petrol prices have ruined things for me

[wiganwayne]

As the title suggests it is now becoming increasingly harder to justify keeping hold of this car. last month i got put on short hours at work and as a result im struggling to afford to run the car.(the 40 mile daily round trip doesnt help)

we have tried other ways to cut back on money but with me the only bread winner and having 2 young children the next logical step is to get rid of the car and purchase a smaller more economical one :'(

id like to take this oppertunity to thank EVERYONE on here who has taken time out to help me on any issues and questions i have need sorting and answering! your a top bunch of people

:thumbup: :thumbup:

[Liverpool-Lad]

LPG conversion?

How much is the car going for?

[wiganwayne]

LPG conversion?

How much is the car going for?

it is not lpg conversion as for the sale price i was hoping for something in the region of £2600?? or is that too much??

i dont want to turn this thread into a for sale thread as that wasnt the reason for the topic. i just wanted to thank the people wh have provided me with help and info in the past

i could literally cry that im having to sell her but the family have got to come first

[nothills]

LPG.... Conversion definately the way to go.

My missus has got a PT Cruiser 2.4 convertable which was doing on average 17 to the gallon sometimes down to 14!!

When i looked at the cost of changing the car for something more economical which still put a smile on her face when she drove it there very little avaialble without spending alot of money.

I looked into LPG conversions and eventually opted for one that cost about £1300.

Now she can drive the car when ever she wants and gets the equivelent to 35mpg around town and 50 or so on a run.

LPG is about 67.7p per litre, and the conversion has probably increased the cars value!

I run a little Micra 1.0 litre for dropping the kids off to work etc, it cost me £200 to buy and MOT and I get about 35mpg around town.

Just bought the Skoda Octavis VRS Estate and that will get converted next year, kits are from £695 and I should return anything from 40 to 70mpg equivalent...

Theres not many 227bhp cars out there that can return the same sort of figures and bring such a smile to you face

[wiganwayne]

getting an lpg conversion would be perfect for me but shorter hours = less pay !!! times are tough at the moment real tough

[nothills]

getting an lpg conversion would be perfect for me but shorter hours = less pay !!! times are tough at the moment real tough

Hi m8,

Know what you mean, I've been out of work for nearly 2 1/2 years and you have to look at every outgoing.

Up until recently we were just running the wifes car - while trying to anyway, thats why i scraped together to buy the Micra and with the money we saved buy using it we had the car converted to LPG.

I've got three kids and they don't have a clue, but slowly, slowly we saved up for the VRS and I'll fit the conversion to it in spring or when I can afford and then finally sell the Micra.

The main thing with the VRS is that at least i've got it now and if it takes some time to get it how i want it then so be it (Beg, borrow, steal!!)

I appriciate that everybody situation is different and you do what you have to do, but i've always tried to think outside the box.

Good Luck and keep us posted

Edited 27 November, 2011 by nothills

[wiganwayne]

thanks mate

we have thought long and hard on other ways to save money in order for us to keep it but we cant see anything :'( it doesnt help that christmas is just around the corner as well

[skinnyman]

I've looked at selling before for the same reason. When I priced up the alternatives though, all I could afford was something that probably came with a load of problems waiting to happen. At least I know this car and all it's quirks. We've got two young children and another due at any time this week, but I'm keeping the Skoda as it's the perfect car for us. It's got the boot that most cars can only dream of, it will fit three kids in the back and it gave me over 40mpg on the journey home today.

I looked into the LPG conversion, but didn't do it for two reasons. The first was I can't afford the initial outlay. The second is that I worry about knacking the car by choosing the wrong kit.

The main reason that I haven't sold up yet is that I can't bring myself to do it. This is the first car that I've kept for longer than two years and I have every intention of keeping it for as long as I can. There's little else out there that does everything so well. Yes the petrol is a bit of a bugger, as is the tax and MOT. But I worked out that if I got a crappy French diesel people carrier, I'd save between £60 - £70 per calendar month on all the costs I just mentioned. However, it would just take one big repair bill and that annual saving of £700 to £800 would be wiped out in one go. The saving is based on the replacement never going wrong. It didn't add up and the mechanics I spoke to said I'd be mad to do it as the Skoda is a good solid car that should give me a good few years of service.

However, at the end of the day you have to do what you think is the right thing and if the maths adds up and you'd save a lot of money then you have to do it. It'll be a sad day when you do though. :(

[devonutopia]

For a 20 mile trip a fabia diesel would make sense. The PD100s are relatively common and are good on fuel for that kind of distance.

[skinnyman]

For a 20 mile trip a fabia diesel would make sense. The PD100s are relatively common and are good on fuel for that kind of distance.

I looked at these in estate form and was impressed by the economy. The fly in the ointment was that they were too small for our needs. Good little cars though. I considered a diesel Octavia too, but the crazy thing was that the money that a low mileage vRS would fetch would only buy a highish mileage diesel.

[IulianE]

As the title suggests it is now becoming increasingly harder to justify keeping hold of this car. last month i got put on short hours at work and as a result im struggling to afford to run the car.(the 40 mile daily round trip doesnt help)

we have tried other ways to cut back on money but with me the only bread winner and having 2 young children the next logical step is to get rid of the car and purchase a smaller more economical one :'(

id like to take this oppertunity to thank EVERYONE on here who has taken time out to help me on any issues and questions i have need sorting and answering! your a top bunch of people

:thumbup: :thumbup:

40 miles in town?ouside?

if is outside ,I'm surprised because at 60mph I easily can rich about 45 mpg.The range is dropping badly in the Bucharest city with the quite heavy traffic...23mpg

My cousin in a 1.5 dci Dacia (70 HP Renault engine) in the same conditions runs on 60 mpg,in the city(Bucharest) is doing much better about 33 mpg

And in my oppinion does't worth changing the car for that diff.

