Ford Focus Zetec or Peugeot 308 Diesel s

[ilikedrivinginmycar]

Hi

We have a Ford Focus 1.6 Zetec 2010 dp won some money and we brought it brand new so no finance. Any how we are really skint and are finding the Focus a bit expensive to run. We found a peugeot which is ?30 pa road tax and diesel so better on fuel I am a bit stop start visiting clients drop of to nursery etc. I really like the focus but a tank normally lasts me a fortnight when I am working. We have leased a little 107 for dp commute his commute was costing ?300 a month in fuel & I spend about ?150 but now in 107 its just under ?200 and the RT on that is ?20 we had an old KA before that again this was really expensive to run same as focus tbh. We rely heavily on cars due to our rural location and both working 2 small DC but running our cars was as much as our rent with all the other things you have to factor in to having a car. I actually went out without a car for 5 months (on mat leave back to work tomorrow!) when KA failed its MOT to see how I would get on and life was impossible so cars are definatly a need not a want.

What do you think are we doing the right thing? A lot of people have said stay away from Peugeots so I am a little worried. Its 2009 model and has 24000 on the clock also dealership did us a straight swap so no additional finance. I know we would get more privately for it but just dont want the hassle and havn't really got the time for this. Our focus had 29000 on the clock so quite high milage for its age due to dp commute. I test drove the Peugeot and its ok just not very exciting but then we cant afford to be exciting at the moment.

I think the negatives of swapping outweigh the positives:

Focus in warranty, Peugeot out of warranty;
Focus owned from new so you know all history, you don't know how the Peugeot has been treated;
Peugeot is an older car but you're getting no money out of the transaction (and will probably have admin charges for swapping it on the insurance).

Have you got insurance prices to know if it's going to be more or less? I wouldn't imagine it's much more, but insurance can be strange and it could wipe out your road tax savings.

You say you do a lot of stop/start driving which is not good for a diesel engine, a petrol engine is much more suited. You could knacker the diesel particulate filter with those sorts of trips (or knacker it quicker) and you could be facing a bill for over £1000.

How many miles per month or year do you do? What MPG are you getting from the focus? Is the majority done in traffic, or short journeys? Savings on diesel are usually realised if you're doing 16K-20K miles per year.

Hi thanks for the reply

The insurance is less. I reckon I do about 6-7000 in work and doing stuff with kids but then DP will use it for fishing trips and we would use it for family outings.

I am a bit worried now cos we have already changed the insurance but I dont think we want the car now. No money has changed hands. I was supposed to be picking it up Thurs is it too late to pull out. This is the second time we have done this something is telling me not to get rid of Focus.

oh mpg i can get about 38-41 dp 35

I'm trying to do some calculations, and assuming you can get 46mpg out of the Peugeot (and assuming 40mpg on the Focus) I think you save about £120 over 7000 miles with the Puegeot, £170 saving on road tax, so nearly £300 a year plus whatever you save on insurance; overall not bad - weigh it against the fact of an unknown car history.

Sorry, that's not really helping.

I rung dealership this morning and we have pulled out. It will be the only time in our lives I doubt we will own any car that is ours from new & know a cars history so I think its better the devil you know than the one you dont. But I thought a diesel wouldnt be suitable for what I am going to use it for and I will be the main user. But the guys at the garage said it would be fine diesels are different these days? Also I wont be working every week of the year I will be off with DS in school hols so will be doing less driving.