New Small/Medium Car - Most economical for medium journeys?

knightsy

I own my own company and one of our key strategies is to be as environmental as possible. With that in mind I am trying to find a nice balance between environmental impact, petrol cost and of course price.

The car will have two main journeys - 108 mile round trip from Norwich to Sudbury, probably 1/3 30-40mph, 1/3 50mph and 1/3 70mph. This will happen at least 75 times a year. And then 6 miles, 3/4 70mph 1/4 30mph. This will happen about 175 times a year.

As an example, I looked at the Peugeot 208 (£9995) - very good headline mpg 65, but at a 1.0 litre engine will that actually work out best for us? The Clio with eco2 has similar mpg, and whats called a tce90 engine.

I'd be interested on peoples thoughts and any other options that may use less petrol for our journeys.

The other option I am considering is the bmw i3. That comes out at £465 a month for 3 years personal lease, so alot a month, but zero petrol cost as I would have recharging available in Sudbury.

Ultrasonic

Have a look on the following website to see what mpg will be realistically achieved for the cars you are considering:
http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/realmpg/

The gulf between official and real-world economy figures is growing all the time. Cars with Stop-Start functionality in particular overestimate real economy.

Going by the journey figures you have given that is an annual mileage of 9,150. This is low enough that it probably isn't worth the additional expense of buying a diesel. If you only intend to run the cars over the warranty period then the risk of expensive failures won't be an issue for you, but longer term you need to factor this in as well.

Ultrasonic

If you're really looking to minimise costs then you could do worse that a Peugeot 107/Toyota Aygo/Citroen C1.

Weird_Nev

Ultrasonic wrote: »

If you're really looking to minimise costs then you could do worse that a Peugeot 107/Toyota Aygo/Citroen C1.

Horrible on motorways. Really not specified for it.

I'd go VAG. Skoda or VW "bluemotion" range. The 1.4Tdi is a good flexible engine with plenty of power for the motorway and a genuine 65Mpg Yield. Fabia or Polo. They also look professional without being showy and attract zero tax (or £30 at worst).

Ford Fiesta would also be high on my list. At 75 miles, and relatively decent milage you're well into the zone where diesel makes sense. The 1.0 petrol ecoboost is a good engine, but people struggle to get stated Mpg from it apparently.

Wh05apk

Weird_Nev wrote: »

Horrible on motorways. Really not specified for it.

Norwich to Sudbury has no motorways, journey has minimal dual carriageway, mainly "a" road, so not an issue.

I'd go VAG. Skoda or VW "bluemotion" range. The 1.4Tdi is a good flexible engine with plenty of power for the motorway and a genuine 65Mpg Yield. Fabia or Polo. They also look professional without being showy and attract zero tax (or £30 at worst).

Total annual mileage of less than 10,000 miles a year doesn't justify a diesel, the difference in costs between 50mpg and 65mpg is less than £20 pm is negligible compared to the additional costs of a diesel.

Ford Fiesta would also be high on my list. At 75 miles, and relatively decent milage you're well into the zone where diesel makes sense. The 1.0 petrol ecoboost is a good engine, but people struggle to get stated Mpg from it apparently.

If you are considering electric, how about a Leaf, they can be picked up quite cheap (ish) now, and if you can charge at both ends of the journey, they could be perfect.

Ultrasonic

Weird_Nev wrote: »

Horrible on motorways. Really not specified for it.

That's overly dramatic. I've been a passenger in an Aygo doing 70 mph and it was fine. I also factored in that the OP wasn't talking about anyone doing long motorway drives in it. My boss has an Aygo and regularly (twice a week minimum) does 100 mile plus trips, mostly on motorways. Not sure exactly what his salary is but it is definitely over £65k so if the Aygo was truly horrible on motorways I'm confident he could have found the cash to buy something else.

I wouldn't personally want to drive an Aygo, but for someone running a business that is trying to be relatively green and keep costs low I still think it is a reasonable suggestion. And I'm factoring in purchase price and insurance costs here as well as fuel economy.

Ultrasonic

Just to add, I'm in no way saying an Aygo or equivalent is definitely the way to go, just explaining that I don't think it is a totally silly idea!

OddballJamie

Prius or Ampera?

Joe_Horner

knightsy wrote: »

I own my own company and one of our key strategies is to be as environmental as possible. With that in mind I am trying to find a nice balance between environmental impact, petrol cost and of course price.

With those aims, why on earth are you looking to buy new?

All that energy and CO2 emissions involved in making a new car which will be nowhere near offset by the (nothing like as good as the headline figures) difference in fuel consumption, and huge depreciation into the bargain.

Please, if you want to be green, at least be really green!

Strider590

Joe_Horner wrote: »

With those aims, why on earth are you looking to buy new?

All that energy and CO2 emissions involved in making a new car which will be nowhere near offset by the (nothing like as good as the headline figures) difference in fuel consumption, and huge depreciation into the bargain.

Please, if you want to be green, at least be really green!

When it comes to business, it's about being green "on paper", it's really all just BS.

We fitted occupancy sensors of the office lighting circuits to save energy and conform to environmental standards, but in truth the sensors use nearly as much power as the lights and now we're sending fluorescent tubes to landfill at a vastly increased rate.

Stupid requirements thought up by braindead morons, without two technical brain cell to rub together.

Weird_Nev

Ultrasonic wrote: »

Just to add, I'm in no way saying an Aygo or equivalent is definitely the way to go, just explaining that I don't think it is a totally silly idea!

No, it's not "totally silly" but the Aygo and 107 (both of which I have driven for over a week each in normal use) are city cars by design. They're tinny, poorly noise insulated and underpowered for A-Road or motorway use. They're just not a nice place to be when It's a relatively long journey you make regularly.

I stick by my original recommendation. The tax benefits (OP doesn't state why he's getting a car for his company under personal lease terms, sees odd to me) of the high EC Mpg figure far outweigh the perceived expenses in running a diesel. For a used car buyer sure, be very wary of diesels, but under warranty for a new car? They make perfect financial sense.

And I'm talking of personal experience of the Skoda 1.4 Tdi engine, we had one for four years, my wife commuted 2 miles each way in it (don't get me started!) and we drove it the length of the land on weekends and holidays, and it STILL averaged 65 Mpg. Great little cars.

OP: If the image of environmental compassion is your primary concern, how about a Prius or a CRX Hybrid? Most people equate hybrids with environmental friendliness, and conveniently ignore the huge holes in Latin America where they get all the Lithium from...