Petrol or Diesel ? (about to change car)

Rossy.

Gene_Hunt wrote: »

Rossy is a bus drive tho.

how many times have i got to tell you, you mother fu.....

i'm not a bus driver

Oh Hai x

Inactive

Gene_Hunt wrote: »

Rossy is a bus drive tho.

I know, he also runs a Renault Diesel, but I wouldn't.

Gene_Hunt_2

Rossy. wrote: »

how many times have i got to tell you, you mother fu.....

i'm not a bus driver

Oh Hai x

I said you were in the Elton John thread.

You have a PCV licence so that makes you a bus driver.

KonkyWonky

Might also be worth factoring in road tax, some of the 2008 registered diesel Notes qualify for £30 per year road tax.

The diesel should hold its value better than the petrol variant also but this may not be an issue if you plan to run the car into the ground.

Flearoy

I wouldn't have much faith on what bearing the official fuel economy figures have on real-life driving. On shorter journeys, like the ones you do, I'd imagine that the fuel economy on both will be worse than the 'combined cycle' figures you quoted, but I think the diesel one will show a greater reduction in fuel economy, albeit it will still do more mpg than the petrol. In my limited experience, diesels take longer to warm up than the same capacity petrol engine. Perhaps this is because the diesel engine is heavier having been made to withstand higher compression.

If I were you, I would definitely buy the petrol. It'll take an age to recoup your costs, and keeping the car for as long as you planned means resale values isn't so much of an issue. I think you may have less trouble mechanically too with a petrol.

montrose5

Why not try to get an lpg one (67p per litre), will cut down costs even more

bigjl

I think the diesel will hold its value better, but as I have experience of the 1.5 diesel engine in a Clio make sure you drive it properly first, the 68bhp versions are underpowered, thoughto be honest the 1.5 engine is almost as quiet as a petrol engine.

The later 1.5s had a DPF (Diesel Particulate Filter) in Clios, so check that out first, especially in local driving as it may tend to clog up quicker, the DPF equipped cars also need more expensive oil, my wife has a 2006/56 Clio and it doesn't have a DPF.

Though my sister had a petrol Modus a few years ago and she used to get over 50mpg on urban taxi usage. Sometimes the simplicity of a small petrol engine is preferable, new diesels are extremely complicated, and if you can get the petrol converted to LPG then that would save a fortune, as montrose5 has said.

Bob_Bridges

Thanks one and all, lots to think about.

All the best, Bob

Hammyman

I worked out once that with a difference based on a 3p/l difference in fuel price, a 10MPG difference in economy and a £1000 premium for buying the diesel version it'd take about 38,000 miles to break even.

Hammyman

Flearoy wrote: »

In my limited experience, diesels take longer to warm up than the same capacity petrol engine.

Irrelevant to fuel economy. Diesels don't run on a "choke" or cold start like petrols so will use the same amount of fuel from cold as it will when hot compared to a car which could spend the entire journey on a short 5 mile run from cold with the cold start injector chucking fuel in, the equivalent of running on "choke" in the old days.