Keep my car or upgrade

col81

I have a audi a6 avant diesel auto 61 plate 127k in perfect working order. I travel 20k per annum and I am putting £340 a month fuel in it 37mpg average do I stick with it or upgrade to a newer car like a vw passat diesel manual 55mpg average? I've been offered £4500 for my car and the cars I like are £7000. Should I upgrade or stick?

AdrianC

20k/year = 1670/mo
At £1.20/litre...
37mpg = 203 litres = £243
55mpg = 136 litres = £163

So you're looking at a saving of £80/month.
£2,500 upgrade cost would take 31 months to recoup.

BOWFER

"can I get someone to do the sums for me"

Someone always does....

Anyway, if you know your own car is reliable I don't see why you'd take a chance of another one that won't be that much younger and might be a right pain in the.....
If you're not substantially upgrading, which you're clearly not, stick with the one you know.

benbay001

Two similar sized cars, weighing similar. How are you expecting to go from 37mpg to 55mpg?

Technology has moved on but not that much.

I imagine the 55mpg will be "best case" whereas your 37 mpg is what youre actually getting.

37mpg is poor so id imagine youre doing alot of town driving? In which case you wont see the 55mpg from the new car.

prestonmike

a lot of cars over state their true mpg, so i'd expect the passat to do slightly less than 55mpg, you'd also have to factor in the difference in insurance/road tax not just the fuel costs

WaywardDriver

Might be difficult going back to manual after driving auto for so many years. 

Sea_Shell

If you go to look at a new(er) car, see if you can find the average mpg in the trip computer.

The dealer may have reset it, but then they might not. 

I know I forget ours is even there!  So it never gets reset. 

Grumpy_chap

The short answer to the OP's question is "stick".

The long answer is focused on the key phrase in the OP advising us that the current car is "in perfect working order".  The possible change is from a £4.5k car to a £7k car of generally similar caliber.  Given the type of use will be similar, the actual improvement in fuel economy will be unlikely to match the step-change the OP is seeking.  Any new (but used) car of this type at around £7k is an unknown and may not be a sound runner.  The OP may not achieve the gains expected and may lose if the replacement vehicle is unreliable, so "stick".

couriervanman

Stick with the Audi

justworriedabit

Also the possibility the car may start needing more money spent on it and crashing in value after another x miles and some major service required at point X etc.

The upgrade, depreciation, but on the whole better mileage but no grantee its going to be trouble free as its going to be new to you and cars with higher miles can behave differently when a long term driver stops driving it and a new driver/owner takes over.

Therefore, run the existing car into the ground before changing.

col81

My audi has just had a full service, cambelt water pump done and 4 new tyres. My point is doing 20k I was looking at a passat manual rather than the auto audi. I was looking to go to a 65 plate with 95k on it. My audi has never let me down. It's simply the fuel costs. The insurance is £150 cheaper in vw and the tax £30 rather than £220 in the audi. I would need to borrow the cash for the upgrade