the Financial case- Diesel plays Electric?

[320touring]

One of my fellow bloggers (https://classichub.wordpress.com) has a new VW e-Golf on test.

he's fairly putting it through its paces, and has been keeping track of charge useage.

I'd challenged him to better the Octavias current 70mpg at 50p/litre for veg- so a per mile cost of 3p.

the e- golf has come back at 1.5p/mile charged so far- at a variety of locations and times.

most impressive!

but here's the thing, the e-Golf is £27000 to buy..

my Octavia cost £200.

by my reckoning that means it would take circa 1, 786,666 miles for me to use up the rest of the £26.8k accounting for the 1.5p/mile cost of the octavia fuel over the e-Golf.

even if you say the Octavia does 60mpg(imperial) at 4.5p/mile (difference of 2.5p/mile) you would still cover 1, 072,000 miles before the £26,800 was spent..

even if you need to replace components 3/4 times I reckon you'd still be 500,000 ahead.

what do you reckon?

[oldtamiyaphile]

Originally Posted by 320touring

what do you reckon?

Not everyone likes driving old bangers. It's dumb to compare the cost of ownership of a 200 quid anything to a brand new anything.

In rust free Australia, decade old cars still cost good money, 200 quid won't get you anything drivable. Disposable motoring has it's appeal no doubt, but I enjoy taking care of my cars so buying new and keeping them long term makes sense.

[320touring]

Originally Posted by oldtamiyaphile

Not everyone likes driving old bangers. It's dumb to compare the cost of ownership of a 200 quid anything to a brand new anything.

In rust free Australia, decade old cars still cost good money, 200 quid won't get you anything drivable. Disposable motoring has it's appeal no doubt, but I enjoy taking care of my cars so buying new and keeping them long term makes sense.

very fair comment certainly mine is an old clunker, but £2000 would see it mechanically refurbed, and you could still be getting 60+mpg.

If you can get figures to compare the new Golf Tdi vs the e-Golf I'd be most interested to see what the breakeven point looks like

[RedDevil]

I live close to Utrecht, where old diesels are banned from the city center.
Not taking a stance, but it does limit the usefulness of a diesel engined car over here.

Also our electric cars don't pay road tax while diesels are punished extra.

I have no idea how clean a diesel burning veggie oil is compared to one burning mineral oil. I would think it is (less/no benzene ringed molecules in veggie oil) just can't guess by how much.

[320touring]

Originally Posted by RedDevil

I live close to Utrecht, where old diesels are banned from the city center.
Not taking a stance, but it does limit the usefulness of a diesel engined car over here.

Also our electric cars don't pay road tax while diesels are punished extra.

I have no idea how clean a diesel burning veggie oil is compared to one burning mineral oil. I would think it is (less/no benzene ringed molecules in veggie oil) just can't guess by how much.

again another great point! road tax on my Octavia is £130 a year so not too onerous.

re the banning from cities-again the fuel emissions eill alter due to different fuels, but you could always drive to the edge of the city and continue your journey on a folding bike

I'd like to keep the discussion focused on thebfinancial aspects if possible-especially as the e-Golf benefits from a £5000 government grant..

it'd be £32,000 otherwise!

[Vman455]

How much was the Octavia new? If you're going to skew the comparison by using an old car, you might as well compare the Golf to the cost-per-mile of a bike, public transportation, and walking.

[320touring]

i'll see if I can find out the info when I get hame

[320touring]

best info I can glean so far..

Originally Posted by wemorgan

~£15k I believe, or in today's money ~£22k.

Nice one

lets take it at 22k for the octavia..

£5k at 2.5p/mile additional cost gets you 200, 000 miles down the road before it costs more to run the Octavia than the e-Golf

[RunningStrong]

Didn't you post the exact same thing on pistonheads too?

The question is, which is safer? More secure? More reliable? That's what you're paying the premium for on new vs old.

[320touring]

Originally Posted by RunningStrong

Didn't you post the exact same thing on pistonheads too?

The question is, which is safer? More secure? More reliable? That's what you're paying the premium for on new vs old.

Indeed I did- they seem to be engaging with the discussion in a fairly docile manner (relatively)

Even comparing "new with new" the derv has a significant head start in miles.

just good to get some discussion going re it