Diesel vs Petrol

[Rag_It]

An interesting, and useful debate on SE!!!

[Corranga]

Diesel figures are from my car, Petrol from a relatives, mpg are real averages over a month each....

Nice figures

I'm guessing that most people won't be buying 2.6 litre petrols though, i'd wager that the differences between 2 regular family cars (such as an Astra) wouldn't provide such different results though.

Interestingly, the Eco Warrior choice (Prius) would only work out a couple of mpg better than travelling in the style/luxury of your A6 , and probably wouldn't even match it on motorways.

[fd]

Interestingly, the Eco Warrior choice (Prius) would only work out a couple of mpg better than travelling in the style/luxury of your A6 , and probably wouldn't even match it on motorways.

http://driving.timesonline.co.uk/tol/li ... 552994.ece

I suspect you're right in that smaller cars will exhibit the same characteristics, however the cost difference will be proportionately smaller . . . so the payback period, as Mark originally suggested, is longer . . .

I need the A6 for towing . . . and because I like big comfy cars to make me appreciate the small, uncomfy, but much faster ones

Fd

[Stevoraith]

Something else which is relavent to the petrol diesel debate is how you finance the car.

If you are buying cash then you pay the extra outlay for a diesel up front and have to wait to recoup the difference over time.

If you pay for part of your car on finance then the extra cost to buy obviously translates to a higher monthly payment. But this is offset from day one by lower fuel costs.

I set up a spreadsheet when choosing my car. It takes into account milage I do, how much I am financing, cost of fuel etc etc. I was financing approximately half of my car purchase and was trying to work out if a 330i or 330d would be cheaper/more sensible to run.

In my situation (~14k miles per year) the 330i would have to be £2.5k cheaper to buy than the 330d to make it cheaper per month to run. Equivalent 330i's were only £1-1.5k cheaper than my 330d so for me the diesel will save me money from day one.

(If anyone wants a look at the spreadsheet to do their own calcs I can e-mail it over.)

[jamie]

funny, last month I needed to order my new everyday wheels. And was more or less certain a A3 170 TDi was the way forward. So turned up at the stealer - I had requested a drive in a A3 170 TDi with DSG box. Unfortunatly or fortunatly they did not have that combo so I had two cars to dive a manaul diesel and the petrol eqivelent with the DSG box. After testing the diesel I was certainly not overwhelmed but the petrol was just so smooth and suited the box, I walked away wanting the petrol. Short of the long I now have a GTi Specail Edition 30 on order with the DSG.

I guess what I am sati g in a round about sort of way is - it never got to numbers I was mainly influenced by the expience. I say why not buy on that level? As Porche fights for its rights in London - if it goes bad for them it may well signal their exit of the European market as up coming euro legislation makes it difficult if not impossible to do what they do. Dark times for the motorist are ahead

[ryallm]

Jamie, curious to hear your impressions of the DSG box. They seem to get mixed reviews, some people rave about them, others suggest it is not as smooth as a normal auto in traffic, nor as involving as a manual when pressing on. I have never liked autos much, but DSG looks pretty appealing.

Mark

[jamie]

I was impressed but will have to see how it fairs as an ownership experience

[Dominic]

I have owned deisel (for 4 months ) and many petrol cars. I did not get enough gain in MPG from deisel to justify it. I do circa 15 - 18K per annum.

I test drove various golf deisels. None impressed enough. Now have GTi (petrol turbo). It will do into the high 30sMPG on a run, and is in the high 20s about town. If I go for a blast, it will dip to low 20s and into the high teens if I really push it. I'm happy.

I have just just done an account for a client who has changed to a Gas powered car. He gets slightly less MPG, but as Rich mentioned, at circa 55p/l the fuel savings are significant. I reckon the best way into a gas car would be to buy one already converted. Not sure if I would go down that route... how many stations sell gas?... and will continue to do so?...

[jamie]

I thought Brown was going add tax to LPG soon?

[andy_snap]

Been running the van on LPG for the past 3 years and it's saved me a fortune!

With the van I've got a bigger than normal tank and get over 400 miles on a tank of gas
at around 23-24 mpg with a mixture of town and motorway. On an easy 65mph run that
goes up to 26-27 mpg.

Local Jet station selling LPG for 48.9p per litre!!

Gas not hard to get with Asda, Morrisons selling it and you've still got a petrol tank!

The differential between LPG and other fuels should remain after statements in the recent budget:

The Government continued to demonstrate its long term commitment to LPG in the 2008 Budget when the Chancellor announced a continuation of the existing guarantee for low fuel duty for LPG through to 2011. The duty will rise by no more than 1p per litre per year more than petrol or diesel. The rates announced are:

The fuel duty increases planned for the 1st April will now take place on 1st October 2008. At this time duty on LPG will increase only by .135p per litre more than petrol/diesel.
As previously announced, on 1st April 2009 fuel duty on LPG will rise by .035p per litre more than petrol / diesel
On 1st April 2010 all fuel duty rates will increase by .5p per litre plus inflation. As a result the specific duty rate will not be known until then.
This means that the price of LPG at the pumps should continue at around half the price of petrol and diesel for the foreseeable future.

[campbell]

All this has inspired me to go and try out a Legacy Diesel, maybe this weekend.

No money for it yet but the missus will be back at work soon so at least I could start dreaming more realistically!!

I shall report back...