Ok, I'm biased. I love my i30 crdi and any wonder.
Back in the late 1970's I had a workmate that drove from Frankston daily to Coburg. He got his HQ Holden 202 manual converted to LPG. I was tempted but didn't do it. A couple of years went by and just before I left that job we had a chat about his car.
He'd saved twice as much as it cost for the conversion in 2 years. It got me thinking.
Years later I live din Yea Victoria and purchased a VW Golf diesel. Pity that car didn't come with a 5th gear. And it wasn't turboed. It was loud so anything over 90kph you had to wear ear muffs. But it did get 50mpg (5.6 L/100km). I was driving from Yea to Ivanhoe in Melbournes inner northern eastern suburbs about 100 minutes of many bends in the hills over the great dividing range. Had plenty of time to think and I can recall realising that the money saved by not running a 4 cylinder petrol car meant I could afford to take my family for a counter meal every night them days.
The Golf years ended when we "T" boned a car in Broadford. I had dreams of a vintage car so started collecting MK3 Ford Zephyrs. I converted one to LPG. Not quite as economical as the Golf but still quite good at an equivalent cost equal to 45mpg. It has a 6 cylinder 2500cc engine.
In 2001 I purchased a brand new ford AU series 2 utility dedicated LPG. We also bought a similar LPG sedan. The ute would achieve 13 L/100km and the sedan 11L/100km @ sometimes one third the price of petrol. The difference in the two cars was- the size of the wheels, 13" for the ute, 14" for the sedan. I made 485,000km in the ute before I sold it. The only worry was the front discs that warped often and a good new battery every two years.
Enter the i30. When I went to by it I asked the salesman if I could just sit in the car and him to leave me alone. He agreed and for 30 minutes I sat there fiddling with everything to see it I could live in it. "Live in it"? Well from central Victoria I'd service areas as far as Griffith, Canberra, buxton, Ballarat etc. Plus I'd sit in my car all day being a PI. It had to be comfortable. Other things that concerned me were seat strength. The Ford seat would bend under my weight and often I'd need to bend it back!. When I test drove it my concern was noise at 100kph. Yes, it was quiet and very quiet when all windows up.
I knew the economy was going to be good but not that good! Without towing it has never got less than 48mpg. I've achieved 56mpg a few times. With 50mpg the norm cruising on highways at 110kph and eating hills easily what impact did this economy mean?
Well the year I made 80,000km. @ 5.6 L/100km = 4480 litres @ $1.40 per litre = $6272.
Comparison to a 2 litre engine i30 using 8L/100km = 6400 litres @ $1.30 per litre = $8320
With the $2500 cost of choosing a diesel I had almost made up for that cost in the first year.
We'd added another car to our fleet so kms dropped yearly after that but at 304,000km total now the numbers are-
304,000km @5.6 L/100km= 17,000 litres @ $1.30/litre (average over 8 years) = $22,131
comparison to 2 litre petrol 304,000km @ 8 L/100km= 24320 litres @ $1.30/litre (average) = $31,616
Savings = $9485
So where is the perspective? Apart from the diesel likely lasting a lot longer it terms of engine wear, lets look at the $9485 over 8 years. That's say $1200 a year or $100 a month.
If you took out a home loan For $100,000 over a 30 year period and instead of making only the repayments you added $100 a month to it, you'd save $40,000 interest. You'd shorten the life of the loan from 30 years to 23. If you did this by owning a CRDI and travelled 15,000km a year at the end of that 23 year term you would have travelled 340,000kms, paid off your home and still many kms left in your car.
What does all this mean? If your marriage fails be the clever one....give the convertible to your wife as part settlement and keep the CRDI.
