small diesels

aidanki

hi all,

just a question was talking to someone last night and discussing cars, and the subject of changing came up

neither of us do much milage <300 a week, currently have 1.4 petrols

I was saying either a 1.4 or 1.6diesel would be the best machine for us were we to change due to low milage

benefits
go from~40-45mpg to ~55mpg,
tax would also go down due to emissions based
insurance costs the same as for petrol
servicing costs the same?
power about the same as petrol
comfort etc the same as petrol

are there any bad points of these 1.4-1.6d

other than engine what mechanical differences are there between the 1.4 and 1.6d, thinking in case of gearbox failure and wanting to get SH one etc

options would be
1.4d4d corolla
citroen pegeout C4d
astra 1.4d
VW golf
mazda/focus 1.6d

which would be the one to buy

would think of more options if I surfed for a while

MarkR

How much extra would the initial purchase price of the car itself cost in a diesel over a petrol? If it's not too much, then I'd go with the diesel.

mlmcelligott

Diesel engines operate at much higher pressures than petrols so are built much stronger meaning you get alot more miles out of a diesel than you would a petrol. Also a diesel has less parts (no spark plugs, spark plug leads, distributor, etc.) that need replacing and dont need to be serviced as often.
Modern diesels are very clean and quite and have way more torque than their equivalent petrols. I drove petrols for years and moved to diesels 4 years ago and will never go back.

I dont think you need to worry about gearbox failure unless you like grinding gears

Henry Ford III

At those mileages it's marginal at best.

mullingar

mlmcelligott wrote: »

Diesel engines operate at much higher pressures than petrols so are built much stronger meaning you get alot more miles out of a diesel than you would a petrol

eeehhh, NO.

Diesel simply has a higher calorific value than petrol (ie more stored energy per litre of fuel)

mlmcelligott

not that marginal when you work out the savings.

Together they cover about 31000 miles a year

taking into account the difference in mpg between a 1.4 petrol and diesel is about 20 miles - 40 vs. 60, thats a saving of 300 gallons a year less petrol being bougth and that amounts to about 1600 euros savings at todays €1.40 a litre.

With longer services intervals and cheaper costs of services the diesel will always win.

mlmcelligott

mullingar wrote: »

eeehhh, NO.

Diesel simply has a higher calorific value than petrol (ie more stored energy per litre of fuel)

I meant the engine will give you a lot more hassle free miles because it is built stronger than a petrol.

racso1975

We have a 1.6hdi and a 1.9tdi. I travel about 100k a day. The 1.9 is defo more efficient on this journey. However i did find during the snow when i had to drive slower economy went up hugely on the 1.6, on suprise genius says you, i did not get to test the 1.9 in these conditions as my wife has robbed that car

professore

I had a 1.4 306 HDi for a few years and it was a great little car. Very cheap to run and nothing went wrong with it.

mullingar

mlmcelligott wrote: »

I meant the engine will give you a lot more hassle free miles because it is built stronger than a petrol.

Unfortunately, Modern diesels are several times more complex than petrol equivalents and have more parts to go wrong (Google DPF, EGR, DMF faults ) so I would disagree with that argument.
Diesels have to be made stronger as the internal compression ratio is twice what a petrol is (around 20:1 vs 10:1) and the explosive power of ignited diesel vs petrol is a lot higher too

mlmcelligott

mullingar wrote: »

Unfortunately, Modern diesels are several times more complex than petrol equivalents and have more parts to go wrong (Google DPF, EGR, DMF faults ) so I would disagree with that argument.
Diesels have to be made stronger as the internal compression ratio is twice what a petrol is (around 20:1 vs 10:1) and the explosive power of ignited diesel vs petrol is a lot higher too

I take it your a petrol driver then...

Henry Ford III

mlmcelligott wrote: »

not that marginal when you work out the savings.

Together they cover about 31000 miles a year

taking into account the difference in mpg between a 1.4 petrol and diesel is about 20 miles - 40 vs. 60, thats a saving of 300 gallons a year less petrol being bougth and that amounts to about 1600 euros savings at todays €1.40 a litre.

With longer services intervals and cheaper costs of services the diesel will always win.

There's more to it than that. 2 diesel cars will cost a good bit more to buy for starters.

GTE

mlmcelligott wrote: »

I meant the engine will give you a lot more hassle free miles because it is built stronger than a petrol.

It should if you take care of it.

