Mpg obsession???

[Borys]

Are you buying yours new or are you taking advantage of the huge depreciation on large engined petrol cars?

Doesn't your car depreciate once you own it?

I take the advantage

 

[Dieselman]

I take the advantage

Which answers your original question about why people buy diesel when buying new.
The cost per mile is cheaper as a result of less being spent on fuel but in particular much lower depreciation.

The value of your car will still be falling off a cliff so you are still seeing high depreciation per capita.

 

[meld3]

Such amount of money? I'm sure most MBs sold today are bottom-engined rep-mobiles or family hatchbacks with prices comparable to most other manufacturers.

Well - my new C220cdi coupe (edition 125 auto, list price £34,996) is £269 a month for a 2 yrs lease.....about the same as a Ford Focus.

Hardly a bottom end rep mobile at nearly £35k..... But the cost to have it is !!!!

 

[Dieselman]

Well - my new C220cdi coupe (edition 125 auto, list price £34,996) is £269 a month for a 2 yrs lease.....about the same as a Ford Focus.

Hardly a bottom end rep mobile at nearly £35k..... But the cost to have it is !!!!

But it isn't worth £35k and the lease cost reflects that.

Assuming 24 + 3, you are only paying £8700 overall inc VAT. The market value will then be about £10k, if that, so that makes it an £18k car.

 

[meld3]

Well - my new C220cdi coupe (edition 125 auto, list price £34,996) is £269 a month for a 2 yrs lease.....about the same as a Ford Focus.

Hardly a bottom end rep mobile at nearly £35k..... But the cost to have it is !!!!

Plus its just done 65.7mpg over 202 motorway miles from Birmingham to Canterbury.....Even my Smart won't do that !!!

 

[HumberMart]

Depreciation is king.

I buy a new car every 12-18 months and pay at least a pound a mile in depreciation.

Compared with this, the price of fuel is trivial.

I'll lose at least 25K on my new ML if I managed to keep it 3 years. I still get upset if I can't average over 32 mpg on a run but in reality I'm being foolish. The difference between say 28 mpg and 34 mpg is comparitively peanuts.

 

[Dieselman]

Plus its just done 65.7mpg over 202 motorway miles from Birmingham to Canterbury.....Even my Smart won't do that !!!

Take 15% off that figure. I bet 55mpg is as good as it gets brim to brim.

 

[Shude]

Hardly a bottom end rep mobile at nearly £35k..... But the cost to have it is !!!!

I said "bottom-engined" and I'm afraid a C220 CDI is exactly what I was referring to.

If an entry-level Mercedes saloon is the same cost to own as a Ford Focus then either the Ford is grossly overpriced or the Merc is dirt-cheap. Forget the list-price as this is a made-up figure as far as finance is concerned.

 

[finisterre]

Possibly envious, but jealous? No.

I will look them up


Jealous
1. Fearful or wary of being supplanted; apprehensive of losing affection or position.
2.a. Resentful or bitter in rivalry; envious: jealous of the success of others. b. Inclined to suspect rivalry.
3. Having to do with or arising from feelings of envy, apprehension, or bitterness: jealous thoughts.
4. Vigilant in guarding something: We are jealous of our good name.
5. Intolerant of disloyalty or infidelity; autocratic: a jealous God.


Envious
1. a feeling of grudging or somewhat admiring discontent aroused by the possessions, achievements, or qualities of another
2. the desire to have for oneself something possessed by another; covetousness
3. an object of envy


Renault - You are right I don't really have much of either. I quite like people having nice things. They don't have to be mine. I guess I was just playing to the crowd. A kindness to those that have worked hard to achieve their shiny toys.

Shiny toys are nice though.

 

[A210AMG]

As mentioned previoulsy lease costs on some of these Mercs are so cheap (relatively) thats why people buy new.

I prefer to know our cars are bought and paid for (mine if you like) and not leased. I have to say though I have been on a few leasing sites looking at the C class sport estates for £300 a month....

It makes for a very cheap new nice car. The fact its not 'mine' would still bug me though.

 

[Dieselman]

It makes for a very cheap new nice car. The fact its not 'mine' would still bug me though.

I generally think likewise, but the rates are so cheap now even I might think about leasing next time.
Lease a car for less than buying and no hassles selling at lease end.

 

[A210AMG]

^ I'm tempted

Keep one of our cars 'owned' sell one and bank the cash and lease something 'new'

Its crazy really the figures make no sence, around 6 years ago I looked at a Saab Aero hot convertible V6, around £37K list price yet I could lease it for less than £300 a month on less than 10K miles a year !!! who would buy one??

The C250Cdi Sport Ed125 estate auto I have had some quick 'quotes' for £350. Not taken it any further but that must be a £30K car also??

maybe its the future...

