35TFSI Avant economy

[simonb82]

Hi. I am looking to change my current diesel to the petrol 35TFSI Avant S-Tronic and am wondering what sort of economy I should expect 

My commute is 80 miles. Half motorway and the other half 50mph with heavy traffic 

[Steve Q]

I think the real world figures are mud-late 30s. 

[JMKC82]

80 miles daily??

I would say Diesel is a no brainer.  My own opinion.

[simonb82]

1 hour ago, JMKC82 said:

80 miles daily??

I would say Diesel is a no brainer.  My own opinion.

Sorry yes my commute is 80 miles but I only do it twice a week. It also goes into the London ULEZ and while modern diesels are still ok it could be that the Mayor soon starts charging all diesels. They certainly seem to be very much out of favour now 

[Steve Q]

26 minutes ago, simonb82 said:

Sorry yes my commute is 80 miles but I only do it twice a week. It also goes into the London ULEZ and while modern diesels are still ok it could be that the Mayor soon starts charging all diesels. They certainly seem to be very much out of favour now 

If the rest of your journeys are short then petrol could be better. But I fully get where Joe is coming from. 

[audi999]

Don't discount the 2.0 tfsi. On that journey I would expect 40 mpg easily, or very close to it

[simonb82]

I am also looking at servicing costs and it seems the diesel is a cambelt which will need an expensive change at 60k whereas the petrol is a cam chain so won’t need a change?

[Steve Q]

8 hours ago, simonb82 said:

I am also looking at servicing costs and it seems the diesel is a cambelt which will need an expensive change at 60k whereas the petrol is a cam chain so won’t need a change?

In theory yes, but can chains can also wear. Often by stretching which can lead to them needing replacing as the timing can jump a tooth with a stretched chain. 

[simonb82]

Agree they can wear and stretch but that’s not expected I don’t think and therefore there is no scheduled change interval for them?

[Magnet]

Hello Simon,

Thanks for being in touch. 
I wonder if you just maybe over thinking the whole economics of this and boiling it down to a far greater degree than you need to, or indeed what you will be able to control. 
Economy? Yes, the old diesel vs petrol consideration is very valid, as is of course the ULEZ charges.

You don’t tell us whether you intend to buy a new car or a secondhand one, and if secondhand, what age/mileage will be within your budget. 
Cambelt renewal can be expensive, but can easily be factored in to your outgoings or purchase price, so does it really matter too much as a deal breaker. 
The economics of motoring can often point to spending money on your current vehicle, rather than ‘taking on’ the responsibility of issues with another unknown vehicle - wondered if you have considered the overall (in caps) economics of that. 
We are all on the slippery road to the extinction of fossil fuel vehicles in a shorter space of time than we think, and it wouldn’t surprise me if fuel prices will continue to rise to a point where we will all be thinking we are running Rolls Royces! 
Pessimistic?? Realistic? Personally, I wouldn’t be getting too hung up on Cambelt costs vs chains - the chances are that this cost may pale into insignificance in the overall motoring cost. 
Is sticking with what you’ve got worth a coat of thinking about? 
Kind regards,

Gareth. 
 

 

a think about sticking with what you’ve got 

[simonb82]

Sticking with what I have isn’t really an option as it’s having things go wrong plus gets charged for ULEZ. 
 

in terms of what I’m looking for. That’s a good question. A year old car with under 10k miles is what I was thinking but with current used prices often these aren’t much different to buying a new car

[Magnet]

OK Simon,

We are now armed with some additional useful information. 
So you are going to be spending many tens of thousands of £s ( assuming you can find a one year old car) - with limiting possibilities of finding such a low mileage example. As you say, you must consider this expenditure to equate to the current list price of the equivalent new price. 
‘…. sticking with what I have isn’t really an option….’. .? Personally, I would not be dismissing this option, since doing some simple maths on spending gradually on your current car + ULez charges, is almost certain to be cheaper than spending out tens of thousands of £s in one hit. 
It might also be worth considering that the car you may be looking for, could be an under one year old rejected car due to unacceptable defects - don’t assume owners exchange their cars after one year just because they fancy a change. This doesn’t really happen any more.

Whatever Simon, I would suggest you don’t overthink this with potentially off-putting relatively minor considerations at a time of restricted choices and availability, but….

Kind regards,

Gareth. 

 

Kind regards