Edited 27 November, 2011 by IulianE

[wiganwayne]

40 miles in town?ouside?

if is outside ,I'm surprised because at 60mph I easily can rich about 45 mpg.The range is dropping badly in the Bucharest city with the quite heavy traffic...23mpg

My cousin in a 1.5 dci Dacia (70 HP Renault engine)) in the same condition runs on 60 mpg,in the city(Bucharest) is doing much better abit 33 mpg

And in my oppinion does't worth changing the car for that diff.

its in town and almost all A roads and the journey home is a motorists nightmare.stop start all the way home. As it stands now im struggling to get 19mpg and its just not viable to keep even more so with the uncertainty of my job.(im also taking into account costs to tax the car and insure)

when i have been on long journeys the fuel economy is great!! i had almost 40mpg on a recent trip to shark headquarters i could easily live with that but all i seem to be doing at the moment is filling up!! :S

im really really gutted it has come to this as its gotta be one of the best cars i have ever owned we just cant see where the money to run it is gonna come from!!

[skud vrs]

Have you tried going back to 180 bhp to see if that improves things.

[chicken_eyebrow]

I never got under 30mpg with mine apart from Nurburgring/track days and that was running the standard 180bhp. I can understand where you're coming from though I used to have a 36 mile round trip to work every day and although paying for petrol didn't really bother me it was really racking up the mileage, I put nearly 50k miles on it in 3 years and it kind of gets to the point where you're having to spend £££s replacing things all the time :-(

[wiganwayne]

Have you tried going back to 180 bhp to see if that improves things.

would that improve things?? i was under the impression a mapped car was better on fuel???

[Raf_]

If you're only getting 19mpg in mixed driving you must have a problem m8, I get a solid 35mpg mostly town driving

[wiganwayne]

I never got under 30mpg with mine apart from Nurburgring/track days and that was running the standard 180bhp. I can understand where you're coming from though I used to have a 36 mile round trip to work every day and although paying for petrol didn't really bother me it was really racking up the mileage, I put nearly 50k miles on it in 3 years and it kind of gets to the point where you're having to spend £££s replacing things all the time :-(

other than a wheel bearing ive not had to replace anything. its the change in circumstances that is hurting us.when i first got the car i only had a 4 mile round trip to work and everything was rosy. then i got moved to another deparment which still wasnt too bad as we had a bit of money spare at the end of each month. but these shorter hours have crippled us as we are almost £250 a month worse off! then there is also the inevitable rise in insurance costs when thats due!!

oh for the days of 50p a litre again!!! :(

[skud vrs]

Before the map on mine I was getting 35mpg. Getting around 22-27mpg now.

If your map is a shark one you should have a sts unit.

[wiganwayne]

If you're only getting 19mpg in mixed driving you must have a problem m8, I get a solid 35mpg mostly town driving

its all the stop start in traffic thats doing it mate the journey home is shocking!! during the weekend its back up to 27mpg i do have a heavy foot most of the time though!!

[lordrobs]

Been through this thought myself. Did the Excel spreadsheet to work out how much I could save. Looked into economical replacements. Decided on a 1.6 TDCi Focus. Looked at a few sheds, found one semi acceptable one (still far worse condition than my car though) even got as far as a test drive and an "offer" of £1300 for my car...

...then I decided that handing over my car and £5.5k for something with less kit, was in worse condition and wasn't at all what I actually wanted was too much for me to stomach.

If things are tight financially then at the end of the day it is just a car and can be replaced but be sure of what you are going to save and bear in mind you will be buying into the unknown.

[IulianE]

Instead of changing the car maybe change your driving style...J.Clarkson said :"Is not about what you drive is how you drive" ,and was talking about fuel economy.And he is damn right,is working well for me,but my car isn't remapped

In Romania we have tuners who offer maps strictly for reducing the fuel consumption,and they say is working,the BHP is increasing as well but not by much

[j0hn]

its all the stop start in traffic thats doing it mate the journey home is shocking!! during the weekend its back up to 27mpg i do have a heavy foot most of the time though!!

Stop start didn't do much for my last diesel - 26-28mpg maybe - I was getting around 320 miles to a 12 gallon tank. The same trip in my TFSI VRS gets around 24-27 according to the trip computer - the last tank did 380 miles but that was virtually all motorway. With diesel almost 10p per litre more expensive than unleaded, I am already better off in the Octavia than I was in the last car. Not every diesel's the same of course and I would expect to get 30mpg on the same trip to work in my wife's Golf, but the furl's still dearer.

[group1rs]

I'm on my fourth Octy Vrs now. Three mk 1' s and a mk 2. The latest is a 2002 in black magic which I've had since the summer. The reason for the purchase this year was being without a Vrs after changing jobs and the use of a company car. It's soul destroying without a Vrs and as I did you will regret the day that you have to part company. If you can keep the Vrs for the weekend even if you have to tuck it up and SORN it during the winter months. For commuting get the oldest lowest mileage diesel you can get your hands on. Will make your weekend Vrs even more enjoyable.

[bren999]

Wayne

are you sure you are claiming all the benefits (working tax credit etc) you are entitled to ?