Sturggling with petrol vs. diesel decision

Johnmcl7

My first three cars were all diesel (mk1 Octavia 1.9, mk2 Toledo 1.9 and a mk 2 Octavia 2.0) but I've now changed to a petrol. Although I've never done huge mileages I liked the lazy drive of the diesels and the low VED/high mpg was a bonus but the Octavia put me off diesels completely. Admittedly it was known to be a bad diesel but the issues it had with the EGR valves getting clogged up and the DPF (sensor failure) can happen on newer diesels as well.

I knew short journeys were bad for the car before I bought it so I took up cycling so that I rarely used the car for short journeys but the increasingly tough emissions requirements means more parts in the car and in particular more sensors and when there's problems with them it can put the car in limp home mode. Problems with the EGR valve took it off the road briefly when I didn't need it but the DPF sensor failure meant I ended up having to get a hire car while my own sat at home. The deal breaker was the DPF regenerating, even though I was careful with it as the car got older (was around six years old when I got rid of it) the DPF seemed to be regenerating more often and it wasn't a good car to drive when that was happening.

I have a petrol car now and although the running costs on paper don't look great, I find they're not too bad in practice compared to the diesel and while the diesel's mpg figures varied quite a bit with the DPF regenning the petrol is very consistent. The sting of the VED has been offset by the insurance (despite both cars being very similar in every way, Mazdas must be boring I guess) and so far the petrol hasn't broken down nor required a hire car. I realise any car can break down or need big repairs but my petrol is just a lot simpler, no EGR valves, no DPF, no turbocharger and no DMF. Another bonus this time of year is that the petrol heats up far quicker than any of my diesels although I don't know if particular diesels are better for this.

In balance though I've friends with diesels who rarely have issues so I'm not claiming diesel issues are guaranteed.

John

gord115

forgotmyname wrote: »

£80 - £90 per week down to £20 - £25 a week?

So your old car did 30mpg and your new one does 120mpg?

I think you will find if Peugeot driver did 210 miles per week it works out 12 mpg petrol and 35 mpg diesel

bigjl

I had one of the first Toledo mk2 back in 99

Was a good car but was expensive at the time

£17000 for the entry level 1.9Tdi S

thescouselander

The way the market has gone it's quite difficult to actually make the choice between petrol and diesel now. I'd much rather have a petrol car but I'm currently drivig a diesel because that is all that's available in the model of car I wanted - and I bought it new!

The industry is far too obsessed with diesel and there's too many of them around. I reckon all one can do as a consumer is ingore the fuel type and concentrate on the other attributes of the car

motorguy

dannyrst wrote: »

Interesting. Can you tell us why a diesel would not work?

Who said it wouldnt work?

However, you're putting yourself at risk of DPF and DMF issues with a diesel and below average miles.

Plus the petrol variant should be cheaper, so you're can get a younger, lower miles variant for the equivalent money

motorguy

thescouselander wrote: »

The way the market has gone it's quite difficult to actually make the choice between petrol and diesel now. I'd much rather have a petrol car but I'm currently drivig a diesel because that is all that's available in the model of car I wanted - and I bought it new!

The industry is far too obsessed with diesel and there's too many of them around. I reckon all one can do as a consumer is ingore the fuel type and concentrate on the other attributes of the car

As you say, with many cars these days its actually quite hard - or impossible to buy a petrol variant.

dannyrst

motorguy wrote: »

Who said it wouldnt work?

However, you're putting yourself at risk of DPF and DMF issues with a diesel and below average miles.

Plus the petrol variant should be cheaper, so you're can get a younger, lower miles variant for the equivalent money

He said it shouldn't be considered. Effectively ruling it out.

My point is for 10,000 miles a year, you can get either petrol or diesel and have benefits of either.

motorguy

dannyrst wrote: »

He said it shouldn't be considered. Effectively ruling it out.

My point is for 10,000 miles a year, you can get either petrol or diesel and have benefits of either.

I think his point was - and my point would be - at that mileage you're risking DMF and DPF issues and going to pay a significantly higher price for the diesel variant, thats why i personally wouldnt consider it.

Doesnt mean it wouldnt "work"

I could if i had enough money use a harrier jump jet to take me to tescos. It would work, but i wouldnt consider it.

Bigphil1474

Other thing to consider is emissions - petrol's are better (or less worse) for local air quality, diesels better for the wider environment. There's a big push to improve local air quality as nationally we are missing lots of targets, and diesels are being blamed. Don't know if it's completely true, but that doesn't stop HM Govt. making bad decisions when it comes to future changes to VED.
I've just bought a petrol ford (used) and it's great, but I looked at diesels, and the choice was just down to what was available that I liked. Running costs and purchase price overall over a 5 year period wasn't much between them based on my calculations, for what I'm going to using it for. Then again, it'll probably be pot luck as to whether it lasts 5 years, or breaks down completely in 3 months.

gabitzul

Just a quick example as I have changed recently from petrol to diesel.

Old car: Focus 55 reg, 1.6 petrol 115 PS
New car: Merc C Class 09 reg 2.1 CDI 170 PS - NO DPF

Fuel:
Focus - average over about 3k miles - 38 MPG
Merc - agerave over about 3k miles - 46 MPG

Insurance - about 100 pa more for the Merc

Service - will be DIY on Merc - in general it is about 50% more

RFL - same (180 pa).

So, am I saving money really by driving a diesel? Not really. But I am enjoying the car and will save money by doing DIY services.

Bottom line: try to see the bigger picture, fuel consumption is only a factor in this large equation.