2024 Caboodle National Books Puzzle
Quizzes & Puzzles5 mins ago
Petrol Or Diesel
Is it worth paying about £2,300 extra for a diesel engine. We only do about 10/11 thousand miles a year - and the first (and last!) 1/2 mile is in 2nd gear - with a touch of 3rd sometimes.
We are thinking of a Dacia Duster - which we hope will see us out!
We are thinking of a Dacia Duster - which we hope will see us out!
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I have just got my first diesel car after 40 years of petrol and I an a convert !
I have a 1.7 Eco diesel Zafira 7 seater and it does over 50 mpg . Even with diesel costing 5p a litre more than unleaded it is much cheaper to run.
Most of my driving is around the town, on a long run I can get 70 mpg .
I can't see why you never get out of 3rd gear ? you must be really burning up the fuel driving around in low gear .
I have a 1.7 Eco diesel Zafira 7 seater and it does over 50 mpg . Even with diesel costing 5p a litre more than unleaded it is much cheaper to run.
Most of my driving is around the town, on a long run I can get 70 mpg .
I can't see why you never get out of 3rd gear ? you must be really burning up the fuel driving around in low gear .
I was of the impression that 10,000 miles a year and keeping the car for 3 years was roughly the break-even point and bear in mind that the diesel will have a higher resale value.
Particle filters are only a problem if you do a lot of short trips ie, trips where the exhaust system doesn't get hot enough to burn the particles out of the filter. I've driven Volvos for the past dozen years, covering around 20,000 a year and have never had the filter warning light come on or needed any maintenance at all with the filter system.
Before the Volvos I had a 2.5 litre petrol Vauxhall Omega which averaged around 25 mpg (I do mainly long trips). Since the Omega I have had 2 Volvo V70 diesels, both of which have averaged around 40 mpg with more powerful engines. For me the savings have been enormous, especially because I do a lot of miles in mainland Europe where diesel is generally much cheaper than petrol.
Another thing to bear in mind is the extra range on a tankful of fuel; purely a convenience thing in that it cuts down the number of times you have to stop for fuel.
Particle filters are only a problem if you do a lot of short trips ie, trips where the exhaust system doesn't get hot enough to burn the particles out of the filter. I've driven Volvos for the past dozen years, covering around 20,000 a year and have never had the filter warning light come on or needed any maintenance at all with the filter system.
Before the Volvos I had a 2.5 litre petrol Vauxhall Omega which averaged around 25 mpg (I do mainly long trips). Since the Omega I have had 2 Volvo V70 diesels, both of which have averaged around 40 mpg with more powerful engines. For me the savings have been enormous, especially because I do a lot of miles in mainland Europe where diesel is generally much cheaper than petrol.
Another thing to bear in mind is the extra range on a tankful of fuel; purely a convenience thing in that it cuts down the number of times you have to stop for fuel.
I have a diel Skoda. The day to day costs are far less because the mpg is much better. It has been less trouble than my petrol Skodas. The maintenance costs are no more than for those. The calculations for the two are quite esoteric and make certain assumptions. It may well be that I have to do 20,000 for three years to be in profit, but what if I do 10,000 for six years? And depreciation costs vary a lot; you may wipe out much or all of the theoretical profit on trade in. I'd rather see the saving in my pocket at the pump.
Let's do a very rough calculation. Assume petrol is £1.35/litre and diesel is £1.40/litre, and Goofy will travel 10,000 miles a year.
My last petrol car averaged around 25mpg and my last diesel, with similar engine size and performance around 40mpg.
If Goofy buys a petrol car which does around 40mpg he could expect a diesel to do around 65mpg, assuming the petrol/diesel fuel consumption ratio is similar to mine.
10,000 miles at 40mpg = 250 gals of petrol at £1.35 x 4.54 = approx £1530.
10,000 miles at 65mpg = 156 gals of diesel at £1.40 x 4.54 = approx £995.
Thus the fuel savings on a diesel car are approx £535 a year, taking just over 4 years to break even with the extra cost of the diesel engine.
So, if Goofy plans to keep the car for more than 4 years he then starts to save over £500 per year in fuel costs; the more fuel prices increase the more he saves on fuel.
If he spends as much time as he says in slow-moving traffic, the exhaust system will get hot enough for the particlate filter not to be a problem.
My last petrol car averaged around 25mpg and my last diesel, with similar engine size and performance around 40mpg.
If Goofy buys a petrol car which does around 40mpg he could expect a diesel to do around 65mpg, assuming the petrol/diesel fuel consumption ratio is similar to mine.
10,000 miles at 40mpg = 250 gals of petrol at £1.35 x 4.54 = approx £1530.
10,000 miles at 65mpg = 156 gals of diesel at £1.40 x 4.54 = approx £995.
Thus the fuel savings on a diesel car are approx £535 a year, taking just over 4 years to break even with the extra cost of the diesel engine.
So, if Goofy plans to keep the car for more than 4 years he then starts to save over £500 per year in fuel costs; the more fuel prices increase the more he saves on fuel.
If he spends as much time as he says in slow-moving traffic, the exhaust system will get hot enough for the particlate filter not to be a problem.
If the car I decide I want happens to come with a diesel engine I get diesel, if it has a petrol engine I get a petrol engined car. I can't say the car being one or the other has ever been a consideration. Just not a significant issue IMO. Certainly I'd not pay out thousands more just for one or the other.
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