Running Costs

[LukeA]

16 minutes ago, davey_83 said:

OP has already stated a second car isnt an option.

Oops got carried away lol sorry. 

 

The only option left is getting another car but that’s the problem I’m having, there’s no cheap fun cars that match the perforce the closest I have come is an Audi TTS, but still not the performance. The zed is one of the cheapest cars in this range. If you don’t like the TTS try a BMW Z4 not really much else I have found. Mazda 3 mps if you like hatchbacks then also fiesta st but still not much on performance front 

 

If anyone knows a cheap to run and match performance then let me know please I beg 

[gangzoom]

1 hour ago, LukeA said:

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

 

Our near 3 ton electric 6 seater SUV with sub 5 second 0-60 time has cost me £1000 in fuel, £0 in service, and only £450 in tyres in 29K miles, so 5p per mile including tyres.

 

Ofcourse the purchase price is high, but with the appearance of cheaper new EVs and used Tesla's now starting at £30K you can now get cheap running costs AND great performance.

 

Ironically because of the crazy cheap running costs I think used prices will take a long long time to fall to sub £20K, let alone Z values. Our EV has retained over 70% list price value at 2.5 years old!

Edited October 6, 2019 by gangzoom

[ilogikal1]

Let’s just ignore that more often than not  with Teslas, that 30% loss would, as near as makes no difference, pay for the Z when it was new...

[gangzoom]

5 hours ago, ilogikal1 said:

Let’s just ignore that more often than not  with Teslas, that 30% loss would, as near as makes no difference, pay for the Z when it was new...

Used ones are now £30k, I don't think your loss much if any value on them for the next 18 month.

 

When used 'P' Model 3s start appearing in another a few years they will be most 'affordable' sub 3.5 second to 60mph cars you can buy, especially after factoring in running costs.

 

But thats partly why used prices are so solid. New prices on all EVs appear to be going a bit nuts, the latest the Leaf is now over £40k with options!!

Edited October 7, 2019 by gangzoom

[GranTurismoEra]

16 hours ago, LukeA said:

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. 

Get a second car that costs £30 pound to tax and £20 a week on fuel lol. The problem is you want a second performance car on a budget. The second car is suppose to be ECO if youre trying to save. 

 

If not happy days!

Edited October 7, 2019 by GranTurismoEra

[ilogikal1]

And £40 to buy, that also folds up into a pocket sized cube when not using it.

 

 

Apparently a Tesla can do that whilst also not losing you, or costing you, any money at all. Or something.

[Ben–350Z]

I think with the sort of budget I'm looking at, only an original Toyota Aygo with it's little to no road tax would actually save anything... Could be a laugh in it's own special way!

 

Looks like - from spending a super fun weekend doing maths - I could move a lot closer to work, so that cuts the fuel bill for the Zed significantly. And probably could cycle some not so crappy weather days too, for even more saving. And keep an awesome car <3

[ilogikal1]

9 hours ago, gangzoom said:

Used ones are now £30k, I don't think your loss much if any value on them for the next 18 month.

 

When used 'P' Model 3s start appearing in another a few years they will be most 'affordable' sub 3.5 second to 60mph cars you can buy, especially after factoring in running costs.

 

But thats partly why used prices are so solid. New prices on all EVs appear to be going a bit nuts, the latest the Leaf is now over £40k with options!!

A £30k* Tesla, you'll be referring to the Model S 85 then. The same Model S that is £77,700 when new (with no options), so if they're £30k now that means they're holding 40% of their value. A bit different from the 70% you claimed earlier.

 

Of course being a Tesla, that can easily go up to £107,440 with options, but then I guess those ones will still be worth £75k used these days, right.

 

Oh, and not that 0-60 means anything at all, but it's actually 3.7 seconds for the "cheap" one.

 

 

*And let's again overlook that is still the cost of the Z when it was new, so big savings to be had over a used Z, obviously.

 

I now see the appeal of doing donuts. All this going round in circles sure is fun.

[davey_83]

Location location location 

[rabbitstew]

On 30/09/2019 at 14:53, MDMetal said:

Yah Cambourne to the science park :/ stuck with the times as I have to drop our son at nursery as well

I don't miss that bit of my commute at all. In fact, a few months back I moved our offices out of Cambourne up to St Neots, so I pretty much avoid all the A428 / A14 completely.

 

On 30/09/2019 at 14:59, Ben–350Z said:

Well, I'm doing near Ely to Milton - time of day doesn't seem to make much difference at the moment. If you're on the A10, it sucks. A14 also broken. And a silly long way around.

 

It just seems to keep getting worse, though

I used to do A10 from Ely to Cambridge from about 2000 to 2008 and it was bad enough back then. Since then they have been building loads more houses.

 

On 01/10/2019 at 01:11, grumpyoldjanner said:

 

Speaking from experience, going down the motorbike route doesn't save any money!........ The ability to filter through queues of traffic comes into its own in South West during the summer grockel invasion as well.

I used to use a bike for commuting for many years. Started off with a ZX7R, then Ducati 748S, then an R1. The same as with a car, it depends upon which bike you buy as to what sort of depreciation you will have. Running costs I found, servicing, petrol, tax and even insurance were all cheap. But id get through a set of tyres every couple of months. And whilst you can filter through traffic and would get to work & home with a big buzz as if you had just stepped off a roller coaster, the hassle of getting all the gear on/off plus riding in the rain/snow/ice was a pain.

