Diesel vs Petrol

edde

bobbarley wrote: »

Petrol = 89.9p a litre (Manchester prices)
Diesel = 106.9 a litre(Manchester prices)

Golf mk4 1.8T MPG = 40 (Motorway)
Golf mk4 TDI MPG = 60 (Motorway)

Petrol cost per year = £613.04
Diesel cost per year = £485.98

So, each year a diesel would save me only £127.06. Given the fact the diesel would have cost me £1,000 more to buy, I wouldn't actually see any savings for SEVEN years!!

So as shown above, run your figures before you decide what to buy. For me petrol was better, but for others it could easily be the other way around. Personally I much prefer driving a petrol car, as they drive better on the road, and the 1.8T has more than enough torque (250 Nm) for everyday use.

Other things to consider are insurance can be less on a diesel depends on mdels some are more expensive.

Road tax can be more on a peterol

Most importantnly though diesels have a premium when you come to see so whereas it might be £1k more and 127 payback it might get grandf more at resale so that 127 saved a year

bobbarley

Those are indeed all true, which I took into account when I made my decision, so others should do the same.

As my Golf is a 1999 model, my tax was quite cheap, it's only going up to £200 from £185 a year in 2010, which I'm happy with. Insurance was the same as the diesel as well, which is great. And I've no plans to sell the car at any point. I'll get 4 or 5 years out of it, then my girlfriend will have it

Garetha

DKLS wrote: »

Nicely argued Am not trying to convince anyone :rolleyes:
I've driven diesels for the last 10 years or more. Poor you
Brilliant to drive, and was well worth while when diesel wasn't so much more than petrol. Could you point out which models have been "Brilliant to drive" as I have only encountered one oil burner that I considered worth owning, I have had a number of hire diesels, and without a shred of doubt they have been dire, yeah they might have good torquey take off, but wheres the mid range grunt?
The engines outlast petrol engines and exhausts rarely rust through. Like I care
In some countries diesel fuel is still cheaper than petrol. again like I care

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: not really worth a response ...

Phil_L_2

If anybody thinks diesels are poor performers look at the Skoda Octavia VRS.

The tax bands for diesels are starting to be lower than their petrol equivalent. The Polo is A rated and the Nissan Note is B rated. The petrol equivalents appear to be one tax band up from this.

The other issue is that diesels are generally more economic in stop/start motoring and tend to warm up faster.

lee131_3

The skoda Octavia 1.8T is petrol

the fabia vrs tho is diesel,

but yeah diesels are great performers,

just bought my first a little clio van 70mpg

gone from a BMW 323ci 24mpg

needless to say the bmw doesnt even get used now

TiTheRev

My Passat Est 130bhp Sport has more than enough torque to get going and will happily pull away in 5th or even 6th from 40mph up. I still get around 60mpg on a run too

stphnstevey

bobbarley wrote: »

Petrol = 89.9p a litre (Manchester prices)
Diesel = 106.9 a litre(Manchester prices)

Golf mk4 1.8T MPG = 40 (Motorway)
Golf mk4 TDI MPG = 60 (Motorway)

I do about 20K per year and thought I might try using the figures above as they look fairly average.

Yearly cost of petrol = 20,000 miles/40 MPG = 500 gallons = 500 x 4.55 = 2275 litres = 2275 x 90p = £2047.50

Yearly cost of diesal = 20,000 miles/60 MPG = 333 gallons = 333 x 4.55 = 1516 litres = 1516 x 107p = £1622.83

So a saving of around £400 a year

Trouble is the equivilent diesal is often ~£2000 dearer than the petrol. However you could possibly recoup a proportion of that when you sell.

So it really boils down to if the depreciation per year is more than the £400 you save on fuel!!!

TiTheRev

Good work

redux

David_Aston wrote: »

The government certainly seems to be gradually pricing diesel out of the market, so to speak. Shame, for diesel enthusiasts, I suppose.

The retail price is not set by the government, and the duty is the same.

PurpleDog

I'm going to need a car soon and have been doing some research...
I need a practical family car, cheap to run but fun to drive and I've narrowed the decision down to a Ford Focus.

Looking at the costs (fuel, road tax and insurance) a new shape Focus 2.0 diesel would cost me about £500 per year less than an old shape 2.0 petrol while offering similar performance (9.1s 0-60 as opposed to 8.9s) - so far so good.

The thing is that I could get an old shape 2.0, say an 04/54 with 40k miles for £5k or shell out £6k for a 05/55 2.0 TDCi with 70-80k miles on it.

The price difference will pay for itself in a couple of years, and I'm happy with that, but my concern is whether it makes sense to buy an 80k car? Is a 3 year-old car that's done 25k a year going to fall apart and cost me a bomb in repairs? I'm guessing the diesel engine itself is well capable taking that mileage and doing it all again, but what about the rest of the car?

Any thoughts?