Hybrid vs diesel vs petrol

MrBrindle

Got a bit of a conundrum in the house atm.

Our main family car is a Hyundai ix35 2011 1.7 diesel model. My partner uses this daily to do the school run (town driving), travel to her workplace - mixture of dual carriageway and country roads, so averaging 20 miles per day in all travel.

The main gripe is that the car is drinking diesel atm. From some crude calculations, I think it's averaging between 35-40mpg, possibly even as less. Pretty poor compared to what Hyundai advertise the vehicle as (around 50mpg) - although I know those are not real world mpg's.

The car is due a service, and needs new front tyres but those two alone aren't responsible for the low efficiency.

Is this to be expected from a diesel SUV? We've only owned the car for a year and a half, and quite surprised how poor it is. the previous family car was a Peugeot 207 sw 1.6 diesel and easily did 50-55mpg.

We are thinking of changing it now for something a bit more efficient. My partner fancies one of Toyota's hybrids - the Auris hatchback or estate, but these are a bit over budget imo. The other option is to get another diesel car, smaller, with better mpg. I've been looking at a sportswagon type vehicle - Kia Cee'd, Dacia Logan etc. Both have decent mpg ratings.

But we've also been advised petrol due to my partners low mileage during the week - although most petrol cars have high mpg ratings.

Any advice?

hollie.weimeraner

Over the past 6 years we have gone from diesel (Yaris and and Volvo V50) to petrol (Ford Fiesta and Focus) to our current hybrid Yaris and Auris tourer.

No major issues with any but mileage has changed which is why we moved away from diesel to petrol.

The Fiesta and Focus wren't great for MPG averaging about 35 around town with the Fiesta being the thirstiest (both the same 1.0 ecoboost engine) but good on runs (about 50mpg). We got rid of these due to the issues with the ecoboost engines coming to light and opted for the Auris and Yaris hybrids which we love.

The Yaris is the most efficient around town and in the summer we are getting over 50 to the gallon from it. My wife uses the Auris for her dog walking business and gets about 38 or 40 for the short journeys.

Long journeys the Auris returns between 60 and 70 MPG and the Yaris around 60. My mpg figures are accurate as I fill up tank to tank and have a spreadsheet going back years which works out average mpg.

If you look at Fords then please check out Facebook Ford EcoBoost Nightmare and draw your own conclusions.

We are both impressed with the Toyotas but fuel consumption will fall in cold weather.

https://www.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/forum/59-toyota-forums/

GunJack

It's probably more down to the style & type of mileage she's doing...that sort of short start-stop stuff will hammer down mpg in any car. For example, my Mrs drives a 2ltr Mondeo diesel, all short runs, the car never warms up properly and she gets 43-ish mpg. I took it to work for a fortnight (30 mile round-trip commute) and got 60mpg...

However, her 43mpg Mondeo diesel beats hands-down the 20mpg she got in a 2ltr petrol Vectra on the same driving

MrBrindle

hollie.weimeraner wrote: »

Over the past 6 years we have gone from diesel (Yaris and and Volvo V50) to petrol (Ford Fiesta and Focus) to our current hybrid Yaris and Auris tourer.

No major issues with any but mileage has changed which is why we moved away from diesel to petrol.

The Fiesta and Focus wren't great for MPG averaging about 35 around town with the Fiesta being the thirstiest (both the same 1.0 ecoboost engine) but good on runs (about 50mpg). We got rid of these due to the issues with the ecoboost engines coming to light and opted for the Auris and Yaris hybrids which we love.

The Yaris is the most efficient around town and in the summer we are getting over 50 to the gallon from it. My wife uses the Auris for her dog walking business and gets about 38 or 40 for the short journeys.

Long journeys the Auris returns between 60 and 70 MPG and the Yaris around 60. My mpg figures are accurate as I fill up tank to tank and have a spreadsheet going back years which works out average mpg.

If you look at Fords then please check out Facebook Ford EcoBoost Nightmare and draw your own conclusions.

We are both impressed with the Toyotas but fuel consumption will fall in cold weather.

https://www.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/forum/59-toyota-forums/

That's great. We had a look at the Auris Hatch and Estate versions, and the estate did look fantastic. But it was nearly £4000 over budget for us. The Yaris is another option, but as this will be the family car it may prove to small for trips and holidays with 2 adults, 2 kids and 2 dogs.

Unfortunately we also cannot afford a payment plan either at the moment, so will need to purchase the car using savings, of which we also don't enough of!

