Petrol or Diesel options?

[Major Stare]

SWMBO has, shall we say, "commented" on getting a newer car.

I have today looked into two deals of the same car except one is petrol and one diesel;....

(option 1) 1.3 diesel, £35/yr RFL, 73+mpg

or

(option 2) 1.4 petrol, £165/yr RFL, 43mpg

Annual milage is 7,000-8,000miles

Petrol is just 2-3p/ltr cheaper than diesel.

Cost difference between the two cars is about £1,000.

She cant make her mind up.............neither can I.....I do know that when she asks for road tax, £35.00 is easier than £165!

[Tigger]

Diesels are the future.

Never looked back since I got a diesel ... you know it makes sense

[perksy]

Going through something similar at the moment, Now the Boss has finally decided which car she wants  

Everything i read says it comes down to how many miles you do per year    

[JeffC]

I wouldnt bank on the petrol returning the quoted figures or the little petrol polos ive owned dont, the diesel on the other hand should do again the w 1.4tdis are are really good and more punchey to drive, residual values are better on the diesel and much easier to sell on  , i would go derv everytime unless its a performance car

[Matt Seabrook]

Diesels are the future.

Unfortunately there not    

[Vinny's Westie]

If you work it out

8,000/67 = 119 gallons

8,000/43 = 186 gallons

Diiference = 67 gallons

Petrol at £1.36 litre x 4.546 to make a gallon = £6.18 x 67 gallons = £414

Factor the difference between £165 and £35 = £130 + £414 = £544 cost extra for the petrol.

Given the petrol is £1000 cheaper you save in year 1 = £456 and then lose every year after.

In the real world diesels usually require less expensive servicing but are more costly if they go wrong and are probably worth more secondhand I would say the diesel has it but only after around 22 months.  Also fuel economy won't be as good as they say, depending on your right foot the gap could be larger as it will affect petrol more than diesel.

I dare say someone will be along to add to the story.    

[MGF255]

Depending on how new the diesel car is you may need to factor in the cost of maybe a couple of new Diesel Particulate Filters if you plan to keep the car any length of time and do "local" trips in it . The RFL might be cheaper if a DPF is fitted but they cost a fortune to replace when clogged and are very rarely salvageable even after a forced regeneration by a main dealer .

[XTR2Turbo]

I would be careful buying a small capacity diesel if doing so few miles. I guess it will be lots of stop start short trips.  The DPF filters don't like this and either do lots of forced regens sapping fuel consumption or will fail prematurely requiring very costly replacement.

As an example Fiat will no longer sell the FIAT 500 diesel in the Isle of Man or channel Islands and there are lots of complaints on forums of people buying small diesels for economy and just using them around towm with dpf issues.

They need a regular 30 mile plus run at higher load / revs to heat up and burn off the stored particulates.

If I was buying a small car to do less than 15,000 miles a year I would not get a diesel.

David

[pistonbroke]

+ the disel takes an age to warmup in winter so the wife freezes on short runs  

Well mine does anyway  

[jeff oakley]

As the last poster said, if the car you are looking at is fitted with a DPF unless SWMBO is doing a journey of 30 miles or more each way get the petrol. The DPF will block at some point and they are just stupidly expensive to replace. On top of that if it needs any repairs if it is a common rail diesel some of the new cars have injectors firing up to 7 times per stroke, 80k life expectancy quoted £800 each dealer price. Petrol injectors are around £100 new and easily reconditioned.

[Major Stare]

Most journeys are short-ish trips with a 20min motorway stint out of a 45min journey to work.

Obviously, when I use it, it will get thrashed!

Current 1.5dCi unit has served well for the last 50K miles with no issues.

The new car, if we choose diesel would be a 1.3Multijet Fiat item or a 1.4tdi Pug/Citreon unit.

[Matt Seabrook]

On the DPF front we had a VW Golf in the workshop last week. It had a management problem. When we interrogated the ecu it turned out to be a DPF fault. We checked with VW how much a new one would cost and it was a little over £1400.00 including the VAT for the part only fitting would have been extra. This chap was luck as we managed to do a forced regeneration and fit a new pressure sensor for good measure. It was touch and go if it would regenerate though. When I questioned him about his driving he said up until two months ago he had been doing long distances in it but for the last two months he had only done shortish journeys. Just goes to show how quick the can get knackered. Also make sure you use the correct oil in the engine or you will knacker the DPF what ever driving you do.

[dave_t]

Or just have the DPF removed and a remap.  £300 to take a 1.9 from 150bhp to 190bhp ... and no more DPF problems

[MGF255]

Or just have the DPF removed and a remap.  £300 to take a 1.9 from 150bhp to 190bhp ... and no more DPF problems

The problem with this is that very new car management systems are programmed to detect if there is too little pressure behind the DPF as well as too much so it still may put a Malfunction Indicator Light on (unless the remap takes care of this of course) .

[MGF255]

Current 1.5dCi unit has served well for the last 50K miles with no issues.

One other thing on this is if the 1500 dCi is a renault of more than about 2 or 3 years old it may not have a DPF fitted .

An idea of what`s involved for VW`s

but it`s pretty similar for most makes of car , try and regen a fully blocked filter tho and you may have a fire on your hands , i`ve done a few VW`s now with the software / lead I have but I wouldnt attempt one if it`s over 60% full .