Petrol V Diesel

SO171NOT

Is there an easy calculator around or some link so you can work out whether it is cheaper to buy a petrol or diesel car, based on mileage, cost of fuel etc? I can't seem to find one here and it seems such an obvious way of saving money! :j

rdwarr

No, it's not really an easy calculation. You could say that Diesel costs 4.5% more than Petrol so if a Diesel car offers 5% better fuel economy it's a good buy. But there's much more to it than that. Cost, servicing, depreciation etc. all vary from car to car.

canny_yorkshireman_2

I agree would be very useful but would say that a diesel will return 20% saving on fuel over the life of the car and generally reesale value is better. If the milage is only average ie 10k then not that much of a saving but anything over this then well worth the initial extra expense that diesals command
hth

steveteach

Hi

I drive a Diesel Peugeot (had 4 in the family in recent years) always start first time, even in the snow, engines just keep going, serviced once a year and cheap to run. Always buy diesel from Tesco and use Tesco club card. My next car will be another Diesel Peugot. No I don't work for Peugeot, just find the cars so reliable, and buy 3 year olds from Peugot dealer.

tomstickland

Diesels are fine nowadays. Still sound like tractor engines on start up, and owners always bore on about the torque output. Evo magazine reckoned that the BMW 320D was about their favourite best all round car.

rockpeblar

If you think diesels are slow, test drive a Skoda Fabia vRS. We've had one for the last 18 months and it is the best car we've owned - it's especially great around town between the lights. I'm after a car to replace my company car and we've test driven quite a few new cars and the only car that feels like as much fun is the Focus ST but we're talking a lot more money before I even think about fuel and insurance costs.

tomstickland

Well, acceleration performance of car is mainly a result of the power to weight ratio. Turbo diesels have a lot of torque output, but limited max rpm. So they have a lot of shove. I never said that they were slow. Personally, it would have to be rear wheel drive, hence why an older BMW 3 series would fit the bill.

The Skoda cars are the same platform and engines as VW, Seat, Audi etc and are great value for money.

nearlyrich

I have been driving for about 20 years and recently took delivery of my first diesel, it's a Seat Altea (2 Litre)DSG and it's amazing. It is as fast as the Audi A3 I replaced and I get many more mpg ( I have done 12k miles in 4 months) Being an automatic it's like driving an armchair, it has cruise control and all the trimmings, I love it.

tomstickland

Hourses for courses; I'm a bit of petrolhead, so I like high rpm and I like changing gear and I like the correct wheels to be driven. However, Diesel powered cars are great nowadays. They still smoke a bit under hard acceleration though, I call it rep smoke. They do provide a saving on fuel, I wouldn't doubt that.

Cardew

Motoring magazines calculate that someone driving 12,000 miles a year in a family car will save about £200 per year in fuel costs.

If you are driving a banger, that is a reasonable proportion of your annual costs. However on a newish car where depreciation alone can be measured in £thousands it is not really significant.

However as rdwarr states above there are so many other factors to consider.

Nobody would deny that modern diesels have excellent performance and pull like a train in higher gears. That said I don't like the way they run out off puff and you need to change gear, so I prefer petrol - but if I were a high mileage motorist I know what I would opt for.

tomstickland

Only £200 per year. Why's it so low?