Changing Petrol CRV for a Diesel CRV?

[gman88667733]

I really like my car (2002 petrol CRV), it's been a very reliable car over the past 2 years that i've had it. It needed a bit of welding this year, which worries me for long term ownership, though. Also, i'm only average about 20mpg, which is terrible.

I am wondering whether or not if it is sensible to change to a CRV a few years newer, that is diesel and potentially a higher spec too. So i'd get more like 30-40mpg and hopefully no welding. Plus, it'd be nice to have a bit more power, the 2.0 i-vtec auto it very underpowered.

Does this seem like a daft idea? I am happy with the car other than the woeful fuel economy and my concerns about rust.

Thanks

[nunpuncher]

I've got the newer shaped petrol one (2007) so can sympathise on the woeful fuel economy and performance. I actually had a hard time finding a mk3(?) that didn't have horrendous rust on the underside when I bought this one last year. So I think even if you buy one slightly newer you may have the same issues in a few years.

The Diesel engines seem to be reliable enough and don't suffer from all the EGR and particulate issues of other diesels so I guess as long as you aren't affected by ULEZ now or in the near future then it's a decent enough option. The Diesel engine will suit it a lot better I think but obviously diesel is the work of the devil which is why I avoided it.

[drgoatboy]

How many miles a year do you do?

[gman88667733]

drgoatboy said:

How many miles a year do you do?

The first year it did 10k miles, this last year it did about 7k. On average, I tend to do 10-11k.

[gman88667733]

nunpuncher said:

I've got the newer shaped petrol one (2007) so can sympathise on the woeful fuel economy and performance. I actually had a hard time finding a mk3(?) that didn't have horrendous rust on the underside when I bought this one last year. So I think even if you buy one slightly newer you may have the same issues in a few years.

The Diesel engines seem to be reliable enough and don't suffer from all the EGR and particulate issues of other diesels so I guess as long as you aren't affected by ULEZ now or in the near future then it's a decent enough option. The Diesel engine will suit it a lot better I think but obviously diesel is the work of the devil which is why I avoided it.

Mine isn't rusty everywhere, weirdly it is just the back end of the sill on the passenger side and is starting on the driver side too. Most of the underneath is still clean. But I don't really want to get into major welding all the time. I haven't seen much recorded about the 2nd gen or 3rd gen rusting so badly that it needed welding, so I don't know if I just got unlucky?

[drgoatboy]

So it probably cost you £1000 ish a year more on petrol.
How much do you think it would cost to change to the newer car?

On paper the diesel is actually slower than the petrol auto (at least that's what autotrader tells me)

Sounds like they all rust, so you might not be doing yourself any favours in that department.

Personally I think it's better the devil you know, but if the maths stacks up.....

[gman88667733]

drgoatboy said:

So it probably cost you £1000 ish a year more on petrol.
How much do you think it would cost to change to the newer car?

On paper the diesel is actually slower than the petrol auto (at least that's what autotrader tells me)

Sounds like they all rust, so you might not be doing yourself any favours in that department.

Personally I think it's better the devil you know, but if the maths stacks up.....

I get what you are saying.. To be fair, my CRV has not had a single mechanical issue in the past year, just the little bit of welding (£150 I believe). The previous year, it was only really the brake calipers that failed (3 of the 4, all original) which is apparently very common.
I suppose a big bill on the diesel could wipe the fuel saving out, which would be daft.

It's MOT is due at the end of July, so perhaps i'll see how that goes and go from there. I know it needs a few suspension bits, but CRV's are very heavy on suspension items.

(I'd probably be looking at £1k-1500 to change to a diesel version on top of the sale price of mine.)

Thanks

[ZX10R NIN]

I'd say keep what you have for now, then put more aside for the day it becomes uneconomical to repair.

[gman88667733]

ZX10R NIN said:

I'd say keep what you have for now, then put more aside for the day it becomes uneconomical to repair.

I think that's what I'm leaning towards now. It's likely to be due to corrosion that it becomes uneconomical to repair, rather than mechanical issues (I would guess)
But we will see.

Thanks