1.4 petrol Vs 2L diesel for fuel economy

ferry

I need to begin a search soon for a more economical car and have really narrowed it down to either a 1.4 petrol or 1.8/ 2L diesel

Mainly motorway driving as I do a 56mile round trip to and from work but cant get my head around which type of engine is likely to return the best fuel economy.

I think a 1.2 petrol would be too small engine for consistant motorway miles but on the flipside I keep hearing that diesel prices are rising?

What do you all think to help me decide?

Thanks as usual
F

cardinalbiggles

1.2 would be absolutely fine for driving up and down the motorway.

Going on the experience of having a 1.4 petrol (90hp) and a 2.0 diesel (170hp) in the house the 2.0 litre diesel is more economical.

It does however eat through tyres which are more expensive than the 1.4's and costs more on wear and tear parts (brakes etc. etc.)

I would suspect the smaller engined cars will work out cheaper in the long run to be honest but I wouldn't change my oil burner for one!

colino

Or add in a different calculation. Buy an extremely cheap Vectra 1.8 petrol for buttons (a very much unloved and over-supplied second hand car), get the bigger car comfort, cheap to buy, fix and insure package, get 42mpg and while every mechanic knows how to fix them, throw it away and get another if too high a repair bill comes your way.

Mark_Hewitt

Depends on many factors of course. What is the 1.4 petrol and what is the 2.0 diesel? In the same car then I'd probably go for the diesel. As it would be happy cruising in high gear on the motorway.

However if you are talking a 1.4 litre really light car compared to a 2.0 litre whalebeast then that's a different matter.

You could do worse than looking at the manufacturer MPG - yes they aren't entirely relevant to the real world but they'll serve for comparison.

(I'm currently getting 60MPG from a 1.6TDCi Fester; but that does involve some hypermiling techniques)

bengalknights

I think ideally go for the 1.4 petrol unless you can get a 1.4/1.6 diesel.

avantra

What is your budget to run a car??

Like other here said, some diesels will drink less but will cost more to run than a petrol 1.4.


It's how much the car cost to run (age, insurance parts etc') that should be your target.

To help you start you can have a look at the running costs calculator here:

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-1633412/Calculator-True-cost-running-car.html

w211

Depending on the car and the power of the engine, remember a 1.2-litre petrol engine can use more fuel than a bigger more powerful engine on the motorway simply because it is working harder (and revving higher) at motorway speeds, than a bigger engine which is likely to be more relaxed, and lower revving - especially if you plan to carry heavy loads and/or a number of people.

ferry

If it helps I currently drive a 2.0L Mondeo Auto with 126k on the clock -about as economically unfriendly as it gets- and a mpg return of no more than 32 ish costing about £55 per week to get to work and back.

Clearly need to beat this and by some considerable distance as I enter my next moneysaving phase.

Oh and a very restricted budget too around 2K on top of whatever I get for the Mondy(-apologies for not mentioning this in my OP.)

Mark_Hewitt

Perhaps you could consider a smaller diesel; manual, obviously. Perhaps something like a 1.4 diesel Fester..

I pay a similar amount to you and I'm also looking to reduce it, just by driving slower!

jase1

Don't forget of course that diesel is more expensive than petrol; this has the effect of knocking a few mpg off the diesel figure as you're really interested in miles per pound, not miles per gallon.

If you are buying the car cheap, and running into the ground, you'll probably be able to get a newer car (that should last longer) for the same money by buying petrol.

15-20k per year should be more economical with diesel, but as mentioned the cost of actually keeping the car going is likely to be more expensive with diesel.

Trebor16

If you are doing about 300 miles a week for work at 32mpg then that will work out at 15000 miles a year and will consume 469 gallons. At £1.33 a litre for unleaded that will cost £2830 a year for fuel alone.

A diesel which manages 50mpg will use 300 gallons which at £1.40 a litre will cost £1907, a saving of £923.

Servicing costs shouldn't be that much different to a petrol car nowadays as the service intervals are similar for most manufacturers.