Diesel cars v Petrol

gzoom

Gettingtherequickly wrote: »

Hi

I am starting to think about changing my car and am half thinking about a diesel one.

However, I drive less than 10,000 miles per year and am not sure about the merits on this type of mileage. I know that in recent years they have become more environmentally friendly and in fact, having looked on line at what I may potentially buy, due to the lower CO2 emissions, the tax is cheaper than the car I have currently, which is only an Astra, so not exactly a guzzler.

I realise I am the only one who can make the decision, but it would be nice to have comments/opinions of those who changed from petrol to diesel, those who swear by diesel and those who will only drive petrol. I don't need to make a decision anytime soon, but would like to factor any suggestions in.

Thanks

The car industry is heading for a massive shift away from diesel and towards electric / hybrid-petrol car.


We use to have a diesel Civic in the household, but for the last 16 months or so we've had one all electric car (Leaf) and one petrol hybrid Lexus (IS300H). The Leaf does all our day to day trips, and costs next to nothing to run, the Lexus we use for longer trips and achieves better MPG than the old Civic despite been quicker and much more refined.


Even VW group are starting to give hints about which way power train developments are heading.


http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/green-cars/volkswagen-boss-180-mile-range-tipping-point-ev-boom

keith969

I recently switched from a diesel, which I'd had for 8 years, back to petrol. Main reason is I don't do so many miles as I used to, although I do a 200 mile round trip once a week so the DPF issue was not really a problem.

misterbarlow

Been driving 25yrs always ever had my own petrol cars, but we were putting in around £200pm in fuel.
Had a company car 2 yrs ago and had to have diesel due to co2 etc so sold our car, and we love it...
we only do about 10k in it, but its fully serviced so not worried about any dpf issues and now our fuel bill is around £80-100pm!!

Iceweasel

OP - you haven't said whether you are thinking of buying a new or a used diesel.

New ones will have a DPF or will have an adblue tank.

An older one without a DPF would mean that 10K annual mileage would definitely not be a worry.

I do around 15k miles a year and will probably never buy another petrol-engined car again.

I love the huge surge of power from low revs - great for towing and gives great acceleration from low speeds which means overtaking is a breeze.

My current 3 litre diesel is returning well over 50mpg and has more torque than an M3 - yah-boo sucks to DarkMatter.

An electric or hybrid car is a non starter for me as I do too many long journeys to be faffed with finding re-charging points.

Hybrids now have to pay the London Congestion Charge of £11.50 a day so that is a benefit that has gone.

As from next April all new cars will have the same level of annual tax - £140pa - only zero rated cars will be exempt with £0 so once again hybrids lose the concession/privilege they once had.

Lots to consider and as you say - you're the one to make the decision.

force_ten

I do around 10K a year and run a 2.0L diesel which is fitted with a DPF

this said the car never does short runs and for us a short trip is around 40 miles round trip mostly on rural roads rather than dual carriageway, no short trips to work no school run and no nipping down the shops

last weekend the car was used for two days and the car covered around 350 miles so DPF is not a problem for the type of use we give the car

if most of your driving is local with lots of short trips then petrol or Hybrid may be better suited to your needs

Dragonqueen

I changed from petrol to my first ever diesel in February - and so pleased I did!
Monthly fuel bill cut from £200 + to under £100.
Tax down by £50 per year.

I only do about 10 miles a day, normally, but always take my car on a long journey of at least 30 miles at weekends to keep the DPF clear, as advised by the mechanics at our local garage (and as per owners forum).

I would recommend to anybody - and with 300Nm torque - what's not to like? Get's me around tractors on the rural roads that I drive

bigadaj

Dragonqueen wrote: »

I changed from petrol to my first ever diesel in February - and so pleased I did!
Monthly fuel bill cut from £200 + to under £100.
Tax down by £50 per year.

I only do about 10 miles a day, normally, but always take my car on a long journey of at least 30 miles at weekends to keep the DPF clear, as advised by the mechanics at our local garage (and as per owners forum).

I would recommend to anybody - and with 300Nm torque - what's not to like? Get's me around tractors on the rural roads that I drive

Want car did you have, using that amount of petrol doing 10 miles a day?

Your post also sounds as though you do an unnecessary drive at the weekends that adds 50% to your weekly mileage, which in itself costs you money?

bigjl

Iceweasel wrote: »

OP - you haven't said whether you are thinking of buying a new or a used diesel.

New ones will have a DPF or will have an adblue tank.

An older one without a DPF would mean that 10K annual mileage would definitely not be a worry.

I do around 15k miles a year and will probably never buy another petrol-engined car again.

I love the huge surge of power from low revs - great for towing and gives great acceleration from low speeds which means overtaking is a breeze.

My current 3 litre diesel is returning well over 50mpg and has more torque than an M3 - yah-boo sucks to DarkMatter.

An electric or hybrid car is a non starter for me as I do too many long journeys to be faffed with finding re-charging points.

Hybrids now have to pay the London Congestion Charge of £11.50 a day so that is a benefit that has gone.

As from next April all new cars will have the same level of annual tax - £140pa - only zero rated cars will be exempt with £0 so once again hybrids lose the concession/privilege they once had.

Lots to consider and as you say - you're the one to make the decision.

One caveat with your statement that hybrids don't get free CC anymore.

The limit is 75g/km so the new Prius with 15" wheels qualifys as the g/km it emits are 70. Same car with 17" wheels is 76g/km I believe.

Clearly you would buy a 15" wheel model and fit 17" wheels.....

The new Prius is better on emissions that an Auris, so Insusoect the Auris will at some point adopt similar changes to have even lower emissions.

Though I also suspect that the limit will be reduced again soon.

The Ampera/Volt also meets the new lower limit. Pity about them being engineered with only four seats. Pretty much made sure the car would fail, a huge engineering blunders. As why do you need to have as many batteries as possible when you have a range extending generator under the bonnet?

If they had managed to get five seats in the Ampera/Volt they would have killed the Prius is many markets.

bigjl

bigadaj wrote: »

Want car did you have, using that amount of petrol doing 10 miles a day?

Your post also sounds as though you do an unnecessary drive at the weekends that adds 50% to your weekly mileage, which in itself costs you money?

Agreed

At £200pcm and £1.10 a litre for petrol that would mean on a weekly mileage of 80 miles (10 miles a day and a 30 mile trip at the weekend) the car would be doing around 9/10mpg.

bigjl

misterbarlow wrote: »

Been driving 25yrs always ever had my own petrol cars, but we were putting in around £200pm in fuel.
Had a company car 2 yrs ago and had to have diesel due to co2 etc so sold our car, and we love it...
we only do about 10k in it, but its fully serviced so not worried about any dpf issues and now our fuel bill is around £80-100pm!!

A DPF has nothing to do with how well you keep your car serviced.

It is all down to usage

If you don't do enough miles in such a way as to allow the DPF to regenerate then you will need to take it for a Regen run or have a forced Regen done by a dealer.

That is before you consider things like sensor failures or other problems that can prevent Regen.

Personally I believe the technology is getting better.

But they are still hugely complicated and I would probably just steer clear unless I had to.

But if you are having no problems and the car doesn't belong to you then crack on, diesels are decent to drive, lots of torque, less gearchanges etc.