Recommend me a motorway runner

fatbelly

4k will buy you a 6-year old mondeo diesel with average mileage.

You're going to struggle to beat that for value.

steve-L

jase1 wrote: »

Funnily enough I can get 50mpg doing motorway driving with a 2l petrol.

Granted I never achieve anything like that because I don't annoy everyone pootling along at 55mph, but there you go.

All this "can get x mpg" stuff is irrelevant.

It depends how many miles you do.....

Also, I don't know how many miles I might do a year. I change work locations so 3 months I might spend doing 200 miles /day then 6 months commuting on a train and then 3 months on 50 miles/day.

What I do know is when I can drive I get 0.45p/mile (the govt's tax limit). I get this as an expense so its tax free!

As such I want to make sure my car gets significantly better MPG than 45p/mile and depreciation on the car.

Hence my big diesel get's good MPG but is less depreciated mile by mile than the same car with a tiny 2.0 petrol engine.

The more miles I do the more I make.... or the more it goes to pay for the next car.

Unleaded is about £6/ gallon and Diesel 6.40 gallon.

So out of my £6.40 for a gallon of diesel, I get 50+ miles and get paid tax free £22.50 - £6.40 paid = £16.01 before depreciation but TAX FREE.

If I got 30mpg in petrol I'd get for my £6.00 £13.50-£6.00 paid £7.50 before depreciation BUT TAX FREE

My diesel depreciates slower than the petrol car so I win again.

As I pay a LOT of tax... the more I can get tax free the better!
Hence the bigger differential I can get in the 0.45p a mile and what it actually costs means the more I drive the more I earn.

If on the other hand I end up having to catch a plane or train I just don't get that bonus... so MPG and lower per mile depreciation really makes a difference for me.

harding1985

steve-L wrote: »

It depends how many miles you do.....

Also, I don't know how many miles I might do a year. I change work locations so 3 months I might spend doing 200 miles /day then 6 months commuting on a train and then 3 months on 50 miles/day.

What I do know is when I can drive I get 0.45p/mile (the govt's tax limit). I get this as an expense so its tax free!

As such I want to make sure my car gets significantly better MPG than 45p/mile and depreciation on the car.

Hence my big diesel get's good MPG but is less depreciated mile by mile than the same car with a tiny 2.0 petrol engine.

The more miles I do the more I make.... or the more it goes to pay for the next car.

Unleaded is about £6/ gallon and Diesel 6.40 gallon.

So out of my £6.40 for a gallon of diesel, I get 50+ miles and get paid tax free £22.50 - £6.40 paid = £16.01 before depreciation but TAX FREE.

If I got 30mpg in petrol I'd get for my £6.00 £13.50-£6.00 paid £7.50 before depreciation BUT TAX FREE

My diesel depreciates slower than the petrol car so I win again.

As I pay a LOT of tax... the more I can get tax free the better!
Hence the bigger differential I can get in the 0.45p a mile and what it actually costs means the more I drive the more I earn.

If on the other hand I end up having to catch a plane or train I just don't get that bonus... so MPG and lower per mile depreciation really makes a difference for me.

I think its fair to say you WIN Steve :T

Quinny_2

harding1985 wrote: »

No french please!

Why, what is wrong with them?

steve-L

harding1985 wrote: »

I think its fair to say you WIN Steve :T

Since you're using your car for business the same logic might apply!

I take a £5000/yr car perk ... (I think that might be the maximum to then claim milage allowance INSTEAD of Fuel.where you just get back what you put in..)

It also has some limits: Here is the 2011 Budget summary pertaining

Mileage rate increase 2011 budget
In recognition of the spiralling costs of running a car, the top rate for claiming mileage has been increased to £0.45p per mile(for the first 10,000 miles) from 6th April.
The rate remains at £0.25p per mile once you have reached the 10,000 mile threshold and also remains unchanged for motorcycles (£0.24p) and bicycles (£0.20p).

You are doing 12,500 (from your initial estimates) but all of that might not be business!
Also, once it drops to 25p/mile the MPG is even more important!

that needs balancing against a car that won't depreciate too much with high milage. (Check the ones with lowest milage correction in a paper copy of Parkers - no need to buy you can browse for free in a newsagents ....if you're feeling really cheap)

I actually paid for my current car on my milage allowance from my Honda Accord 2.2 TDCI and as it hit 175,000 I figured I might be best to cash-in before sticking another 25k on it. The Honda is still going strong with the OH!

The 330 gets slightly better motorway MPG than the Honda does despite almost double the power (275 bhp against 140 for the Honda)! Though it does drop to high 20's-low 30's in really bad town driving .... so slightly worse urban.

andygb

jase1 wrote: »

Funnily enough I can get 50mpg doing motorway driving with a 2l petrol.

Granted I never achieve anything like that because I don't annoy everyone pootling along at 55mph, but there you go.

All this "can get x mpg" stuff is irrelevant.

I can assure you that it is not irrelevant - unless of course you are the sort of person who likes flushing lots of money out the back of the tailpipe.
I run an Octavia, and it manages a regular 55MPG driven at normal motorway speeds. The tax is half that of the equivalent petrol car and the insurance is lower. The DMF cannot fail because it has a SMF. The DPF cannot fail because it doesn't have one.
It is comfortable and quiet, and the brakes and ride quality are very similar to my old BMW 5 series I had a few years ago.
Of course, anyone who buys a car purely on what badge it has will probably walk away.;)

steve-L

andygb wrote: »

Of course, anyone who buys a car purely on what badge it has will probably walk away.;)

I think the days of Skoda and particularly the Octavia being regarded as a cheap alternative are long gone.

I was looking to buy a diesel estate 3 years ago with my 1st choice at the time being the Octavia and ended up buying a Honda Accord instead due to being squeezed out over price.

In summary, not the bargain they once were IMHO but still a very nice car for motorway miles.

warehouse

Mondeo. Reliable, cheap as chips and built for exactly what you're looking for. Cheap to service too.

jase1

andygb wrote: »

I can assure you that it is not irrelevant - unless of course you are the sort of person who likes flushing lots of money out the back of the tailpipe.

... or the sort of person who likes flushing money away on depreciation.

I spent £2000 on a 5 year old car. Whereas a diesel Octavia of the same age is £5000. That extra 10mpg is going to have to mount up for a while to equal the cost saving on the vehicle, and that's before the additional potential costs of modern diesels are factored in.

chrisyboy

I travel 80 miles a day 5 days a week, I had a 2004 Mercedes C180K, with 70k on the clock, didnt even last 6 months without expensive problems, deceided to then buy a 2002 320d, worst car I have ever owned, after 2 months the turbo went, then after repairing it something else would fail monthly. Whilst it was in the garage I brought a 15 year old MK3 Golf 1.9 TDI as a run around, 2.5 years later BMW gone and the golf is still going strong, 240k on the clock, doesnt use any oil and always starts on the button cold or hot, 55-60 mpg as well and old skool bullet proof diesel engine so cheap to repair not that it has ever needed anything! bes £600 I have ever spent!!!