Running Costs

[MDMetal]

32 minutes ago, GranTurismoEra said:

Electric Vehicle?

Which one? The running costs are still something unless you've got free electricity? Even then no fuel and no road tax is going to save you what £1500 - £2500 a year? 

[ilogikal1]

So in about 10 years you might be breaking even...

 

Can someone get Mrs Lancaster to check with the kitchen? [/Groundhog Day reference]

[stoofer]

The Z is my sensible second car.

[formatzero]

4 hours ago, MDMetal said:

Which one? The running costs are still something unless you've got free electricity? Even then no fuel and no road tax is going to save you what £1500 - £2500 a year? 

Public car charging in Scotland is free ,no idea about south of the border.

[AntelopeSam]

I use a gallon a day to get to work and back and I don't think that's overly bad. 12ish miles and 40 minutes each way. Everyone has their own perspective.

 

Just like stoofer above, the Zed is my most efficient car. I try not to commute in the Land rover much as its lucky to get 12mpg on a steady run at 40mph (52 is flat out and untollorable). But i always get to work with a big smile on my face!

[grumpyoldjanner]

15 hours ago, Kryptek49 said:

Get a motorbike!

I bought an 2011 SV650S w/ 21k miles last week for £2k - running costs are only £90 yearly road tax, £200 insurance, 60mpg.  And to top that all off a 0-60 in under 4 seconds.  It's great fun and also very practical.

 

Might not be possible for everyone, but when you put the figures down like that it seems like a no brainer.

 

Speaking from experience, going down the motorbike route doesn't save any money! Had the same thought at the start of the year so did my CBT with the intention of pottering to work and round town on a 125cc. So spent a couple of thousand on a bike and all the kit. Returned around 110 mpg round town and to work and back so may have eventually paid back the out lay but it only lasted about 4 months as its lack of power got very boring very fast. So then it was a few hundred £££s more for my DAS course and test followed by a few thousand more £££s on a Honda CBR650F and then because I had a nice, newer, faster bike it was of course necessary to upgrade the cheap helmet and clothing I had bought to start with! And you can bet your house in a couple of years time when I've got a few years experience and no claims bonus so my insurance is more reasonable the 650 is getting replaced with something bigger still! Bikes are more addictive than zeditis  The acceleration is intoxicating, no getting stuck behind someone doing 40mph along a national speed limit A road on the bike! Out, overtaken and a mere spec in the mirror in a matter of seconds  The ability to filter through queues of traffic comes into its own in South West during the summer grockel invasion as well.

[Ben–350Z]

Thanks to everyone who has posted - reading these has certainly killed off my immediate desire to just get rid of it 

[shaunRS]

2 car is defo the way forward. Sold my e92 M3 and got a diesel insignia, went from £80pw to £20 pw in fuel. But after a few months i was bored to tears so went and bought a 2015  wrx sti as a weekend toy. Now i actually enjoy driving the insignia, knowing if i want power its sat at home waiting on me.

[Andy_Muxlow]

1 minute ago, shaunRS said:

2 car is defo the way forward. Sold my e92 M3 and got a diesel insignia, went from £80pw to £20 pw in fuel. But after a few months i was bored to tears so went and bought a 2015  wrx sti as a weekend toy. Now i actually enjoy driving the insignia, knowing if i want power its sat at home waiting on me.

I have a similar situation, I have a honda civic diesel for day to day driving as my commute can be from 30 miles to 400 miles per day and i also have my 370Z for a weekend toy/fun car.

[GranTurismoEra]

19 hours ago, MDMetal said:

Which one? The running costs are still something unless you've got free electricity? Even then no fuel and no road tax is going to save you what £1500 - £2500 a year? 

hmm. My z cost around £3500 (fuel, tax, insurance, monthly payments) for a year. Cost to buy was half the price of the cheapest used TESLA. I suppose you can cut the running cost in half and just pay insurance!

 

But sooner or later they will tax electric when VED drops like a sack of spuds from £30 billion due to more people upgrading to "EV" lol

 

Missed cold starts and sounds of exhaust over the past 14 months

 

Swings and roundabouts I suppose

Edited October 1, 2019 by GranTurismoEra

[GranTurismoEra]

1 hour ago, Ben–350Z said:

Thanks to everyone who has posted - reading these has certainly killed off my immediate desire to just get rid of it 

Good

[Kryptek49]

13 hours ago, grumpyoldjanner said:

Speaking from experience, going down the motorbike route doesn't save any money!

I think it depends how you do it.

Lets saying training is £100 CBT + £600 DAS.  Clothing can be fairly cheap, I got all mine for around £300-400.  All branded gear bar the trousers which were still quality ones from Amazon.  Helmets can really vary in cost, a Shoei can be £500+ but if it has the same safety rating as a £100 helmet then if you're on a budget the £100 one will do just fine.

 

My first bike was a Suzuki GS500F.  I paid £1,300 for it 2 years ago at 15k miles, and sold it last week for £1,150 w/ 24k miles on it.  £150 depreciation over 2 years is great, especially when you consider how much the Zeds drop.

 

If you can look at the bike cost itself as an investment, then you're really only spending £1.5k start up fees + £300 for tax and insurance. Then the following years its only the £300 that continues.

Upgrading is always nice though!

[coldel]

I have a VX220 and a Nissan Qashqai, the Qashqai is great for chucking stuff into/doing boring runs but I actually enjoy the relative luxury of it after climbing out the VX!

