Petrol or Diesel - is 10,000 miles a year the magic number??

[Tyson1980]

I've seen members base their decision between a petrol or diesel around the 10,000 miles or lower question.

Choice between a Derv or a V6/V8 petrol....hmmmmmmm

How much mileage a year would it take for you to pick the Petrol over the Derv?

For me it would probably have to be 5000 miles a year. I'll take an AMV8 please

[v8will]

I have a diesel Toyota Yaris which does about 24K a year and a LS400 Lexus which will probably average around 5K a year. Works for me.

I think overall MPG is the factor, If I'd bought my Yaris new I probably would have gone for the petrol model, only slightly worse MPG and cheaper to buy/service.

[edo]

320d ED. Approx 15k PA @ 55mpg
v10 M6. Approx 10k PA @ 19mpg
v8 P38 RR. Approx 4k PA @ 18mpg

I should caveat that my wife gets 40ppm on all business miles on the 3, and I have a fuel card for all miles and 18ppm on business miles on the M6...

[stumpage]

The choice is somewhat made for you unless you're buying a brand new car.

When we were looking for a Passat Estate 6 months old to buy, we could not find a petrol model anywhere. I've just looked on Autotrader. A national search for a Passat less than a year old gives 600 cars, 11 of which are petrol.

[icepop]

No, any mileage, unless you are going new, or nearly new, diesel everytime, if you are talking about fuel consumption. There is little between, say a 1.8 Focus petrol/diesel price wise, about £500, if you look around. That amount will be recouped in the first year at that mileage, servicing is about the same, lower road tax will cover any slight difference, and the initial difference in price will be repaid in final sale price. Get rid before high mileage means high bills, around 150K miles.

[thinfourth2]

I wouldn't touch a modern diesel without a warranty they just seem far too delicate.

I'll stick with my disposable snotters

[V88Dicky]

I'm quite happy with my £1800 semi-snotter Avensis to cover the bulk of my miles (about 10k per yer). It averages 45+ mpg for my working week, not bad for a 2.0 petrol
My Monaro does less than 3k a year and gets SORN'd over winter, so I can recoup some of that tax gas.

[toon10]

Tyson1980 said:

I've seen members base their decision between a petrol or diesel around the 10,000 miles or lower question.

How much mileage a year would it take for you to pick the Petrol over the Derv?

I doubt I would ever choose a Diesel over a petrol. I understand why people drive diesels and understand the car tax and consumption argument but I enjoy driving (and engines that rev). I've driven many diesels over the years but they've all left me cold. As quick as some performance diesels are, I prefer the power delivery and sound of a good petrol engine. That's just me...

[bodhi]

Currently doing 25k a year in a 2.8 litre petrol at around 32 mpg. I'm sure I could save some money by buying a diesel, in the same way I could save some money on living costs by moving into a bedsit. Neither seems particularly appealing to me, so I'll spend the extra 20 quid a month on fuel vs the diesel alternative thanks.

[HellDiver]

icepop said:

There is little between, say a 1.8 Focus petrol/diesel price wise, about £500, if you look around. That amount will be recouped in the first year at that mileage, servicing is about the same, lower road tax will cover any slight difference, and the initial difference in price will be repaid in final sale price. Get rid before high mileage means high bills, around 150K miles.

This is so wrong, I don't even know where to start.

[valiant1]

About 10k miles is a sensible line when considering a diesel or petrol in my humble opinion.

You hear too many horror stories of DPF,regen issues,DMF (not exclusivily diesel)and turbo problems on here of low milage diesels which are bought to save money and end up costing a fortune to fix.

I also agree with a previous poster that diesels seem more fragile nowadays.

N/A petrol all the way for me!!

[rallycross]

10,000 miles at 40 mpg = 250 gallons eg 2.0' petrol
10,000 miles at 50 mpg = 200 gallons eg 2.0' diesel
50 gallons diference = £350
= £30 month saving

Would rather have a decent petrol

[Max M4X WW]

rallycross said:

10,000 miles at 40 mpg = 250 gallons eg 2.0' petrol
10,000 miles at 50 mpg = 200 gallons eg 2.0' diesel
50 gallons diference = £350
= £30 month saving

Would rather have a decent petrol

My Petrol does 22mpg, diesel 49. So about £3k a year

[HellDiver]

Plus with petrol, you don't end up smelling like a mechanics armpit every time you refuel. I cannot stand stinking of diesel after filling up - no matter how careful you are, even with gloves, there still ends up some sort of drip or spill that stinks all day. Less said about the puddle of diesel at the pumps, the better too.

