petrol versus deisel

[Thunderchild]

I'm in the market for buying another car (something around the £0-1000 mark preferably 700 tops). I'm wondering about deisels, I here they are quite good these days.

My concerns are as follows:

1) fuel consumption - cost per mile
2) insurance costs
3) general running costs

[d9f1c7]

don't

[sunny-dave]

I wouldn't touch a diesel with a very long pointy stick - they are (at last) tightening up on 'dirty diesels' and it could get very expensive to get a diesel through the MoT test in years to come.

Also the previous artificially low price of diesel is rising to its correct level *above* the price of petrol and so the cash savings from extra mpg will be cancelled out by the higher cost of fuel as well as more expensive servicing/MoT


See also my continuation rant at 10:42 here ...

http://www.theanswerb...2.html#answer-6672593

(diesels are a pet hate of mine, in case no-one had noticed) ;+)

[joggerjayne]

Diesel every time.

I have a diesel car, and it's fab.

Diesel, diesel, diesel ...

=0)

Hey, Dave. x

[Maydup]

Advantages of deisel cars are that they always start in the winter and modern deisel cars perform as well as petrol.

Disadvantages are that older ones (ie those costing up to £1000) are prone to expensive repair bills. Deisel is now way more expensive than petrol and mpg isn't much better than petrol anymore.

Not sure about insurance differences, doubt there's much in it.

[Buenchico]

Diesel fuel is about 5% dearer than petrol but you get at least 20% (and sometimes up to around 50%) more mpg, so diesel works out far cheaper.

Diesel cars tend not to be greatly attractive to car thieves or to 'boy racers', so insurance costs are often lower.

Routine servicing costs on a diesel-engined car are similar to those for a petrol-driven vehicle. There are a few jobs though, such as cam belt changes, which might make the total costs higher.

Given the choice, I'd always drive a diesel. (I only drive a petrol-engined car because I couldn't buy a secondhand diesel car for the £350 I paid for a petrol Escort).

Chris

[JonnyBoy12]

We would love to help you with your query but we do not know what a 'deisel' car is.

Signed

The Spelling Police

[Thunderchild]

Sorry Jonnyboy, i always get my "i" and "e" round the wrong way. I'm positive I'm a bit dyslexic like my dad but cope pretty well mostly ;)

[Maydup]

Johnny, a deisel care is just like a diesel car and we know that perfectly well, sorry if you couldn't stop being a bully long enough to work it out.

How does you pointing out a spelling mistake make you feel? Tell us about it and maybe we can help you with your problem.

[Thunderchild]

he is after all the spelling police ;) I've seen worse round here like people expecting road rules to apply in your favor even if your speeding ;)

How about the car, I've got a 50/50 response i think and it looks like i need a fairly new diesel (did i get that round the right way lol)

[Hymie]

If you do choose a diesel – check out the dual-mass flywheel failure rate (via the web) of your chosen model. Such a fault would be the end of any diesel costing less than £2,000 (and possibly a lot more).

[paddywak]

I'm on my third Focus estate diesel and and wouldn't go back to petrol, in fact my next one is on order. I don't no about running costs etc as it's a Motobility car but the MPG is fantastic as is the overall performance of the car.

[Thunderchild]

I get the impression that the larger Diesels are ok but maybe smaller a waste of time.

[jason.p]

We've got an '03 Megane 1.5 diesel. On a run we can get up to 60mpg and it will hop along as fast as we like. Also road tax is only £30 a year. We've always had diesels and would not go back to petrol.

[Hopkirk]

Have a read of this, and see if your type of driving might lead to a problem

http://www.bbc.co.uk/...ticulate_filters.html

[gingejbee]

I have two cars, same make and model - one petrol, one turbo-diesel.
The petrol has averaged 47mpg and the diesel 65mpg (both from new). The diesel insurance is about 10% cheaper and the servicing costs about the same. And, interestingly, we both prefer driving the diesel!

[henrythewasp]

I have driven Deisel for a few years now and i will NEVER go back to petrol.Deisel engines are more reliable and last longer due to less moving parts and are easy to service yourself.Ask yourself this.......Why are vehicles that do a lot of miles always deisel?....Taxi...Train....Heavy goods.....White Van man(Courier) etc? its because they last longer and are more reliable!

[TWR]

The running cost is all to do with the way the car has been serviced Thunder, if poss try & bye a 2nd hand comp car they are serviced by the dealer & serviced right & book stamped, it will also tell you the date of the last service / belt change etc, Insurance! as said, general running cost will depend on the person that owns the car! skimp on servicing you pay the price, dervs hold their price better than petrol, depending what you are looking for do your homework Ist, If you are not well up on cars take someone with you that Is.

[BRIGHT SPARK]

Petrol for girls..diesel for men