 

I think i've tried most options. For me I found the biggest cost per year outside of fuel was depreciation. For 4 years I ran a £700 old banger diesel. Did 50+mpg, serviced it myself. Due to its age various bits would go wrong, but in the main was cheap to run. Did about 80,000 miles in it then I sold it for about the same price I paid for it. So zero depreciation but boring as anything to drive. At the other end of the scale, I ran my zed for nearly 2 years, drank the fuel, expensive tax and due to depreciation (at the time) I lost something like £7000 over those 2 years. Nowadays, the depreciation on them is a lot less. 

 

I also looked at the 2 car option, but what I would save on fuel I would loose on depreciation & running costs on a 2nd car. Insurance especially always was the killer on a 2nd car. Besides, I just wouldn't get time at the weekend to use the zed anyway so it would just sit there if it was a weekend car.

 

Everyone's "man maths" is different, so its really a case of putting all the numbers in a spreadsheet and working it out. Personally even when I was stuck in traffic, id love the fact I was in a fun car I loved rather than a boring commuter car and even now that's the case. And for me whilst its not the cheapest option, that "special" feeling alone is worth it.

[Umster]

17 minutes ago, rabbitstew said:

Everyone's "man maths" is different, so its really a case of putting all the numbers in a spreadsheet and working it out. Personally even when I was stuck in traffic, id love the fact I was in a fun car I loved rather than a boring commuter car and even now that's the case. And for me whilst its not the cheapest option, that "special" feeling alone is worth it.

This! 

 

Nobody but yourself will know your situation. Hours of the day you work, how many cars in the house, how much you earn, do you rent or have a mortgage to service, are you handy with a wrench, would you be happy with a £300 Micra with 120k on the clock, do you have a family to look after, how do you finance your car etc etc. 

 

Go do the math but don't forget, life ain't all about the bills, one way or another you need to have some fun. 

[coldel]

Yeah I agree, for me could not give two hoots about top speed, 0-60 speed etc. as you barely get the chance unless on track to unleash that so it's pretty meaningless. What I do know is that tingle I get when I drop into my bucket seated VX, press the starter button and hear the engine fire up, then slowly pull away feeling every bump in the road transmitted through the steering wheel - its epic, I feel like an F1 driver, and the car looks stunning and unique, not a run of the mill mile munching box. But hey, thats just what I like, which is why I have what I have, and everyone else has something else!

[GranTurismoEra]

1 hour ago, Ben–350Z said:

I think with the sort of budget I'm looking at, only an original Toyota Aygo with it's little to no road tax would actually save anything... Could be a laugh in it's own special way!

 

Looks like - from spending a super fun weekend doing maths - I could move a lot closer to work, so that cuts the fuel bill for the Zed significantly. And probably could cycle some not so crappy weather days too, for even more saving. And keep an awesome car <3

The newer Aygo was a blast, found it funny when we took it for a run. Auto paddle shifts very jerky though

[gangzoom]

4 hours ago, ilogikal1 said:

A £30k* Tesla, you'll be referring to the Model S 85 then. The same Model S that is £77,700 when new (with no options), so if they're £30k now that means they're holding 40% of their value. A bit different from the 70% you claimed earlier.

 

A new 85S back in 2014 was £60k, so a £30k one is 50% residuals at 5 years old with nearly 100k on the clock.

 

I think your find not many cars can match those residuals.

[ilogikal1]

59 minutes ago, gangzoom said:

 

A new 85S back in 2014 was £60k, so a £30k one is 50% residuals at 5 years old with nearly 100k on the clock.

 

I think your find not many cars can match those residuals.

Oh well then, 50% and 70% are basically the same number when north of £50k...

 

How you consistently completely miss the point would actually be quite impressive if it weren't so concerning.

 

However, seeing as you mentioned it; I could buy a Z for the £30k you'd lose on your Tesla over 5 years and throw it away having lost the exact same amount. I coul actually even sell it and end up having lost less money on Z than you would have on your Tesla. Residuals don't mean much at all. But hey, thanks for playing.

[gangzoom]

2 hours ago, ilogikal1 said:

Oh well then, 50% and 70% are basically the same number when north of £50k...

 

 

50% at 5 years versus 70%+ at 2.5 years, both are good. 

[ilogikal1]

4 minutes ago, gangzoom said:

 

50% at 5 years versus 70%+ at 2.5 years, both are good. 

 

Not if you're still pissing away £30k+ in either 5 or 2.5 years, especially compared to losing £20k in 5 years for a car that was only £30k to begin with. In fact, that's actually pretty bad.

[GranTurismoEra]

On 07/10/2019 at 10:26, Ben–350Z said:

I think with the sort of budget I'm looking at, only an original Toyota Aygo with it's little to no road tax would actually save anything... Could be a laugh in it's own special way!

 

Looks like - from spending a super fun weekend doing maths - I could move a lot closer to work, so that cuts the fuel bill for the Zed significantly. And probably could cycle some not so crappy weather days too, for even more saving. And keep an awesome car <3

You can pick up an Toyota IQ for £1600 some are exempt from road tax apparently