What Car? Q&A - Where are a car's cost-per-mile figures?

Q: I am looking to buy a Vauxhall Astra 1.4.SXI Sport Hatch, but can you tell me the running costs per mile for such a car?
Peter Stanton

A: The information you require can be found in our running costs sections (click here to go there now) or in the Buyer's Guide section of What Car? magazine.

On whatcar.com, if you want information on another car, select the car you are interested in on the homepage and press 'go', pick the exact model you wish to read about under the heading 'Model reviews, specs and prices', and then select 'Running Costs' from the 'More On This Model' section in the top right of the page.

To find the information in the magazine, turn to the back pages and look up the car you are interested in. The running cost information is listed in the set of columns highlighted in green.

The 'pence per mile' figure is calculated on three years' or 36,000 miles of motoring. It includes depreciation of the car's value, road tax, maintenance and fuel costs. For a Vauxhall Astra 1.4 SXI Sport Hatch the figure is 31p per mile.

There's a wide variety of other information here that can help you estimate running costs as well, including typical insurance quotes by group, servicing costs and company car tax liability.