The 'Great Keep Your Car Tip Top For Less' Hunt

JC_Derby

Yep

However Sainsbury's use Bp fuel, or so i was told by there assistant

marcustandy

pippppster wrote:

I now drive at 60mph on the motorway. Saves a good 10% on fuel compared to 70mph, never mind the speedsters doing 90 or 100.

Whilst I agree that 70mph (motorways) is a limit and not a target, sticking to 60mph whatever, is not good driving practice.

The use of speed should be relevant to the conditions, whilst being aware of the aim of correct driving - "Make good progression with speed and safety" i.e. if there is not a [safety] reason to drive at less than 70mph, then that is the speed that should be used.

Many accidents on our roads are caused by the speed differentials of the vehicles involved - don't increase the odds of becoming part of these statistics by staying at your choice [60mph] of motorway speed.

An accident, and subsequent repairs and other costs, won't work out to be cheaper than using that extra 10mph, when conditions allow!

marcustandy

trawden wrote:

I am thinking of getting a newer car soon, but not sure if I should. I would like a little more room in the back for my son.

My 2001 Corsa has only done 33000 miles, looking at the guides, i should get about £3500 for it. I have £2500 spare cash so am looking at the £6000 market. I have been told Honda, Vauxhall, Peugeot, and Ford are reliable makes but when i look at these cars, for that money i do get a newer car, but the mileage on these are much higher than my current.

Should i stick to my current low mileage car or get a newer one with higher mileage?

I don't want to get something cheap that will depreciate rapidly either.

My Mum, who is now 72, has a Rover 100 (Mini Metro to you & me!!) that is a 1994 (L reg) model and currently has a little over 20,000 miles on the clock. The car is always garaged and now that neither my Mum or Dad walk too well, is mostly used for a weekly shopping trip.

Their car has definitely 'suffered' over the years from the usual problems of body & exhaust rust, poor starting, flat battery, etc. I doubt that they would get virtually anything if they were to trade it in and, for a 1.0 litre engine, I don't think that it is particularly economical. The car still only has 20k miles on it!!

I am trying to persuade them to get a nice little reliable Toyota Yaris with power steering and an auto box (to make driving easier for a 72 year old) but a) any that are in the 'sensible money' bracket already have mileages higher than their Metro, and b) it is hard to justify the outlay for 4 shopping trips and 2 family visiting trips (avg) per month.

My point is - 20,000 miles and always garaged = still rusty and still costs money to service/repair. What should they do???

marcustandy

I drive a 2001 Ford Mondeo 1.8, converted to run on LPG, and have enjoyed 87k miles of cheap motoring so far. I set up a spreadsheet to monitor the real (fuel) costs of running this car, along with its mpg, l/100km, pence/mile and miles/£.

For 2005 the car averaged 23.01 mpg and cost 8p per mile (fuel). LPG cost between 34.9p (plus another 1.5p off via loyalty card - Morrison's - actual cost 33.4p!!) and 42.9p per litre.

For 2006 the same figures were 24.10 mpg and 9p per mile. LPG cost between 39.9p (Morrison's again so another 1.5p to come off making it 38.4p in real terms!!) and 46.9p.

I've just returned from a family visiting trip and had to pay 50.9p per litre (BP, Colton, A64 westbound, between York & Tadcaster) and this has caused me to have a serious re-think!! I'm not convinced anymore that LPG is the cheapest option!

A friend of mine runs a VW Golf 2.0 TDi with a lot of urban driving and he is somewhat heavy-footed with the accelerator! He is getting an average of 49mpg according to the onboard computer!! Bear in mind that he is paying less than twice the price for fuel that I do but getting more than twice the mpg that I do!!

None of the above takes into consideration the costs of converting a car to run on LPG. There are some niggles with running on LPG also; we used to cross the channel 6+ times per year but weren't allowed to use the chunnel. LPG garages are not always the easiest to find - we have a 34 miles round trip to our nearest LPG garage - so unless you can combine a refuel with a shopping trip/day out, it is an extra cost.

I have been a big fan and supporter of LPG vehicles but I think that now, unless you have a 1.0 litre Ford Ka, converted to LPG and travel into the London Congestion Zone* every day, its days of being the cheap alternative are numbered.

My tip for cheap motoring; run a frugal diesel engined car and go on a SAFED (Safe and Fuel Efficient Driving) course!


*The exemption for LPG cars isn't guaranteed to stay in place!

trawden

marcustandy wrote:

My Mum, who is now 72, has a Rover 100 (Mini Metro to you & me!!) that is a 1994 (L reg) model and currently has a little over 20,000 miles on the clock. The car is always garaged and now that neither my Mum or Dad walk too well, is mostly used for a weekly shopping trip.

