Tyre Wear

I just had to replace the front tyres on my other car, a Ford Focus. Incredibly this 1.6 Zetec has 205 series tyres.. the engine doesn't have enough power to pull the skin off a bowl of rice pudding.. so why does it need such big tyres I don't know. The tyres had done 35,000 miles - which isn't too bad. £100 each to replace after discount. One of the rears also needed replacing as a puncture repair had failed. With tracking done, the total bill was £312.

The Pirelli Scorpions on the XC70 are holding up well. Since I have rotated the tyres at 18,000 miles I think I can get the whole set past 30,000 miles. However that's going to be a big bill since the Scorpions are £180-200 each.

21000 Miles and a bit dirty

Went to 21,000miles now..

I saw a silver XC70 today, I have to say that looks very nice. I was never sure about light colours with all of the black plastic trim around the wheels and bumpers, but it looks pretty good. My black car is looking pretty grim. Have been hinting to my son that it could do with a good clean. However I can see myself doing it.. again.

My estimate of mileage for year 1 is going to be 28-30,000. So quite glad to see the price of fuel coming down. When diesel was £1.30 + per litre, the UK government allowed business mileage rate barely covered the cost. At 35mpg this is 16.7 p per mile, and 17p is allowed to be claimed for the XC70. Given the fuel consumption recorded is probably wrong, I doubt I was breaking even. Now at £1.20+ per litre, cost per mile is around 15p.