Advice on next 2nd hand car please – diesel vs petrol

[seadragon]

I have a few different cars in mind but I am more interested in running costs and also petrol vs diesel vs mpg, ie if I only do about 6-7k miles a year, incl holiday trips, it is worth is buying a 1.9-2.0 Diesel with 60-100k miles on the clock, or should I get a 1.6-2.0 petrol engine instead?

My daily commute to work is country roads (12 miles each way).

I have heard that older diesels with low mileage can be problematic. I am not sure why, but would appreciate some views before I seriously think about what option to go for – which will be in the next 2-3 weeks.

Thanks in advance

[alex290568]

If you don't do in excess of 15,000 miles a year, petrol all the way. There is nothing to consider

Hope that helps

[Planter]

Not technically true, there are lots of things that need to be looked at, typically diesel cars are more expensive to buy on the second hand market for the like for like petrol equivalent (typically!).

However, they are normally more efficient. And then there is the cost of fuel.

Its not the same as buying a new car and simply saying if you do this many miles its cheaper.

[andy-xr]

Here's the thing that people seem to miss. A £1500 diesel car and a £1500 petrol car side by side, the diesel will be more economical. Plain out, that's a given

The diesel might have more miles, might not be in as good condition, might even have Grandad Fart on the driver seat, but it'll do more to the gallon than the petrol car.

That doesnt account for servicing though. TBH, when I was doing main dealer servicing on my cars, (Fords) they cost about the same petrol vs diesel. As long as nothing like the injectors, fuel pump, flywheel, clutch, starter motor break, which they're more likely to on a diesel, then the diesel is cheaper to run

So, short answer, it doesnt matter just get what you want

[Planter]

andy-xr said:

Here's the thing that people seem to miss. A £1500 diesel car and a £1500 petrol car side by side, the diesel will be more economical. Plain out, that's a given

The diesel might have more miles, might not be in as good condition, might even have Grandad Fart on the driver seat, but it'll do more to the gallon than the petrol car.

That doesnt account for servicing though. TBH, when I was doing main dealer servicing on my cars, (Fords) they cost about the same petrol vs diesel. As long as nothing like the injectors, fuel pump, flywheel, clutch, starter motor break, which they're more likely to on a diesel, then the diesel is cheaper to run

So, short answer, it doesnt matter just get what you want

+1 basically what I said, but much better

[Devil2575]

seadragon said:

I have a few different cars in mind but I am more interested in running costs and also petrol vs diesel vs mpg, ie if I only do about 6-7k miles a year, incl holiday trips, it is worth is buying a 1.9-2.0 Diesel with 60-100k miles on the clock, or should I get a 1.6-2.0 petrol engine instead?

My daily commute to work is country roads (12 miles each way).

I have heard that older diesels with low mileage can be problematic. I am not sure why, but would appreciate some views before I seriously think about what option to go for – which will be in the next 2-3 weeks.

Thanks in advance

It depends on quite a few factors.

On the face of it get a petrol. You don't do enough miles to warrant a diesel.

Are you looking at cars for the same price and will they be similar age/milage/condition?

Paying more for a diesel doesn't make sense unless you do enough miles to pay back the extra purchase cost, less the difference in residual value when you come to sell/trade it in of course.

Over 7k miles a diesel will cost roughtly £1000 in fuel (based on 45 mpg and £1.40 a litre)
Over the same distance a petrol car will cost £1230 in fuel (based on 35 mpg and £1.35 a litre)

So if the equivalent diesel costs 1k more to buy it will take over 4 years to pay back the extra purchase price although it will be worth more when you sell it.

If your budget for both options is the same and the diesel will be older/higher milage then you need to consider the potential for increased maintenance costs due to age etc.

The other thing to consider is if a diesel is appropriate for the kind of driving you do. A lot of modern diesels are not suited to doing lots of short journies and as such you can end up with premature failures of things like the DPF. Even if you do the right kind of driving things like DPFs could still require replacing anyway. Modern diesels are quite complicated engines and there is more to go wrong.

