Petrol Or Diesel

[Goofy]

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!

[ladybirder]

Honest John in the DT says No. You don't do enough miles to gain back the extra cost of the initial outlay.

[Goofy]

that's rather what I thought
thank you

[EDDIE51]

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 .

[ladybirder]

But goofy would be paying £2300 more than for a petrol engine. The difference between a petrol and a diesel engine mileage would be what, 15mpg? More? Less? How many miles has he got to drive before he actually breaks even?

[Hopkirk]

Diesel is for trucks and buses.

[sunny-dave]

Diesel is also dangerously expensive in future maintenance costs - just google "particulate filter problems"

[bhg481]

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.

[TTG]

In the last few years I think diesel engines have become more complex and therefore expensive to maintain/repair compared to petrol.

[FredPuli43]

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.

[Mass_Hysteria]

I do approx 20 - 25k miles per year in a diesel Focus. If I did less I would get a petrol engined car.

[EDDIE51]

My Zafira has an automatic system to clean the particulate filter.
It heats up and burns off the contamination. There is a warning light that comes on if it needs doing and then it just starts the process.

[ladybirder]

Well he'd have £2,300 in his pocket to spend on fuel at the start if he bought the petrol driven car. Should last a while.

[petal54]

I've got my first diesel,which is fine so long as I don't let car run out or put petro; in by mistake!

[EDDIE51]

Diesels hold their value more than petrol, when he came to sell he would get more for a used diesel than for the same petrol model. This needs to be taken into account as well.
By the way I wouldn't touch a Darcia with a barge pole . Terrible reputation for reliability and way out of date design.

[Hopkirk]

I have a foolproof method for never putting the wrong fuel in either of our cars.

I will never buy an oilburner car.

[ladybirder]

EDDIE I don't think Goofy is bothered about selling the car. He says he hopes it will see them out!! But after what you say about it, it sounds as if it might not:-(

[bhg481]

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.

[moonraker558]

Diesel engines in cars are far superior and more reliable than petrol engines.
I have had turbo diesel engines for years and would never go back to petrol, and when I drive Mrs Moony's petrol car it just confirms why I switched in the first place. Yuk.

[Zeuhl]

Alternatively ...

buy a nice used petrol car
A 3 litre engine should mean it's sold at a bargain price ie at least £3,000 less than an equivalent diesel
Convert it to LPG for £2,000 (and add to its resale price)

Cleaner than diesel or petrol and only 71p /litre

[Old_Geezer]

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.