[Pikapolonica]

Sorry if this has been posted elsewhere

As some of you know, I'm in the market for an i30 SLK petrol.  I currently drive 600km during the week and maybe another 50km around town.  With my current car (2001 Nissan Pulsar), I'm lucky to have the tank last the week.

How does the i30 go for fuel over that same time period?  Does anyone do as many km's as I do?  Just for comparison.  I know my car is older (245,000km on the clock), but I would just like a guide.

[i30Dave]

Hi Vanessa,

I've had my SR petrol i30 for 4 months now and I'm averaging around 700km/tank
Heres the link to forum topic

https://i30ownersclub.com/forum/index.php/board,29.0.html

[Rubix]

the 2 litre petrol goes past 600km. 8L/100km on city driving from what I understand, which is nearly 700km from a 53+L tank (the "+" being the difference between stated tank size and filling it to the brim)

[i30Dave]

I can get 58ltrs in the tank from empty 

[Dazzler]

Sorry if this has been posted elsewhere

As some of you know, I'm in the market for an i30 SLK petrol.  I currently drive 600km during the week and maybe another 50km around town.  With my current car (2001 Nissan Pulsar), I'm lucky to have the tank last the week.

How does the i30 go for fuel over that same time period?  Does anyone do as many km's as I do?  Just for comparison.  I know my car is older (245,000km on the clock), but I would just like a guide.

Hi Pikapolonica

I had a 2001 Pulsar until 2006 and now drive a Diesel i30 SLX. The 1.6 Pulsar is very good on fuel for a heavy car. The 2.0 ltr i30 Petrol has a very good (low ) ADR fuel rating for a 2.0 ltr Petrol Vehicle 7.2 overall I think .. but would be surprised if in real world driving you will go any further per litre than the smaller engined Pulsar.

If you are concerned about economy why not buy the Diesel i30 (even with the higher cost of Diesel it works out slightly more economical to run) Without checking the website would imagine you could get an  SX Diesel with Tint and some after market alloys for about the same as a Petrol SLX?

Pikapolonica,

As Dazz has said, consider the diesel.  Your situation sounds a lot like mine.  I do 750km to and from work each day and about another 150km most weekends.  I was going to get a small petrol to do the trip but when I saw the 4.7LPH claim of the diesel i30, I was sold.  The sums added up, despite the extra preium for the diesel.  Already this year, we have done 39 000km in the i30 since the beginning of March.  We consistently get 1200 km per tank and the fuel consumption ranges from 4.3 - 4.6 LPH (although currently I have 4.0 LPH on the trip computer - trying to get to 1400km on a tank).

In summary, if you were only doing a few hundred per week, I'd say, stick to the petrol, but 600km per week is another matter.  Just a question, what type of driving is it?  We're mainly doing open country driving.

Bob

[r5e]

Don't worry about arbitrary numbers like kms per tank or tankfuls for per week. The best way to measure a car's fuel efficiency is  in litres per 100kms. Luckily this sort of information is clearly and easily available about almost every car now.

The petrol i30 does 7.2L/100kms and the diesel does 4.7L/100kms.

You get a bit more km of power with the petrol, but only at much higher revs and significantly more torque from the diesel - at around half the revs!  :o  For me, whether you're looking at performance or economy, you can't go past the diesel.

A diesel engine is generally up to 40% more efficient than a petrol one and in this case, you're looking at 35% more efficiency from the diesel.

If you do the maths (as I did before I bought my wife an i30), you'd see that the slightly higher cost per L of diesel is not really a factor. In fact, in order for your diesel i30 to cost you more to run than your petrol one, if petrol was at $1.50/L, diesel would have to be at $2.30/L before it would reach the point of being more expensive

You could also consider that a diesel i30 should do 1,127kms on a tank and a petrol one would only do 736kms.

Lastly, the diesel one emits almost none of the harmful (but invisible) gasses that a petrol one does and it emits 125g/km of CO2, which is less than a hybrid car.

[Seoul-mate]

Quote from ouri30   "I do 750km to and from work each day"
That's a long drive Dave !! Is that correct?
Did you mean 750km each week?

Russ

[Pikapolonica]

I do highway driving (Geelong to Sunshine).  I'm hoping to get a job more locally in the near future.

I agree that diesel is better and a bit more $$$ but in the long run I'll benefit more from this.

I'd like the SLX due to the fact that it has cruise control.  Hopefully this will help with fuel consumption (should I go ahead with a petrol model) as at the moment, I'm very inconsistent with my speeds).

ARGH!  It's too hard to decide!

Quote from ouri30   "I do 750km to and from work each day"
That's a long drive Dave !! Is that correct?
Did you mean 750km each week?

