More numbers....

I recently had my car serviced and on the invoice they have all sorts of lovely numbers that I somehow have never noticed before. At the date of the service it's been 1,975 days and 145,016 kms since we got the car. That equates to a disturbing 73 kms per day, 513 kms per week or just under 27,000km per year.

We are considering a new car and in amongst the discussion is the premium we'd pay for a more efficient model and how the potential savings weigh up against a initial smaller lump sum.

As an example, we were looking at the Ford Fiesta Econetic which can do 3.7L/100km. With a conservative diesel cost of $1.25/L this equates to $1,236 per year. As a side note, this car costs around $24,000 and is horrendously ugly and a bit clumsy looking.

The other option is a similar-sized 2009 VW-Polo which does 6.5L/100km. Using a similar price for unleaded petrol this equates to $2,171 per year.

The car on the other hand costs just under $20,000 and is 'pretty' and arguably built better.

The juice difference is $935 per year so the premium for the Fiesta pays for itself in around 4 years.

Added to the confusion the 2010 version of the Polo includes a diesel that supposedly does 3.3L/100km but that 'might' not come to Australia.

All too hard sometimes.