New car time, thoughts on the future of diesel?

[Ricfrench]

It’s all in the title really.
Had desiesels for the last 10ish years, so I’m not fussed on fuel, but I’m not sure where it’s heading and the deals are/can be good. So just trying to get some feelings from others.
If I end up with a diesel again will I end up having trouble shifting it at the end of the term and still keeping equity it a PCP or do you think that depreciation will kill any (potential) equity off completely?
This is my current thinking

[ZX10R NIN]

You'll be fine anyone that wants a diesel will buy one your car will be Euro6 so very sell able when the time comes to move it on, diesel cars are still selling well car sales are down full stop (diesel sales are down too) but in the used market diesels are moving at a decent rate.

[dmsims]

I'll put the contrary view

You would be bonkers to consider diesel these days

If economy is your only consideration there are petrol hybrids that give a (lot) more mpg

If your journey profile permits consider a PHEV or BEV

Legislation and taxes will become more punitive for diesel (and rightly so)

[Pica-Pica]

dmsims said:

I'll put the contrary view

You would be bonkers to consider diesel these days

If economy is your only consideration there are petrol hybrids that give a (lot) more mpg

If your journey profile permits consider a PHEV or BEV

Legislation and taxes will become more punitive for diesel (and rightly so)

There may be city limitations, but they will apply to many cars. Euro6 diesel is fine.

[Fittster]

dmsims said:

If economy is your only consideration there are petrol hybrids that give a (lot) more mpg

Is that correct? On a steady motorway cruise at 70MPH will a petrol hybrid give better economy than a modern diesel?

[ZX10R NIN]

dmsims said:

I'll put the contrary view

You would be bonkers to consider diesel these days

If economy is your only consideration there are petrol hybrids that give a (lot) more mpg

If your journey profile permits consider a PHEV or BEV

Legislation and taxes will become more punitive for diesel (and rightly so)

They don't give a lot better fuel economy the reality is get the right car for the individual rather than dictate what your personal opinion (which I think is wrong) , petrol hybrids like the Golf GTE are only returning real world figures that are only 3-5mpg better than the GTI (that's coming from customers that I've supplied them to) at which point I'd be getting the GTI.

The Government has already stated any legislation will only be by a vehicles Euro rating, which means the OP's car will be fine.

[WonkeyDonkey]

Diesels still have their place to me.

I seriously considered a Renault Zoe before I bought my car. I probably average around 15,000 miles a year.

Zoe just didn't work out with the battery rental. I did some research about hybrids and they seem fantastic at urban driving. But as my commute is probably 2 miles of sub 40mph roads and 20 miles motorway I just couldn't ignore a diesel with my budget.

I've got a citroen cactus now and that gets me on average 65mpg on my commute.

If I had a bigger budget then a non rental zoe or leaf might be an option, or even bigger budget a second hand Tesla S would be ideal. Most of the hybrids I looked at weren't that fantastic at motorway speed in regards to economy.

[Ricfrench]

Thanks, two of you have backed up what a Jag salesman was saying.
I don’t do high mileage, don’t live in a city, so those things aren’t really a consideration.
I probably going to wait for the new focus st to drop but was just looking at diesel viability.

[dmsims]

ZX10R NIN said:

They don't give a lot better fuel economy the reality is get the right car for the individual rather than dictate what your personal opinion (which I think is wrong) , petrol hybrids like the Golf GTE are only returning real world figures that are only 3-5mpg better than the GTI (that's coming from customers that I've supplied them to) at which point I'd be getting the GTI.

The Government has already stated any legislation will only be by a vehicles Euro rating, which means the OP's car will be fine.

Did you actually read what I wrote ?

[ninjag]

Didn't stop me being a diesel recently and it's not even a EURO 6. Sod them if they don't want me driving into the city to spend money, I'll take my diesel elsewhere! lol But modern petrols are pretty economical now whilst still offering up decent performance.

But if you are going down the PCP route then it'll be EURO 6, I'm not sure if there are any plans in the immediate future to start demonising EURO 6 but if they do then there's going to be an awful lot of p*ssed off people to deal with.

