is the vrs cheaper to run...

[ScoobyChris]

as for the quotes. I doubt it, as the ST it group 13 and the Fabia is 9. There not just random numbers you know, they are there for a reason!!

Maybe I'm just special then!

how much is servicing on the ST?

50 quid for a 10k service using Ford's RapidFit

Chris

[chris_newell41]

thats not bad at all.

Although £100 saving for 10k miles in ST is only 2 fills at the petrol station. You'd save that much after 8 fills in fabia. which is abouts...say 3k miles then after that its 7k miles of saving in the fabia. i prefer not going to the station much to fill up.

so if you do more miles in fabia the more you would save. obvious I know.

the difference is not as much as i thought but still a difference. so yes the fabia is still cheaper to run.

stevoraiths calulator is the only way you can compare properly.

[JUT]

I must say, I've never driven a petrol car that could return even slightly comparable fuel economy with me driving.

My old Nova SR used to do about 25-30 (on webers with janspeed manifold and system etc), my 309 GTI wasn't much better, and my SX returned an average 18 MPG. When I borrow my old dear's A6 quattro and drive it like it wants to be driven, returns between 8 and 13!!!

The vRS, with remap, averages about 40. You may have guessed from the above figures I do mostly town driving (although the SX and Audi figures were mixed town and motorway). If you drive with a heavy right foot then I don't think you can fault the vRS.

EDIT:

Just used this handy website to weigh up the price differences on fuel alone between my 200sx, and the vRS

http://info.themgroup.co.uk/common/calculators/fuel_cost.html

12k per year, 97.9p for super unleaded around my way, 18mpg on the SX: £2,963.10

12k per year, 89.9p for diesel around my way, 40mpg on the vRS: £1,224.43

So about 59% cheaper to run the vRS, on fuel alone, or to look at it another way, if I'd had the vRS instead of the SX for the last 5 years, I'd be £8,700 better off in fuel bills alone!!!

[Guest]

well, there are certainly a lot if interesting points on this thread now!

My original question was an attemtp to make sense of this claim that you have to drive a certain amount of mile before it becomes more 'economical' to be driving a diesel. I never understood this, I simply equated higher mpg with cheaper motoring. I know that diesel engined vehicles are generally more expensive that their petrol engined counterparts, but there seems to be a feeling on here that a diesel is less economical before it heats up - is this where the money is lost then???

I'd be interested to see that spreadsheet if at all possibe though - sounds very handy.

Finally, with the type of driving I do (barely a couple of miles to work and social / pleasure stuff at weekends), I probably fall into the "better of with a petrol" category. However, I'm not really aware of anything that'll give the performance of the vrs whilst still maintaining the sensible insurance preimums / mpg etc. Therefore, any suggestions are welcome.

Regarding the fiesta st... it's more expensive than the vrs and there seem to be alot of them about. Also, I'm worried about ford reliability / build quality!

[robmawer]

I know that diesel engined vehicles are generally more expensive that their petrol engined counterparts, but there seems to be a feeling on here that a diesel is less economical before it heats up - is this where the money is lost then???

Typically it's offsetting the reduced fuel cost against the higher purchase price...therefore, the more miles you do, the more your fuel saving, hence it'll make more sense to buy a petrol if you're not going to do enough miles to offset the purchase price.

As to whether a cold diesel engine is less efficient than a warmish petrol engine, I would suspect there's not a whole lot in it - if your commute is just a couple of miles, chances are neither engine would get up to optimum operating temperature anyway.

The other issue is whether you want to buy on price alone, or whether you would just rather have a diesel-engined car...

Rob.

[bryand]

Just used this handy website to weigh up the price differences on fuel alone between my 200sx' date=' and the vRS

http://info.themgroup.co.uk/common/calculators/fuel_cost.html

That's a very handy calculator.Playing around with some 'what ifs' for my car shows:

- If my car were petrol, it would always have to yield 51 mpg for the fuel to cost as little as my diesel currently does.

- My remap is partly aimed at improving economy. Currently I have seen an improvement from 54 mpg to 60 mpg in mixed driving, so the remap will have paid for itself in fuel costs alone in 3 1/4 years.

- If the remap meets its target of a 15% improvement, it will have paid for itself in 2 1/2 years.

[Stevoraith]

SotonJoe, your e-mail isn't in your profile so if you want me to send over the spreadsheet PM me your e-mail addy and I'll do it later today (that goes for anyone else who's interested too- unfortunately word docs can be attached to a post but excels docs can't :thumbdwn: )

When people say that diesels only make sense if you do more miles it's not anything to do with them being less efficient until they've warmed up- they'll still be more efficient than a petrol.

It's simply maths (as someone else already stated).

You pay X amount more for your diesel.

You then save A per mile.

You need to drive a certain amount of miles ( before AxB=X and you start to make the saving.

However, as I said briefly in my last post, I belive this particular argument is not valid for the Fabia as any petrol car which has similar performance and equipment is more expensive in the first place, so you don't even need to rely on the fuel economy to make a saving.

SWMBO only does ~8k per year, but we still felt the vRS was the best value option for her.

[chris_newell41]

im sure you will find the fabia very cheap to run compared to alot of other cars with similar output. the newer 06 models with euro 4 engines are apparently even more economic than the euro 3 diesel. not sure how true it is, but it is stated in the VRS brochure