Sold diesel going back to petrol

[macp]

austinsmirk said:

I'll bite as a fan of the tractor fuel

20 years of driving diesels now. Not a single bit of bother over a highly diverse vehicle range.

Petrol and 20 ish mpg urban again chugging about. Not a chance.

There are a few people like yourself with good experiences of diesel but there still seems to be a great deal more complaining about failures and wondering why they are paying more for diesel fuel.

[BFG TERRANO]

SmithyAG said:

As stated, the 1.8T is a strong engine. Check for regular oil changes, the oil strainer in the sump is known for gunging up and starving the pump of oil.

Avoid the 2.0 FSI, not the best engine From VAG, slow, thirsty and the less reliable.

And known for burning a drop of oil

[GoodDoc]

J4CKO said:

I wonder how long the diesel backlash will take to reach the dyed in the wool diesel punters, I know people who look at cars and rule out every petrol mode, yet do way under 10k a year ?

That's not a fuel related problem, that's a people problem.

J4CKO said:

When will they cotton on that diesel motoring is not free as previously advertised and can actually be more expensive, as per the OP's experience.

A guy at work got sick of the bills his Passat diesel was generating, bought an Avensis, no problems so far, apart from it being gutless.

And this is the problem with the whole Diesel vs Petrol discussion, buy the wrong car or buy a bad one and it's bills galore regardless of what fuel it runs on. As for the reliability benefit, modern petrol engines have adopted lots of diesel tech. Direct injection, common rail, dual mass flywheel, particulate filters, turbochargers. The days of the average petrol engines being simpler than diesels are almost over.

[GoodDoc]

macp said:

austinsmirk said:

I'll bite as a fan of the tractor fuel

20 years of driving diesels now. Not a single bit of bother over a highly diverse vehicle range.

Petrol and 20 ish mpg urban again chugging about. Not a chance.

There are a few people like yourself with good experiences of diesel but there still seems to be a great deal more complaining about failures and wondering why they are paying more for diesel fuel.

I'd be interested to see some actual statistics on that, because apart from a horror story involving a diesel hire car, an American colleague and a fuel tank of unleaded, I've not personally heard of any truly big bills for any car in my group of friends and colleagues for many years. Modern cars are remarkably reliable things, as long as you don't get the fuel nozzles mixed up.

[macp]

So what do you buy which is:

N/A
Manual gearbox
5 doors or estate
reasonable turn of speed
mid twenties to mid thirties mpg

[macp]

GoodDoc said:

macp said:

austinsmirk said:

I'll bite as a fan of the tractor fuel

20 years of driving diesels now. Not a single bit of bother over a highly diverse vehicle range.

Petrol and 20 ish mpg urban again chugging about. Not a chance.

There are a few people like yourself with good experiences of diesel but there still seems to be a great deal more complaining about failures and wondering why they are paying more for diesel fuel.

I'd be interested to see some actual statistics on that, because apart from a horror story involving a diesel hire car, an American colleague and a fuel tank of unleaded, I've not personally heard of any truly big bills for any car in my group of friends and colleagues for many years. Modern cars are remarkably reliable things, as long as you don't get the fuel nozzles mixed up.

Unfortunately I cant come up with stats & not meaning to start a diesel/petrol war its only info gained from reading experiences of owners on pistonheads and other motoring forums and my own experience.

[V88Dicky]

macp said:

So what do you buy which is:

N/A
Manual gearbox
5 doors or estate
reasonable turn of speed
mid twenties to mid thirties mpg

Legacy estate / Outback?

[Pistom]

I must confess to being another oil burner that would struggle with the downgrade to a petrol.

In 20 years of diesel doing 25-30k per year I've never had a serious issue.

I have petrol cars too but just love the torque of a modern diesel.

The potential for big bills is always on the horizon but maybe I've been lucky, maybe I don't drive my cars like a tt.

I'm sticking with diesel for now.

[J4CKO]

GoodDoc said:

J4CKO said:

I wonder how long the diesel backlash will take to reach the dyed in the wool diesel punters, I know people who look at cars and rule out every petrol mode, yet do way under 10k a year ?

That's not a fuel related problem, that's a people problem.

J4CKO said:

When will they cotton on that diesel motoring is not free as previously advertised and can actually be more expensive, as per the OP's experience.

A guy at work got sick of the bills his Passat diesel was generating, bought an Avensis, no problems so far, apart from it being gutless.

And this is the problem with the whole Diesel vs Petrol discussion, buy the wrong car or buy a bad one and it's bills galore regardless of what fuel it runs on. As for the reliability benefit, modern petrol engines have adopted lots of diesel tech. Direct injection, common rail, dual mass flywheel, particulate filters, turbochargers. The days of the average petrol engines being simpler than diesels are almost over.

Still think the most reliable engines are jap N/A petrols from a few years back.

[rb5er]

macp said:

I like the E46 touring but also what about,and I know im going VAG again Golf 2.8 V6 4 motion or Audi 3.0 quattro avant.No turbo but there is the 4 wheel drive to be concerned about I guess although the quattro drivetrain is supposed to be strong.

Your whole list of Vag cars are total snoozemobiles most with a very boring engine the 1.8T.

The v6 4motion is toilet too, coming from an ex owner.

Its not particularly the engines or drivetrain that are unreliable but the array of sensors that go wrong so often and are not cheap to fix.

Steer off Vag if you haven`t before, driving enjoyment is that way ----------------->

[macp]

rb5er said:

Your whole list of Vag cars are total snoozemobiles most with a very boring engine the 1.8T.

The v6 4motion is toilet too, coming from an ex owner.

Its not particularly the engines or drivetrain that are unreliable but the array of sensors that go wrong so often and are not cheap to fix.

