Petrol vs Diesel for high mileage car?

JustinR1979

motorguy wrote: »

Whilst they're going great they're super.

The problem is most get sold when theres big bills looming that are easily hid on a diesel.

Even with a non DPF and non DMF car like yours, theres still injectors, pumps, turbos, glow plugs, gearboxes give trouble on them, etc to worry about, PLUS your £1600 would have bought you a lower miles, younger, petrol car with less wear and tear on the suspension, engine components, etc.

Clearly you have a good one and thats great. Finding and buying a good one these days is incredibly tricky to do.

I know what you're saying, and don't disagree with you.
For this price you're a bit stuck for a decent mpg petrol that goes fairly well.
£20 a week saving on fuel, doesn't take long before you can throw it away if something big goes wrong at this price range - mine has paid for itself
Mine is green, so hardly a good one

forgotmyname

People say to avoid a diesel on a budget because of duall mass flywheels and expensive common rail injectors.
A set of injectors and a clutch/dmf change will come in at more than £2000 at a dealers.

I had a petrol Mondeo with 150k on the clock and it ran as sweet as when it was new. As i was travelling around looking for a new one. I could hear a slight noise from the belt tensioner. A common issue.
The guy that bought it said what noise.

But OP your looking at £2000 for a 2004 Mondeo??? I only paid a bit over that in 2009 for my 2004 diesel.
Servicing and repairs since 2009 have amounted to just over £1000. I change the oil every 6 months and a proper service once a year.

I had a new exhaust because it looked a bit rusty and i know they can rip the bumper off when they do fail. So always preventative maintenance rather than i did it because it failed the MOT on it type of servicing.

I wanted another petrol, But bought a diesel, 50 - 60mpg on a run is brilliant for such a big car.
Its gone over 170,000 miles now and going well.

motorguy

lazer wrote: »

If buying new it wouldn't make sense as the differential in price is too high to be worth while.
But second had diesel every time for any decent length of miles.


I've recently changed from a 7 year old petrol to the same car in diesel and my fuel cost had almost halved. Mileage from a full tank has increased from 320 to 550!
The petrol had 85,000 on it, and my diesel has 100,000 on it, but I have no doubt the diesel will last a lot longer than the petrol would have!

I would respectfully suggest you're in a different price band of car if you're buying a 7 year old car, compared to maybe a 12 year old diesel which is where the O/Ps price point will lead him.

Also, i would suggest you spent quite a considerable amount of money going from same year of petrol to same year of diesel, but i guess we all have our own ways of going mad. :eek:

Genuinely - diesels are great when they are going well, however there is a real risk of big bills, and personally i dont think its worth the hassle as the o/p isnt doing big miles.

welfayre

Just do your research before buying, check forums for any known issues with the make/model you like and try get one with a FSH and as little previous owners as possible.

That said you can do all the checking in the world and still buy a lemon.

If i had to pick something i'd consider either a mk4 golf 1.9 diesel or a 03-06 vauxhall with the 1.7l tdci engine, but that's only cause I had good experiences with them.

Done almost 100,000miles in the Vauxhall (03 Corsavan) in 4 1/2 years with zero problems. And I put 80000 on the Golf before selling it to a friend who got it up to 240000 before it finally died. Again with no unexpected problems.

motorguy

JustinR1979 wrote: »

I know what you're saying, and don't disagree with you.
For this price you're a bit stuck for a decent mpg petrol that goes fairly well.
£20 a week saving on fuel, doesn't take long before you can throw it away if something big goes wrong at this price range - mine has paid for itself
Mine is green, so hardly a good one

The problem is, you get a £600 bill at some point so you "have" to repair it, so theres 1/2 a years fuel saving gone. Then a year later the turbo goes, so thers a years fuel saving gone.

Also, if you're doing 12K a year, you're saving £10 a week at best - comparing 50mpg to 35mpg, so one typically sized diesel bill and you've lost a years savings, and still have no guarantees you wont have another problem the next week.

motorguy

forgotmyname wrote: »

People say to avoid a diesel on a budget because of duall mass flywheels and expensive common rail injectors.
A set of injectors and a clutch/dmf change will come in at more than £2000 at a dealers.

