Petrol or diesel?

glowgirl_2

I'm buying a new car in the next couple of months, I've chosen the model I want and now cant decide between petrol or diesel, the cost of the car is the same and both have a 2L engine, I drive about 12,000 per annum, mainly semi rural driving with some town (but not London etc) and motorway driving, any suggestions which one I should choose?:)

savemoney

I say Diesel if you do that amount of mileage especially out of town. Town driving can on some modern diesel engines block the particulate filter but a long run cures this

movilogo

If you want 2L or over engine, then buy diesel. If you can live with a smaller engine, go for petrol.

12k pa mileage is not enough for going diesel. One needs at least 15-20k to justify a diesel.

Also, modern diesels are bad for frequent short journeys.

savemoney

I thought 12k was quite a lot sure the average is around 6k per annum. Around town diesel is no good if you do short journeys most of the time

I am sure I heard you need to do around 40mph for 20 minutes constantly no stops to clear the particulate from exhausts

glowgirl_2

I believe average driving is around 10,000 miles pa, cant swear to this though, the car comes in a minimum 2l engine so smaller is not an option but most journeys are short, longest regular journey is about 40 miles round trip with the odd much longer one thrown in - thanks for the help:)

daveyjp

Similar journey pattern to me. I swapped back to petrol last year after over 10 years of having diesels as I now believe they are best suited for longer high speed trips.

grizzly1911

If they are both the same price I would go Diesel. They are much more relaxed to drive IMO, less gear changing.

As far as economy/cost I tend to agree that smaller diesels are less cost effective especially at the super mini level with fuel now up to 10% more costly and the car cost differential.

john-306

movilogo wrote: »

If you want 2L or over engine, then buy diesel. If you can live with a smaller engine, go for petrol.

12k pa mileage is not enough for going diesel. One needs at least 15-20k to justify a diesel.

Also, modern diesels are bad for frequent short journeys.

Thats taking into account the initial purchase cost of the car would be more for diesel, op says the cost is the same so the answer is diesel.

Alexis27

It depends on a lot of factors.

Are you buying privately? How long are you planning on keeping it? What are the prices of the two cars?

You have to do a lot of miles to recoup the cost of a diesel if it's £1000 more than the equivalent petrol. Diesel is 8p a litre more than petrol nowadays!

glowgirl_2

Taking everything into account I'm going to go with petrol, thanks again for the help and advice:)

Hintza

grizzly1911 wrote: »

If they are both the same price I would go Diesel. They are much more relaxed to drive IMO, less gear changing.

Buy an auto box. I changed 12 years ago much more chilled, obviously getting too old...:D