Russ

Oops!  :-\

Thats 150km per day and 750km per week.  I need to check my typing before I post.

Bob

[Rubix]

If you do the maths (as I did before I bought my wife an i30), you'd see that the slightly higher cost per L of diesel is not really a factor. In fact, in order for your diesel i30 to cost you more to run than your petrol one, if petrol was at $1.50/L, diesel would have to be at $2.30/L before it would reach the point of being more expensive

However, if you calculate in the difference in price between the vehicles, and given the current difference in Petrol to Diesel fuel cost - $1.10 v $1.50 for argument's sake - you only start saving money after more than 200,000km...

$1.10/L = $63.80/tank (of 58L) = Manual: 805km = 1.24 tanks for 1000km = $79.11/1000km, Automatic: 763km = 1.31 tanks = $83.58/1000km
$1.50/L = $87.00/tank (of 58L) = Manual: 1234km = 0.81 tanks = $70.47/1000km, Automatic: 966km = 1.04 tanks = $90.48/1000km...

An Automatic Diesel will actually cost you more per km until the price of Diesel goes down to $1.38 while Petrol remains at $1.10 (ie when it's less than 125% of Petrol)

A Manual Diesel will cost you less per 1000km - but does it cost less than the extra you're paying for the car - $2000 RRP... in order to save the $2000 you've spent extra on the car, at current fuel prices (40c extra for Diesel fuel works out a difference of $8.64 per 1000km), you have to drive more than 231,000km. If Diesel gets cheaper, lets say to $1.10 at the same price as Petrol, it would cost $51.68/1000km = $27.43/1000km difference to the Petrol - so 72,900km before you start saving the $2000 extra you spent on the car. But when is that going to happen? Petrol companies know that car manufacturers are making, and more people are buying, the 'more efficient, more environmentally friendly' Diesel engines... And here's me who only does 10,000km/year, so I wouldn't even save money for 8yrs!

[Rubix]

btw - please note that was based on the Hyundai-listed consumption figures, individual fuel consumption depends on driving style.

[r5e]

However, if you calculate in the difference in price between the vehicles, and given the current difference in Petrol to Diesel fuel cost - $1.10 v $1.50 for argument's sake - you only start saving money after more than 200,000km...

Agreed. I did my sums initially on $1.50 petrol and $1.60 diesel, but who knows what may change in the future. The diesel engine costs $2,500 more, I had not posted this in my fuel cost calculations in here, though I did do them. At 20,000kms year, it would take 5 years to pay off the higher cost of the engine. That is not taking into account other things like insurance being cheaper (anecdotally, I've not actually researched this properly), diesel engines lasting a hell of a lot longer and also holding their resale value better.

However, cost was not the only consideration. IMHO, the diesel feels better to drive with more torque and not having to rev to get it, easily staying in a high gear up a hill and overtaking at speed without effort. Environmental considerations are also there, with more options for alternative fuels (though not easily commercially), but even apart from that the emissions are lower.

It's really difficult to put a dollar value on the right decision, as at the end of the day, it is too hard to measure and there are unknown factors with future prices, but based on the fact that I intend to keep the car for a long time and like to ease my middle class guilt by trying to have a smaller environmental footprint, I would choose the diesel every time.

An Automatic Diesel will actually cost you more per km until the price of Diesel goes down to $1.38 while Petrol remains at $1.10 (ie when it's less than 125% of Petrol)

Agreed. The auto costs more and has much worse efficiency. I guess you'd only look at getting an auto for comfort if you didn't like (or were not good at) changing your own gears. You'd not get an auto if you were concerned about fuel efficiency.

[Dazzler]

This topic has been well covered on the site.. r5e has just said most of what I was going to post.

Despite the Diesel being dearer to buy and Diesel now being dearer than Unleaded the Diesel model is still selling around 3 to 1 against the petrol. This would support the theory that some of the extra paid for the diesel model at initial purchase will be recouped in trade or private sale.

Cheers,

Dazz

[kinesiologykid]

If you do the maths (as I did before I bought my wife an i30), you'd see that the slightly higher cost per L of diesel is not really a factor. In fact, in order for your diesel i30 to cost you more to run than your petrol one, if petrol was at $1.50/L, diesel would have to be at $2.30/L before it would reach the point of being more expensive

However, if you calculate in the difference in price between the vehicles, and given the current difference in Petrol to Diesel fuel cost - $1.10 v $1.50 for argument's sake - you only start saving money after more than 200,000km...

