How much does it cost you to fill your car up?

[neondragonfly]

I've been out the UK for a couple of years but planning on moving back in the new year. I've no idea what car I'm going to buy yet but the cost of petrol frights me!

Would you mind sharing what car you drive a d roughly how much it costs to fill it? I need some sort of reality check and need to think about insurance too.

Mine's a Toyota Yaris hybrid, does 60mpg (I do a mixture of urban and dual carriageway driving).

Alto, 35 L tank, petrol £1.10 at my local, so about £30 if closer to empty (I always fill it at half full).

As others have said, cost to fill is a completely pointless figure as it depends on the size of the tank not the efficiency of the car.

If it’s running costs you are worried about then you need to factor in MPG, tax, insurance, servicing and depreciation.

Eg diesel gives better mpg but the cars tend to cost more up front. Also look at upcoming legislation changes as depreciation on diesels is likely to take a hit as they fall out of favour.

Also ignore people saying there electric car costs 7.50 for three days. You need to factor in purchase price and the cost of the charging equipment (if you can even install any where you live). Then if buying you need to look at battery life and disposal.

I still believe the best way to run a vehicle on a limited and fixed budget is leasing. Fixed monthly costs and no maintenance (even tyres etc) to worry about so no nasty surprises. A new small car that is very fuel efficient can be had for less than £150 a month including everything but fuel and insurance (dependant on annual mileage)

Electric smart car. 85p for 60 miles in winter.

Renault Megane, £10 for 75 miles.

Mercedes gl350 costs £100 to fill and only get around 400 miles.

Previously VW Passat estate which cost £60 to fill and provided 700 miles!

Ford Focus, £50.

5yr old 1.6 Mini Cooper. Gets about 39 MPG, mix of town and motorway driving.

Feel like im forever filling the blasted thing up!

Presumably though a much bigger cost for the car to start with?
Yes, but we used our old Volvo for as long as possible before we got to a point that it couldn't be maintained. The Government were offering good incentives to go electric and the car company offered another £3k off for first 1000 orders so we saved almost £7k - plus it has a 7 year warranty and no road tax. Financially it was definitely worth it over buying another diesel or petrol car.

Also ignore people saying there electric car costs 7.50 for three days. You need to factor in purchase price and the cost of the charging equipment
Don't just write it off - obviously charging is an issue if you can't get off road but purchase price is a factor for all cars and we got half the cost of the charge pod subsidised by the government. Plus no road tax. We were spending about £400 a month on fuel, plus various costly repairs for our old car.

I got my charge point for free. It’s a BP one.

£34 on each of the last two occasions for an eight year old Citroen C1. However, it wasn't quite empty and it doesn't go far anyway.

@Bluntness100

Mercedes ml350, about 100. It’s got a large tank.

I think you’re asking York wrong question. You want to know about fuel efficiency I think ? Cars have different tank sizes. The cost to fill it is related to the size of the tank. And depending on the fuel efficiency will tell how long that tank lasts.

That's a valid point, thank you. I'm thinking about which cars to test drive next week and as someone else mentioned, I should consider electric. I literally have no idea about them though!

@Gretnacastle

As others have said, cost to fill is a completely pointless figure as it depends on the size of the tank not the efficiency of the car.

If it’s running costs you are worried about then you need to factor in MPG, tax, insurance, servicing and depreciation.

Eg diesel gives better mpg but the cars tend to cost more up front. Also look at upcoming legislation changes as depreciation on diesels is likely to take a hit as they fall out of favour.

Also ignore people saying there electric car costs 7.50 for three days. You need to factor in purchase price and the cost of the charging equipment (if you can even install any where you live). Then if buying you need to look at battery life and disposal.

I still believe the best way to run a vehicle on a limited and fixed budget is leasing. Fixed monthly costs and no maintenance (even tyres etc) to worry about so no nasty surprises. A new small car that is very fuel efficient can be had for less than £150 a month including everything but fuel and insurance (dependant on annual mileage)

I just had this conversation with my mum. We have a long term lease where we live and it works great. Mum seems to be under the impression that you've got to buy the car at the end of the contact or exchange for another long term lease in the Uk? She also said it's only certain car company's that do it??

I need to look into this further.

In your opinion, is leasing a good option?

Petrol and diesel car sales will be banned from 2030 sorry but v unlikely, they may stop the production of new cars but they won’t outright ban all petrol cars, the uproar would be immense before we even begin the question how our national grid would cope.

@Gretnacastle

As others have said, cost to fill is a completely pointless figure as it depends on the size of the tank not the efficiency of the car.

If it’s running costs you are worried about then you need to factor in MPG, tax, insurance, servicing and depreciation.

Eg diesel gives better mpg but the cars tend to cost more up front. Also look at upcoming legislation changes as depreciation on diesels is likely to take a hit as they fall out of favour.

Also ignore people saying there electric car costs 7.50 for three days. You need to factor in purchase price and the cost of the charging equipment (if you can even install any where you live). Then if buying you need to look at battery life and disposal.

I still believe the best way to run a vehicle on a limited and fixed budget is leasing. Fixed monthly costs and no maintenance (even tyres etc) to worry about so no nasty surprises. A new small car that is very fuel efficient can be had for less than £150 a month including everything but fuel and insurance (dependant on annual mileage)

Just reread your post, yes you think it's a good option!

Two big Volvos.

Diesel one £70
Petrol one £55

Mpg much higher in the diesel than the petrol one.

I think the leasing v buying is a different argument altogether. I’ve always bought outright, I never have anything flash. Currently vw polo costs about £50 to fill up, and I use the posh stuff, but it’s nice not having a monthly significant amount going out for the car. Yes I’ve had loans in the past but once they’re paid off you have an asset albeit a depreciating one, but extra money in the bank. I keep a car on average 10 years.

Land Rover Disco Sport 2 ltr diesel c £65 to fill up

Usually around £80, and I fill up before it gets empty.

I would happily switch to electric car and will when one appears that suits my needs (and budget) without too much compromise.

BMW X5 with a 3l engine, costs roughly £120 (depending on where I go and how much they’re charging!) to fill with diesel from empty, this gives me around 600-650 miles.
But as a pp mentioned, you need to be looking at mpg to ascertain which car is most economical if petrol costs is a factor for you. Good luck!

Ford Focus. 50 litre tank. 413 mile range. Costs £55 to fill up at the moment as petrol is "cheap". Has been up to £75 in places.

I drive a 12yo Ford Fusion diesel which costs around £45 to fill, and does around 600 miles on a tank.

Around £80
Diesel Landrover

£45 if empty, pretty good on fuel