I drive a big car with a small petrol engine, and I'm getting upwards of 35mpg out of it. It's never gone wrong, and I don't feel like I'm driving a cement mixer. Added bonus is, the heater works properly in winter, something very few diesels can manage.

[Turbodiesel1690]

bodhi said:

Currently doing 25k a year in a 2.8 litre petrol at around 32 mpg. I'm sure I could save some money by buying a diesel, in the same way I could save some money on living costs by moving into a bedsit. Neither seems particularly appealing to me, so I'll spend the extra 20 quid a month on fuel vs the diesel alternative thanks.

20 quid a month? Are you somehow contributing to this site from the 1980's??

[SuperHangOn]

Fuel cost calculators - http://www.fuel-economy.co.uk/calc.shtml

I bought a cheap diesel but only because I found a cheap, simple old school-engineering W124 locally. At sub 3k cheapy, 12k/year mileage, I was looking for a basic 1.6 petrol Focus as a daily runner.

All it takes is one DMF/injector/turbo/etc repair on a TDCI to blow a few years fuel savings out of the water in one hit.

[littleandy0410]

I do about 20k a year, of fenland country road driving. There is no dual carriageway on my commute, and a lot of winding roads with a lot of braking and accelerating.

I originally had a 90bhp HDi Xsara, which did 55mpg. But every time I drove it, I died a little inside! It was so gutless, and boring, with a not particularly nice interior.

I then bought a Leon FR TDI 170. This was averaging 42mpg, on the same commute, but didn't really like regular diesel, so I always ran it on BP Ultimate diesel. This meant I was paying more for fuel, so dropped the equivalent mpg down even more.

I have been running a Clio 182 Trophy for 18 months or so now, 2.0 petrol, again using BP Ultimate petrol, but returns 37mpg on average. Ok, it costs a little more in fuel than the FR, but is a lot more fun on the twisties, but also due to it's light weight, costs a lot less in wear and tear on the brakes and tyres.

I'm looking at changing the Trophy for a 4/5 door car (growing family requirements!) and I'm still not sure whether to go for petrol or diesel.

[bodhi]

Turbodiesel1690 said:

bodhi said:

Currently doing 25k a year in a 2.8 litre petrol at around 32 mpg. I'm sure I could save some money by buying a diesel, in the same way I could save some money on living costs by moving into a bedsit. Neither seems particularly appealing to me, so I'll spend the extra 20 quid a month on fuel vs the diesel alternative thanks.

20 quid a month? Are you somehow contributing to this site from the 1980's??

Meant 20 quid a week. Still not worth putting up with a glorified tractor engine for.

[bigdods]

Modern Diesels make sense for low ish mileage , but unlike earlier diesels seem to suffer when getting to 100k ish miles. Lots of expensive things to go wrong. For high mileage petrol seems the only way to go, even with the lower MPG. So the fuel cost savings dont work either way - to keep it reliable you need to do low miles so dont see much benefit. At high miles where the economy comes into play you get expensive reliability issues.

I do 30k miles a year and wouldnt consider a diesel. I have a 3.0v6 about to trade up to a 4.2l v8 and anything that breaks tends to be cheap and easy to fix. Current daily driver is on 175k,whatever I replace it with will probably have 75-80k on already and just be run in ready for me to add another 100k before selling on.

ETA it is an easy decision for me - 95% of my mileage is on business at 30p per mile plus I get a car allowance. So with all expenses accounted for, repairs, insurance etc and even including my own personal fuel that I pay for I have made £1000 a year on my current barge so no reason to go to Diesel yet.

Edited by bigdods on Thursday 1st September 11:56

[toppstuff]

It is more than 10,000 miles. I expect to be PAID to have to choose a diesel over petrol - just breaking even or a small gain is not sufficient reward for putting up with diesel. I expect to be rewarded more.