Diesel vs Petrol

foxtrot_mike

What about larger vs smaller cars, is it better for example to get a Diesel for larger cars than a petrol?

Lum

Larger cars are generally better suited to distance work, motorway cruising etc. due to the increased comfort on badly maintained motorway surfaces. This kind of use naturally suits a diesel.
Small cars are generally better for urban use as they're easier to park and badly maintained local road surfaces are awful regardless of car size. This kind of use naturally suits a petrol.

almillar

And to add to Lum's point, diesels are generally better at torque than petrols, and petrols are generally better at having a high peak power output.
Torque is better for moving heavier objects - buses, lorries are all diesel, and in that sense are also better suited to larger cars rather than smaller ones. They're also 'lazier', as in you've got more of the power across more of the rev range, but then there isn't much of a rev range. If you've got a 250bhp petrol engine, and that's the peak power at say 6,000 rpm, but you never actually rev your car to 6,000rpm, you're never actually using all the power your engine has!

pinkteapot

Interesting article here comparing the petrol and diesel Mondeo:

http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/advice/buying/archive/Petrol-versus-Diesel/

Few years old now so probably pre-DPF issues...

AlexisV

Bear in mind diesel is now 10p a litre dearer in many places.

With the large increase in diesel cars in the last 5 years, it was never likely that petrol companies wouldn't increase diesel prices.

My next car is going to be a 1.8 turbo :-)

Notmyrealname

I did the calculations on a 1.6L Ford Focus for both diesel and petrol variants as I've decided to change my Mondeo. Working on the 17,000 miles I do a year and based on this weeks prices for diesel and petrol I would save roughly £370 a year. The diesel Focus is about £1000 more than the petrol one. The difference in the initial purchase price would take 3 years to recoup. The diesel will sell for more than the petrol but after 3 years the difference is likely to be £500-£750. Therefore with the Focus you'd have to own the diesel for four years and do over 60,000 miles in that time to break even with owning the petrol version.

However the calculations for my 2L MK3 Mondeo were completely different. When I bought it, again the difference between the petrol and diesel 2L was £1000. Over the 5 years/75000 miles I've owned it, the savings in fuel costs alone over the 2L petrol meant the car is effectively free as I saved about £900 a year and its still worth at least a bag of sand even if I put it through the auction.

Notmyrealname

AlexisV wrote: »

Bear in mind diesel is now 10p a litre dearer in many places.

With the large increase in diesel cars in the last 5 years, it was never likely that petrol companies wouldn't increase diesel prices.

Its nothing to do with that and everything to do with refining capacity. As the demand on heating oil, which is basically diesel, increases over winter so does the gap of pump diesel to petrol. Come summer time and the gap drops again.

AlexisV

That doesn't explain why diesel used to be cheaper than petrol 12 / 13 years ago.

almillar

AlexisV and notmyrealname - road diesel is NOT the same as home heating oil anymore - it's more refined and has had sulphur removed, and I think biodiesel elements are being added as well - so it's a more expensive product than the DERV you're talking about from years ago. There are also far more diesel cars on the road, meaning demand has gone up, and the rules of supply and demand means that the price will go up too. Those are the main reasons behind diesel being more expensive now. Greedy oil comapnies aren't a new thing!

Burger

right, I have a bit of a dilema and I need some advice.

My wife's car has just been written off. Basically, someone drove in to her and she went spinning off the road and hit a lamp post. Shes allright, but the car was totalled. It wasn't her fault as she was on an island and some old bag didn't look and drove in to the back end of her car from one of the entrances on to the island.

Anyway, the search is on now for a new car. Previously we had a 2005 1.6 petrol ford focus. Which we adored and would have kept it for many years to come, it was a great car and very safe, as the recent accident has just proved.

We are looking for something a little bigger as we now have a toddler and 3 dogs. So we are looking at a Ford c-max as they are perfect for our needs. Question is which fuel type

I've done a bit of research regarding tax & mpg:

C-Max Petrol:
1.6 £180 per year 40.9mpg
1.8 £205 per year 39.8mpg
2.0 £205 per year 38.7mpg

C-Max Deisel:
1.6TDCi £110 57.9mpg
1.8TDCi £145 52.3mpg
2.0TDCi £145 49.6mpg

As this is a slightly bigger car, I think that the 1.6 petrol, might be a bit underpowered, I've also been told to avoid the 1.6 petrol and diesel variants for this vehicle. So really I'm looking at the 1.8s or the 2.0s. Comparing the tax per year, the mpg and also performance the diesels win hands down. However, I really don't think my wife does enough milage to warrant buying a diesel and I am fully aware of DPF issues that modern diesel engines face if not used frequently enough.

My wife probably does about 6k per year which I know if very low. Also our price range is between £3-5k so I'm looking at years of 07 onwards really.

Any advice would be gratefully received!