Actually, how much can we truly save with a fuel-saving car?!

Actually, how much can we truly save with a fuel-saving car?!

I was lucky. My father gave me a great car

When I started working way back in 1998, I drove my father’s Nissan Sunny until it reached very close to 400,000km. I drove it from 1998 until 2013. My ex General Manager (Japanese) said this one day in year 2000 when he was in my Nissan Sunny. “In Japan, nearly everyone changes their car before it reaches 100,000km.” He was looking at my odometer showing 180,000 km and he was like, ‘what the ….” I sold the car in 2013. Nissan Sunny is a fuel-saving type of car. Everyone knows this.

My actual own car.

The first car I ever bought with my own money is a Proton Persona 1.6 (MANUAL gear). That was 15 years ago. 2010 was the year. Yes, I am still driving that same Proton Persona today. It has clocked 230,000km and would have hit close to 300,000km if not for the lockdowns. Yes, it was fully paid after 5 years. So, I have been driving this car free of any car loan for the past 10 years. I like this Proton Persona because until today, I take corners with confidence and it’s never like a sampan with wheels. (Aiya you know which car is that lah, I will not elaborate).

Fuel Consumption Story (likely from the salesman…)

Many months back, a friend was telling me about his car which could save him tons of money from the petrol cost alone. He told me that his car’s fuel consumption is way lower than my 15-year old Persona 1.6  manual. I told him, I agree!  Then he said, with petrol savings, ‘I can save more money.’ Now this is NOT TRUE yeah. Haha. Let me explain.

Please do not be offended yeah.

I told him to stop joking because there’s no way he can save more money. He was a little offended. He challenged me to tell him my fuel consumption. Well, as at today, it’s 7.3 litre per 100km. That’s about 1 litre of RON95 petrol to 13.7km. His awesome car could give him nearly 20km to 1 litre. I did not bother to ask if that’s solely on highway because if it’s just highway, my Persona could also do way better than 1 to 13.7km. Anyway, he laughed at me and I laughed at him and I guess we agree to disagree.

Now for the real numbers

However, let’s really do some calculation here since it involves PERSONAL FINANCE. Assuming petrol price to be RM2 per litre for RON95 (No need to use RM1.99 as calculation lah) That’s RM2 for 13.7km to me and RM2 for 20km to him. Assuming we drive 30,000km per year (this is a very high number as it’s 2,500km per month)

RM2 every 13.7km = 14.6 sen per km.

RM2 every 20km = 10 sen per km.

Whopping 4.6 sen difference per km. 4.6 sen x 30,000km per year = RM1,380 difference.

After 10 years and 300,000km later, (most drivers will never reach this), he would have saved RM1,380 x 10 years = RM13,800

That’s a LOT of money. There’s just one issue. His car is at more than RM35,000 more expensive than mine. Calculations wise, I saved RM35,000 right at the beginning and he has to wait until the car has been driven for 10 years in order to save RM13,800. This is still below the RM35,000 which I have already saved since day 1. Note that we did not include the interest yeah.

What if the debate is on IMAGE of a non-national car versus an old national car?

When it’s just on image, My friend will win hands down lah. He’s not driving a national car. No one looks at someone driving a Persona 1.6 much yeah. Maybe in their mind, ‘Charles could not afford a new car?’ He drives a Japanese branded car. That’s a status of success. Right? Erm…

However, this is another story altogether and if the debate was on image alone, I would not need to write this article. In fact if the debate is about car brand, I would also not write this article. Ask me about my favourite car company, I will tell you it’s Volvo. Used to be VW. (sorry, it’s not Toyota or Honda yeah).

Ask me about favourite car within the past 3 years, it’s a Volvo S60 lah. Ask me about my favourite car today, it’s definitely Proton Saga 1.5 lah. Just because it’s a continuation of the Saga story too. Haha. I have no plans to buy it or the Volvo. Unless of course my Persona starts giving issues, then I will change car the very next day. Yea, I think it’s doable.

Savings of RM100,000 over a period of 11 years

Proton Personal 1.6 was definitely a good choice for me 15 years ago because I have saved at the start. At the time, it was RM75,000 for a Segment B car in the beginning. If we assume people change cars every 7-8 years, then I have saved a LOT of money too. Haha. All these savings, I would gladly put into other investment. You can see this is by far higher than whatever fuel-savings…

Happy loving your car, whichever brand it may be. Diversity is great for everyone. Just do not tell a lie by saying it saves petrol lah…

Cheers.

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