Anyone else so sick of petrol prices that there thinking of changing their car?

I done some sum's tonight and relised that over the last 8000 miles I've spend at least £3400 on fuel for my Astra VXR!!! On top of paying for the car every month then road tax, insurance, tyres, servicing the cost of motoring is just unbelievable.

Time for a change me thinks even a G-wiz sounds good to this petrol head right about now!

Must admit I don't spank the car these days – still wring the bikes neck though lol – couldn't buy a diesel though, just don't like the way they drive – if I did it would be something like a 3.0l a6 diesel avant which wouldn't really save anything over current motor

I shopped the RX8 in for a 1.6 diesel focus and I'm bloody chuffed with the move.

sick of them yes – change no
We have a diesel octavia that will do 45-55mpg & a Transit that will do 30-32mpg with all my bikes, a bed, BBQ, Stoves, Tools and much more.

Now on the other hand is I had an Astra I might be thinking of changing it – mainly due to it being as Astra

Not that concerned have a diesel and it's fantastic with great mpg. Been a saving grace the last few days when I've had to use it alot. £30 in on Friday done about 200+ miles in it, some at speeds that'll really get things stirring on here and still showing 85 miles range which will be more like 100+.

If I'd used my petrol it would have cost me more than twice as much easily.

I done some sum's tonight and relised that over the last 8000 miles I've spend at least £3400 on fuel for my Astra VXR!!!

I think you may have done your sums wrong! At about £1.10 a litre (average for the last year) that works out to be 11.8mpg……

Which, even for a sporty car is not even close. I'd think you'd get mid 20s fairly easily, unless you spend all your time on a track or in 1st gear! That would be about right for 18000 miles though…..

That said, we've just bought another scooter, a modern Vespa GT200. £33 tax, £76 fully comp insurance for me and Mrs PP to ride, £60 for a full service and 73mpg. As fast or faster off the line than most cars, 80mph, and no waiting in traffic. Which is handy. 😀

I have had many great cars over the years but last year we bought a 09 1.6 Diesel Focus, £35 road tax and good mpg it's ideal.

Im considering two options to improve the fuel cost of my T4 from.

One of these:

for £1350. Buying catering oil at c.60p a litre.

and also thinking of having the engine chipped from 88bhp to 105+

What?

no one's come up with the line "fuel is still too cheap" yet?

I'm losing my faith in this place 😉

actually if people are now seriously considering more efficient cars, alternative fuels etc then fuel is actually not "too cheap" it's price is starting to influence restriction on consumption. Markets in action ! Who'd've thunk it?! 😉

The cooking oil idea has some risk too
I think even the most basic catering oil got to within 10% of the diesel price last time prices went through the roof

I just want someone to develop some sea algae farms that capture CO2 and can be rendered into a complex hydrocarbon for use in cars. Come on scientists! Show your metal!

Stoner – Member

actually if people are now seriously considering more efficient cars, alternative fuels etc then fuel is actually not "too cheap" it's price is starting to influence restriction on consumption. Markets in action

The problem with that argument is that almost 90p per litre is taxation, it's not the market thats making fuel so expensive, it's the government. They are trying to use taxation to alter people's behaviour. Otherwise, fuel would get really cheap through free market competition until it was all gone.

I sold my petrol A4 for a Frod Focus diseasel, so it's worked my me 🙁

I looked at this thread earlier and then went off and made coffee and realised that the figures for the VXR looked horrendous, so did some maths for our 2.2ton Kia Sedona and that only works out at a third of the price of that.

There must be something seriously wrong to be getting those sort of fuel consumption figures!

Just chopped in an S reg Peugeot 406 2.0ltr Petrol Estate for a 1.0lt Toyota Aygo, half the fuel cost, cheap tax, no MOT for three years, warrenty, cheaper servicing etc

So, while fuel cost was not the reason as such it's meant that for the same overall cost of ownership my wife has a new car plus we don't have any worries re reliability (something was bound to fall off the pug this year).

There must be something seriously wrong to be getting those sort of fuel consumption figures!

I think there is (See my last post above)

£3400 @ £1.10/l (Average) = 3091 l
3091 / 4.55 = 679.3 gallons
8000 miles / 679.3 = 11.8mpg

Which can't be right.

At 18000 miles it works out to be 26.5, which is closer. I reckon it's a typo. 🙂

My Land Rover does about 20-25mpg, I find this is not really relevant as I only drove 1200 miles in it last year.

post deleted. 😳

Has anyone gone down the LPG conversion route yet?

Been offered a tax exempt ex work Land Rover for silly money and was thinking of converting it for a cheap run around?

What are the conversion cost like at the moment?

it's price is starting to influence restriction on consumption.

Great, let's hope petrol gets more expensive then given that so far people's efforts seem to be thinking about buying a different car and caning the accelerator a bit less.

PP that looks much better and is about what I'd expect something like a VXR to be doing.

I can remember when I was skint after my wife buggered off and left me with my two week old daughter and my fuel for my car when I could afford to drive worked out to 50% of my money a week.

That was when fuel looked expensive to me.

I've got data on my iPhone here right now

You must be fascinating at parties. 😉

Oh, I am. 🙂

Data was incomplete, that's why I deleted it.

