Diesel or Petrol

[Mark]

I'm trying to work out which option is cheapest in todays climate. Used to be that Diesel would be 2-4p more than petrol, in the last few months that's gone up to more like 12p, how much more is the gap going to widen?!

How much more milage would I get out of a diesel on the motorways? Just on a small car like a fiesta, is it like 35mpg vs 55mpg or is the difference more modest (yes I can look at the official figures, but they are just lies :p )

[leopard]

Diesel cars were popular here when price of diesel only 60% to petrol. Currently both of them have a not significant difference, petrol is still higher somehow, people prefer petrol than diesel car despite diesel has longer mileage 3:2 supposedly.
Probably no one would still want diesel of street car once its price higher than petrol, except for the heavy duty car like truck, bus, etc.

I think diesel car has a slightly complicated maintenance, especially to those easily forget to check the gas gauge, or when it didn't work properly anymore. :)

[dc10]

I have a diesel XTrail 2 ltr - I get approx 42 mpg on m/ways (petrol version does about 25 mpg). A smaller car should do double mpg on diesel and of course the diesel engine lasts a hell of a lot longer than petrol version.

[Mark]

I'm currently wondering if I should just give up on the car and take the train :p

[Daniel]

Personally if it was me I'd probably buy a petrol. Use the extra money to finance the slightly worse MPG. Unless you are doing a crazy amount of miles a year I don't see the point. Diesel is getting more and more expensive these days.

[A.F.F.]

Personally if it was me I'd probably buy a petrol. Use the extra money to finance the slightly worse MPG. Unless you are doing a crazy amount of miles a year I don't see the point. Diesel is getting more and more expensive these days.

It doesn't require crazy amount of miles. Appr.Max 15 000 kms is enough, at least here in Finland.

[Daniel]

It doesn't require crazy amount of miles. Appr.Max 15 000 kms is enough, at least here in Finland.
How much more expensive is diesel over petrol there though? Here it's about 10%. Plus if you're buying new as Mark wants to there's probably an extra £1000 or in the purchase price.

[A.F.F.]

Diesel is about 20 cents cheaper than petrol.

[Zico]

Diesel cars are maybe aprox £1000 more initial outlay but you would recoup that amount within a year or 2 (annual milage dependant) in the current price climate. They hold their residual value better and as Dc10 says..the engines last far longer too.

If driving pleasure doesnt enter the equation.. and from a purely long term financial perspective, its gotta be diesel.

[Magnus]

In sweden diesel cost almost 15 sek/liter now. Gas (95) is at 13,50 ca

[Daniel]

Diesel cars are maybe aprox £1000 more initial outlay but you would recoup that amount within a year or 2 (annual milage dependant) in the current price climate. They hold their residual value better and as Dc10 says..the engines last far longer too.

If driving pleasure doesnt enter the equation.. and from a purely financial perspective, its gotta be diesel.

How many miles at the current 12p ish price difference would you have to do to make up a grand though? A lot I would think and it's more like 5 years than 2 IIRC.

[GridGirl]

Last August Ibby worked out that if I'd drove at the average 55mpg which I could get out of his 1.9l Fabia VRs diesel compared to the 33mpg I was getting ut of my 2.0l petrol Fiesta ST before I started driving economically, I would have saved about £3k in the 10 months that I'd had my car at the time. That was based upon the comaprative fuel prices last August but I doubt a diesel would save me anywhere near as much at todays prices. Plus that didn't take into account the extra expense of purchasing a diesel.

For my next car I was considering a Seat Leon FR, but seeing as its the same engine that Ibby's has in his Octavia VRs and he can only get about 40mpg out of it right now as its two months old and not yet run I don't think there is any point in me swapping to a diesel. Although it might be a different case if I wanted a sensible car without a 170bhp engine. :p

The price of fuel is a big issue where I work right now. The £.40p per mile we get for visiting clients doesn't come anywhere near close to compensating you for the cost of fuel and the extra wear and tear upon your car. The diesel drivers are moaning as much as the those with petrol cars, yet I for one don't want to be taxed at 40% on anything I get paid over £.40p per mile. It'd probably mean I'd be worse off.

[MattL]

Yes, a diesel car costs more upfront, but it's also worth more when you come to sell it. Somehwhere around 12k miles a year is generally considered to be the minimum you need to do to make diesel worthwhile.

[MrJan]

What is the MPG crossover where diesel becomes less economical. For example if I was doing 35mpg in my petrol car (which I do) how many more miles would I need to do per gallon for it to pay off if petrol was 111.9 and diesel 122.9 per litre?

My very rough (and probably wrong) calculations estimate that doing 35 miles to the gallon at above price in a petrol car equates to 14.52p/mile (diesel 15.94p/mile). However if you can get 39 to the gallon from a diesel then you'll be spending 14.31p/mile.

Like I said this is most likely wrong as I'm no mathmetician but I assumed 4.54 litres to the gallon :)

[Mad_Hatter]

This leads me to the question, why don't ford and gm start selling diesel cars in the US? They sell them by the piles elsewhere, so they wouldn't need alot of R&D. Save for the slight differences there may be in global diesel regs as opposed to US regs.

This would seem a logical step to help their US car sales.

Actually I came to the forum to start a new thread, but I guess this one will do.

[Mark]

Do your gas stations have diesel alongside petrol?

[leopard]

Each country have it different products they sell in gas station, they might have different mechanism of service also. Here and probably in China too, once you come to gas station, lady(ies) will come close to you and politely ask what service they can help you?

Where are you from Mad_hatter?

[leopard]

There are some of gas stations left with service of men, but I find them frequently empty. :D

[maxu05]

I will always find it difficult to understand why diesel is more expensive than petrol in many countries, yet it is less expensive to produce.

[Mad_Hatter]

Where are you from Mad_hatter?

Tennessee in the US.

Its bought and pumped just like gas(petrol). Many stations have diesel for sale, but not all.

[JSH]

This leads me to the question, why don't ford and gm start selling diesel cars in the US? They sell them by the piles elsewhere, so they wouldn't need alot of R&D. Save for the slight differences there may be in global diesel regs as opposed to US regs.

This would seem a logical step to help their US car sales.

Actually I came to the forum to start a new thread, but I guess this one will do.

For many years the higher sulpher content of US Diesel meant that the new clean(and quiet) Diesel vehicles sold in Europe couldn't run in the US and still meet the emissions requirements(especially the particulate requirerment in CARB).

Since the low sulpher Diesel has started to come in, and the introduction of new exhaust gas treatment systems, some Euro car makers are going to start importing diesel passenger cars. I think the BMW 335D will come this year.

[MrJan]

I will always find it difficult to understand why diesel is more expensive than petrol in many countries, yet it is less expensive to produce.

Because it goes further most probably :D



I thought that Diesel had higher oil content so is hit harder by hikes in oil prices.

[Mark]

Diesel is cheaper to produce but demand for it outstrips supply so the price goes up. That has been seen recently with prices going up more are switching to diesel and they can't (or won't) keep pace with demand.