Diesel vs Petrol

thescouselander

AdrianHi wrote: »

I'm in my first diesel and have come to the conclusion the best way to do diesel is with a good combination of auto box and a diesel engine with some decent pull available from 1500rpm.
The now rather old VW 2.5 TDI engine is pretty hopeless as an auto, nothing then it suddenly lets rip on acceleration.
They give you a diesel with a narrow 1500/1800 to 4200 useful rev range... and then give you a 6 speed manual gearbox too. Hard work at times especially as you need 55mph+ to hold 6th and you cannot always maintain that speed on A roads.

Yeah, exactly my point. If I ever bought a diesel (and I hope I never have to) I'd probably go for an auto box.

AdrianHi

thescouselander wrote: »

Yeah, exactly my point. If I ever bought a diesel (and I hope I never have to) I'd probably go for an auto box.

BMW 6 cylinder diesel plus auto box = awesome, when tuned better even that a V8, that's a diesel to lust after :cool: and on the new ones you'll see early mid 40's to the gallon on open roads. Not really money saving though

hotpot

Can anyone please advise me. I am about to buy a new 'used' car and drive 20000 miles per year. With the current price of diesel what would be the most cost effective?

Many thanks

Garetha

hotpot wrote: »

Can anyone please advise me. I am about to buy a new 'used' car and drive 20000 miles per year. With the current price of diesel what would be the most cost effective?

Many thanks

With the current price difference I think the days of the diesel are numbered.

Old scenario:

1. Diesel cost significantly less per mile
2. More expensive to buy the car
3. Final value higher

Now 1 is marginal, 2 is unchanged and 3 may no longer be the case as diesels lose their running cost advantage.

So my personal view based on current fuel prices is - get a bike!

:T PS I see this was your first post. Welcome! :T

Hintza

hotpot wrote: »

Can anyone please advise me. I am about to buy a new 'used' car and drive 20000 miles per year. With the current price of diesel what would be the most cost effective?

Many thanks

Following on from what Garetha has said.

Decide what cars take your fancy petrol or diesel and run a spread sheet on them. I suspect that Diesel will work out cheaper for you but bear in mind on current form diesel is increasing faster thatn petrol so it might be worth doing a check on scenarios (ie what if petrol increases by say 25% and Diesel by 35% and see what leeway you have).

Keep things simple and write both cars down to zero as I think the secondhand car market is going to go through a bad patch and prices will be unpredictable over the next few years.

Remember to include current and future VED in your calculations.

BillScarab

I've currently got a diesel Octavia, it's a company car and when I worked otu the tax, fuel use etc. it was just cheaper than the equivalent petrol model. I think when I change it in 2010 though that the petrol will work out better given the way fuel prices are going.

One thing I don't understand is why manufacturers charge so much more for diesel models. I can't see where the extra cost comes from as a diesel engine is pretty much the same as a petrol engine and in theory should be simpler as you don't have all the HT side of the electrics. I'd have thought by now the price differential should be a lot less.

sunbeam73racer

OK Here's some number crunching:
FORD FOCUS 1.6 DIESEL v FORD FOCUS 1.6 PETROL
COMBINED PETROL MPG = 42.8 v COMBINED DIESEL MPG 58.9
Lets say we do 10000 Miles / Year.
Current fuel price at Tesco near me: Petrol; £1.10 / Litre = £5.00 / gallon. Diesel; £1.21 / Litre = £5.63 / gallon.
For 10000 miles the Petrol will consume 234 Gallons costing £1168
For 10000 miles the Diesel will consume 170 Gallons costing £957

The diesel focus therefore costs £211 less in fuel over the year.

Considering that new & secondhand values are more expensive for the diesel, is it worth it?

AdrianHi

sunbeam73racer wrote: »

OK Here's some number crunching:
FORD FOCUS 1.6 DIESEL v FORD FOCUS 1.6 PETROL
COMBINED PETROL MPG = 42.8 v COMBINED DIESEL MPG 58.9
Lets say we do 10000 Miles / Year.
Current fuel price at Tesco near me: Petrol; £1.10 / Litre = £5.00 / gallon. Diesel; £1.21 / Litre = £5.63 / gallon.
For 10000 miles the Petrol will consume 234 Gallons costing £1168
For 10000 miles the Diesel will consume 170 Gallons costing £957

The diesel focus therefore costs £211 less in fuel over the year.

Considering that new & secondhand values are more expensive for the diesel, is it worth it?

I did some calcs. a coupe of months back for someone comparing equivalent diesel and petrol Mondeos (brand new) and 10,000 miles per year turned out to be the break even point. If you are buying second hand the faster depreciating petrol car is better priced and going to be the best on cost.
Next year diesel car sales are forcast to claim another 5% of sales off petrol which is going to make diesel more expensive relative to petrol.
If you are buying new there is not much in it, go for the engine you prefer.
I actually quite like the torquey power deliver of a good turbo diesel.

stphnstevey

Great thread

ajfox

I hope diesel is dead - see this weblink: http://www.ecotravel.org.uk/fuels_5.html Everyone thinks diesel is green but it isn't very green when it comes to NOx and particulates! I own a BMW525D and can only get 30mpg on B roads - I also have a Nissan xtrail petrol - same weight as the BMW but ever so slightly less slippery through the air but I still get the same mpg! In real world driving, diesels don't offer a vast improvement over petrol and looking at this website: http://www.petrolprices.com/ A diesel needs to be at least 15% better in terms of mpg (real world mpg that is) in order to make the purchase worth while. This is only true if the diesel car has the same purchase price as the petrol.