Petrol Prices - Are they to high - What can we do about it.

[Graham C]

for the first time ever, it cost me over £50 to fill my tank up

115.9 per litre, I'm sure it goes up daily .

[M3boy]

Spent over £200 on Petrol last 8 days

The 330D BMW looks even more appealing to me now than ever - maybe time to change

[77dave]

I just filled my SUV up cost me $70 for my 22 gallon tank

[RED-DOG]

  If you're only going to be doing frequent small journies then a diesel isn't really much of a help

You're wrong here Kin. Petrol engines are at their most inefficient when cold or during stop/start urban driving. Diesels aren't nearly so badly affected.

[RED-DOG]

I'm going to buy me a likkle tiny teensy weensy diesel car if I can find one. Group 4 insurance, £35 per year tax, and 60+ mpg.

[rajkan]

People need to be smart, avoid those garages taking the piss. If virtually everyone does this it wont happen. Alas people are too thick, have pointless protests and dont play the big companies at their own game.

I don't think its necessarily being thick - its just a convenience thing.

If a service station is 5p a litre more it'll prob cost me an extra 2 quid to fill up. I'm fairly likely to pay that rather than spend ten minutes driving to a cheaper station. there is also the extra cost to hunt down the cheaper garage. It just depends how much you value your time and how you look at the costs you incur.

You don't need to hunt down cheaper garages, as I said in the thread earlier. Go to www.petrolprices.com and it tells you where to get the cheapest petrol near to where you live.

[Rooky9]

People need to be smart, avoid those garages taking the piss. If virtually everyone does this it wont happen. Alas people are too thick, have pointless protests and dont play the big companies at their own game.

I don't think its necessarily being thick - its just a convenience thing.

If a service station is 5p a litre more it'll prob cost me an extra 2 quid to fill up. I'm fairly likely to pay that rather than spend ten minutes driving to a cheaper station. there is also the extra cost to hunt down the cheaper garage. It just depends how much you value your time and how you look at the costs you incur.

You don't need to hunt down cheaper garages, as I said in the thread earlier. Go to www.petrolprices.com and it tells you where to get the cheapest petrol near to where you live.

when I say hunt down I don't mean have a drive round a couple for the cheapest. Even with that web site I have to load up my computer before I want to fill up, check the prices - 5 minutes, then drive to a station that might not be the closest, which is more time plus extra mileage. It could end up to be cutting your nose off to spite your face - it'll 'cost' you more to make no difference at all. Especially now that not all garages don't seem to be carrying the McVities flapjack selection which is essential for all long driving trips.

Thats being said the website probably useful to have to spot the generally cheaper ones so that you can fill as you pass it.

[kinboshi]

  If you're only going to be doing frequent small journies then a diesel isn't really much of a help

You're wrong here Kin. Petrol engines are at their most inefficient when cold or during stop/start urban driving. Diesels aren't nearly so badly affected.

You didn't read what I said.  If you aren't doing many miles, and you are buying a new diesel car it will cost you more than the petrol equivalent.  As you aren't going to do enough miles to benefit from the greater mpg of the diesel, then you aren't going to recover the additional expense you paid out initially on the car.  That's before you even consider the price of diesel now and as it continues to rise at a greater rate than unleaded petrol.

On a typical new 5-door hatchback (like the VW Golf for argument's sake), you'll need to be doing over 20,000 (it might even be 30,000 I don't hav the figures to hand) miles a year for over three years to get any financial benefit from buying the diesel rather than the petrol.

[RED-DOG]

  If you're only going to be doing frequent small journies then a diesel isn't really much of a help

You're wrong here Kin. Petrol engines are at their most inefficient when cold or during stop/start urban driving. Diesels aren't nearly so badly affected.

You didn't read what I said.  If you aren't doing many miles, and you are buying a new diesel car it will cost you more than the petrol equivalent.  As you aren't going to do enough miles to benefit from the greater mpg of the diesel, then you aren't going to recover the additional expense you paid out initially on the car.  That's before you even consider the price of diesel now and as it continues to rise at a greater rate than unleaded petrol.

On a typical new 5-door hatchback (like the VW Golf for argument's sake), you'll need to be doing over 20,000 (it might even be 30,000 I don't hav the figures to hand) miles a year for over three years to get any financial benefit from buying the diesel rather than the petrol.

Ahh, I see what you're getting at now. My apologies.

[kinboshi]

Just crunched some figures.

Comparing the Volkswagen Golf Hatchback 1.6 S FSI 5dr and the VolkswagenGolf Diesel Hatchback 1.9 S TDI 5dr.

Petrol costs £14,283 to buy and the diesel £15,528.

Petrol does 32.1mpg (urban) and the diesel 43.5mpg.

If you do 10,000 a year (not untypical), then the cost of petrol is £1,557.05 and diesel £1,254  (going from £1.10 a litre of petrol and £1.20 for diesel).  That's a difference of £300 a year. 

What's scary is that I spend double those figures on petrol in a year...

[M3boy]

When you take account of everything, Public transport and Tax's must be cheaper.

My petrol costs alone would let me have £70 per week , then you have Insurance, Car Tax, Repairs, Depreciation ontop of that.

Now if only our trains/Busses ran through the night, I think I would definately consider it.

[RED-DOG]

Just crunched some figures.

Comparing the Volkswagen Golf Hatchback 1.6 S FSI 5dr and the VolkswagenGolf Diesel Hatchback 1.9 S TDI 5dr.

Petrol costs £14,283 to buy and the diesel £15,528.

Petrol does 32.1mpg (urban) and the diesel 43.5mpg.

If you do 10,000 a year (not untypical), then the cost of petrol is £1,557.05 and diesel £1,254  (going from £1.10 a litre of petrol and £1.20 for diesel).  That's a difference of £300 a year. 

What's scary is that I spend double those figures on petrol in a year...

And in the first 3 miles of each journey the petrol car will probably only return half that mileage.

[kinboshi]

Just crunched some figures.

Comparing the Volkswagen Golf Hatchback 1.6 S FSI 5dr and the VolkswagenGolf Diesel Hatchback 1.9 S TDI 5dr.

Petrol costs £14,283 to buy and the diesel £15,528.

Petrol does 32.1mpg (urban) and the diesel 43.5mpg.

If you do 10,000 a year (not untypical), then the cost of petrol is £1,557.05 and diesel £1,254  (going from £1.10 a litre of petrol and £1.20 for diesel).  That's a difference of £300 a year. 

What's scary is that I spend double those figures on petrol in a year...

And in the first 3 miles of each journey the petrol car will probably only return half that mileage.

That's taken into account in the 'urban' figure.

[kinboshi]

When you take account of everything, Public transport and Tax's must be cheaper.

My petrol costs alone would let me have £70 per week , then you have Insurance, Car Tax, Repairs, Depreciation ontop of that.

Now if only our trains/Busses ran through the night, I think I would definately consider it.

I agree.

Unfortunately, for most people public transport just isn't a viable option.

[Royal Flush]

It's called planning and not letting those charging more than others locally get away with it, still if people pay they will continue to take piss.

It's just easier though, i just pull of a motorway and fill up, i would rather pay a bit more for that convenience.

I am looking to get rid of my 4.0 litre though, obv going for a 4.7 lol