Personally i'd be looking at a petrol car. The cost of fuel isn't going to be a big feature of your monthly budget so i'd be looking at petrol car that has less to go wrong, will be cheaper to buy so you'll get more for your budget and potentailly more fun to drive.

I say this as someone who bought a diesel when I didn't do the miles and wishes I hadn't.

[seadragon]

Thanks so far for the insight/comments. I am looking at similar age, mileage, but willing to pay about 20% more for a good diesel.

Diesels get better mpg (engine depending) and some seem to have cheaper tax. I am not that bothered one way or another, I just was just wondering if was throwing away good money by spending more on a good diesel if my only highway miles each year will be my annual trip to the Yorkshire Dales or similar.

Thanks again

[seadragon]

from an earlier comment by Devil it seems petrol really is the route and the diesel will be a false economy

[Ozzie Osmond]

seadragon said:

from an earlier comment by Devil it seems petrol really is the route and the diesel will be a false economy

That's my understanding too.

[Pixelpeep]

Its not just the amount of miles, its the type of driving too.

Diesels will NOT return good MPG if you only drive them around town. They are at their least efficient around town. Their combined figure is assuming 50% of their time will be spent on motorways.

Short, town trips and 7000 a year it would be a small engined petrol engine all day long.

ETA - DPF on a diesel is a major problem if you never do motorway runs - it needs to get to a certain temp for 20 minutes before it will clean itself. If you don't do that, you'll pay £400 to repair/replace it

[BlueMR2]

For that kind of mileage you need to pop over to the bargain barge thread and you'll end up in silky smooth petrol powered luxury and never think diesel again, a nice E38 728 could suit you nicely.

[conkerman]

Pixelpeep said:

Diesels will NOT return good MPG if you only drive them around town. They are at their least efficient around town. Their combined figure is assuming 50% of their time will be spent on motorways.

That's why the NEDC has an urban number.

And a gasoline engine is great under those conditions. What with the throttle being closed most of the time...

OP.

For your mileage, go petrol, all day long.

Edited by conkerman on Friday 21st March 18:23

[bigkeeko]

Hahahaha, the old Petrol vs Diesel debate.


Petrol if you have the ££ and diesel if you like a clattery, rattly, smokey old tractor noise and you`re skint.

Don`t listen to all that dross about torque and remapping, it`s all dung. If it wasn`t about being skint or tightfisted they`d all drive Evos and twin turbo petrols.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

[underphil]

Pixelpeep said:

Its not just the amount of miles, its the type of driving too.

Diesels will NOT return good MPG if you only drive them around town. They are at their least efficient around town. Their combined figure is assuming 50% of their time will be spent on motorways.

Short, town trips and 7000 a year it would be a small engined petrol engine all day long.

ETA - DPF on a diesel is a major problem if you never do motorway runs - it needs to get to a certain temp for 20 minutes before it will clean itself. If you don't do that, you'll pay £400 to repair/replace it

agree, my wife does a lot of short journey and her 1.6 petrol astra gets better MPG that the 2.0d C4 she had before it

[andy-xr]

Pixelpeep said:

Its not just the amount of miles, its the type of driving too.

Diesels will NOT return good MPG if you only drive them around town. They are at their least efficient around town. Their combined figure is assuming 50% of their time will be spent on motorways.

Short, town trips and 7000 a year it would be a small engined petrol engine all day long.

ETA - DPF on a diesel is a major problem if you never do motorway runs - it needs to get to a certain temp for 20 minutes before it will clean itself. If you don't do that, you'll pay £400 to repair/replace it

See, I really don't get this. Someone explain it to me like I'm a 3 year old??


I had a 307 HDi, supposed to do 50mpg average. On a 5 mile commute in town driving it did about 30 to the gallon

Did the same run with my g/f's KA, did about 30 to the gallon, supposedly averages 40

Did the same run with my S Type, did 18, supposed to do 23

It seems based on my simple tests that the diesel mpg fell off a cliff compared to the petrol but it was still more economical