 

[Dieselman]

that must be a £30K car also??

Eeek..

Wrong answer. It's a £20k car with a £30k list price.

 

[nick mercedes]

I'd like to thank lease car/van drivers.

Thank's to your urge to have a new car to impress the neighbours, women, people down the pub etc, I've managed to buy a number of very cheap ex-lease cars and vans.

You've sponsored the bulk of the depreciation (and ended up with nothing at the end of it) and I've ended up with some genuine bargains.

Thank you.

 

[meld3]

Take 15% off that figure. I bet 55mpg is as good as it gets brim to brim.

Correct - averaged 56mpg over first 4000 miles but still makes me very happy to 65.7 today.......must be a competetive bloke thing - took a photo of display to challenge colleagues with same car!!

 

[st4]

I agree with Nick, buying a 4 or 5 year old car for about 1/3 of what it cost new is cheap. It still feels new, and costs peanuts really for what you get.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

It makes for a very cheap new nice car. The fact its not 'mine' would still bug me though.

I'm exactly the same and it stems from many things, one of them being a conversation I had with a workmate when I was 17.

He pulls up to work in this Datsun Almera SRi (iirc) and I ask him how, at 21 with a child on the way etc, he can afford this brand new car.

"I lease it" he said, and I asked what he meant by 'leasing'.

"Well, I pay £300 (iirc) a month for the car and then hand it back after 3 years".

"and what do they give you in return after the three years?" I said.

"Nothing" he said.

"So let me get this straight; you get a brand new car for three years that'll cost you circa £11k over that time and at the end you get nothing?"

"when you put it like that it doesn't sound as good".....

 

[st4]

"So let me get this straight; you get a brand new car for three years that'll cost you circa £11k over that time and at the end you get nothing?"

"when you put it like that it doesn't sound as good".....

But he does. Its just not "tangible".

For £300pm he had the use of a brand new car costing say £18k. He drove that say over 30,000 miles.

That has a value.

For example, I bought my Mercedes for £15000. I might sell it for £8000. I've essentially paid £7000 for the use of it over 18 months and 37000 miles I've done.

Same thing really. Comes out my wages one way or another.

But as I bought it, I am not tied into doing anything, I don't have a capped milliage, I can modify it if I wish, bash the alloys off the kerb and not get fined for unfair wear and tear, I can smoke like a chimney in it. Most of all I feel like its really mine, but I am an odd chap.

But a leaser does having something to show, the use of a car over the period of time and every mile that they cover in it. And that, does have a value.

 

[@MARK]

I'm just wondering.When you buy a brand new merc from a dealer why diesel?
Shoudn't be for a person who can spend such amount of money easy to pay fuel bills?Why not AMG and spend few K on a drive around passat or whatever?

I'm addicted to the effortlessness (yes I know that isn't a real word) that you get with big diesel engines.

My last car was a BMW 335D, before that a Mondeo ST TDCI, before that an S60 D5 and before that a S70 TDi.

Each time I have changed my car I had looked at where the most powerful diesel engines have been available.

Right now the Germans have it.

It's not about MPG. If it was, I would buy a C250. It's about a level of torque that no petrol engine can come close to delivered in a way that works in the real world.

Why not have 2 cars?

That just seems like a crazy idea. If I have a nice car with all the toys, why on earth would I want to leave it in the garage and drive around in something less good?

I have worked long and hard and reached a point in life where I have a nice house and a nice car on the drive of that house. I don't struggle to pay my bills each month and don't have to stop and think "can I afford this" before I buy anything. But I didn't get into this position by just spending money for the hell of it.

So in the same way I don't live in a caravan in the garden for fear of getting my nice carpets getting dirty, if I have bought a nice car, I'm going to use it. The fact the car I WANT has a big diesel engine is nothing to do with running costs.

 

[davidjpowell]

But he does. Its just not "tangible".

For £300pm he had the use of a brand new car costing say £18k. He drove that say over 30,000 miles.

That has a value.

For example, I bought my Mercedes for £15000. I might sell it for £8000. I've essentially paid £7000 for the use of it over 18 months and 37000 miles I've done.

Same thing really. Comes out my wages one way or another.

But as I bought it, I am not tied into doing anything, I don't have a capped milliage, I can modify it if I wish, bash the alloys off the kerb and not get fined for unfair wear and tear, I can smoke like a chimney in it. Most of all I feel like its really mine, but I am an odd chap.

But a leaser does having something to show, the use of a car over the period of time and every mile that they cover in it. And that, does have a value.

I have taken a view in the past that I never ever make money owning a car and if I can fix my loss with a regular payment I'm happy.

Does not suit me right now, but I still think the principle holds.