What's The Real Cost Of Car Fuel Consumption?

With fuel prices so high it pays to look more closely at fuel costs per mile.

For example the latest Minis are highly efficient for fuel economy, CO2 emissions and performance. The Mini 1.6 98bhp returns an urban mpg of 43.5, extra-urban 65.7, 55.4 combined and has emissions below 120 whilst being able to hit 116 mph and accelerate 0-62 mph in 10.5 seconds. A very impressive set of figures.

However, when we talk about fuel consumption we all refer to the combined mpg. In the Mini's case 55.4 mpg which the VCA calculate a fuel cost of £1,103 per 12,000 miles. All these VCA figures come with a whole set of justifiable disclaimers. So what is the real cost.?

My experience is motorists are lucky if they achieve the urban mpg figure. Many cars have on-board computers these days and as a car salesperson I checked these figures when appraising cars for part-exchange. In every case I found figures way below the combined mpg figure and near the urban figure.

This makes a big difference. Referring back to the Mini simply as an example, the combined 55.4 mpg costs £1,103 per 12,000 miles. However if you only achieve 43.5 mpg in reality costs rocket percentage wise. I make it £1,271 and that's at 112p per litre. £168 is lot of difference compared to the price of VED.

Also bear in mind these figures are for a highly efficient Mini. The figures get worse for less efficient cars.

Regards
Ralph