The most fuel efficient car for your money

Andyr1

I have a fiesta econetic - same as the bluemotion, great on the long journeys but gets thirsty around town. You have to drive it very light footed to get any benefit from it. Average fuel I get is 78mpg or so.

jase1

So OP, how many miles do you do in a year?

Lum

What is better for the environment? Buy a reasonably efficient older car and look after it. By doing this you avoid the environmental costs of scrapping an old car and you avoid the environmental costs of causing a new car to be built.

This will more than offset any environmental cost of having a slightly less efficient car, and the extra you will pay in fuel will be more than offset by the massively reduced initial price of the car.

You win, the planet wins, the only losers are the car manufacturers and the finance companies.

Tobster86

I'll match the questions to my vegetable oil burning Peugeot 306.

Are there any better alternatives?
Yes, the Audi 80 with the 1Z TDI engine. Now quite rare.

What MPG should i be looking for?
I get typically 40-45mpg. Could be 50+ with a lighter right foot.

What price should i be paying for a new car?
N/A

What price should i be paying for a used car?
It cost £313, and required a service and general overhaul of bits and bats done myself. Also required an injector pump change although some models don't.

Whats is better for the environment in the long run, petrol or diesel?
Both are fossil fuels and obviously subject to a lot of debate over their environmental and social impacts. Vegetable oil is potentially carbon dioxide* neutral as the same released CO2 was originally absorbed by the plant from it's environment, although there are some external CO2 emissions in it's production and transport processes.
Biofuels have the social implication of raising food prices, which must be weighed against the potential impacts of other alternative energy sources.


Typical cost for vegetable oil is £1/litre provided you can find the offers (currently £2.50/3l in Asda. Before that was £10/10l in Tesco). Waste oil from restaurants etc may be suitable but require filtering or further processing.

Legal status is completely legal to use 2500l/year tax free non-commercially.

*I don't use the scientifically incorrect term 'carbon neutral'. The chemical is called carbon dioxide, and I think that people that don't know the difference shouldn't be entitled to debate on the subject!

Mobeer

chrisincog wrote: »

So, what is the most fuel efficient car for your money??

I have been led to believe that the VW Polo "Bluemotion" is incredibly fuel efficient and is cheap buy in comparison to its rivals. I'm no motoring expert but i'm sure there are other cars out there, i can't test drive them all but i could do with some advice thats not coming from a salesman.

Are there any better alternatives?

What MPG should i be looking for?

What price should i be paying for a new car?

What price should i be paying for a used car?

Whats is better for the environment in the long run, petrol or diesel?

Thanks for any help you can give.

To answer your questions in turn:

1) an ordinary Polo or Fiesta. An Audi A2 as a used buy?

2) depends on how far you drive - 30 mpg is fine for a 5k miles a year but not for 20k

3) depends upon what you want, how much you have...

4) less than the answer to 3

5) public transport, walking, cycling are better

Herzlos

Hintza wrote: »

But it isn't manufacturer figures. Each manufacturer has to go by the same set of EU tests to derive mpg in a couple of scenarios.

Now we have the government deciding VED on those self same figures.

So the manufacturers set their cars up to minimise their CO2 figures.

The manufacturer is not allowed to mention any other (ie real life) mpg figures.

True, but the tests are completely unrealistic of real world driving conditions (allowing huge times to get up to speeds, cruising at constant low speeds, failing to "make progress" as my driving instructor called it) and the manufacturers game these metrics in order to look better at the expense of actual real world economy. As such the quoted figures only tell part of the story, as they are optimized to perform well in unrealistic situations and result in a lot of people being unhappy as they can't get anywhere near the claimed figures (the Fiat 500 Twin-airs seem particularly bad for it, for example).

Mankysteve

forgotmyname wrote: »

Top gear drove from Switzerland to Blackpool.
Hammond chose the BlueMotion. May chose a Legacy Diesel and Clarkson chose a big V6 Jag. Jag made it easily even though he did race it sometimes.

So there you go, You want a V6 Jag.

Thats completely meaningless info without knowledge of MPG figures and the size of the fuel tank.

Even if climate change is not man made, we still need to get ourself off the reliance on fossil fuel because it will run out, we have to make pacts with the devil to get the stuff and it leaves us as country at the mercy of said not very pleasant nations.

As for budgets et alit all depends. We need more info.

forgotmyname

Mankysteve wrote: »

Thats completely meaningless info without knowledge of MPG figures and the size of the fuel tank.

Even if climate change is not man made, we still need to get ourself off the reliance on fossil fuel because it will run out, we have to make pacts with the devil to get the stuff and it leaves us as country at the mercy of said not very pleasant nations.

As for budgets et alit all depends. We need more info.

Meaningless like the quoted MPG figures. They only managed to achieve the Polo's figures whilst cruising on the motorway at a sedate pace.
On the speed limit the consumption fell, Accelerating caused it to fall.

The figures are meaningless. Your own driving style and even more so the traffic conditions play a bigger part.

Sitting in the traffic at 0 miles per hour = 0mpg.

Taking 20 minutes to do 1/4 of a mile gives you virtually zero mpg.

Lum

Mankysteve wrote: »

Even if climate change is not man made, we still need to get ourself off the reliance on fossil fuel because it will run out, we have to make pacts with the devil to get the stuff and it leaves us as country at the mercy of said not very pleasant nations.

Good luck with that, since most of our electricity is generated by burning fossil fuels, and is unlikey to change any time soon since people have their knickers in a twist about nuclear and different people are moaning about wind farms.

peteonsound

Andyr1 wrote: »

I have a fiesta econetic - same as the bluemotion, great on the long journeys but gets thirsty around town. You have to drive it very light footed to get any benefit from it. Average fuel I get is 78mpg or so.

hi
what was your optimal speed to get 78mpg?
i will buy one this week if this is your average mpg!!!