It's official! Petrols are now cheaper to run than diesels!!!!!

motorguy

worried_jim wrote: »

I would love to link the whole article but The Times is now paywall. It did have about four different cars as an example and included the difference in cost as the Polo d would cost more than £1440 over the petrol version thus wiping out any saving.

These reviews rarely include resale value and are often written to produce a 'story' out of nothing.

Even simple maths would show that the diesel variant is going to product maybe a £1500 fuel saving over three years, so to turn that around into a £1440 deficit must be adding the extra cost to purchase but not including the better residual values of the diesel variant come resale time.

WhatCar? get their actual info from leasing companies and the motoring industry - i'd be more inclined to trust their figures than some journalist trying to make a story.

alastairq

A link to the Skoda forums - what I would expext, around 40MPG tops.

And a very fine link too!

But...if it is read properly, there are posts confirming very much what I experience.

Those that cannot achieve these figures, have a motor which obviously has problems.

Without problems, posts note economy figures in excess of what you suggest.

This is what I find, from my own experience.

Maybe driving style has something to do with it? Perhaps I am not qualified to pose an opinion...seeing as, through my job, I have to display driving standards above and beyond those normally experienced....so perhaps I am using my skills to advantage...where others, who do not have my knowledge or experience, may fail to achieve the same results?

I don't know.....perhaps I'm cheating in a way?

I have a habit of filling to the same [admittedly, approximate...but close enough for my purposes].....point every fill-up...[ie, I don't put in a tenner's worth here and there]....

I do this, mainly to detect the onset of faults, through poor performance.

Thus...for example, I can anticipate needing a replacement air filter.....or a sensor is playing up.....all of which can develop so gradually, a less aware owner would miss them until it's too late?

Nothing strange in that idea.....big transport companies monitor fuel consumption for that purpose...amongst other reasons...so why not me?

andygb

I hear what you are saying Alastair, it is just that 50MPG from a petrol car (even a 1.3) is pretty amazing, although a few years ago, I was getting nearly 50MPG from a 1.4 Audi A2. Last year in France I nearly ran out of petrol in our 1.6 Japanese petrol car after only doing 220 miles (from a full tank!!!!), and I was sticking to French motorway speeds (around 83MPH). Over the next week however, I modified my driving style and achieved over 400 on the next fill up.

alastairq

In the past few years, makers have been selling petrol engined cars that can exceed 50 mpg's easily.....under economic driving conditions. [C1/Aygo/'t'uther one??]

25 years ago...for a small production car to achieve a regular 50-plus mpg on petrol meant something like a FIAT 500 or Citroen 2CV....so today's consumption figures are the stuff of dreams to a driver of my era...

I have run the same Skoda engine on carbs....and could never achieve more than the 30-35 mpg range.....[different car, of course]....

This is the difference modern technology has made to motoring {ECU's, multi-point fuel injection, etc]......and the reason why economic driving styles used 20 years ago, don't work today.

Much will depend, however, on driver attitude.

I drive within the Law.

As such, I am not tempted into an area of driving which ultimately uses more fuel.

I make full use of the ability of the ECU to not supply fuel to the engine on over-run.

As an old large vehicle driver, I recognise the need to observe the nature of the road, what it is doing...and I naturally make use of gravity, not just to save fuel...but to slow as well.

I steer as little as possible...steering creates resistance that the engine has to overcome...so I chose my intended path carefully, but with due regard to others, and how far I can see...

The downside of this approach is, that brake parts I buy to replace those I know are wearing out, don't get fitted because the old one's don't wear out fast enough....tyres last forever.....

Yet..I still overtake those who are driving slower than I want to....[Felicia 1.3mpi is excellent at that past-time]

Perhaps my averages are down to me not doing very much urban or town driving?

That alone might explain some of the economy....perhaps not?


Do you re-call the old Mobil Economy Run?

Cars on that achieved incredible mileages on a gallon of fuel..old technology too....

Maybe if a driver thinks 'economy'..then that is what they'll achieve?

getmore4less

A couple of low mileage Felicias still around on autotrader.

Looks like the official combined was around 44 with Xtra at 55 so with carefull driving I can see 50 being acheivable.

pinkladyof66

i have just bought a diesel car and do i worry that it sounds like a tractor no do i worry that it vibrates no. What I like about it is that I can do far more many miles than my previous petrol car. I was spending £120 plus per month on petrol now spending half this on diesel. I love my diesel and will never go back to a petrol again.

jaydeeuk1

rob7475 wrote: »

not sure if you're being serious or not but that's a load of rubbish.

I drive a 1.5 diesel megane and it's hardly any noisier than a petrol, it has more torque and is much cheaper to run. I average between 55-60mpg with a mix of town and motorway driving. A full tank gets me nearly 700 miles. Find me a petrol that has the same economy AND performance.

1.33 toyota IQ comes pretty close, get 50-55 on motorway when pootling about at 70, or 40-50 mpg around town (its hilly around here). Heck of a lot quicker than the megane too.

harveybobbles

interstellaflyer wrote: »

Not all modern deisel cars have DPF, my 08 reg Vectra 1.9 CDTi doesn't, .

You sure...!?

harveybobbles

Wammer wrote: »

Just for curiosity I worked out the difference in fuel costs based on actual MPG and the diesel is around £440 a year cheaper.

But the £440 will be spent else where repairing a diesel...

nickj_2

i can't see how people work out that diesels cost more to service , i have a renualt grand scenic , my last service was just over £120, the service interval is around 15k , if you take things like brake setc which have to be replaced whatever the engine then i would say that service costs for diesels are a lot cheaper ,