loan/car finance but very bad credit rating

BillJones

amyc92 wrote: »

That does sound a good idea Tixy, but I wanted something more reliable and cheap on fuel as I am spending a lot on fuel at the moment. Thats why I wanted a newer Ford Fiesta as its nearly double the MPG that mine is now.

Have you checked out the actual reported fuel usage? Manufacturers now "game" the tests, as a result of which cars tend to fall a long way below the claimed figures in real-world use.

Check out the data on the Honest John website, where people report their actual experiences, and don't believe the quoted figures. You find cars from one manufacturer with wildly differing claims (40mpg and 65mpg, in one example) which each actually do about 35.

amyc92

Thanks for all your advice, I think I will just stick to what I have for the time being and save up for a newer car instead of finance!

Thanks again :-)

iolanthe07

Manufacturers now "game" the tests,

To be fair, it is not the manufacturers' fault. They are mandated to use EU laboratory tests which are hopelessly unrealistic, by and large.

bigadaj

iolanthe07 wrote: »

Manufacturers now "game" the tests,

To be fair, it is not the manufacturers' fault. They are mandated to use EU laboratory tests which are hopelessly unrealistic, by and large.

I'd agree and would disagree with the post you quoted.

You certainly can't get the oublished figures out of cars in real world conditions as they may be carried out on rolling roads and are unrealistic but they should be useful in comparison for relative fuel efficiency between different makes and models.

bouncydog1

amyc92 wrote: »

Thanks for all your advice, I think I will just stick to what I have for the time being and save up for a newer car instead of finance!

Thanks again :-)

Nice that you've listened to the advice Amy. Nothing feels as good as knowing you own your car having saved up for it.

BillJones

iolanthe07 wrote: »

Manufacturers now "game" the tests,

To be fair, it is not the manufacturers' fault. They are mandated to use EU laboratory tests which are hopelessly unrealistic, by and large.

They are, but that does not force them to design a car which does brilliantly at the tests and fails so miserably when actually used. You'd hope that they'd design the cars to be as good as possible in reality, and not have one eye on the official stats.

The production of "blue" models seems particularly sneaky, with claims of huge benefits (at a cost), but real-word figures no different to "standard" models.

I'm averaging 11mpg, so I'm pretty envious of even the worst figures from these more efficient cars.

BillJones

bigadaj wrote: »

I'd agree and would disagree with the post you quoted.

You certainly can't get the oublished figures out of cars in real world conditions as they may be carried out on rolling roads and are unrealistic but they should be useful in comparison for relative fuel efficiency between different makes and models.

But as I pointed out above, they are not. Look at the Honest John data, and you'll see that he difference between claimed and real figures is extremely inconsistent, meaning that you are absolutely making the wrong decision in some cases if you base your choice on the official data.

What you post would only make sense if the official data were always a relatively fixed multiple of the real ones. IN reality two cars can have identical real-world data, but vastly differing official ones.

iolanthe07

I'm averaging 11mpg,

Wow! Are you driving a huge American RV?

BillJones

iolanthe07 wrote: »

I'm averaging 11mpg,

Wow! Are you driving a huge American RV?

No, just a little Mercedes C class coupe. The problem is that it has a 6.3 litre engine in the front.

I do most of my miles on a 70mpg scooter, though, use the tube, walk or cycle, so can live with appalling mileage for the few miles that I do drive each year.

norsefox

Audi, Mercedes and BMW have consistently the most overstated MPG of the car companies, anywhere from 20% - 25%+

If you drive downhill with the clutch in you can save petrol/diesel (in older models anyway) and not taking off at traffic lights like you're in a drag race also helps - but the 70+ MPG claimed on a number of models is most often unachievable in anything but perfect driving conditions.