Diesel?

andrewf75

Appreciate those points, but I think the PCP thing is a bit more than the press whipping up a story. It’s become another way to squeeze more money out of people at a time when real wages are falling. I’d say the same about mobile phone contracts. Its not that it can’t be a good deal for some people, but I think the way it normalises the financing of a new car for those who would be better off making do with an older one is a cause for concern.
Anyway, going a bit off topic…

motorguy

Tammykitty wrote: »

I think that is too much on a generalization and imo really only applies if you are buying expensive newish cars (under 5 years old).


I used to do one 150 (75 mile & return) mile journey a week plus a few short journeys (so about 9,000 miles a year)


At 35mpg - that's 256 gallons of petrol
at 55mpg - that's 164 gallons of diesel


At £5.00 a gallon (£1.10 a litre) - that's a saving of £460 a year
Plus £100 cheaper tax


Those savings more than counteract the increase maintenance costs and the increase cost of purchase cost of a second hand diesel (I paid £500 over the insurance value of my 7 year polo, to replace with a very similar polo in diesel)


I now do 18,000 miles a year, so very glad I changed!

DPFs, DMFs and electronic EGR valves have been around since around 2005 / 2006 so i would contend that anyone running an up to 10 year old diesel doing average miles or less is exposing themselves to big bill risks

I would also suggest that if your diesel is doing 55mpg theres a petrol variant out there probably doing 40-45mpg (or a similar petrol car that will)

Thats your saving down to approx £230 a year. Then factor in increased servicing costs, increased purchase price, etc, and you might be down to a few pounds per week at best.

It would only take one big diesel associated bill every four or five years to knock out that saving - something a "modern" diesel is very capable of doing.

Certainly in the last 5 years petrol fuel economy has increased so thinking of the right now its easy to see why people are gravitating back to petrols.