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Petrol or Diesel

1235

Comments

  • Oh how confused am I now? At the moment I drive a small car, a Peugeot 306 1.4xn, N plate. I want a nicer, more comfortable car with extras like electric windows, remote central locking. I used to have a Citroen 19DTR years ago and loved the suspension on it, felt like I was hovering over the road!
    I use my car daily travelling back and fore to work, about 14 miles return trip on a dual carriageway, also of couse we use the car for other purposes but not very often on long journeys.
    I am considering a Citroen C5 2 litre diesel, probably an 2000 or 2001 year. I realise it will obviously use more fuel than my old Peugeot, but figured that as I want a larger car a diesel would be more cost effective.
    I suppose my choice is to go for a medium sized car, like an astra or escort with a 1.4 or 1.6 petrol engine or a large car with diesel engine.
    What do you all think?
  • FakeIrish
    FakeIrish Posts: 207 Forumite
    curlypops wrote: »
    I suppose my choice is to go for a medium sized car, like an astra or escort with a 1.4 or 1.6 petrol engine or a large car with diesel engine.
    What do you all think?

    If you feel you can manage with a Focus/Astra size car, why would you consider a larger diesel car? Why don't you get a diesel Focus or Astra?

    But the general rule of thumb is, if you will do 20K miles pa and keep the car for approx 3 years, you will benefit from diesel. There are more scientific methods to calculate whether to have diesel or petrol - but as I say, this is the general rules.
  • photome
    photome Posts: 16,683 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Bake Off Boss!
    curlypops wrote: »
    Oh how confused am I now? At the moment I drive a small car, a Peugeot 306 1.4xn, N plate. I want a nicer, more comfortable car with extras like electric windows, remote central locking. I used to have a Citroen 19DTR years ago and loved the suspension on it, felt like I was hovering over the road!
    I use my car daily travelling back and fore to work, about 14 miles return trip on a dual carriageway, also of couse we use the car for other purposes but not very often on long journeys.
    I am considering a Citroen C5 2 litre diesel, probably an 2000 or 2001 year. I realise it will obviously use more fuel than my old Peugeot, but figured that as I want a larger car a diesel would be more cost effective.
    I suppose my choice is to go for a medium sized car, like an astra or escort with a 1.4 or 1.6 petrol engine or a large car with diesel engine.
    What do you all think?


    As other poster why a C5 if all you need is an astra/focus, and if only doing 14 miles a day i would have a petrol engine
  • nutmegman
    nutmegman Posts: 662 Forumite
    Hi,

    Nn one has mentioned this with regard to company cars i have to select a new company car next month, any adive as i have to pay the cost of fuel back
    :beer:
  • AdrianHi
    AdrianHi Posts: 2,228 Forumite
    nutmegman wrote: »
    Hi,

    Nn one has mentioned this with regard to company cars i have to select a new company car next month, any adive as i have to pay the cost of fuel back

    You also have to pay the BIK (Benefit In Kind) tax which is banded by CO2 emissions but carries a 3% penalty for diesel. This can often mean diesel is still best but it really depends on how good the petrol version is.
    For company car drivers the 47mpg BMW 318i (petrol) 0-60 in about 9 seconds is 15% BIK (you pay PAYE on 15% of cars list price in tax per year, so amount depends on if 40% tax payer or not)
    The 58mpg 318d (diesel) feels a bit quicker but is 18% BIK. Company car drivers are better off with a 318i here.
    You need to work out the cost of fuel plus the cost of BIK to get the right answer here.
  • BillScarab
    BillScarab Posts: 6,027 Forumite
    It's a difficult decision whether to go for petrol or diesel with a company car. My current one is a SKoda Octavia estate and the figures were almost identical for the 1.9 TDI and the 1.8 Petrol. However I went for Diesel as I think I am more likely to get close to the stated economy figures with a diesel than a petrol engine. The other thing is what type of engine you prefer driving, diesels tend to be torquier which I think suits an estate that is going to be used for shifting heavy loads better. A lot of modern petrol engines need to be revved to get much power out of them.
    It's my problem, it's my problem
    If I feel the need to hide
    And it's my problem if I have no friends
    And feel I want to die


  • Heres a question for you.
    I'm going to get a company car so will only be paying for my fuel, (tax, insurance, maintenance/repairs will all be paid by the company). I have the option of petrol or diesel. Do about 20K miles a year mostly between cardiff and bristol on the M4. I'm going to go for one of the more comfortable cars to drive but am still concious of the amount of carbon it will kick out. Probably going to go for a new corsa or fiesta as they are still in the "green category" So if i'm only going to be paying for fuel which would be cheaper for the mileage i do. Petrol or Diesel?

    Thanks
  • Garetha
    Garetha Posts: 981 Forumite
    Taking a Corsa Life 1.0i versus 1.3 CDTI

    assuming £1.18 litre petrol, £1.30 diesel.
    mpg 50.40 petrol, 62.8 diesel
    on 10,000 miles you'd save £122

    for you it's currently a no brainer - diesel
    (unless the price differential changes significantly)
    The new car is £1000 extra for the diesel
    but the residual value is higher
    so it's more complicated if you had to pay for the car!
  • AdrianHi
    AdrianHi Posts: 2,228 Forumite
    The problem here is that if current trends continue the petrol Corsa will be come the cheaper car to fuel somewhere around January to June 2009. If this happens and the used car buyer realises it the whole residual value situation could change so that diesels are not worth more than petrols 3 years from now.

    It's never been harder to make the petrol / diesel choice on cost and even fuel cost alone and always been harder to justify diesel on smaller cars with more economical petrol engines. The saving grace could be that the difference will probably not be that great, markets tend to overshoot then correct. So I would guess diesel's will become more expensive to fuel for a while and then it will correct so that there is not much difference between the two.
    The only thing you can do here is try both cars and see which one you prefer. You might find the diesel feels quicker and is more relaxing on the motorway due to the more torquey engine, but if you spend a lot of time in town traffic the refinement of the petrol engine might be preferable.
  • jase.2
    jase.2 Posts: 65 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10 Posts Combo Breaker
    Im in very similar decision making situation to others :-(

    Ive been offered 2 new BMW 318 cars one diesel one petrol, the difference in the cost to change is only £350 not the £1975 difference between the book prices of the two cars.

    With the mpg of the diesel at 60 and the petrol at 47 it seems like a no brainer to pay the extra £350 and go for the diesel however im worried that if diesel prices continue to rise faster the bottom may fall out the part ex / used car market and leave me with a car thats now worth less than the petrol version .........

    Decisions Decisions.........
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