Local Driving, Petrol or Diesel

[orangewheeledwonder]

Hi Everyone!

Just needing some help about what car to choose next!.

We currently own a mk1 punto 1.2. It has no power steering, no central locking etc so thats gota go soon. We also have a focus ST 2.0. Both are petrol cars.

Going to start sharing cars to we are thinking what to get next.

There will be about 5-6 journeys a day that are less than 2 miles. Once a week we may have journeys of about 10 miles there and 10 back. once a month or two may have longer journeys of about 60miles each way.

would love to get rid of the cars altoghether but with 2 kids that are 4 years old its not that easy!



The puntos getting sold.
Do we:
Stick to the ST as its an amazing example of a car (55k on clock FSH etc) but it gives 18mpg local driving and about 15 mpg in winter!

The punto on a 1.2 gives about 23 mpg and 15 in winter.

we will be doing about 7-8000 miles a year.

Do we sell the st and punto and get a 1.6 petrol or would we be better with a diesel for short trips? With the diesel are running costs higher, and iv heard more things can go wrong with a diesel. or stick to the st as the savings wont be thaaat much and have fun lol

Budget will be about £2500- £3000 max.

Cheers!

 

[AndyRKett]

I had 2.3 Saab 900 that would do more than 23mpg round town and a v8 range rover that would do 15mpg in the winter and that was nearly 3times the capacity of your 1.2 punto and probably 3 times the age too

I seriously think you need to reassess the way you drive cars might make them more affordable that way you could keep the ST

That said there is a very nice 1.9 jtd 2004/5 mk2b eleganza on eBay with a dealer for £2.5k 50+mpg cruise control climate control parking sensors rain sensing wipers 5 disc cd changer and mp3 head unit with fiat fitted sub in boot etc etc basically every option ticked and I think the mileage is pretty reasonable too

Cheap tax cheap insurance lovely car and right in the middle of your budget I would get that and sell the others





....spend the change on a pair of much lighter boots

 

[x Alex x]

Small petrol i would say, you get all sorts of problems with modern diesels if they don't get long runs out often, more to fix and service etc too.

 

[dave]

diesel, even the 1.9 croma 16v td can do 35mpg town driving, and that is a big heavy car.

for 3k you can pick up a top of the range 4 year old croma

 

[Nathan126]

23 mpg from a 1.2 punto? how?
My 1.2 panda usually gets no less than 40 minimum, but i know it's no sports car..

 

[Caravadossi]

It’s argued you need to be doing >15K mls/annum to make a diesel a viable option. It will take 5 miles for your temp gauge to come-up to the vertical. The engine will not reach optimum efficiency unless you can sustain 2K revs & 70mph for longer trips.

1.9/16v150hp

111229

 

[dave]

The engine will not reach optimum efficiency unless you can sustain 2K revs & 70mph for longer trips.

1.9/16v150hp

111229

mine only revs at 1500 at 70

 

[sludgeguts]

mine only revs at 1500 at 70

It's been a few days since I took mine out on the superslab but I'm fairly certain mine's revving over 2k (probably around 2.5k) at 70mph. In fact, I often think I'm still in 4th (a couple of the vehicles I drive at work have 6 gears so used to less noise).

 

[Dominion]

Based on the fact that the vast majority of your journeys are less than 2 miles, I'd definitely get rid of both cars and go for something with a small petrol engine. Diesel will be a complete waste of time pottering around like that. A small petrol engine will get up to operating temp much quicker, so better suited for shorter journeys, and more modern equivalents of your punto will show a far better return regarding fuel consumption (23mpg? WTF?). Also a modern 1.2 will handle your longer journeys comfortably too.

 

[Ziggy122]

my parents have a 2 litre diesel mpv
and the short runs do NOT do the car any good

It Never warms up - takes a good 5miles to start showing
and in the cold you have to scrap and wait when its frozen

So the cat will just clog up, it needs a very regular Heavy footed approach when its red hot to clear it out

im all for the Little petrol engine
But the current punto doing only 23mpg? that is naff! Most average 35
I averaged 32 with a kaput exhaust system........

Ziggy

 

[johnson550]

I would say without a doubt get a diesel, dont know where this short journey thing comes from taxis do it all the time. Change the oil and filter, air filter at the correct time and you wont go far wrong.

Two mile max and I have enough heat to put blower on.

 

[Dominion]

Takes at least five miles, usually more for my diesel to warm up at all.

 

[Andy Monty]

I would say without a doubt get a diesel, dont know where this short journey thing comes from taxis do it all the time. Change the oil and filter, air filter at the correct time and you wont go far wrong.

A taxi might do lots of short drives BUT its never turned off and run all day

A modern diesel with DPF and EGR need to be got up to operating temperature and run regularly for about 20 miles which is just about enough to get the engine up to temperature and long enough to allow the DPF to regenerate


That and now the price gap between diesel and petrol is knocking on 10ppl Diesel is more expensive to service and if anything goes wrong (freind of mines sister has a C4 and does lots of short trips... and managed to clog the DPF.. thats just cost her £700+ vat for an exchange of the DPF unit

 

[dave]

Citroën and peugeot dpf's are known to be worse than others though

op has 2 kids so would need quite a large car to fit them and all their stuff in, a small petrol engine car may not be up to the job, can always remove a dpf

 

[Magic Johnson]

The puntos getting sold.
Do we:
Stick to the ST as its an amazing example of a car (55k on clock FSH etc) but it gives 18mpg local driving and about 15 mpg in winter!

The punto on a 1.2 gives about 23 mpg and 15 in winter.

LOL.

You know you can come out of 1st gear, right?

Both cars should be above 40mpg if driven well, maybe high 30s for the ST.

You plonker.

 

[SweetEvo19]

According to the 5 journey i've made with eco drive my avg is 23.7 mpg over 10 miles with my Punto evo 1.4.

 

[Magic Johnson]

Lol something wrong with your car...or your driving.

 

[sludgeguts]

A taxi might do lots of short drives BUT its never turned off and run all day

AND, have you seen the way most of them drive? Round here it's like some sort of Xbox game, they really do thrash their engines.
If a driver picks someone up at, say, our main tesco & takes them just around the corner, you can bet they will easily have covered 8 - 10 miles without turning the engine off (base - tesco - drop off - base) & much of that will have been done at high revs.

 

[orangewheeledwonder]

Thank you for your responses.

The dpfs only come into all cars after 2006 so that may not be too much of an issue. Dave- are they hard to remove?


Reason for low mpg is a) yes I have a heavy foot lol b) theres local driving, then there the driving we do.
Cold morning start, 1.5 mile jouney, ten mins later another 1.5 mile journey, 4 hour stop after etc etc. so its very short trips and cold engines.
c) Bradford is very hilly, so its steep hills everywhere we go.

I had a 1.6 civic sport and that gave me 22mpg with my style of driving and 25mpg when I was efficent. I think it boils down to the hills.

My friend has a 1.9tdi a3 thats only a few years old and that gives him about 30-35mpg as a "grandad" driver. and he does a 20 mile round trip daily.

Iv read that diesels are more fuel efficent when its cold, but could do with a good "italian" driving when I get the chance.

I think a small car (as Dave said) isnt right because of the two monkeys so it would have to be about a 1.6 petrol or a good turbo diesel.

Croma looks good but and not fiat options could be considered....

cheers!

 

[SweetEvo19]

Lol something wrong with your car...or your driving.

Just went up to 26 after a short drive there... maybe because its a new car? the eco drive says 5 stars for speed, 4 stars decceleration, 3 and a half acceleration and 3 and a half gears thats hardly very bad.