I think my thinking would be like this, but each to their own of course:

1. If buying used then a diesel wouldn't bother me and I'd probably avoid AdBlue, unless I had to go into the city all the time (not just London, it's coming everywhere). Good time to take advantage of used diesel deals!
2. If PCP and planning on changing the vehicle to another PCP after three years then diesel wouldn't bother me. It would be EURO 6 anyway and AdBlue issues should be covered under warranty.
3. If PCP with the intent of keeping the car then I'd probably get a petrol as they are pretty economical these days yet many still give good performance whilst protecting you in the long term against the hell bent attack on diesels.

[Slushbox]

There were a lot of newish DERV German saloons on the M25/M20 yesterday, didn't look like diesel was going out of fashion.

The new turbo-petrols are getting close to DERV mpg figures, so the old thing about DERV fuel economy isn't so relevant - especially as diesel fuel is now more expensive than petrol. Extra torque from diesel useful for heavily loaded cars, frantic loading of city taxes for LEZs and double-parking fees for DERVs (Westminster) not so useful.

However, there are reports that the public are buying up used diesels: prices up by 7% says this report:

"Auto Trader said used diesel prices recorded their highest level of growth in the year to the end of March since May 2015 - a time before the VW dieselgate scandal and drive to push the fuel from our roads over emissions fears."

Department of Transport: 'Record number of diesels registered in 2017.":

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-5...

VRA warns of shortage of used diesel cars:

https://www.fleetnews.co.uk/news/fleet-industry-ne...

My own 2016 VAG 2.0 TDi BlueMotion (Euro 6) is currently at 65 mpg, registered for the L.E. zones in London, France, Belgium and Germany with no problems.

There's a good case for searching for low mileage used 'Diesel-phobia' cars: three year old DERVs with less than 10,000 miles on them are around, at about half price or less of the original sticker price.

Edited by Slushbox on Thursday 21st March 06:49

[Court_S]

I think it all depends on your usage, for really high mileage it still makes sense I think. A chap at work does c.30k per year, so it still works for him.

My mileage has dropped a fair bit now, so I’m not sure it works so well for me. Our company car list is still very diesel heavy and the BIK changes mean that I’ve opted out to buy a petrol car.

[ZX10R NIN]

Court_S said:

I think it all depends on your usage, for really high mileage it still makes sense I think. A chap at work does c.30k per year, so it still works for him.

My mileage has dropped a fair bit now, so I’m not sure it works so well for me. Our company car list is still very diesel heavy and the BIK changes mean that I’ve opted out to buy a petrol car.

The point above is the biggest one & that is buy the car that suits your individual requirements be it petrol/diesel/hybrid/ev get the one that works for your needs.

[Court_S]

ZX10R NIN said:

The point above is the biggest one & that is buy the car that suits your individual requirements be it petrol/diesel/hybrid/ev get the one that works for your needs.

Petrol is marginally more for me, but in the scheme of things not enough to keep me in a diesel. A couple of guys at work have made the jump to EV’s based on cost - one has an I3 REX and the other has just ordered a Kia because the range is pretty good. No doubt once peopl jump across, the tax rules will change.

[sw67]

My Audi A6 is just about to go back at the end of a pcp £5750 in negative equity. Its value has plummeted and I am moving to a petrol car. Everyone I work with is ditching diesels at changeover.

Edited by sw67 on Thursday 21st March 10:43

[WonkeyDonkey]

sw67 said:

My Audi A6 is just about to go back at the end of a pcp £5750 in negative equity. Its value has plummeted and I am moving to a petrol car. Everyone I work with is ditching diesels at changeover.

Edited by sw67 on Thursday 21st March 10:43

If it's on PCP does negative equity really effect you? Unless you were originally going to pay the balloon.

You buy the car that suits your needs. If BIK rates are better currently for petrols then get one of them.

[sw67]

WonkeyDonkey said:

If it's on PCP does negative equity really effect you? Unless you were originally going to pay the balloon.

You buy the car that suits your needs. If BIK rates are better currently for petrols then get one of them.

It will not affect me as the car is getting voluntary terminated next week. Just glad it was on a PCP. The poster asked about retaining equity - This is my third Audi and 2nd A6 diesel. The other 2 were in positive equity at the 3y mark on a 4y PCP

Edited by sw67 on Thursday 21st March 22:07

[ZX10R NIN]

sw67 said:

It will not affect me as the car is getting voluntary terminated next week. Just glad it was on a PCP

You think you've lost money (theoretically) my FIL has lost well over 45k due to Tesla's price drop which meant his trade in value plummeted to depths (no PCP) unseen by any other vehicle.

So be glad you bought a diesel