You're absolutely right, but people use it as a gauge because they see the weekly spend. Fuel varies between 50% of the total cost per mile on an old banger like my much loved Mondeo to maybe 10% on a new lease car doing 10k miles a year. Shaving 20% off your fuel costs sounds attractive but if it only represents 2% of your total cost per mile it's not so critical.
Ouch
- Thread starter Tony Lockhart
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Cheese
Bitter lover
VED = Voluntary Educational Program ?
Seeker_UK
Feelin' nearly faded as my jeans
I bought the latest '66' plate I could get to avoid it. Although '17' plates are beginning to become exempt too.
I have a 66 plate currently.
Rana
pfm Member
Took a lease on a BMW 320i MSport 2.0 turbo petrol six weeks ago. Only done 500 miles so far, most of that this weekend, but averaged over 44mpg on the M4 and M5 from Reading to Exeter and back - should get even better when the engine has loosened up a bit. Off again to Cornwall on our first vacation since 2019 this Friday, so should be fun.
It certainly does. I hired a few small petrol turbo hatches as recently as 2016 and the fuel economy was frankly poor. Few of them achieved 40 mpg from very modest A road driving at speeds of 50-60 and journeys of 8 miles each way and 50 miles to and from tbe airport. When I was given diesels the costs were much lower, 50 mpg plus for the same driving. At the time I had a ratty Mondeo 1.8 petrol that would deliver 38mpg on the same journey, I was left wondering what was the point of the 1.0 3 cylinder turbos with less performance, a lot of complexity and no better economy.
Seeker_UK
Feelin' nearly faded as my jeans
The modern turbo petrol may match a larger capacity diesel for consumption but litre for litre, a diesel still offers better fuel consumption and they still lack that 2000 rpm 'oomph' from the turbo kicking in. It's what put me off going petrol again.
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Seeker_UK
Feelin' nearly faded as my jeans
I can only speak from experience of driving an Audi A4 45 TFSI and BMW 320i. Neither were as good as the diesel equivalent.
Tony Lockhart
Avoiding Stress, at Every Opportunity
The manufacturers are combining what they’ve learned about diesel engines with petrol engines, and making it all work well with quite incredible ECUs.
Take a look at the tuning world now. There are ridiculous power outputs from perfectly drivable turbo petrol engines. 600bhp+ from the VW 1.8T that powered the Mk4 Golf GTI. That’s more than the very best race spec RS500s had in the late 80s!
A few years ago I was a passenger in a VW Polo that, like my Passat, could switch to running on two cylinders. But, you could feel it change to that mode, it was horrible. Now? If it wasn’t for the dash display I really wouldn’t know. I think decent fuel helps, but still. Impressive.
Take a look at the tuning world now. There are ridiculous power outputs from perfectly drivable turbo petrol engines. 600bhp+ from the VW 1.8T that powered the Mk4 Golf GTI. That’s more than the very best race spec RS500s had in the late 80s!
A few years ago I was a passenger in a VW Polo that, like my Passat, could switch to running on two cylinders. But, you could feel it change to that mode, it was horrible. Now? If it wasn’t for the dash display I really wouldn’t know. I think decent fuel helps, but still. Impressive.
Rana
pfm Member
Point I was making is that newer gasoline engines are as efficient as previous diesels but I am in no doubt that the G20 320d is more efficient than the G20 320i, but from a torque point of view my 320i is limited to provide a differential to the 330i (same engine, different map). Didn't go for a diesel as I do less than 6000 miles a year these days, and I love the free revving nature of a gasoline engine (and didn't go for the 330i as I am a cheapskate!). I just came out of short A6 Quattro 45 TSi lease - really poor driveability unless in sport mode (I used to do powertrain calibration as a younger engineer)....that is, when it wasn't in the workshop being fixed - however even that lump consistently managed over 40mpg which is the one thing I was well impressed with. The 2017 Volvo S90 D4 I had prior to that was always 50-55mpg on similar journeys - lovely car.
But you can get 1000bhp YBs and have been able to for a while, the RS500s were only limited for race reliability, there was always more in them if you had deep enough pockets and that was with old tech, god knows where they are now.
Not to say that 20v VAG motor isn't a good one.
Not to say that 20v VAG motor isn't a good one.
Yes, and that's before they start watering it down with 10% ethanol at sod-all energy a gram. Only one C-C bond, no double bonds, it's not going to burn very hot. Ask any A level chemistry student.
Suffolk Tony
Aim low, achieve your goals, avoid disappointment.
I'm pretty amazed by how good fuel consumption is on modern cars. Up until recently, I've had diesels, latterly SUVs, the last such being a Porsche Macan that did 38-ish mpg. Not bad for a big vehicle. My latest car, a petrol BMW M340i saloon, is unfeasibly good on fuel. My regular 300 mile trips up to The Lakes, with the thing set on "Eco", gives me 43 mpg. It's a seriously fast car, and it's still fairly large (cars having all generally grown in size over the years). I used to have a tuned-up Mini back in the early 1970s that only did 22 mpg, although that might have been primarily due to the WEBER 28/36 DCD carb. I fitted, most of the petrol going through it seeming to bypass the cylinders on its way to the exhaust.
foxwelljsly
Me too, I ate one sour too.
Do you? I drive a very big car and tell myself this, but a smaller car with a bike rack, tow hitch and trailer would be a far more efficient option for the odd occasions when I need to move big things. If I am honest, the main reason I keep a big comfy car capable of 140 mph is that it’s lovely for motorway travel, but having done the same journeys in a Punto, I know I don’t need it. As a family living rurally, in which the two adults very seldom use private cars on the same day for commuting, I suspect we could get away with just one far smaller car without any issue and I have been considering making this leap for a while. It would also get me back on the bike more.
Tony Lockhart
Avoiding Stress, at Every Opportunity
Believe me, my previous C Class saloon was too small. Carrying a wheelchair everywhere and quite often a walker too isn’t easy. A trailer is an additional responsibility and I’ve nowhere to store it. A roof rack and box would be fine, but after my hernia op last year, I’m reluctant to take a risk on that front.
I investigated every option I could think of, even hired a few examples for a week at a time, and a large estate was the stand out best option.
