Petrol vs Diesel - advice please!

Viper_7

Diesel.

They outlast petrol vehicles - thus better resale value.
No moisture in the emissions so no replacing exhaust components.
Longer Service Intervals.
Better MPG in general. (although diesel is a little more expensive now so...not much gained these days)
Fewer problems.
Fewer breakdowns.

however..when they do go wrong, they are complex and can be expensive to sort out.



I'd never EVER go back to petrol.

ses6jwg

Viper_7 wrote: »

Diesel.

They outlast petrol vehicles - thus better resale value.
No moisture in the emissions so no replacing exhaust components.
Longer Service Intervals.
Better MPG in general. (although diesel is a little more expensive now so...not much gained these days)
Fewer problems.
Fewer breakdowns.

however..when they do go wrong, they are complex and can be expensive to sort out.



I'd never EVER go back to petrol.

Agreed, but I would go back, if I did less than 8,000 miles per year

only to a "proper" petrol though

not some crappy naturally aspirated 1.8 or 2.0

megane 225 or civic type r!

goldspanners

i would only buy diesel if i was buying brand new and doing high miles,then sell just before warranty period is up.

thescouselander

I'm not convinced diesels have longer service intervals - they are usually shorter from what I have seen. Also modern diesels can be very problematic - just Google BMW swirl flaps or leaky injectors or turbo problems. They also take forever to warm up in winter which means no hot air inside for comfort and defrosting. Diesels are still noisy and cause lots of vibration although they are better than they were.

Personally I don't like diesels but each to their own I suppose.

Mark_Hewitt

Certainly with Ford the service interval for both diesel and petrol is 12,500 miles.

I've gone from a petrol Fiesta Mk6 to a Diesel Fiesta Mk7. Admittedly from a 1.4 petrol to 1.6 diesel and I much prefer the diesel engine, it has more of everything, power, torque, drive ability, MPG etc. Sure, when the car is on idle you can hear that it's a diesel, but when you're driving it, there is little difference between that and the petrol engine.

blued

goldspanners wrote: »

thats a bit of a generalisation is it not?

Yes but in most cases if you take a popular car (such as the mondeo the OP is looking at) there are fewer items to pay for when servicing. For a start the diesel engine has no spark plugs, HT Leads, distributor cap or rotor arm and no equivalent serviceable part for these items.

vikingaero

most modern petrols have ignition cassettes rather than ht leads etc.

And most diesels require a higher grade engine oil.

blued

Is an ignition cassette a coil pack? If so I know from personal experience how expensive these can be to replace! Although theoretically they shouldnt require replacing as often as HT leads.

Viper_7

thescouselander wrote: »

I'm not convinced diesels have longer service intervals - they are usually shorter from what I have seen. Also modern diesels can be very problematic - just Google BMW swirl flaps or leaky injectors or turbo problems. They also take forever to warm up in winter which means no hot air inside for comfort and defrosting. Diesels are still noisy and cause lots of vibration although they are better than they were.

Personally I don't like diesels but each to their own I suppose.

My Service interval is 16K - but yes the oil etc is a much high spec, mine is about £70!
Cambelt doesn't need changing until 110k - most Petrol Engines this is around 70k.

Agree- Diesel engines take an age to warm up. Mainly because the engine block is much thicker as there are greater stresses.
Based on previous years say just below freezing, I need to travel 15 miles before the engine temperature is normal, whereas petrol this is around 5 miles.
However many modern diesels get around this and have electrically heated cabin systems. Not as much heat as from the engine when up to speed but takes that early chill off.
Regarding the noise - again most modern diesels are 5/6/8 Cylinder rather than the common 4, so they run much smoother, only clatter you hear is when cold otherwise not much different than petrol.

As for a previous post of being Sluggish, agree off the starting blocks due to the low gear ratios they are slower accelerating, but mid range say 30-70 where one can use the power daily and not boy racer off the lights they leave most of their petrol counter parts behind.
Due to the extra Torque I find them more driveable too as you're not changing gears all the time. Can happily sit in 5th from 30mph upwards with no strain on the engine
and sitting on the motorway at 70mph with less than 2000 rpm is a breeze, where as their counterparts are at like 4000RPM another reason why they last so much longer

Big one for me too, is that the engines are difficult to thrash, where as petrol the previous owner could have revved the life out of it.

and the black smoke one sees coming out the back is due to poor maintenance and poor air-intake, not due to just being an oil burner.

goldspanners

blued wrote: »

Yes but in most cases if you take a popular car (such as the mondeo the OP is looking at) there are fewer items to pay for when servicing. For a start the diesel engine has no spark plugs, HT Leads, distributor cap or rotor arm and no equivalent serviceable part for these items.

dissy cap and rotor arm? what? these went out in the 80's. these days we use coil packs and ingnition modules.

the fuel filter on a petrol car doesnt require regular changing, the mondeo your talking about (without the dissy cap) need a new fuel filter every 60k miles or 5 years. the diesel one needs one every second service, so there goes your spark plug savings.
ht leads arent really service items, they get changed when they need doing. not at every service.

i fear your talking about older diesels versus older petrols. the amount of potential faults (and expensive ones) on a modern diesel would frighten you. for an old diesel you could get fuel pump and injecotrs reconditioned for a few hundred quid. this won't even buy you one injector these days.