$1.10/L = $63.80/tank (of 58L) = Manual: 805km = 1.24 tanks for 1000km = $79.11/1000km, Automatic: 763km = 1.31 tanks = $83.58/1000km
$1.50/L = $87.00/tank (of 58L) = Manual: 1234km = 0.81 tanks = $70.47/1000km, Automatic: 966km = 1.04 tanks = $90.48/1000km...

An Automatic Diesel will actually cost you more per km until the price of Diesel goes down to $1.38 while Petrol remains at $1.10 (ie when it's less than 125% of Petrol)

A Manual Diesel will cost you less per 1000km - but does it cost less than the extra you're paying for the car - $2000 RRP... in order to save the $2000 you've spent extra on the car, at current fuel prices (40c extra for Diesel fuel works out a difference of $8.64 per 1000km), you have to drive more than 231,000km. If Diesel gets cheaper, lets say to $1.10 at the same price as Petrol, it would cost $51.68/1000km = $27.43/1000km difference to the Petrol - so 72,900km before you start saving the $2000 extra you spent on the car. But when is that going to happen? Petrol companies know that car manufacturers are making, and more people are buying, the 'more efficient, more environmentally friendly' Diesel engines... And here's me who only does 10,000km/year, so I wouldn't even save money for 8yrs!

In Tasmania the prices are $1.30 petrol and $1.50 diesel per litre.
For the MANUAL diesel and petrol
EASIEST way to compare the savings after 100,000 kms is to multiply the price of fuel by 7,200 for petrol and 4,700 for diesel.
So in Tasmania at current prices:
Petrol 7,200 by $1.30 = $9,360
Diesel 4,700 by $1.50 = $7,050

So a saving of $2,310

When the time comes to sell, the diesel should be worth considerably more than the petrol.
Remember it was the diesel that won 'car of the year' and 'green car of the year.'

I would have loved to be able to buy a 3 year old i30 diesel with ESP, 6 airbags and two years warranty left!

If you drive a lot in the city, or do lots of short runs, the petrol may be best.
If you lots of long runs, freeway/country driving the diesel may be best.

The diesel flies up hills, and has lots of power for safe overtaking.

In 3 years time I believe ESP will be much more of a selling point than now, as more vehicles will have them as standard. So we have an advantage over many competitors who don't have it.

[Rubix]

I've just checked petrol prices for Sydney on the NRMA website - turns out the difference is now down a bit to $1.069c vs $1.365 (30c not 40c) - so the Diesel @ $6415 for 100,000km vs $7697 = $1282... lets say 156,000km to make the $2k sale price. Resale of the car would depend on how old it is, future fuel prices, repair cost comparison... I dunno how to calculate that - after 4 years you might get $1k more for the diesel version - so maybe 70-80,000km before you start saving money.

My verdict: you have to drive more than 15-20,000km a year to make it worth it for you - and I don't . And I prefer Automatics because I'm lazy, so even less value to me

[Rubix]

lol - ":" + "P" gives you "Tongue" instead of the tongue-poking smiley ...

[garry]

Hi All,Replying to Pikapolonica have just read all of the comments and everyone has their reasons for the different types of fuels but one thing I have noticed is no one talks services.I have had 2 Diesel cars now and have always done my own services this in it self is a big saving.It is not rocket science to change  filters and change your oil, I use a vacum pump brought from any auto shop cost $93.00 put the hose into the dip stick hole and pump their is no mess, once the vacum is up and sucking oil, walk away and it shuts its self of when the container is filled (9 litres).In a nut shell the services charge $95 per hour min so why not have a go.At present Hyundi are charging $25.80 for oil filters and $117.45 for a fuel filter,But if you get frendily with your local mechanic as I have I get my oil filters at $20 40 and Fuel filters at $40.80 thats quit a saving add the service saving and I belive it is cheaper to run Diesel and before you all get on the band wagon yes I have spoken with Hyundi about doing the oil/filter changes myself and they were not very happy with it but it does not void any warrenties if you use the correct oil/filters as they state.Its just that they are missing out on the profit margins.At the end of the day these i30 Diesel engines are bullet proof they should be cheaper to run. Cheers

[Lakes]

I do highway driving (Geelong to Sunshine).  I'm hoping to get a job more locally in the near future.

I agree that diesel is better and a bit more $$$ but in the long run I'll benefit more from this.

I'd like the SLX due to the fact that it has cruise control.  Hopefully this will help with fuel consumption (should I go ahead with a petrol model) as at the moment, I'm very inconsistent with my speeds).

ARGH!  It's too hard to decide!

Hi, just want to add, Cruise Control will not help economy over careful driving, specially if you climb hill's as with CC, the motor will speed up to keep the set speed, the diesel can do this more easily than the petrol due to higher TQ at lower rev's. i get bettereconomy not useing CC but on long trips i would not be without CC.