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Due to an accident I was forced to change from a 1.8 Auto using £3120 of petrol per year. My fuel costs alone have been reduced by a massive £2080 per year as I have changed to a Diesel vehicle.
If you do more than 6000 miles per year you should be looking at a Diesel to make substancial savings.
I have just changed back to diesel after having a petrol Primera 1.8 for the past 2 years. I'd always had diesel until then and have always loved it. The only downside is that parts are usually more expensive, but diesels are more reliable so this shouldn't be a big problem.
I'm changing to Disel too. My C320 Merc does 27 mpg on motorways and 14 in city. The new one would do around 50 on motorway & 28 in city. Just can't wait to start that saving.
The cheapest fuel for motoring is LPG or vegetable oil.
Buy a duel-fuel car or convert your own. Conversion
costs from £1600, this money saved in 1-2 years depending on milage. 40p per litre.
It's a no brainer if you have a company car.
The last petrol car I had was three years ago - Galaxy 2.3 - 27 mpg no matter how lightly you drove it.
Had Galaxy diesel's (130PS) since and they have averaged 46 mpg+ & on a steady run I have had 53 mpg + - amazing!
If your buying 2nd hand though, it's easily justified anyway
Also, if one is a true driver and just loves driving, a petrol car is generally more fun to drive.
I think it depends on style of driving and what you call fun.
I'd far rather drive on a country road in a turbo-diesel and overtake people with the benefit of turbo boost whilst still getting lots of MPG, than have to change down 2 gears and use loads of revs (and fuel) to do the same far more slowly in a petrol car. But that's just my opinion! And I've actually got a petrol car at the moment because (a) it was cheap and (b) I do a low mileage (But I had 3 turbo-diesels before that). My wife's car's a diesel though and I am not lost to the diesel cause.
I have decided to go for diesel for my new company car. I get a set amount for mileage (11p) and I am sure I can get more miles out of a diesel engine and therefore my private miles will be less expensive. I am extensively testing the BMW 1 series this weekend followed by a couple of others I fancy. I was under the impresssion that the company car tax was going to be increased on diesels but it doesn't come in till Jan 2006 and it is only on newly registered cars after that date.
Itried to get hold of a diesel 550 maranello a couple of years ago.Couldn't get one for love nor money.So I had to settle for the petrol version .Aint life cruel.
"The most likely culprit are PM10s, microscopically small particles given off by diesel engines, coal burning, mining, construction and quarrying."
To avoid misbalancing the argument for people who don't follow the link, you could have prefaced this:
Quote:
A definitive cause for the lung abnormality at the root of asthma has so far eluded doctors.
However, Professor Duncan Geddes of the National Asthma Campaign says there are plenty of reasons why prevalence of the disease is increasing.
"There are simple ones - women who smoke during pregnancy are much more likely to have asthmatic children.
"It's also something to do with the way we're living in modern housing - little ventilation, damp housing, more carpets and more dust make asthma more common."
Exposure to illness in childhood could also play a role, he says.
"There are some curious things like the pattern of early childhood infections. It may be that in the past when all children had a lot of viral infections their bodies were defending themselves against infection.
"Now with fewer of them, their bodies are turning over to asthma instead."
Some scientists have linked the increase in asthma with an increase in air pollution. However, this theory is hotly disputed
Unproved I think; nor is it certain that PM10s come mostly from diesel cars only. Tests in certain parts of USA only a few years ago discovered more than 50% of airborne pollution in urban areas came from fast-food establishments
One thing to consider.. Diesel cars need servicing every 5-6000 miles where petrol can be 10-12000. Petrol is 28p a gallon cheaper than diesel in some garages. Saying that The extra MPG with a diesel seems worth the effort.
One thing to consider.. Diesel cars need servicing every 5-6000 miles where petrol can be 10-12000. Petrol is 28p a gallon cheaper than diesel in some garages. Saying that The extra MPG with a diesel seems worth the effort.
Fortunately I get a company car and the lease covers the cost of maintenance but time is an issue so I will have to check that out when deciding what to have.
I am well and truly converted to Diesal.
I had my last diesal for about 4 years and changed last year to another diesal. We also changed wifes car to a diesal last year. The mpg makes a big difference to amount we have to spend on fuel, although I must admit its worrying the way that diesal is getting more and more expensive than petrol, from being cheaper a few years ago.
The downside of diesal? well when start up from cold theres no mistaking its a diesal engine! and yes oil and filter is best changed every 5000 miles, theres the smellier fuel pumps too. The old arguments about performance are getting weaker with each new crop of diesal engines; I still prefer mpg to mph tho!
Positives are more mpg, longer lasting engines (over 150 000 miles on my last one with no signs of it ) . And in true money saving style the Great feeling its costing less to get from A to B than it would have in a petrol vehicle the same size or smaller.
Nope.... Still cant think of owt interesting to put here.
more recent diesels have intervals of 12500 to 20000 miles. Mines in for £300 big service next week; 50000 miles so far, and all I've done so far is change the oil myself
I have just changed my main car and the shopping list was very short. It had to be a 5 door diesel that could do 0-60 in under 12 seconds and cost less than £11K. I am on my 4th diesel car simply because I do over 20K miles per year.
Overall the figures seem to show that diesel is actually a cleaner burning fuel than petrol with the exception of carbon particulates. My new car does however meet the new European standards for emissions - must have some form of carbon trap in the exhaust. CO2 emissions on my new car are about 125 whereas on my other (petrol) car they are about 165 (which is quite good for a petrol).
I think GB is going to have to consider his taxation policy on diesel since it is having an effect on inflation with many hauliers getting up in arms over the cost. We might see another strike over the cost of fuel ........
Ivan
Ivan has left the building ... but reserves the right of reply!
Use PM to keep in touch
One thing to consider.. Diesel cars need servicing every 5-6000 miles where petrol can be 10-12000. Petrol is 28p a gallon cheaper than diesel in some garages. Saying that The extra MPG with a diesel seems worth the effort.
my pug 307 diesel has a 12000 mile or 2 year servicing gap. i challenge you to find a petrol car with a 2 year servicing gap!!!
also, try driving a petrol up a hill, the diesel will kick its !!! any day, more torque!
Petrol is 28p a gallon cheaper than diesel in some garages.
Wrong garages then; 2p a litre (9 a gallon) seems the biggest margin I've seen.
Ivan's got a point on the diesel price compared to other countries. But the difference is not so large any more. €0.95~1.10 = 67~77p. Some countries, petrol is more expensive than here, so if the hauliers start jumping up and down again, they don't deserve widespread support.
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Pls be nice to all MoneySavers. There's no such thing as a stupid question, and even if you disagree courtesy helps.
Diesel vs Petrol
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