Diesel vs Petrol

tomstickland

I've just come back from the South of France as a passenger in my friend's Peugot 406 Estate. It's a 2.0 D and he was averaging 82mph and 38mpg. Not that good IMO, my 1990 1.8 16v BMW 3 series would do about 35mpg under the same conditions I reckon - I manage 33mpg driving it really hard and 38mpg on a long trip. It makes me wonder whether the wonder figures people claim for Diesels are as good as they think.

pinkfluffybabe

lellie wrote:

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!!!
QUOTE]

My petrol Renault Clio has an 18,000m or 2 year service interval

tomstickland

Long service gap is not clever at all. They just extend the gap to make it seem good to the customer, but the long term outlook for the engine life is worse.

IvanOpinion

One reason I like my diesel (I have both a diesel and a petrol) is that it is much more relaxing to drive. If you are sitting on the road and want to overtake then you simply put the foot down ... with a petrol you general have to knock her down one or two gears to get any power.

Ivan

tomstickland

Horses for courses, that's why I like the petrol. Revving good fun.

skdotcom

pinkfluffybabe wrote:

lellie wrote:

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!!!
QUOTE]

My petrol Renault Clio has an 18,000m or 2 year service interval

Same here for my MINI Cooper S, 18k or 2 years, though you'd be stupid to let any car run that far without at least an oil service.

I also have have a BMW 320d Touring. Good fuel economy, but boy is it slow. I average 40mpg, which is better than the 22mpg in the MINI!

tomstickland

Slow in accelerating maybe, but momentum conservation is fun.

carl310166

tomstickland wrote:

I've just come back from the South of France as a passenger in my friend's Peugot 406 Estate. It's a 2.0 D and he was averaging 82mph and 38mpg. Not that good IMO, my 1990 1.8 16v BMW 3 series would do about 35mpg under the same conditions I reckon - I manage 33mpg driving it really hard and 38mpg on a long trip. It makes me wonder whether the wonder figures people claim for Diesels are as good as they think.

I am off to do the same trip tomorrow, when i did it last year, cruise set to 80mph.......54mpg in Golf gt dti, it is down hill all the way though isn't it ??? and if i fully vent, i can get at least 650 miles to a tank, i reckon if i set it to 60mph and took it real easy i could get near to 800 miles.

Al the above are the obc figures, so even taking that into account, it's still very good in anybody's books.

Alt

tomstickland wrote:

I've just come back from the South of France as a passenger in my friend's Peugot 406 Estate. It's a 2.0 D and he was averaging 82mph and 38mpg. Not that good IMO, my 1990 1.8 16v BMW 3 series would do about 35mpg under the same conditions I reckon - I manage 33mpg driving it really hard and 38mpg on a long trip. It makes me wonder whether the wonder figures people claim for Diesels are as good as they think.

Traveled through France and Germany in June(For the Worldcup), Mondeo TDCI, 4 adults, Boot bursting plus more luggage on the back seat, France cruise at 80mph, Germany anything upto 115mph (only where legal!), aircon on permanently. Manual (real) calculation over 2000 miles of travel was 47mpg. I would call that good.

carl310166

tomstickland wrote:

Horses for courses, that's why I like the petrol. Revving good fun.

Luckily i have the best of both worlds, A TDI for getting around, but when i want a bit of fun, i have a Kawasaki ZX6R....120bhp and a 15k rev limit