Petrol or Diesel???

bladespin

Hi guys, a recent accident has retired my Alfa JTdM from the road this means I'm looking for a replacement car.

Looking around diesels seem to be pretty expensive and big(ish) petrol cars are dirt cheap at the moment. We have a 2yr old and another on the way (BIG buggy lol). The car has to be big enought to fit the 4 of us, shopping and the buggy, I've been looking at diesel mondeos and the likes.

I have a 26 mile(52 per day) commute to work, it's all main road and motorway stuff, I spend little or no time in traffic (god bless the wind turbine industry ), weekend stuff could be another 100-120miles.

I've always thought this was high enough mileage to necessitate a diesel but am I wrong? What sort of economy would a petrol have on drives like these? I used to get 54mpg from tha Alfa (calculated). Recently I've had an old corolla petrol which seems to manage the miles on not a lot more juice :eek: (very down on power though).

So guys, what's your opinion on the petrol vs oil burner?

cantdecide

Budget, useage and how long you wish to keep the car are the biggest factors, IMO.

IMO, you have to justify a diesel with your useage and you still have to have enough money for a decent example.

Anan1

That sounds like petrol mileage to me, enjoy!

danjo

What are the cost implications.
Is it for the initial purchase outlay or are the service costs more expensive for diesel than petrol?

Bjorn Bored.

sorry to hijack this thread but i wonder what is the best type of car for someone who would be making lots of short trips around the town?
its for my son who recently got a job delivering take away foods, he is at it 5 nights a week now and he is quite busy,but the most he would travel would be a 12 mile round trip and that just occasionly,he wants to get a 1.4 diesel....he has a perfect little micra,i think he is mad to pay the extra expense of bigger road tax bigger insurance and a doe every yr, the micra used to belong to my wife and it is so easy on petrol,but he reckons he will save so much because its a small diesel , in terms of value who is right?

cantdecide

Bjorn Bored. wrote: »

sorry to hijack this thread but i wonder what is the best type of car for someone who would be making lots of short trips around the town?
its for my son who recently got a job delivering take away foods, he is at it 5 nights a week now and he is quite busy,but the most he would travel would be a 12 mile round trip and that just occasionly,he wants to get a 1.4 diesel....he has a perfect little micra,i think he is mad to pay the extra expense of bigger road tax bigger insurance and a doe every yr, the micra used to belong to my wife and it is so easy on petrol,but he reckons he will save so much because its a small diesel , in terms of value who is right?

If you can tell me what fuel consumption the car actually gives, I'd be very surprised.

Take the advice of a fool; unless you live in London, advise him to avoid city cars- they're largely unsuitable for average Irish useage despite their popularity (which is based on a perceived saving of money esp. road tax). There's little discernible difference between running a city car and running the likes of a Golf/ Corolla.

Unless he's spending a sufficient amount of money to get a good example, avoid diesel.

bladespin

From my experience, long trips =diesel, short = petrol, there's a lot of weight to get moving in a diesel engine around town, I had a landcruiser that averaged over 40 mpg on a trip to Cork, same car never rose above 20 in Dublin.

voxpop

As an example my 523(2.5L petrol) returns just above 30mpg on a motorway run from dublin to dundalk. So you can expect high 20s/ low 30s if you are doing mostly motorway - which isnt too bad for a 1.5 ton car.