Are diesels worth the extra money? Now what car

stutakesphotos

Thanks

getmore4less wrote: »

Just about anything should do 100k these days except maybe some the tiny engined city cars or under powered cars.

The clio 1.5 is good for 60+

The VAG 1.9 in manual form is good for 55+ across the range

As for the breakeven mileage you need to do your own calcs on a car using real world MPG, from honestjohn or other places.

if a keep till it dies then the buying price of petrol if lower buys more fuel if not keeping then you need to look at the depreciation.

The main Diesel poor points are the DMF and DPF and at your price there are models around that are pre DPF so the must do long runs all the time less of an issue.

what sort of car are you looking for size wise that may narrow the options.

eg the Octavia in 1.8 is a rocket and can do 40+ in the 2.0 diesel form quick and 50+, 1.9 a bit slower but adiquate and 55+.

I'm looking at a fiesta/clio size. Perhaps peugeot 206. I don't need a big car or even a focus size (much as I enjoy driving them)

stutakesphotos

and this is the car that I test drove
http://www.mitchellsrenault.co.uk/component/ezautos/?task=detail&id=2084

bigjl

That particular Clio is rather expensive.

For a 2006/06 plate especially.

My wife's Clio is a 2006/56 plate and we bought it at 3 yrs old at 28k for £5800 but that might have been before the indemnity fee CarGiant charge I can't remember so call it £5900.

It now has over 100k on it and has been reliable enough for me.

It survived a fill up of petrol and still does 60mpg.

It is only the 68bhp one and is also not fitted with a Dpf ( or FAP as Renault call it)

Avoid any Clio diesel with a FAP system, they may not be troublesome, but why run the risk!

If you have. £5k budget and want a city car a newer diesel may be troublesome long term.

Consider Car Supermarkets like Motorpoint, Fords of Winsford or Car Giant, I would steer away from Trades Sales out near Slough.

That Clio does look clean and tidy, but is it a better buy than a three year old petrol Clio, Fiesta or Corsa at the same money?

Probably not.

The argument between diesel and petrol is a funny one, affected by the size of the car you go for.

When we got the Clio we could have gone for a better model with a petrol engine for the same money, but the one we got had aircon and electric windows and five doors so I was more interested in fuel savings, I have recently fitted the half faux leather seats from a 2012 Dynamique anyway.

And fitted alloys a couple of years ago.

Do some price comparisons and see what you can get for very little more than that Clio, you will likely get a 58/09 plate Fiesta for that kind of mk eh with lower spec and the 1.25 petrol engine. 40mpg versus 60mpg. But equally you could find a diesel Clio with higher miles on a more recent plate for the same price also.

I never pay extra for really low miles vehicles, the dealer is just making you pay over the odds for what some perceive as a better car.

Put some bushes and shocks on the wife's Clio and it will drive like a 30k miler again.

Just an example

http://www.cargiant.co.uk/pda/detail.asp?id=588010&mk=Vauxhall&md=Corsa

If that link works it is a highish miles Corsa with the 1.3 cdti lump.

But it is an '09 instead of an '06.

I like the Clio but the latest Fiesta is nicer to drive and the Corsa is not far behind the Fiesta.

I don't think the higher mileage Corsa will be much different in relia iLife stakes as the low miler Clio but it does also depends on how it has been driven low mileage drivers can miss oil changes and hit kerbs aswell.

vikingaero

Auto Express in the last month or so had an article in which they compared the cost of running petrol v diesel cars of various popular makes over 12,000 miles. They compared buying costs, insurance cost, fuel and servicing costs. In 8 of the 10 reviews the petrol car came out top.

fivetide

some good examples in this article about different cars and the miles needed to get a return for your outlay

http://www.moneyweek.com/personal-finance/money-saving-tips/how-to-choose-between-petrol-and-diesel-car-21100

kkgree1

V interesting discussion. I did lots of research into petrol v diesel when I bought my Fiesta 18 months ago. I do around 14k mileage per year. Cost price difference was £1200 new.
There is very little in it but I went for petrol as less problems if my mileage drops (which it may do in next few years).
We've just bought another Fiesta and it was a no brainer to go diesel as my husband will be doing 25k mileage in it.
I have to say that there currently isn't much in them mpg wise (petrol 46 and Diesel currently 53 though hoping the Diesel will be more economical once run in!).

stutakesphotos

fivetide wrote: »

some good examples in this article about different cars and the miles needed to get a return for your outlay

http://www.moneyweek.com/personal-finance/money-saving-tips/how-to-choose-between-petrol-and-diesel-car-21100

mmm, I note this from there

Whatever the case, on the upside, diesel cars do more miles per gallon, have lower road tax costs (due to lower emissions – they’re ‘greener’) and hold their value better than petrol cars.

Yet it suggests otherwise as the report goes on.

It sounds to me as though the increased price that we buy a diesel for is not actually worth it

mad_rich

Hmm

A lot of those comparisons (where petrol comes out winning) seem to be for new cars.

The older and cheaper the car gets, the smaller the gulf in purchase price between petrol and diesel. (And the less you are affected by depreciation.)

My diesel car cost £1500. No idea what the equivalent petrol model would cost, because my research consisted of "I want a car. A red one. With a big boot. Ooh, diesel's probably a good idea. This one has a full FSH and is nearby. My friend had a Skoda once."

Even at a modest 8000 miles per year, and assuming a difference of 15mpg, I'm saving £300/ year in fuel over a petrol model.

It's hard to imagine it costing anything like that in increased maintenance over a petrol model. It's also hard to imagine getting a petrol car to average 45mpg in that price bracket, but I could be wrong.

Netwizard

Unless your doing 20k plus miles a year, I wouldnt bother with diesel.

Factoring in the higher price of diesel fuel, and then things like DPF / DMF / EGR etc not worth the hassle.

DominicH

I would be a bit nervous about buying a higher mileage, recent diesel. It's not that they are unreliable exactly, it's just a bit of a gamble, because if you get unlucky and something goes wrong they can be so expensive to fix. Some of the latest common rail injection systems run at insane pressures well over 1,000 bar! They're very nice, refined engines, but it's too "bleeding edge" for my liking. Maybe in ten years when the technology has matured a bit and they've ironed out the bugs.

As for DMFs, many of the torquey turbocharged petrol engines have them these days, but they still seem to be more of an issue on diesels. It's lugging the engine at low revs that causes the strain, and people tend to do that more in diesels with their low-down torque.