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Diesel vs Petrol

Besides the obvious pros and cons of diesels - higher mileage, lower road tax vs louder engine, more sluggish. What else do you have to take into consideration when buying a new car? Like are there any extra maintenance costs? Does one or the other have more expensive problems, or is more expensive to fix?
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Comments

  • vikingaero
    vikingaero Posts: 10,920 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    My main reason for buying a diesel MPV was loading. Any MPV drives fine with just the driver on board, but load it up with baggage, kids and bikes and a petrol engine just lacks torque to get moving.
    The man without a signature.
  • ses6jwg
    ses6jwg Posts: 5,381 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    A turbo diesel will probably be a fair bit nippier than the equivilant petrol engine.

    e.g. a 1.9 TDI will usually have the edge on a 1.8 normally aspirated petrol.

    personally IMO


    diesel > petrol > turbo diesel > turbo petrol
  • Mark_Hewitt
    Mark_Hewitt Posts: 2,098 Forumite
    sdavi3680 wrote: »
    lower road tax

    Yep, £35 vs £145 for my last car
    louder engine

    Not really. A different sound, definitely. Louder, no.
    more sluggish.

    If you mean petrols are more sluggish, then I'd agree. Modern diesels IMO are superior to petrols for a given power output.
    What else do you have to take into consideration when buying a new car? Like are there any extra maintenance costs?

    Dealer servicing I've found to be the same price.
    Does one or the other have more expensive problems, or is more expensive to fix?

    Diesels have turbos which petrols don't, so there's something else to go wrong there. But diesels are usually more reliable in themselves.

    The biggest factor is going to be the purchase cost, diesels cost a bit more.
  • Mark_Hewitt
    Mark_Hewitt Posts: 2,098 Forumite
    ses6jwg wrote: »
    diesel > petrol > turbo diesel > turbo petrol

    I'm sure you mean:

    turbo petrol > turbo diesel > petrol > diesel.

    Which I would completely agree with.
  • LeeSouthEast
    LeeSouthEast Posts: 3,822 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker Debt-free and Proud!
    I'd never buy another petrol again. 1.8 TDCi Ford Focus rawks.
    Starting Debt: ~£20,000 01/01/2009. DFD: 20/11/2009 :j
    Do something amazing. GIVE BLOOD.
  • ses6jwg
    ses6jwg Posts: 5,381 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    The two things that you need to think about on a diesel....

    Turbo

    Dual Mass Flywheel

    Both are prone to failure and expensive to replace.
  • ses6jwg wrote: »
    The two things that you need to think about on a diesel....

    Turbo

    Dual Mass Flywheel

    Both are prone to failure and expensive to replace.

    Throw in the injector seals + leak off pipes for the tdci Fiesta and Focus (dont know about the Mondeo). If its got a tick-tick-tick and fumes inside the car, they need done.
  • mitchaa
    mitchaa Posts: 4,487 Forumite
    ses6jwg wrote: »
    The two things that you need to think about on a diesel....

    Turbo

    Dual Mass Flywheel

    Both are prone to failure and expensive to replace.

    They are not solely associated with diesels though

    Most cars nowadays will have DMF's to help with engine vibration dampening. Petrol cars have turbos too.

    In terms of performance, petrol wins hands down everytime. Petrols are top range of every car manufacturer.

    A golf gti will go from 0-100mph a lot faster than its TDI counterpart, the same for any given turbo petrol vs turbo diesel. TDI's have torque but over such a small rev range.
  • Mark_Hewitt
    Mark_Hewitt Posts: 2,098 Forumite
    mitchaa wrote: »
    Petrol cars have turbos too.

    Yes, they can. But for the majority of cars the choice is going to between a Turbo Diesel and a normally aspirated petrol.

    Turbo petrols are becoming more common but they are mostly restricted to top end performance models, with some exceptions, of course.
  • vikingaero
    vikingaero Posts: 10,920 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    I quite like the VW 1.4 TSI engines with both a supercharger and a turbocharger. Pretty good power outputs from them.
    The man without a signature.
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