Running a large car vs smaller car ?

[canis]

I once had a little MkII Fiesta. At first I was suspicious, but found it great for around town. Tradionally I've always had large ex-rep's family saloon type cars, so the Fiesta was quite a shock to the system.

But I fell in love with it. It was during this time, I fully came to realise what is meant by "nippy", I could throw this thing around town like it was a go-kart. It had a little 1200cc engine, and someone had installed a smaller steering wheel. It was like a bike, but with four wheels. I truly loved it and I was ever-so sorry when it finally bit the rust.

Mostly, it was just easy to drive. The pedals were where I needed them. The small wheel was great, the gear lever didn't have excessive travel in any direction and the gears matched the engine perfectly for town driving.

Now I'm in a reluctant Fiat. I can't press one pedal at a time, they're too small. If I drive with my boots on, the left foot gets stuck under some interior and I can't release it. If I press the brake, I will find I'm pressing the accellerator at the same time, coming to a halt with the engine racing. That's *if* I can even press the brake, because most of the time I find there's something stopping me. It's absolutely terrifying, I'm trying to slow down (not had to emergency stop yet) and can't, and instead of concentrating on the road, i'm having to divert necessary mentation to figuring out exactly why I can't press the brake. It's absolutely 'kin dangerous, how this is allowed on the road when our V40 isn't just baffles me.

EDIT: And that electric power steering is truly the work of Satan himself.

[john.wigley]

Originally Posted by green van man

Their Achilles heel was lack of knowlage maintaining them. In the 6 years ..... I never had a head gasket fail despite it being supposedly renown for poping them. High maintenance but huge fun.

Paul.

Echo all that, Paul. I did feel the all-alloy engine would have benefited from Helicoil inserts as standard, however.

Regards, John.

[Harvey1512]

My wife likes little cars, I like them a bit bigger. I have big boot syndrome and I love an effortless cruise. That is part of the equation in this, is the extra worth paying to give that little bit more luxry and comfort? Only the individual can answer that but given the choice between my wifes C1 and my Superb I am going for the big lad every time

[Prufrock]

We've had very few small cars in the family, that's when I was a kid and latterly. However, around late 1984 early 1985 Fiat introduced the Uno SX top of the range (then) three door in red. My Dad bought a new one for commuting to work in (left the BMW at home) and it was a revelation.

When I was a kid my Mother had a Sunbeam Stilletto for a while in a crazy metallic blue. She couldn't get on with it although my Dad liked it - it was replaced with a new MGB GT, then a Stag engined Triumph estate car.

In recent times the smallest car we've had are Golfs (usually GTIs or a Mk1 diesel), currently my Wife drives a medium sized car with a big engine. My Daughter had a new Yaris for a while, but she now works in Berlin so doesn't need a car, although we're having a 245DL restored for her.

Me, I like big engines, so a 3.0 or 5.0 litre is my choice - you only live once.

Jon.

[I-S]

Certainly there can be stark differences between the running costs of different cars.

My father's BMW 740iL was very expensive to run - not only because of 21mpg, but that tyres and servicing for that kind of car are very expensive. It was rare that a service did not run to 4 figures.

And so it is with our V70 D5 - not in the league of the 7 series, but it's not cheap to run. Tyres average about 2p/mile (for decent ones), servicing is minimum £250 and was nearly £1k for the cambelt service. Fuel runs around 17p/mile and depreciation is approx 20p/mile so far.

To that end, we bought a second car with the goal that it would overall cost us LESS than running one car.

Our second car is a Nissan Leaf, which runs about 2p/mile on fuel, servicing is negligable (£99 or £199, depending on whether it's the A or B - no cambelts, no oil changes - the service schedule is pretty much just "inspect this, inspect that" and includes 1 years roadside assist), tyres about match the V70 (because the leaf is on a rare and expensive 215/50R17 - the lower spec level model is on 205/55R16 which are half the price). Each mile I drive the leaf saves 15p compared to the V70, and that amounts to £1200 in a year, which more than pays for the insurance, servicing, etc.

To say nothing of the value of the flexibility of having two cars (like today when my husband needed to use the V70 - previously he'd have had to drive me 12 miles to work, drive home, do the things he needed to do, then another 24 mile round trip to pick me up again. So, saved 48 miles on the V70).

So, I downsized while not getting rid of the V70, although we're pondering replacements for that too...

