Would you buy a new diesel now?

*~Zephyr~*

I'm looking to change my car and have traipsed around the dealerships today. All of them are keen to flog me a diesel engine and offer better deals on them than petrol. There also seem to be more options in terms of trim and spec on diesels too. At least on the vehicles I'm looking at - SUV like Mazda cx5 / Kia shortage / Hyundai Tuscon.

But with the amount of anti-diesel press out there lately, I'm not sure what the right thing to do is.

I don't do huge mileage anymore -8k ish a year. And I don't do a great deal of motorway driving now either. It's mostly short 5m commutes of town driving and a couple of hundred motorway miles once a month.

So please could you tell me your views on what you'd buy if you were buying a new / nearly new SUV today?

Nebulous2

Even if you discount the anti-diesel sentiment, diesels haven't been recommended for that sort of driving / mileage for some time.

It would depend to some extent on how long you were going to keep it. If it's only 2-3 years you could be in and out before it had much impact. If its much longer than that you could find the sentiment ramped up to higher costs and public places you (well your car!) were excluded from.

*~Zephyr~*

This is what is worrying me!

kremmen

I wish I had a choice. My brand new company car ( I have no choice ) will be a diesel and here when the new reg comes out.

Although the article doesn't refer to new diesels I think it is only a matter of time before more measures like this are put into place.

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/london-air-pollution-sadiq-khan-t-charge-doing-something-about-it-a7586466.html

Paul

D4nny

For the type of driving you say you do id stay clear of a diesel and get a petrol engine.

Ectophile

The problem is that all modern diesels have a DPF, and it can clog if you don't do a lot of long drives.

My old diesel Freelander doesn't have a DPF, and is quite happy pootling along A and B roads at the weekend. I'm not sure what I'm going to replace it with once it gets too old to keep.

neilmcl

*~Zephyr~* wrote: »

I'm looking to change my car and have traipsed around the dealerships today. All of them are keen to flog me a diesel engine and offer better deals on them than petrol. There also seem to be more options in terms of trim and spec on diesels too. At least on the vehicles I'm looking at - SUV like Mazda cx5 / Kia shortage / Hyundai Tuscon.

But with the amount of anti-diesel press out there lately, I'm not sure what the right thing to do is.

I don't do huge mileage anymore -8k ish a year. And I don't do a great deal of motorway driving now either. It's mostly short 5m commutes of town driving and a couple of hundred motorway miles once a month.

So please could you tell me your views on what you'd buy if you were buying a new / nearly new SUV today?

I have no problems buying a new diesel at the moment, despite all the scare stories, in fact I recently did but then again I do the miles to warrant one. Doing only 8K a year doesn't really make sense to go for a diesel car.

EssexExile

I know what you mean, we do similar mileage to you, mostly short with the occasional long, when we were looking petrol cars were few & far between. We ended up with a Honda CR-V but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it. Have you considered a Mitsubishi PHEV?

mr_accountant

It will still be years before diesels are banned/ restricted in city centres, if that will happen or not who knows

In the meantime the point before considering deisels is 15000 miles per annum, you should consider petrol as a first choice.

Mercdriver

I do 20 - 25k a year and usually do a long drive at least once a week, so yes, I'd buy a new diesel.

gzoom

*~Zephyr~* wrote: »

I'm looking to change my car and have traipsed around the dealerships today. All of them are keen to flog me a diesel engine and offer better deals on them than petrol. There also seem to be more options in terms of trim and spec on diesels too. At least on the vehicles I'm looking at - SUV like Mazda cx5 / Kia shortage / Hyundai Tuscon.

..........

I don't do huge mileage anymore -8k ish a year. And I don't do a great deal of motorway driving now either. It's mostly short 5m commutes of town driving and a couple of hundred motorway miles once a month.

The manufacturer have spent a huge sum of money developing diesel as that was what the governments were pushing for.... They are stuck with a bunch of engines which will soon be penalised against, so it makes sense for manufacturers to push diesels now as much as possible to get some money back from their investment before legislation makes diesel alot less attractive to consumers.

If your just doing short trips have a look at the various plug in hybrid models most manufacturers do these days. Your find you can do a 5 mile commute quite easily just on electricity mode, and all plugin hybrids can be charged from a normal 3 pin plug in a few hours.