[Lee370Z]

Yes and if funds/space allow I think that the two car set up really works. I tried the one car do it all with my E92 M3 and it didn't work for me(the car didn't feel special using it everyday/fuel costs were epic/plus it was frustrating not being able to use the performance very often). Now I'm happy to have my MINI Cooper S as the affordable daily and my 370Z as a weekend/occasional car. 

[AntelopeSam]

Having a bike to save money can work though. If you don't count the cost of getting a licence as everyone should have one anyway

Helmet -£70

Gloves -£30

Leather jacket -£40

Leather trousers when I can be bothered -£0

Boots - £90

 

They say that a bike requires 4x the maintenance of a car, but if your good with a spanner and buy parts from breakers it can be cheap as you like. I proberbly spend £100 a year repairing mine as it has no cats, no abs, no fuel injection, no emissions test at MOT time... Just fork seals, spark plugs & service items really.

 

I bought my current 02 fzs1000s for £1100, £120 insurance and £86 tax a year. It gets over 55mpg and 0-60 in under 3 seconds. I've just taken it 1400+ miles around Scotland and it didn't miss a beat. Its got 61k on the clock but still runs well.

Buy a bike you don't mind crashing and you won't even have to repair it when you fall off because everyone falls off atleast 4/5 times when they start riding! 

 

 

[Ben–350Z]

23 hours ago, GranTurismoEra said:

hmm. My z cost around £3500 (fuel, tax, insurance, monthly payments) for a year.

That's sort of what I think mine probably costs. Rough guesstimate for a Focus ST (mk3) would save about £1500/year. But that's still, 3-4 years before it pays for itself. I did go and look at one, and it's annoyingly nice. So I'm once again slightly confused what I want to do 

[Kryptek49]

18 hours ago, AntelopeSam said:

They say that a bike requires 4x the maintenance of a car

Can't say I've ever heard that before! A lot less parts so a lot less servicing I would have thought.  Old carbs are always fun though.

Agree with all of the rest though

[nowhereboy]

I sold my Z for the same reason, stupidly I bought a MK2 ST running 300+ BHP and that was even more expensive to run. 

 

I now drive a FN2 Type R and it really made me realize, it's not all about big BHP. The little Honda is so fun to drive and I absolutely love it. 

 

I also realized it's absolutely mental to spend 8 hours a day working a job I dislike to fund a completely unnecessary item that sits in traffic 90% of its life. 

[nowhereboy]

On 02/10/2019 at 11:35, Ben–350Z said:

That's sort of what I think mine probably costs. Rough guesstimate for a Focus ST (mk3) would save about £1500/year. But that's still, 3-4 years before it pays for itself. I did go and look at one, and it's annoyingly nice. So I'm once again slightly confused what I want to do 

You will never save money in an ST. If you want one, buy it, but it won't save any money. 

[Ben–350Z]

17 minutes ago, nowhereboy said:

You will never save money in an ST. If you want one, buy it, but it won't save any money. 

I know - had a mk2 before the 350Z. Going back to one of those would only really save on tax... So was looking at a mk3 with the tiny engine - allegedly 39mpg. But yes, still not going to save (much or any) money. Do want one, but going to look at a Fiesta ST as well, and take it from there.

 

 

24 minutes ago, nowhereboy said:

I now drive a FN2 Type R and it really made me realize, it's not all about big BHP.

Interesting, hadn't really thought about Type Rs... Think I just have a notion they're really expensive to run because VTEC.

 

[AW11mike]

My daily is a FN2 type R. Awesome car, cheap reliable, and fun.

[GranTurismoEra]

On 30/09/2019 at 21:50, formatzero said:

Public car charging in Scotland is free ,no idea about south of the border.

loool wow. Is everything free in Scotland. Government seem to be holding a lot of hands. Whos paying for that 

[formatzero]

4 hours ago, GranTurismoEra said:

loool wow. Is everything free in Scotland. Government seem to be holding a lot of hands. Whos paying for that 

Its funded by the Scottish government at the moment through Chargeplace Scotland who have website and app to show all charging locations.It's a push to encourage people into electric vehicles to meet pollution targets.There is talk at the moment of a charge being made if the charger is located at a privately owned business which is fair enough,but public chargers will be free at least for now.I have done 15k in the last 18 months with no fuel charge and no road tax which seems ok to me.I didn't buy my electric car new of course.

[LukeA]

I’m on the same boat as you currently, I’m fed up with spending £450 a month just on petrol + running cost. I’ve been looking for a few months now and it only really makes sense if I got a diesel but I loose the fun and performance side of things. 

To me even getting a second car I will save £250 a month on petrol but I’ll still have tax and insurance to pay + servicing items and looking after the car. You’ll still have to pay all the servicing costs no matter how much you drive it but instead of paying £300 a year servicing costs it’ll just be spread out over 2 years for example. Tax and insurance will put the price up all together so how much will you actually be saving? 

 

I sas it like this:

1) zed on its own, 

£5000 petrol, £500 servicing costs, £30 mot , tax £500, insurance £800 all for a year £6830

 

2) 2 cars. £2500 petrol, tax 500/130, insurance £1k, servicing £600, mot x2 £60 for a year £4790 

its till a saving but is it worth it to you. 

This is only an example but 2 cars mean you have to look after both just the zed won’t be used as much and loose the pleasure of driving in it 

 

It it all depends how much you want to save, I’m saving for different reasons to you. How much will you actually save unless you sell the zed  but that’s the same with all cars. 

[davey_83]

OP has already stated a second car isnt an option.