The problem I have now is that I'm REALLY struggling with the idea of buying another ICE vehicle - what I WANT is a bigger, more comfortable EV, but can't yet afford that Tesla.

[zapcity1]

Big car, Little car. It's certainly a 'horse for courses' subject. I-S's use of a Leaf as a 2nd car seems logical.

The eco argument aside, a 3 year old Leaf as a 2nd car might be a good buy for some, especially if you travel very short distances and don't need to travel unexpectedly. Having a primary petrol/diesel car also helps!

New the cheap EV's just don't stack up for most. 80% depreciation in the first 3 years plus ever diminishing battery life. I don't see how they can be cheaper to run than a good used car unless you are in a congestion charge zone. Outside of cities with a semblance of public transport, the current (non-Tesla) EVs are of no great use.
I'm sure everyone who has a £60K Tesla has a 2nd or 3rd car too anyway!

My XC70 is expensive to run fuel and maintence wise, but I've got minimal depreciation, unlimited range, comfort and carrying capacity, so I'm well ahead of the EV curve if cost is your major consideration.

Big used car for me at the moment!!

[Proghound]

I bought my Audi A2 as a second car just for me because it's very cheap to keep and run, and it will do the load-lugging that the C70 won't. (That said, my better half and anyone in the family are welcome to use it at need). The idea was also to be on the bandwagon in case they start to appreciate significantly. But now with it being so engaging to drive, I seem to be using it quite a lot on my regular running, at least it keeps that mileage and its related depreciation off the C70. Now if only I could stop buying bits and bobs to upgrade it

[Dippydog]

If not for the high cost of one these days I'd be happy to have one of the Imp coupe variants and forego the practicality of the saloon/estate/van versions.Other than that I've always run cars on the "bangernomics" principle.The most I've ever paid for a given car[and it scared me silly to pay so much for a car]was £1250 for the 1995 XJ6 I used to have.I paid £400 for my Omega 8yrs ago and 2yrs ago I paid £50 for my V70,depreciation is therefore negligible to none existant,servicing costs in the main cost whatever I can get the bits for and some of my time as for tyres, well if they're black and round and hold the car up they're fine[I know I'll get shot for that]so fuel costs are probably the biggest outlay,but if I do 4,000mls per year spread across both cars then I've had a very busy year driving wise.So I'll stick with my big petrols and enjoy the comfort wherever I go.I've driven every model of fiesta they've ever made[including the latest ones]for business purposes and I've never yet felt comfortable in any of them for me the Corsa[and I've driven most models of that too]is a more comfortable car,but I'm still not tempted to buy one!

[chrisfr]

On running costs one of the posts made the point that these can vary quite considerably which i can agree with. When i looked at xc60s ,i also looked at the mercedes cls sportbrake which is on par with the xc60 for purchase price ( used one year old) but miles appart on running costs. I had a look at a mercedes forum which had a sub forum which included these cars. Basically they were very very expensive to run. They did not go wrong too often but when they did it was horrific. However some other merc models were comparable to the xc60.
If you just look at a smaller car for what you want it for then it works well. Namely, easy to park, cheap to run and insure, and as a run about. We have a renault kangoo which we basically use like a van. It takes stuff to the tip with a trailer as it has a tow bar. My wife uses it to go to zumba, as where she parks the french use their cars like bumper cars. We will use it anywhere where we feell it is not wise to leave her xf or my xc60. I could change any of the main cars but i would never sell the kangoo as it just too useful which may seem a bit strange. It also has a massive interior. It swallows just about anything you want to carry in it. The only disadvantage it takes three weeks to go from 0 to 60 due to the 1200 cc petrol engine! ( with a following wind)

[xsaab]

Re the eulogising of the Imp, as far as I am concerned it was a total disaster, I had a new one in 1967, 3 radiators in a couple of months, head gasket needed replacing, the ability to corrode after a water splash. Then lack of a fan for the heater so unless you were driving at speed there was no warm air entering the cabin (in fog you do not drive fast so in freezing fog when driving slowly it was a very cold journey)

Plus the design disasters - eg the original version had the headlights too low so the car had to be raised on the suspension to be street legal.

That car along wiith a Wolsely 1100 I replaced it by were the cause of me never buying a car made in the UK again. I then moved over to the other Swedish make for the next 40 or so years. When GM eventually killed that make before finally committing hari kari in Europe, I entered the doors of a Chinese Taxi maker and here I am now