Thread: Diesel prices!

Originally Posted by Tombie2

OK, I gotta ask here....

How can spending $40k on a new car be a saving????

You lose $5k driving out the driveway....

Then have repayments to make on top of the running costs...

Assuming you keep it a few years.... And servicing is free during warranty (Is it?) then you have monthly payments and depreciation, plus fuel costs.

You spend around $10.00 to travel 100km...I spend $15.00

Even if I travel 3 times as far as you per month I still outlay less cash...

How can that be a saving? Please explain..... Seriously.....

Even a freehold V8 driven the same distance will cost less overall per month than repayments on the car + its fuel cost.

BTW And this is a generalization to all - Fuel is cheap fun... No matter how much it costs, the experience of being in the bush outways the cost.... And means nothing more than another meal at home rather than fast food or restaurant or a pack or 2 less smokes, or one less carton of grog!

Originally Posted by p38arover

Yep. That's why I stayed with my P38A and rebuilt the engine. Fuel is the cheapest part of the equation.

When fuel costs rocketed back in the 70's, it was amusing to watch people sell their V8s for peanuts and to buy new 4-cyl cars. They were mesmerised by the cost of fuel at the pump. They didn't look at the whole cost of motoring.

Originally Posted by JDNSW

Agree with Tombie2 and Ron - I have not worked it out in detail recently, but even using the best possible figures, unless you do a very high mileage, it is very hard to make fuel get anywhere near 50% of costs, and in most cases it is less than 30%.

In almost every case, the biggest (often over 50%) cost is depreciation plus cost of capital (either opportunity cost or borrowing cost), closely followed by insurance and taxes and then maintenance and repairs before you get to fuel!

Because of this the most economical motoring will come from buying second hand and keeping your car for as long as possible - and making a good choice of car. Fuel consumption is a relatively minor cost, and although it looks as if the only way is up, it is difficult to see it getting to be the major cost. Also note that recent interest rate increases have lifted the cost of capital by probably as much as the fuel costs have gone up for a lot of owners.

John

Right-o you people, here's the scoop!

Yes I did the maths, but...

I paid cash (no ongoing repayments)
As someone else said, I bought for the right reason and at the right time for us as we were looking to buy another family car with the intention of owning it for a longish time.

I also view things a little differently than most, I prefer to reduce my instantaneous ongoing costs, perhaps at the expense of longer term value.

This means that I have thrown 40K at a car now (opportunity cost), when I can afford it, at 2008 $value, so that I can motor in the future at $10/100 rather than $15/100. Sounds bizarre but I have 40k now, I may not have the 2010 or 2015 equivalent of $15/100 or the (future) operating costs.
So,
I wholeheartedly agree with the math and what you all said makes sense, but I view the philosophy differently and take that into account.
BTW, thats why I am keeping the LPG disco and adding a fatter tank coz I could never make the maths work if I upgraded to deisal (spell check pls Ron).

Cheers

Ralph

Originally Posted by Ralph1Malph

...........
This means that I have thrown 40K at a car now (opportunity cost), ........

The other way of looking at that $40K is that it is $3200/year at 8% (and you should be able to do even better in the current climate!), or, for 20,000km per year, 16c/km, which at 10l/100km is equivalent to $1.60/litre for fuel.

And to get back on topic - went to town today, $1.719 in Dubbo.

John

$1.76 here, still cheap. Wait untill its $ 2.00 by the end of the year, that will hurt.
Only way to beat it is to find more more fuel efficiency.
any one know how good the lpg on diesel is?

Originally Posted by Ralph1Malph

BTW, thats why I am keeping the LPG disco and adding a fatter tank coz I could never make the maths work if I upgraded to deisal (spell check pls Ron).

I think I'll be upgrading my P38A to a bigger LPG tank - not for cost savings but purely to get more range. 54 litres usable isn't enough.

I'll be selling the diesel Disco 300Tdi shortly. My wife suggested keeping it as my off-road/camper and decking it out but I don't think I can justify the $1000+ per annum to have it sit in the back yard most of the time (which is why I sold the County). I think I might as well put that money and the money from the sale of it into the P38A which is my daily driver.

Yes, I know it's over-capitalising on the P38A but where can I get such a good ride for so little money - and haven't we all put too much money into our 4WDs? I just find it hard to drill holes in it to fit stuff.

No new shipment of fuel to town, but just heard today the price has risen to $1.969/L for diesel. 12 cent rise in 2 weeks off the same fuel shipment

We're starting to look at a couple of motor bikes to ride 2&fro to work.

Buy small bikes.

Big bikes cost a fortune in rego, greenslip, rear tyres, and chains. Fuel economy isn't great either. I usd to get 7 litres/100km out of my Honda CBR1000F - and that was mainly M4/Parramatta Rd Penrith-City.

A rear tyre will cost about $270 and will give maybe 10,000km - that's 1/10th the life a 4WD will give.

Buy a bike for fun. Don't expect to save money.

Originally Posted by p38arover

Buy small bikes.

Big bikes cost a fortune in rego, greenslip, rear tyres, and chains. Fuel economy isn't great either. I usd to get 7 litres/100km out of my Honda CBR1000F - and that was mainly M4/Parramatta Rd Penrith-City.

A rear tyre will cost about $270 and will give maybe 10,000km - that's 1/10th the life a 4WD will give.

Buy a bike for fun. Don't expect to save money.

10,000kms... I wish

Try 2500km tops on the M109R, but then, I dont have any "chicken strips" on my tyre either

But your right, mine uses 14litres for 220km tops.... But thats having fun..
Longer runs with smooth throttle give me 300+ from a 17L tank