I had a petrol Mondeo with 150k on the clock and it ran as sweet as when it was new. As i was travelling around looking for a new one. I could hear a slight noise from the belt tensioner. A common issue.
The guy that bought it said what noise.

But OP your looking at £2000 for a 2004 Mondeo??? I only paid a bit over that in 2009 for my 2004 diesel.
Servicing and repairs since 2009 have amounted to just over £1000. I change the oil every 6 months and a proper service once a year.

I had a new exhaust because it looked a bit rusty and i know they can rip the bumper off when they do fail. So always preventative maintenance rather than i did it because it failed the MOT on it type of servicing.

I wanted another petrol, But bought a diesel, 50 - 60mpg on a run is brilliant for such a big car.
Its gone over 170,000 miles now and going well.

You're doing what i'm doing - buying young, looking after it and driving on at it.

I've no issues with that in a diesel and big miles.

Old diesels are problematic. Thats a known fact. You could - and likely would - be buying someone elses problems at £1000-£2000 in a diesel.

BeenThroughItAll

motorguy wrote: »

The problem is, you get a £600 bill at some point so you "have" to repair it, so theres 1/2 a years fuel saving gone. Then a year later the turbo goes, so thers a years fuel saving gone.

Also, if you're doing 12K a year, you're saving £10 a week at best - comparing 50mpg to 35mpg, so one typically sized diesel bill and you've lost a years savings, and still have no guarantees you wont have another problem the next week.

To be fair though, of all the diesels out there, the 1.9PD is pretty bulletproof as long as it's kept serviced properly; there are literally hundreds of examples of them with space shuttle miles on.


There's hundreds of them in Newcastle alone chugging around in Octavia and Superb taxis with 200K plus on. Then there's Aberdeen - last taxi I was in there had 252K miles on; driver had it from new and had just serviced it and replaced the clutch a couple of times. Same story in cities all over the country.

getmeouttahere

forgotmyname wrote: »

But OP your looking at £2000 for a 2004 Mondeo??? I only paid a bit over that in 2009 for my 2004 diesel.
Servicing and repairs since 2009 have amounted to just over £1000. I change the oil every 6 months and a proper service once a year.

No, I'm not looking at spending £2000 on a 2004 Mondeo. I was saying I am looking at cars 2004 or newer with a budget of £1000 - £2000. So, a 2004 Mondeo might cost me <£1000 whereas a 2006 Vectra Estate is £2000.

lazer

motorguy wrote: »

I would respectfully suggest you're in a different price band of car if you're buying a 7 year old car, compared to maybe a 12 year old diesel which is where the O/Ps price point will lead him.

Also, i would suggest you spent quite a considerable amount of money going from same year of petrol to same year of diesel, but i guess we all have our own ways of going mad. :eek:

Genuinely - diesels are great when they are going well, however there is a real risk of big bills, and personally i dont think its worth the hassle as the o/p isnt doing big miles.

It cost less than £500 extra and was 9 months younger as well. My own car was written off, so I had to replace it and I had been regretting not buying a diesel. (PS its a polo - so low cost!)


My husband drives a 12 year old diesel 1.9 VW Bora with well over 200,000 miles on it.


As long as you look after a diesel - regular servicing, use the right oil etc they will last a long time.


I intend for mine to get to 200,000 mile too.

motorguy

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

To be fair though, of all the diesels out there, the 1.9PD is pretty bulletproof as long as it's kept serviced properly; there are literally hundreds of examples of them with space shuttle miles on.


There's hundreds of them in Newcastle alone chugging around in Octavia and Superb taxis with 200K plus on. Then there's Aberdeen - last taxi I was in there had 252K miles on; driver had it from new and had just serviced it and replaced the clutch a couple of times. Same story in cities all over the country.

Yes. It was a great engine in its time.

Hard to get a good one though. Anyone who has one and it is a good one isnt going to sell it - who sells a goose that lays golden eggs? If its running well they'll keep it, if its got big bills looming, they'll flog it on.

Not saying that "will" happen, but i know i'd be incredibly wary of buying an old diesel even though i spent years motor trading so "should" be able to find a good one, to the point where if i was doing 12K per year, i wouldnt have a diesel about me.

I only have my golf diesel because i'm doing 25K per year and its averaging 62mpg. Its take a water pump and an entire engine wiring loom in a year, but luckily its still under manufacturers warranty.