head in me usually outvotes the practical MSE'r (within reason)

I've got an Impreza (which I don't think I'll ever get rid of) and a Laguna Estate. The Impreza is about 1/3 less frugal than the Laguna on MPG, servicing and insurance are obviously more (though not that far different) but IMO it's worth it. It was off the road for a while and during that time I often wondered if I needed it, after all you can only go so fast etc... but hearing the engine turn-over on the drive made me sure I wanted to get it sorted. It always puts a smile on my face and I love driving it.

Both cars are 1999 so cost the same in car tax, that's my MSE bit :rotfl:

ETA: K_P83 has a great point, could be a good compromise? IIRC there is a diesel version of the Astra that Thurlby Motors tweaked that wasn't far off the performance of the petrol VXR. Out of your price range but you get the idea.

Nearly_Old

I think that there are ways and means of having fun and being relatively economic at the same time.

For 15 years I had company cars but I was doing up to 40,000 miles per year so it did make some sense even with a negative tax code. After changing jobs in 2001 I took the car allowance and mileage payment for business miles option. Initially I bought a 2nd hand Citroen Xantia 1.9TD and over 5 years and 100,000 miles just about finished even. The next was a 3 year old Citroen C5 2.2HDI Automatic bought in Feb 2006 for £6,500 with 21,000 miles on the clock and the original invoice was for over £19k. I've still got it with 109,000 on the clock and the total cost (original purchase, fuel, tax, insurance, etc, etc) up to when I finished work in Oct 2011 is circa £3.5k less than I received in the car allowance and mileage payments. With 138BHP it's not exactly slow and on long runs I can get 42mpg running at 70

My wife saved up for 10 years and bought a year old BMW Z3 1.9 and then kept it for almost 7 years (her record is a Citroen BX bought in 1989 that she kept for 12 years) before trading it in. She has now got a BMW Z4 that she will probably keep for 15 to 20 years. On a long run (we have a lot of these as our son lives in Scotland) we can easliy get 38mpg even if we have an hour or so "playtime" on the back roads in Northumberland.

Part of the saving from the C5 went towards a 99 2.8lt Z3 that is used for fun and days out - 200BHP through the back wheels makes for a great drive I can generally get 30mpg, one lady member on the car forum gets 37mpg from her 2.8 Z3 but I have been known to ocassioanlly only get 22mpg!

Servicing is not any more expensive than other cars as long as you steer clear of BMW main dealers!!!! This is not just about cost but more about what should be done that a lot of dealers don't actually do. E.g. at an Inspection 1 service the wheels are supposed to be removed and the brakes cleaned - the independent I use does this but the main dealer didn't on my wife's previous Z3.

I do a lot of work myself and on the Z3 I have done quite a bit of preventative maintenance; e.g. replace the 12 year old water pump before it fails halfway up a mountain pass. A lot of BMW parts are used across various model ranges; e.g. the brake discs, calipers, pads, etc on my 99 Z3 are the same as those on my wife's 07 Z4. Eurocarparts (and others) stock parts from manufacturers that supply BMW and they regularly have discount codes (the current one is CLICKPART25) and free postage offers. I do take all the wheels off the cars each spring, strip down and clean the brakes, check all the hoses, etc. Usually I can see things before they go wrong and I usually get 90 to 100,000 miles out of a set of discs. A potential Z3 owner spent a few hours with me last week and he described the car as a "nuts and bolts" car - i.e. easy to take apart and put back together.

Buying quality well looked after 2nd hand cars, keeping them well maintained and keeping them for a long time is IMHO the MSE way to have some fun with your car.

mikey72

K_P83 wrote: »

................ There's plenty of time to be boring when you get older................

But then you find insurance costs next to nothing, you can afford to buy and insure the SRi, everyone clamours to give you a match on ncd, you can also drive classic V8's for £100 a year, and the couple of hundered pounds that you couldn't afford for the mot you can now find down the back of the sofa for something chrome that you put under the bonnet that no one wil ever see, but just looks shiney when you change the oil.

Buy the house now, save the car until later. Then you can have both. That 2 or 3k will be a lot on the mortgage over the years.