Petrol or diesel 2nd hand....
Discussion
Idle curiosity here...
I know that conventional wisdom is that diesel is really only worthwhile once your annual mileage gets into the teens if you're buying new.
What is the thought process on the 2nd hand market? Is the price difference still there or is diesel now such a dirty word that the differential has been eroded?
Obviously on an SUV (for example) the black stuff has huge advantages - what about exec cars are even something like a golf/focus?
I know that conventional wisdom is that diesel is really only worthwhile once your annual mileage gets into the teens if you're buying new.
What is the thought process on the 2nd hand market? Is the price difference still there or is diesel now such a dirty word that the differential has been eroded?
Obviously on an SUV (for example) the black stuff has huge advantages - what about exec cars are even something like a golf/focus?
Also depends how old a car you're looking at.
A few years ago you'd be mad to buy a large petrol powered car. Initially they'd depreciate more than the diesel equivalent.
Now though with cars of that age there are fewer petrols to choose from so the tables have turned and those petrols can be cost quite a lot more - and normally have lower mileage too.
A few years ago you'd be mad to buy a large petrol powered car. Initially they'd depreciate more than the diesel equivalent.
Now though with cars of that age there are fewer petrols to choose from so the tables have turned and those petrols can be cost quite a lot more - and normally have lower mileage too.
Edited by Sensibleboy on Wednesday 17th February 14:23
quick straw poll of BMW 3 series with minimum 3 litre engine size available on autotrader right now, i'd suggest theres no difference between prices of petrol or diesel engined cars - once cars are over 10 years old, i'd say age and mileage are the biggest factors determining price, not fuel type.
therefore, i'd buy which ever fuel better suited your driving style. if your average journey is over 20 miles at high speeds, id go diesel. if its under 20 miles at low speeds id go petrol. regardless of annual mileage.
even if i only did 5000 miles a year, if those trips were 10 lots of 500miles at a time, i'd go diesel.
i think the whole high annual mileage requirement to buy a diesel when new was a fairly simple calculation - when new, a diesel was £2000 more than a petrol say, so given that diesel was also more than petrol, how many miles did you need to do before the better economy of the diesel outweighed the higher initial purchase price.
therefore, i'd buy which ever fuel better suited your driving style. if your average journey is over 20 miles at high speeds, id go diesel. if its under 20 miles at low speeds id go petrol. regardless of annual mileage.
even if i only did 5000 miles a year, if those trips were 10 lots of 500miles at a time, i'd go diesel.
i think the whole high annual mileage requirement to buy a diesel when new was a fairly simple calculation - when new, a diesel was £2000 more than a petrol say, so given that diesel was also more than petrol, how many miles did you need to do before the better economy of the diesel outweighed the higher initial purchase price.
Ussrcossack said:
Another consideration is how many miles do you do ( or did ) in Europe where Diesel has a price advantage too
I suppose also on that score is which towns allow diesels in. I'd imagine that a 'modern' diesel would be fine but what counts as modern these days? 5 years old? 10?The petrol-diesel price differential can vary from model to model, I wouldn’t say there is a solid rule of thumb there. Like others said, it’s the type of driving that matters versus the absolute total. We have a diesel that does 4 or 5 miles each way to work Monday to Friday but it gets long runs on a weekend so the dpf has opportunities to regenerate. The newer diesels are better as the engineers have had years to optimise them.
I'm currently looking for a 1-2 year old large estate and the choices for diesels still far outweigh the petrol offering and when you do find a petrol it's at least £1k more than the equivalent diesel.
I only do around 10k per annum at most and live in a rural location so although I was against a diesel I think I may end up with one at the current rate.
I only do around 10k per annum at most and live in a rural location so although I was against a diesel I think I may end up with one at the current rate.
Gliese said:
I'm currently looking for a 1-2 year old large estate and the choices for diesels still far outweigh the petrol offering and when you do find a petrol it's at least £1k more than the equivalent diesel.
I only do around 10k per annum at most and live in a rural location so although I was against a diesel I think I may end up with one at the current rate.
Depends on your budget but there are quite a few Jaguar XF petrol estates about.I only do around 10k per annum at most and live in a rural location so although I was against a diesel I think I may end up with one at the current rate.
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