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Saturday, December 31, 2011

1st year expenses

2012 is coming. I wanted to summarize total expenses for the first year.
Skoda Fabia 1st year expenses chart

Important highlights:
- total 17,642 NIS or 1,470 NIS/month
- half of the budget spent on fuel
- quarter on insurance
If you want to take depreciation loss for this year into account (+16,500):
- total 34,142 NIS or 2,845 NIS/month

Few things to note:
- Loans: from initial 72,000 NIS loan I now have only about 30,000 NIS. It was hard for me to return such a sum but I did it. So probably, if you keep your loan plan as planned with Skoda it's cost should be more expensive.
- Insurance: it can be lower or higher depends on several parameters like age, history, insurance company.

Bottom line - take this chart as start point of overall expenses for your new car for the first year. Also, I didn't show here any money spent on extra oil changes, toys (like Multitronics, dash cam), security things, accessories (luggage nets, wash stuff) and much more. You can add another 8,000 NIS here :-)

If you thinking about to buy a car or take company car. My previous leased company car (regular sedan) cost me 3 000 NIS/month that is 36 000 per year. Of course it includes fuel, insurance, garage cost. But if you driving only 20 000 km/year and you can do related work by yourself (insurances, garage, etc) - you better consider to buy a car. Because after 3 years of paying for leased car - you have nothing, but in case of you own car - you have your 3 years old vehicle that you can sell or change for new one.

My recommendation if you want to buy/lease a car:
- 600-800 km a year - use taxi
- 1,000 - 17,000 km a year - buy a car
- 18,000 - leasing at work

Compare charts from data that I have now.
Skoda Fabia expenses compare

As you know, fuel price changes almost every month, here relevant stats too:
- minimum 6.69 NIS/liter (
- average 7.35 NIS/liter
- maximum 8.80 NIS/liter (because of 98 octan)

By the way - Happy New Year!

Update (2012-02-19): Added depreciation loss and fuel data.

Thursday, December 29, 2011

My car care toolset


The orange thing on the top right is garden sprayer. Before it, I was using that water bottle full of 9 liters to wash a car. With a 5 liters sprayer (60-100 NIS in store) I need only 3-3.5 liters for body and 1.5-2 liters for wheels.


5 liters sprayer
Sprayer - for home and garden... and car wash ;-)

Friday, December 23, 2011

Diagnostic scan tool Multitronics VC731

If you remember, back in April I got a new toy Multitronics VG1031GPL - advanced scan tool for vehicle.

Few days ago I bought newer version of it Multitronics VC731. It's was used device, barely few weeks and in good condition. Installation simple as usual - just plug in in diagnostic port and voila! I actually just replaced units, because wiring is the same.
Multitronics VC731
Here a quick video.
Now, about main feature for me and a reason of upgrade. No, it's not color screen or faster CPU or more functions - it's about USB port. Now I can easily update firmware, setup screens and download last 20 trip logs for my statistics table.

But, USB port is closed with cover. To get there you need to uninstall device, remove case. And it's totally wrong, so I made a hole for USB cable. This is actually what manufacturer should do.
Hand-made USB hole
In case someone interested in my old device Multitronics VG1031GPL, I'm selling it. Write me if interested. It works with most modern (and not) cars. Verified car list is here (use Google Translate from Russian), but this is not a full list actually.

See also
Multitronics VC731 product page (Rus)

Friday, December 16, 2011

Luggage nets installed

This is DMA 710 002 - 1 set of luggage nets for luggage compartment installed from recent delivery - feels so free and cool! Because it double sided, it's not only holds things but you can also put inside stuff.

Update (2012-02-23)
Finally scanned fitting instructions DMA 710 001 Rack program - Fitting instructions (PDF) for you.

Air filter inspection

Last week I was thinking about K&N performance filter for my Fabia. Actually, you need a set:
And I already found a place to buy here in Israel - pitstop.co.il. We negotiated the lowest price 360 NIS for filter and 90 NIS for care kit (instead of 400 and 120). From eBay you can get the same for about 300 and 100, so 450 NIS is a good price here. But, after some research I found this article Can a better air filter improve fuel economy? We'll find out... with all comments there and I start to doubt. It's very simple, less resistance means bigger holes and more dust come to engine. May be other engines are good with that, but 1.2 TSI should be so sensitive and I decided to wait with purchase.

Original 6R0 129 620 A - air filter costs 185 NIS in Skoda's garage, I can bring same for about 100 NIS. It should be replaced every 60K km or 4 years. I went to check condition of mine that went through 16K already. And it looks fine, I think I will change it around 30K.

6R0 129 620 A - air filter - after 16K km

Outside inspection

Inside inspection
See also
Proven eBay seller for K&N filters
K&N filter discussion on local forum (Russian)