Its built stronger because it has to be to work rather than because the makers want to build an uber reliable engine but if you do drive it like the manufacturer would like, use the right oil and generally take care of it it should be fine.

keithclancy

aidanki wrote: »

hi all,

just a question was talking to someone last night and discussing cars, and the subject of changing came up

neither of us do much milage <300 a week, currently have 1.4 petrols

I was saying either a 1.4 or 1.6diesel would be the best machine for us were we to change due to low milage

benefits
go from~40-45mpg to ~55mpg,
tax would also go down due to emissions based
insurance costs the same as for petrol
servicing costs the same?
power about the same as petrol
comfort etc the same as petrol

are there any bad points of these 1.4-1.6d

other than engine what mechanical differences are there between the 1.4 and 1.6d, thinking in case of gearbox failure and wanting to get SH one etc

options would be
1.4d4d corolla
citroen pegeout C4d
astra 1.4d
VW golf
mazda/focus 1.6d

which would be the one to buy

would think of more options if I surfed for a while

Drive one first and see how you like it, its just different to driving a petrol.

Rent one for a weekend and see how you get on, imo a test drive for 30 minutes in a Diesel if you've never driven one before will have you thinking its rubbish. Same the other way around, takes me a while to get used to a petrol when I sit into one.

Atomic Pineapple

mlmcelligott wrote: »

I take it your a petrol driver then...

He could be an airplane driver but he's still correct.

MidlandsM

mlmcelligott wrote: »

Also a diesel has less parts (no spark plugs, spark plug leads, distributor, etc.) that need replacing and dont need to be serviced as often.

yer wha?:rolleyes:

mlmcelligott

mlmcelligott wrote: »

Diesel engines operate at much higher pressures than petrols so are built much stronger meaning you get alot more miles out of a diesel than you would a petrol. Also a diesel has less parts (no spark plugs, spark plug leads, distributor, etc.) that need replacing and dont need to be serviced as often.
Modern diesels are very clean and quite and have way more torque than their equivalent petrols. I drove petrols for years and moved to diesels 4 years ago and will never go back.

mlmcelligott wrote: »

With longer services intervals and cheaper costs of services the diesel will always win.

mlmcelligott wrote: »

I take it your a petrol driver then...

lol :pac:
Modern petrols the plugs are long life yokes or else they're only €20 a set, leads etc would need to be changed about as often as a DMF, leads are a lot cheaper than DMFs . Diesels are not cheaper to service, also what makes you think the diesel service interval is longer than a petrol interval ?

doOh

mlmcelligott wrote: »

Diesel engines operate at much higher pressures than petrols so are built much stronger meaning you get alot more miles out of a diesel than you would a petrol. Also a diesel has less parts (no spark plugs, spark plug leads, distributor, etc.) that need replacing and dont need to be serviced as often.
Modern diesels are very clean and quite and have way more torque than their equivalent petrols. I drove petrols for years and moved to diesels 4 years ago and will never go back.

I dont think you need to worry about gearbox failure unless you like grinding gears

God ... No bother some diesel second cars are crap that repairing, replacing parts are not worth. Anyway good luck with your car rotfl.

EPM

OP, for 10-15 mpg you're mad. I'm guessing that your low mileage is a bit around town?

In your circumstances I would avoid a diesel at all costs. Any savings you make WILL be wiped out at some stage with a DMF failure or DPF replacement. Modern diesels do not like low mileage and need regular high speed motorway stints to regenerate DPFs.

However, if you are buying a relatively fresh car and olny keeping it for a couple of years you might escape these issues...

PCPhoto

draffodx wrote: »

He could be an airplane driver but he's still correct.

airplane driver ??? ... you mean a pilot?

I get your point but ..... airplane driver !!!

Atomic Pineapple

PCPhoto wrote: »

airplane driver ??? ... you mean a pilot?

I get your point but ..... airplane driver !!!

Give over! A pilot is simply an airplane driver when he's taxiing on to the run way!

Leonard Hofstadter

RoverJames wrote: »

lol :pac:
Modern petrols the plugs are long life yokes or else they're only €20 a set, leads etc would need to be changed about as often as a DMF, leads are a lot cheaper than DMFs . Diesels are not cheaper to service, also what makes you think the diesel service interval is longer than a petrol interval ?

+1

In general, a modern petrol is infinitely more reliable than a diesel. This may change with the new generation of direct injection turbocharged petrol engines(DI petrols do not take kindly to being driven around town), but as far as reliability is concerned, it is hard to beat a simple naturally aspirated indirect injection petrol engine. Petrols are far nicer to drive when you're not afraid to use the accelerator and allow them to rev too:)!

Even when a modern petrol gives trouble, it's relatively inexpensive to fix compared to a turbo, injectors, DMF, DPF, EGR valve, positive crankcase breather etc fitted to a diesel.