Buying a new car

Scrapit

Diesel is currently 2p dearer than petrol round here. Not worth even considering.

neilmcl

Scrapit wrote: »

Diesel is currently 2p dearer than petrol round here. Not worth even considering.

It is at the moment but it fluctuates quite a bit. Wasn't too long ago when the price difference was nearly 10p and if the problems with Saudi and Iran continue it's only a matter of time that the price for crude will increase again, particularly as we move into the winter.

foxy-stoat

ma9gm wrote: »

The difference for urban miles on autotrader between the petrol and Diesels is about 30 mpg. Which seems like a lot. But you're saying the actual urban mpg for the diesels is a lot less?

You wont get the maximum MPG driving 2 miles here and there. I do not get the advertised MPG on my diesel driving 25 miles each way on my daily commute with a very light foot.

You will probably be ok with a medium sized car 1.6 or 2.0 petrol engine returning 30/35 mpg.

Driving 4000 miles a year you are probably going to spend around £650-£750 a year of fuel, which is probably half of what a new DPF will cost and about the same amount of money it would cost to get your DPF cleaned once its choked up.

Even if you decided on a 3.0 ltr v6 petrol your annual fuel bill will probably only go up by £400.

alan_d

We bought a small car a few months ago, mostly for my wife's commute and general running around. She typically does around 7k miles a year. Budget allowed petrol or diesel version of the model we settled on, but discounted any diesel because of the well documented issues with short journeys. Bought a petrol one with 90k miles on it. No regrets with that decision, it's ideal for what we need. For the OP, it's a no-brainer, buy petrol.
I'm not too concerned about higher mileage cars provided they have full service history. I ran a previous car to 275k miles, and a friend is still running it now

Scrapit

neilmcl wrote: »

It is at the moment but it fluctuates quite a bit. Wasn't too long ago when the price difference was nearly 10p and if the problems with Saudi and Iran continue it's only a matter of time that the price for crude will increase again, particularly as we move into the winter.

I feel it wasnt that long ago when diesel was cheaper than petrol. It's all relative, and if you can predict fuel price fluctuations you will be very rich. There is no normal.

DUTR

Scrapit wrote: »

I feel it wasnt that long ago when diesel was cheaper than petrol. It's all relative, and if you can predict fuel price fluctuations you will be very rich. There is no normal.

It's been a good 10yrs or more since diesel was cheaper than petrol.