Quote:
Originally Posted by ShadeTreeMech
In the small car category, a petrol and diesel sound to be about even. I would do a cost comparison of cost per mile which would take into account the difference in fuel costs.
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Tricky because of servicing. I may start to do minor ones myself again and leave the bigger stuff (timing belts) to the professionals. Some come with deals that include the servicing but you know its going to be the bare basic servicing, cheap materials etc.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ShadeTreeMech
FWIW, a "peppy" engine encourages a bit more aggressive driving. Assuming you can resist the urge to rev the bolts off of it, you'd likely get better than average economy quite easily.
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I had a Matiz which has a revvy 3 cyl 800cc when I moved to Edinburgh. The engine was OK for no power (55 hp) and I never went over 40. What killed it for me was the awful ride (very narrow so it swayed a lot) and the awful gearchange. One technique to keep up momentum was to arrive at a roundabout in the right gear and speed so you could feed into the flow, but I could never get 2nd gear from 3rd, only from 1st.
The absolute final straw was when the dent repair guy fixed a massive ding in the bonnet just using his fingers.
