Do I buy a diesel or petrol used A-Class?

[Frimley111R]

My BiL is finally ditching his ancient X5 and is after an A-Class, auto, budget about 14k. He does minimal miles but most journeys are 10m+ generally as he lives in the town centre so doesn't need to do short trips. It needs to ULEZ complain as he parents live in Charlton (South East London).

I wasn't sure if it mattered....

[Kuwahara]

Missus has the A160 AMG line , was genuinely surprised how well it drove ,incredibly smooth,I think it’s the Renault engine but no worse for it…

[ZX10R NIN]

Frimley111R said:

My BiL is finally ditching his ancient X5 and is after an A-Class, auto, budget about 14k. He does minimal miles but most journeys are 10m+ generally as he lives in the town centre so doesn't need to do short trips. It needs to ULEZ complain as he parents live in Charlton (South East London).

I wasn't sure if it mattered....

If he wants a good A Class tell him to get an Infiniti Q30 they're the same car but with a nicer interior, with only the bodywork being different any decent Indy can service them.

If his usage suits a diesel then he should get one, you'll get a ULEZ compliant one for his budget.

2.1d Sport:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202301143...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202302234...

2.0T Sport:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202211262...

2.1d Premium Tech, these are still high spec but you don't get the AMG Seats & amg engineered suspension set up but this may be a good thing around the pot hole ridden streets that are in south london at the moment:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202205165...

Also a lot of the above will be AWD too.

[Frimley111R]

Thanks but he's after an A-Class, plus Infinity does not exist in the UK any more. For me this might be fine but for him I have to stick to the std choices.

[Truckosaurus]

For any car I'd be minded to go for petrol over diesel as restrictions on diesel will only get stricter and it sounds like the BIL is likely to keep the car a while.

(Especially as there doesn't seem to yet be a collapse in diesel values)

[Alfa Pete]

I recently switched back to petrol after years of diesel cars.
With a price difference of 20p a litre my petrol is on parity with my previously diesel in terms of fuel cost.
So it’s worth him doing the sums on petrol v diesel.

[LeeM135i]

We have a B200 petrol from 2017. It's a nice reliable car. We went petrol as the diesel gate scandal had just started when we bought it and didn't know where the legislation would take diesel cars. We had a diesel Skoda before the B class and a diesel VW before that.

It's averaged 44.7 mpg since we bought it (44k miles) and will easily get into the 50's on a run. Given petrol and diesel prices you would need to get 7 miles more per gallon to cover the extra pump cost of diesel which might be possible chugging along on the motorway but probably not when stuck in traffic in town.

About the only thing B200 petrol lacks is the slug of low down torque you get from a diesel, the payback is it doesn't sound or smell like a tractor.

In my mind diesel is still good for big vehicles and big milage but as the car doesn't go far I would (and did) get a petrol.

[ZX10R NIN]

Frimley111R said:

Thanks but he's after an A-Class, plus Infinity does not exist in the UK any more. For me this might be fine but for him I have to stick to the std choices.

Cool no problem, A Class options:

A250 AMG Sport:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202212192...

A220d AMG Line::

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202302114...

[P. ONeill]

I don’t see any reason to buy a modern diesel car. Our current diesel will definitely be the last.

[ZX10R NIN]

I'm buying another diesel but it is a diesel hybrid & that works for me, it may not work for you but saying it's pointless isn't really right, as everyone has different needs.