Same as Tiger6791, well apart from the landrover bit.

I scrapped my 12 year old VW Sharan 1.9TDi which consistently averaged 40mpg and bought a Smart CDi which is averaging 63.56mpg I can just squeeze a bike in the car, but I'm a bit disappointed that I'm not getting near the manufacturers claimed 85mpg (probably due the the hilly nature of my commute) zero tax band though 🙄

For LPG conversions speak to

Home

you can fit it yourself for a fraction of what someone would charge you.

The issue of getting a certificate from the people that fit it so that you can show your insurance company is, a myth.
If you fit the system yourself you will know enough about it to service / maintain it yourself.

Interesting that even with the price, the refineries are getting out of Europe because they make no money

The stinking fuel factories of Europe and North America are in their death throes, crushed by high oil prices and shrinking demand for oil products. Total is losing €100 million (£88 million) per month from its European refinery business. BP suffered a $1.9 billion deficit in its global fuel-making business in the fourth quarter, while Shell has announced another wave of redundancies, mainly in the downstream fuels business, after profits were hammered in refining and marketing.

The problem is that there are too many refineries in Europe and too many that are inefficient, equipped only to process expensive light North Sea crudes rather than cheaper Russian or Arabian crudes with high sulphur content.

uplink – Member
What?

no one's come up with the line "fuel is still too cheap" yet?

I'm losing my faith in this place

Yeah TJ ( a non car owner) will be along soon… 🙄

I done some sum's tonight and relised that over the last 8000 miles I've spend at least £3400 on fuel for my Astra VXR!!! On top of paying for the car every month then road tax, insurance, tyres, servicing the cost of motoring is just unbelievable.

The cost of fuel is only relevent when you actually drive the thing, you've probably lost more in depreciation anyway.

I've a 535i which averages nearer 20mpg. The fact that its suffered practically no depreciation in the two years I've owned it, and pretty standard servicing/parts/labour etc means its no more 'expensive' than a newer more fuel efficent car. And probably far cheaper than a nice new hatchback that'll do 40-50mpg.

Plus it puts a smile on my face whenever I drive it 😆

What the other bloke said. Either your sums are wrong or you drive in spectacular fashion everyday.

My experience is that cars vary a fair bit from the manufacturer's figures when I drive. There's a definite sweet spot as far as I'm concerned – a 1.6 or 1.8 Golf / Focus sized car will do decent MPG with me driving. Anything with a smaller engine and I thrash it to bits to make it move, anything with a lot of performance and I can't resist using it 😆

I think b r has it. His figures will be the depreciation of his vauxhall. Then there's his fuel on top. 😀

The fact that its suffered practically no depreciation in the two years I've owned it,

That's what they tell you when you buy it, I hope it's true when you actually come to sell……

"Oh no sir, demand for those has fallen recently"

I remember my old boss buying a new Mini when they first came out. Virtually depreciation proof they were. When he came to sell 2-3 years later, he couldn't give the damned thing away…..

Depreciation isn't too much of an issue if you buy a cheap s/h car to start with then run it into the ground.

Petrol prices are now starting to make me think a bit more about making shorter journeys. Like a couple of earlier comments, I have now bought a scooter. £15 road take, £8 to fill up, and over 200 miles to the tank. It has halved my commute time in London. Still have the car and wouldn't live without it, but I do think more before using it nowadays.

I moved house at the weekend and hired a van. Now that did scare me. A 450 mile round trip cost over £170 in fuel! Suprisingly, fuel economy was no different moving out with the van fully loaded than it was on the way back completely empty.

The problem with that argument is that almost 90p per litre is taxation, it's not the market thats making fuel so expensive, it's the government. They are trying to use taxation to alter people's behaviour. Otherwise, fuel would get really cheap through free market competition until it was all gone.

So by this logic you would prefer that 90p to go into the oil companies pockets rather than into the government coffers, where it (theoretically) should be put to good use.

The last time petrol went up by 25% I heard that petrol usage went down by 25% (I may have my numbers wrong) I wonder how far the price can be pushed up and that equality still to hold?

That's what they tell you when you buy it, I hope it's true when you actually come to sell……

I'm not daft – Only paid £2k.

Stoner – Member

I just want someone to develop some sea algae farms that capture CO2 and can be rendered into a complex hydrocarbon for use in cars. Come on scientists! Show your metal!

USAF is on the case

Algae to solve Pentagons jet fuel problem

As above, fuel costs will fade into insignificance for some once you factor in depreciation. Buy smart.

I'm not daft – Only paid £2k.

Well done! 🙂

Bought smart… Well, bought an old site car from my dad's company for peanuts. it had high mileage, it's worth next to nothing, I do less than 10k a year in it and it is relatively cheap to run as a consequence (apart from replacing bits that have rusted/broken/dissolved. It is a Vauxhall after all)

HOWEVER… I am still planning on getting something far more economical (Octavia TDi estate probably) when the Frontera dies, and in the meantime, I'll be getting a new bike for the commute. I've yet to work out the savings involved with using a bike for the commute, but I think it might be enough to pay for the bike in a reasonable timeframe.