Considering changing my car. I currently have a small petrol car, but now with a new job, a long commute. I am averaging 200kms a day round trip, and it costs a small fortune.

I considered a diesel car, but friends have said that the reparation costs are a lot more than a petrol car so in the end it is not worth the cheaper fuel price.

I have thought about hybrid cars but have no experience of them.

I am not a petrol head, so some inputs into the most fuel efficient and cheapest cars to run would be appreciated.

Public transport is not an option.

Ta very muchly

keep your car. cost of depreciation are likely higher than fuel saving costs.

Update to a decent sound system and keep the small car.

If your commute takes you close to German or French borders then a diesel would make sense.

Ignore the cost of fuel - how comfortable are the seats? And how quiet is the car when cruising?

Those factors matter far more that a small increase in fuel costs.

All things considered I would get something like a Bluemotion Diesel Golf, Passat etc.. A reliable, mass produced diesel engined car which is engineered to give you high MPGs.

I do similar mileage to you and having done it with petrol and diesel cars, there is no contest. I find diesels to be smoother and quieter on the highway, with the available grunt to easily and safely overtake at those speeds. And crucially for me, I only have to fill up once a week (1000 km of range) as opposed to twice with a petrol. With regards to hybrids, I am not so knowledgeable, but having test driven a Prius I was pretty underwhelmed with its performance and fuel economy on the highway.

Earlier hybrids had good city economy but indifferent (compared to a diesel) highway. I'm told the current generation are much better but haven't tried myself.

Moving closer to work could be the most efficient money saver here....

I've done the same Km/year in the past. In my experience, Diesel is the only option, even more if you can refuel in France. I had always good experiences with DV4 and DV6 engines (Peugeot, Citroen and older Ford, Mazda, Mini, Volvo). If you are looking for a bargain, used cars with these engines slightly below 120K are often at a good price because people doesn't know the cambelt is due at 240K. Maintenance costs are usually lower with diesel engines for this kind of Km/year, I think this is one of the reasons fleets are mainly based on diesel cars.

that's the main issue if you buy a new(ish) car you are going to destroy its value within a year, sticking 50k km on it.

I would (and did) buy the cheapest car I could find, which turned out to be a 2006 ford focus 1.6 with a new mfk, its worth nothing but like you I do 200km per day, so far its cost me a set of brake pads and wipers, it not fast, but is quite comfy and quiet. if and when it breaks down I'll just do the same again. The ford gives me 7.2l per 100km which isn't so good but could be worse

and the best of all is I don't give a toss about it getting damaged / scratched etc etc

__________________
https://starkindustries.ch/
http://www.swissr2.ch/
http://www.tk16431.com/

Buy a Golf 1.9TDI.. something like this http://www.autoscout24.ch/fr/d/vw-go...p%3d10%26r%3d5
average fuel consumption 4.5 on highway...good value for the money..and you can reach 400k km whit no problems

Nitro.



Tom

Hybrid cars are efficient in 'mixed driving' but not if you do a lot of highway KM as they can't harvest energy which just means that you're driving a heavy petrol car.

For that distance I'd go for a diesel, I don't think you've stated a budget so that clearly makes a big difference but something like an Octavia, Focus, Civic or even a size down like a Fiesta or Polo will be perfectly pleasant and comfortable at 120 KPH.

If you really want to do things cheaply I guess a new Dacia Sandero diesel is about the cheapest thing you'll find but it depends how comfortable you find it.

What is your current car (age, miles, model) as this is also important. Usually the cheapest thing is to keep what you've got but if it's really thirsty and you're destroying the resale value by stacking KM on it then maybe it's worth a change.

Personally, I wouldn't have a diesel because of the move to ban them in major cities. It makes me wonder how fast Switzerland would follow suit and if this will accelerate the depreciation in coming years. Also, I can't have one because I've a lifelong allergy to diesel fumes.

http://www.itv.com/news/2016-12-09/s...thin-a-decade/

I swear by Mazdas for excellent fuel consumption and 3 of my last 4 cars were Mazda 626/6. OH didn't believe my claims regarding this until his car was off the road and he drove mine all over the UK for a week, but it totally converted him.

This is possibly true, but if you're buying something cheap (by which I mean not a new Range Rover or BMW 535d) then it's not going to be a huge issue. You will have at least five years warning and there are always export markets which will take the car later on. I'd stick to Euro 6 cars though, I don't think I'd buy Euro 4 at all and a Euro 5 model would need to be fairly cheap.

-Diesel seems the only option for the OP in terms of costs due to very high use of the car.

-For less than 20K a year, it's better to get petrol in Switzerland. Of course it depends on the exact calculation but it "tends" to get better.
Why? because the price difference of petrol vs diesel is not much here.
And what matters is the consumption ex 5/100 or 6/100.

Based on calculations made on those theoretical consumptions in a few car I compared, it was taking average 6/7 years for compensating the extra cost of the diesel engine.

Not forgetting that EUR6 diesel need addblue, which for 20K a year and depending on some models could add 50/100CHF /year.

And the weaknesses of diesel in cold weather, and the potential issue with DPF, etc....


So for the OP between hybrid, petrol, plugin and diesel, I would say diesel is the most likely option. Unless OP can afford a Tesla

For the others, is not that obvious. Personnally with 20K year I just switched from Diesel to Petrol. In 7 years, since i'm consuming a bit more petrol vs the diesel version, I will have pay the same as the diesel version.

And taxes are also different with the "discounts" in some cantons for energy sticker A (and B sometimes) and the engine size tax, and the weight, etc....

Well it's complex and costly anyway.