MrBrindle

GunJack wrote: »

It's probably more down to the style & type of mileage she's doing...that sort of short start-stop stuff will hammer down mpg in any car. For example, my Mrs drives a 2ltr Mondeo diesel, all short runs, the car never warms up properly and she gets 43-ish mpg. I took it to work for a fortnight (30 mile round-trip commute) and got 60mpg...

However, her 43mpg Mondeo diesel beats hands-down the 20mpg she got in a 2ltr petrol Vectra on the same driving

That's true. I took the Hyundai out on the weekend on a 50 mile round trip and I got it up towards the 50mpg.

I also questions my partners driving style! I watched her drive nearly 4 miles in fourth gear over the weekend, so that can't be helping!

So your last sentence sums up my diesel vs petrol argument. It wouldn't make sense economically to change to a petrol car either then?

davetrousers

If I am reading this right, you want to by something that you can't afford in order to save money.


Is that correct?

Cornucopia

I watched this the other day, and it's quite well done...

Youtube: CarWow's Guide to Petrol vs. Diesel

They claim a break-even mileage of 38,000 between Diesel and Petrol versions of the Kadjar. This will vary between models, but I suspect that the broad conclusion is correct.

I run a Diesel Captur, and these are now becoming plentiful on the user market. It's a good car, easy to drive and economical at a reliable average 55 mpg. It has the advantage in common with many small SUVs of having a roomy interior with a small road footprint.

MrBrindle

davetrousers wrote: »

If I am reading this right, you want to by something that you can't afford in order to save money.


Is that correct?

Sort of, unfortunately. It's a big investment short term, but trying to find out if it'll be justified in the long term. We can either nuke our savings going for a hybrid, or go for the next best option which will hopefully be cheaper and give us more comfort from a savings perspective.

I guess the other question from me is, what is the next best thing down from a hybrid for our purposes? Is it a petrol engine, small - less powerful diesel car, or will nothing come close? The criteria being;

Averaging 20 miles per day.
20% town driving. 50% dual carriage way. 30% country roads.
2 trips per day.

The Toyota salesman scared us a bit saying there's absolutely no point buying a diesel anymore because of depreciation and that the government will be phasing diesel cars out in the future. Needles to say he was a salesman so I wasn't sure whether to take what he said with a pinch of salt.

Cornucopia

MrBrindle wrote: »

The Toyota salesman scared us a bit saying there's absolutely no point buying a diesel anymore because of depreciation and that the government will be phasing diesel cars out in the future. Needles to say he was a salesman so I wasn't sure whether to take what he said with a pinch of salt.

PCP and Lease prices for Diesel cars suggest he's talking out of his exhaust port.

Arklight

MrBrindle wrote: »

Sort of, unfortunately. It's a big investment short term, but trying to find out if it'll be justified in the long term. We can either nuke our savings going for a hybrid, or go for the next best option which will hopefully be cheaper and give us more comfort from a savings perspective.

I guess the other question from me is, what is the next best thing down from a hybrid for our purposes? Is it a petrol engine, small - less powerful diesel car, or will nothing come close? The criteria being;

Averaging 20 miles per day.
20% town driving. 50% dual carriage way. 30% country roads.
2 trips per day.

The Toyota salesman scared us a bit saying there's absolutely no point buying a diesel anymore because of depreciation and that the government will be phasing diesel cars out in the future. Needles to say he was a salesman so I wasn't sure whether to take what he said with a pinch of salt.

Diesels have never made sense if you want to save money, unless you do interstellar mileage. The point of a diesel for me has always been the hugely increased low down torque over a petrol equivalent.

Downsides are DPFs, cost of repair and the fact they're (rightly) being clamped down on for urban emissions.

MrBrindle

Arklight wrote: »

Diesels have never made sense if you want to save money, unless you do interstellar mileage. The point of a diesel for me has always been the hugely increased low down torque over a petrol equivalent.

Downsides are DPFs, cost of repair and the fact they're (rightly) being clamped down on for urban emissions.

Fair enough. We bought the Hyundai from a small garage and he advised against buying petrol at the time because they lose value! Needles to say we feel a bit caught out now.

What would be the next best thing after a hybrid? We're looking for a reasonably sized car. An estate possibly. The Dacia Logans have caught my eye, the 0.9L petrol engine looks like a decent option. I'm presuming something like that would be much cheaper to run than a heavy 1.7 diesel SUV?