Steer off Vag if you haven`t before, driving enjoyment is that way ----------------->

I have been swayed by the nice vag interiors and the fit & finish generally.Back to the small ads then and try to use my imagination.

[nipsips]

Mondeo ST220

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2014...

[gizlaroc]

austinsmirk said:

Petrol and 20 ish mpg urban again chugging about. Not a chance.

20 years ago maybe, but I have had 350bhp petrols that see nearly 30 'chugging about'.

Take out a new 1.4tfsi A3 and you will get 40-50mpg all day long.

Edited by gizlaroc on Monday 15th September 22:10

[HertsBiker]

Petrol, auto, big non turbo motors are where it's at now if you want reliability. No DMF with auto, no turbo and associated pipe work. The bigger engine keeps it lower stress. Ok fuel consumption won't be so good but it'll last longer. And no DPF. So you pay more each month for fuel, call it an insurance policy if you like, for having something simpler and cheaper to maintain. Auto because it looks after the engine and transmission, even tyres and cv joints last longer.

[MG CHRIS]

J4CKO said:

GoodDoc said:

J4CKO said:

I wonder how long the diesel backlash will take to reach the dyed in the wool diesel punters, I know people who look at cars and rule out every petrol mode, yet do way under 10k a year ?

That's not a fuel related problem, that's a people problem.

J4CKO said:

When will they cotton on that diesel motoring is not free as previously advertised and can actually be more expensive, as per the OP's experience.

A guy at work got sick of the bills his Passat diesel was generating, bought an Avensis, no problems so far, apart from it being gutless.

And this is the problem with the whole Diesel vs Petrol discussion, buy the wrong car or buy a bad one and it's bills galore regardless of what fuel it runs on. As for the reliability benefit, modern petrol engines have adopted lots of diesel tech. Direct injection, common rail, dual mass flywheel, particulate filters, turbochargers. The days of the average petrol engines being simpler than diesels are almost over.

Still think the most reliable engines are jap N/A petrols from a few years back.

This is the most accurate sentence anyone has mentioned on this site.

You cant go wrong with a n/a jap petrol from the 90s-early 00s.

Being a mechanic seeing the big bills from both petrol and diesel new cars especially with german cars I will never own a newer car due to the risk involved.

Ive run mx5s for the past 3 year never once had a problem with engine wise problems, welding and service items yes but welding is cheap and easy fix.

But one good thing about newer car breaking down with expensive repairs I earn more money out of it which is the only benefit to me anyway.

[cib24]

cib24 said:

The obvious choice for a family estate vehicle under £3k that will be utterly reliable is a Honda Accord 2.4 or 2.0 petrol estate:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2014...

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2014...

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2014...

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2014...

At 100k miles these engines are hardly broken in. My last Honda Civic was still going strong at 335,000 miles when I sold it a few years ago.

I don't know why this car has not been more seriously considered. The K24A and the K20 engine options in this car are bulletproof, each car is very well kitted out, they look pretty good for an estate, will return over 30 mpg with ease, and they are an absolute bargain at <£2,500. In any other market these cars would surely be worth at least 4x their current value.

[Fastdruid]

GoodDoc said:

And this is the problem with the whole Diesel vs Petrol discussion, buy the wrong car or buy a bad one and it's bills galore regardless of what fuel it runs on. As for the reliability benefit, modern petrol engines have adopted lots of diesel tech. Direct injection, common rail, dual mass flywheel, particulate filters, turbochargers. The days of the average petrol engines being simpler than diesels are almost over.

Lets look at those.

1) Direct injection. GDI run's at far lower pressures so not as much chance of failure.
2) Common rail. Er wtf? Petrol has been "common rail" pretty much since the advent of modern fuel injection!
3) DMF. The DMF on both petrol and diesels is designed for the life of the car, the difference is that on a petrol it's likely to be true. DMF's do fail on petrol cars but it's the exception rather than the rule.
4) Particulate filters. Please point to one single petrol production car with a particulate filter. It only applies to GDI vehicles and only from next year.
5) Turbochargers. Only valid point. Even then many turbos will last the life of the vehicle. The major difference though is that an oil leak in a petrol turbo won't lead to the engine running away!

[Fastdruid]

HertsBiker said:

Petrol, auto, big non turbo motors are where it's at now if you want reliability. No DMF with auto

I'm quite happy with a DMF on a petrol car. I don't worry about it, no more than I worry about my clutch (last petrol car the clutch had lasted ~180k when I got rid of the car).

I'd be far more worried about an auto-box than a DMF, far too many auto's have very expensive failures over 100k and are way more expensive than a new DMF.

[SonicShadow]

Raman Kandola said:

sat1983 said:

Aren' t the TDI PDs from that era stronger than the petrols?

Mines nearing 140k and is going strong, seems bombproof!

Is 140k isn't a huge amount really.

[macp]

Fastdruid said:

Lets look at those.

1) Direct injection. GDI run's at far lower pressures so not as much chance of failure.
2) Common rail. Er wtf? Petrol has been "common rail" pretty much since the advent of modern fuel injection!
3) DMF. The DMF on both petrol and diesels is designed for the life of the car, the difference is that on a petrol it's likely to be true. DMF's do fail on petrol cars but it's the exception rather than the rule.
4) Particulate filters. Please point to one single petrol production car with a particulate filter. It only applies to GDI vehicles and only from next year.
5) Turbochargers. Only valid point. Even then many turbos will last the life of the vehicle. The major difference though is that an oil leak in a petrol turbo won't lead to the engine running away!

Good post but regarding the turbo it tends tends to get killed more in a diesel due to getting gunged up with sooty deposits.