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Petrol vs diesel - the great debate


CraigHew

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As far as my daily driver goes, I've been in the diesel camp for the last 12 years or so.

However, with the price differential and petrol car efficiency sky-rocketing it's not so clear cut any more.

This guide reckons if you don't cover 20k miles per annum over a 3 year period, a petrol engine (in an otherwise exact spec car) is the better option from a financial pov.

 

http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/advice/finding/2015/march/petrol-vs-diesel---the-great-debate/?utm_campaign=editorial&utm_medium=email&utm_source=parkers-newsletter&utm_content=petrolvsdiesel

 

 

Blimey: I'm only doing between 6-7k these days.......!

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I have just bought a new Ford Kuga 1500 petrol Ecoboost and it is really economical. Not as good as diesel but when you have to pay £2500 extra for a diesel and 7p a litre extra for diesel I worked it out that I would have to do 15,000 miles a year for 4 years before a diesel starts to pay back anything. The 1500 drives like a 2000 so no issues with performance either.

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I've decided it's petrol next after eighteen years of diesel daily driving. The Euro6 cars we'll all have to drive to avoid town centre diesel bans are going to be even more complex and unreliable than the current batch. We have 'experts' to blame for this...

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I thought it was fairly simple.

 

Diesel = Crap

Petrol = Good

 

Here endeth the lesson :)

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I have just bought an 08 diesel Nissan X-Trail. I shall soon be selling an 08 diesel Nissan X-Trail.

In 6 weeks it has broken down more than any other car I have owned including the Westfield.

Reasons are to do with EGR and MAP sensors. Next dread is a DPF failure at £1000+.

I am going petrol from now on unless it is an older diesel which I may look at.

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I have just gone to petrol from several years of diesel motoring (now have an Octavia VRS tfsi) for this very reason, the car was cheaper to buy, petrol is cheaper and I only do about 10k a year, we'll see how it goes...

 

Also thanks to Revo it has 245bhp :)

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Never driven a 330d or 335d then Finkangel?

Nope,

 

But imagine how good a 330/335 petrol engine would be.

Now were talking.

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Diesel automatics for towing and high mileage, petrol for everything else!

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Diesel automatics for towing and high mileage, petrol for everything else!

You missed out ploughing ;)

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For much the same reasons as Yellow Perilous I've gone back to petrol again. I drive 12-15,000 miles a year but last year decided to trade my 1.9 GT-TDI golf for a 1.4 Alfa Mito. I was dubious to begin with about the performance of a small turbo engine but have been pleasantly suprised by the way it drives. Comparing the Mito to my Impreza WRX it has absolutely no turbo lag and it drives just like an non-turbo engine would normally do, as most of my driving is around towns the fuel consumption is not much different to what the old Golf would achieve.

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Same here

Converted to derv years ago and swore by them as they became ever more powerfull and refined

Then read between the lines a couple of years ago when the govnt kept releasing snippets of info saying they may wrong about this and that regarding how good a derv is for the environment

I said at the time it was a waiting game before they started on derv owners now everyones got one

Last year we decided to replace our daily and went for a 1.4 turbo petrol.

A lot less to buy,not much more to run when doing 8k a year and the handling and poise is far better than the previous one as the engines half the weight

Small capacity turbo charged engines seem the way to go - for the time being

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regardless of the economy angle, the biggest problem coming is the campaign to ban diesel cars as they can never get rid of NOX which is now seen as the devils breath of death.

All the new diesel cars are able to meet euro 6 but euro 7 is just around the corner. To give you an idea, the Merc A class to pass euro 7 has 14 sensors in the exhaust system to reach the emissions standard.

Islington are also charging £96 extra over a petrol car to have a residents parking pass. What happens there will happen in other cities in due course.

 

Petrol engines with superchargers and turbo are the way forward until hydrogen fuel cells catch on

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A chap across the road is an ex Ford service manager and now dabbles in selling semi interesting cars.

He's said most fleets move diesels on at 60k. That's when trouble tends to start. And the better the diesel, the bigger the trouble. Most big BMW, audi or merc drivers have company cars so don't need to worry when £3k bills come in.

As for government support I suspect we are being manipulated.

Go DERV they said and gave plenty of encouragement to do so. Now that so many folk have DERVS they are pounding them for tax etc. Wait until hybrid cars are common, all of a sudden they will get taxed to he'll and back. So we all go to fuel cells... rinse and repeat...

I do about 3k miles a year so will be looking for a stoopid big 5 yr old petrol motor next..!

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government departments are keen on band wagons. When the green lobby was demonising petrol as CO was seen as the problem, the answer was diesel as they emitted very little. But then another thought came out of the green movement supported by health professionals, that diesel NOX was now killing people and here was another band wagon to leap on.

The green movement are very good at lobbying and bad at finding facts. Hence why the reuse of older cars not producing new is better for the environment. That digging for the minerals for the batteries for Prius and the like is particularly bad for the environment. They also ignore where electric comes from to charge electric cars, wind turbines have questions against then and the acres of solar farms taking up space when people are starving around the world and we ship food we could grow from across the globe.

All you can do is go with what is the best at the time and at the moment I think that is petrol. Make no mistake road pricing is coming as the infrastructure to measure every journey is getting nearer as more motorways and key routes have APNR cameras fitted.

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