Their car has definitely 'suffered' over the years from the usual problems of body & exhaust rust, poor starting, flat battery, etc. I doubt that they would get virtually anything if they were to trade it in and, for a 1.0 litre engine, I don't think that it is particularly economical. The car still only has 20k miles on it!!

I am trying to persuade them to get a nice little reliable Toyota Yaris with power steering and an auto box (to make driving easier for a 72 year old) but a) any that are in the 'sensible money' bracket already have mileages higher than their Metro, and b) it is hard to justify the outlay for 4 shopping trips and 2 family visiting trips (avg) per month.

My point is - 20,000 miles and always garaged = still rusty and still costs money to service/repair. What should they do???

See post no 12 from charliehead:- higher miles and well serviced is much better than low miles and not used.

not sure how to convince them though. - sorry!!!

marcustandy

trawden wrote:

See post no 12 from charliehead:- higher miles and well serviced is much better than low miles and not used.

not sure how to convince them though. - sorry!!!

I'd seen the post to which you refer and have emailed the link to the 'oldies'. Just sewing the seed for now and then I'll take them shopping when next visiting.

Reading my own post above (#66), does anyone know if Toyota do a diesel Yaris?? :rolleyes:

foolsgold99

Yip, marcustandy they do.

You can read about it here

http://www.toyota.co.uk/cgi-bin/toyota/bv/generic_editorial.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0178629954.1173355249@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccccaddkggfflehcfngcfkmdfkidfgf.0&CampaignID=C2123&navRoot=toyota_1024_root&portal=null&edname=YA3_engines&id=YA3_engines&catname=%2ftoyota_1024_root%2fmain_nav%2fpageTopNav%2fZone+YARIS&zone=Zone+YARIS&menuid=9658&sr=Mall

feesh

marcustandy wrote:

Whilst I agree that 70mph (motorways) is a limit and not a target, sticking to 60mph whatever, is not good driving practice.

The use of speed should be relevant to the conditions, whilst being aware of the aim of correct driving - "Make good progression with speed and safety" i.e. if there is not a [safety] reason to drive at less than 70mph, then that is the speed that should be used.

Many accidents on our roads are caused by the speed differentials of the vehicles involved - don't increase the odds of becoming part of these statistics by staying at your choice [60mph] of motorway speed.

An accident, and subsequent repairs and other costs, won't work out to be cheaper than using that extra 10mph, when conditions allow!

I totally agree, I did my Advanced Driving test last year and part of that included a section on the motorway.

I was going along at 70mph seeing as I had the examiner with me, who was the Chief Police Driving Examiner for the area!

He said to me, 'Now tell me honestly, do you always do 70mph on the motorway?' to which I said a very hesitant 'Errm, no, to be honest its more like 80'.

He said 'Well just because I'm in the car, I don't want you to be sitting here on the inside lane at exactly 70, its more important and safer to make good progress and keep up with the rest of the traffic.'

We had a bit more discussion about the speed limit, we agreed it should really be 80 in this day and age.

You might feel safer yourself doing 60 in the inside lane, but what about the slower cars you're forcing into the other lanes having to overtake you? Personally I think its downright dangerous and irresponsible and if you can't keep up with the traffic, to be perfectly frank why use a motorway?

There is a lot of emphasis in advanced driving on making good progress, in a controlled manner of course. My driving has got more economical since doing it, and I am a lot more respectful of speed limits but I can also recognise now the danger that drivers present who don't make good progress.

zipman23

Can anyone back up the claim that driving at 65mph uses less petrol than those driving at 70mph? If it is true, how much are we talking? Is it enough to care or not lol. I drive a 1.0l 1999 Micra. Used to get around 320 miles from a full tank but now its about 300 but has been as low as 250 miles but I figured that was down to low tyre pressure!

My mam reckons I drive like a maniac but I don't think that at all (I reckon she drives like a granny so we'll agree to disagree for now). I'm of the opinion that when you drive on a motorway, you should keep up with the pace of the traffic already there and that includes when your joining and leaving it!

In my driving lessons, I was always told to do 60-65mph but when I did my Pass Plus course, I was still in an instructors car - even though I had passed and even though I was driving at 70, in the fast lane overtaking a lorry, I still got some chump in a scooby flashing his little lights at me and testing his horn to get me to put my foot down. With nowhere to go but obviously still going faster than the lorry, I stayed put until I was safely past it then I let Mr Scooby rock on into the night!

Can anybody advise if driving at 65mph is better/more economical than at 70 and if it is, by how much?

Gilean

I read in a magazine that one of the best things we can do to maintain our cars and save fuel and emissions is to keep the tyres pumped tot he correct pressure - easy, eh!
Gil