Diesel or Petrol??

balsingh

my local petrol station has diesel at 9p/litre more than petrol. that must also be considered when makign the decision.

A_Doonhamer

I would only purchase the diesel if your doing a large mileage. With the gap in fuel price per litre I would think you need to do abou 20,000+ before you make any reasonable saving. Other wise I think small petrol engine is better for most.

thescouselander

balsingh wrote: »

my local petrol station has diesel at 9p/litre more than petrol. that must also be considered when makign the decision.

Same round here too.

The European Commission are worried that the cost of Diesel in Europe could increase further because diesel is becoming more and more popular. It could be that the price difference could get bigger.

caravanshaker

A_Doonhamer wrote: »

I would only purchase the diesel if your doing a large mileage. With the gap in fuel price per litre I would think you need to do abou 20,000+ before you make any reasonable saving. Other wise I think small petrol engine is better for most.

just a quick pointer, lets round up litres=gallons to 5, so you pay an extra 45p a gallon for diesel (9p per litre x 5 ltr per gal)) but generally you are getting between 10-25 miles per gallon extra with diesel, so say lets take an average 17 miles extra per gallon, would you not pay 45p more to go 17 miles more?

the thing with cars is you can argue back and forth all day long and people have their own preferences but if you can get a diesel at a good price or very similar to a petrol you are always going to save money I believe

pebbles88

caravanshaker wrote: »

just a quick pointer, lets round up litres=gallons to 5, so you pay an extra 45p a gallon for diesel (9p per litre x 5 ltr per gal)) but generally you are getting between 10-25 miles per gallon extra with diesel, so say lets take an average 17 miles extra per gallon, would you not pay 45p more to go 17 miles more?

the thing with cars is you can argue back and forth all day long and people have their own preferences but if you can get a diesel at a good price or very similar to a petrol you are always going to save money I believe

I agree, as you say diesel is abit more expensive but you get more miles out of it, in our case its nearly double what we were getting on petrol!

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers!

I would consider the vehicle that has the lowest depreciation since this will likely be the most significant cost.

Lynxette

Conor wrote: »

a diesel has fewer parts that need changing partly due to not having spark plugs.

No, but it has glow plugs that do the same job - Trust me, it's because the glow plugs have gone that I have a diesel corsa going to rust at the bottom of my garden. :P

balsingh

caravanshaker wrote: »

just a quick pointer, lets round up litres=gallons to 5, so you pay an extra 45p a gallon for diesel (9p per litre x 5 ltr per gal)) but generally you are getting between 10-25 miles per gallon extra with diesel, so say lets take an average 17 miles extra per gallon, would you not pay 45p more to go 17 miles more?

the thing with cars is you can argue back and forth all day long and people have their own preferences but if you can get a diesel at a good price or very similar to a petrol you are always going to save money I believe

I think the 17 extra MPG on diesel sounds a bit optimistic. Modern petrol cars are pretty efficient too. For example, I have recently driven an Astra 1.6 petrol and averaged 46mpg (mixed driving) .... the same Astra 1.7 diesel may get 53mpg??

pebbles88

each car is different though, just as each driver is, it all depends on things like that, ie - heavy footed drivers aren't going to get as good MPG as gentler drivers IYSWIM.

goldspanners

Lynxette wrote: »

No, but it has glow plugs that do the same job - Trust me, it's because the glow plugs have gone that I have a diesel corsa going to rust at the bottom of my garden. :P

you can get a set of glowplugs for around £20.
glow plugs are not an item that would normally be changed at a service,spark plugs would be,glow plugs are only there to assist cold starting,and not all diesels have them or need them.
spark plugs are in use constantly when the engine is running,glow plugs will only be used for a few seconds on start up.