Diesel or petrol

MXW · 11 March 2018 at 10:29PM

I'm looking to buy another car in a couple of months, and I'm having a real dilemma about whether I should buy petrol or diesel.

I currently drive a diesel fiesta, and I'm really happy with it. The mileage is good, and the road tax is £20. I was intending on buying a newer fiesta diesel, approx £9,000 - £10,000, however various people have told me (including my local garage) that I should be buying petrol, given all the negative publicity regarding diesel.

I'm on a tight budget, and this is a major purchase for me, including the running costs.

Would I be doing the wrong thing buying another diesel?

I use the car to travel to work every day (18 miles), and the usual running around. My son is at university, so I travel to and from his uni (2 hours round trip), now and again.

Any advice would be welcome.

Many thanks in advance.

Michelle

DUTR · 11 March 2018 at 10:37PM

Hire a petrol and do the same runs to see how they compare, many folk seem to think that petrol cars have not advanced in economy.
A small car like a Fiesta will still return good mpg.

IanMSpencer · 11 March 2018 at 10:45PM

If you like diesel, stick with diesel.

Check what premium you are paying for diesel over petrol - on about 10,000 miles a year the break even point is about £1500 - it depends how you want to consider the extra cost of a diesel, but a diesel will always give better fuel consumption, simply because diesel has more energy in it than petrol, so while the fuel is a similar price, diesel will be more economical.

While old diesels might be under the cosh, a diesel that is Euro 5 or Euro 6 should be pretty clean.

Assuming you are going to keep it some time, then I wouldn't be too concerned about trade in values, but the diesel should reflect that there is a weakening in demand so it shouldn't be quite as expensive as a year ago.

Norman_Castle · 12 March 2018 at 8:42AM

I currently drive a diesel fiesta, and I'm really happy with it.

Why are you changing it? £20 VED suggests its not very old. If its a healthy car keep it serviced and it should be fine.

Svein_Forkbeard · 12 March 2018 at 9:12AM

MXW wrote: »

however various people have told me (including my local garage) that I should be buying petrol, given all the negative publicity regarding diesel.

Perhaps they are but the real reason is it would appear you are not doing sufficient mileage to warrant a diesel Modern diesel cars do not like low mileages.

Frozen_up_north · 12 March 2018 at 10:32AM

I've recently ditched diesel in favour of petrol, after having had diesel cars for several years.

I am now retired and make quite a few journeys of 10 ~ 15 miles, often the diesel car would start to clean out the DPF filter just as I was parking... Very hot exhaust and the cooling fan running fast. More recent diesels use "Add Blu" or whatever it's called.

Given the political views on diesel cars, I wouldn't entertain one. Dealers will try and offload their stock and politicians will think of reasons to persecute diesel car owners...

My petrol car (2017 1.4 "eco" Seat Leon, 150 BHP) returns just over 50 mpg, nearly the same mpg as it's diesel brother that it replaced. So my fuel costs are similar given the current lower cost of petrol

MXW · 12 March 2018 at 1:35PM

Norman_Castle wrote: »

Why are you changing it? £20 VED suggests its not very old. If its a healthy car keep it serviced and it should be fine.

My Dad has given me some money towards a new car, so I can give my current car to my eldest son who will finish uni in September. It's a 2011 plate.

MXW · 12 March 2018 at 1:38PM

Svein_Forkbeard wrote: »

Perhaps they are but the real reason is it would appear you are not doing sufficient mileage to warrant a diesel Modern diesel cars do not like low mileages.

They didn't mention the mileage. I've done quite a few miles in it, travelled to Scotland and Cornwall etc for holidays.

DoaM · 12 March 2018 at 2:30PM

But it's what you do day-to-day that matters. You say normally 18 miles per day ... is that total or each way? If each way then a diesel will be fine - it total (9 miles each way) then a new diesel is the wrong choice.

AnotherJoe · 12 March 2018 at 3:11PM

Id say you are doing too little mileage, even if its 18 miles each way, for diesel to be a good choice.

DoaM · 12 March 2018 at 3:29PM

I'm doing 33 miles per day (normal commute round trip) and have used diesels for the past 8 years without issue. (Astra Sri 1.7Tdi; Golf GT 2.0Tdi Bluemotion 140ps; currently Insignia 1.6 Tdi Techline Nav 134ps).

Diesel or petrol

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free