Diesel to petrol, good move?

Schism

I've been considering changing car for a while now. At the moment I'm driving a 1.9 diesel but doing very little mileage. On average I'd do 100 miles in the week, sometimes as low as 20-30 miles and at the very most 150 (barring special circumstances). Also if it helps it'd be mostly urban mileage, very little motorway usage with any longer journey mostly on N roads.

I was wondering what are the roundabout figures on economy if I changed to a 1.6 petrol, obviously not looking for anything specific but hoping some posters have some general experience. The tax would be less yearly for a start but would that be offset by spending more on petrol? Insurance I'd imagine is much of a muchness, I'm over 25 with a full license.

As far as mechanical reliability goes, my current car is quite solid. I've only really drove diesels since I started driving though so I don't know what to expect from a petrol. Are the servicing costs more?

Blazer

It's a very good move for you really.
I went the other direction recently as I'm doing about 20,000 miles a year so went for a 520D.
If I had moved back into the city as I was thinking of doing I'd have gone for the 630i I was looking at in a heartbeat, it has worse mpg by about half but I'd slash my mileage by about 13k asap with that move.
With the mileage you're doing you'd be miles better off with petrol.
You'll be able to pick up cheaper big engined cars etc plus correct me if I'm wrong but service costs are lower for petrol cars?

wanlabanchang

I agree

tobsey

Everything about the petrol is cheaper except the fuel. Buying it, servicing it taxing it etc. At least if you're using the old tax system it is. If you sell your car you'll get a much nicer car with a petrol engine for the same money. It might hurt a bit when you go to fill her up but if you're driving so few miles and such short trips yolu're noit getting near the best MPG out of the diesel anyway.

Cionád

MY personal experience...

I changed from a 2L diesel Almera to a 2L turbo petrol last June. The diesel had been getting me approx 46mpg (up to 52mpg on a run), the new car (Volvo s40) returns around 30mpg in mixed (commute) driving, up to 35mpg on a motorway run.

At the time I changed I was doing very little driving, around the same as you. However, I had to move further from work and am now spending substantially more on fuel. And I use the bus sometimes to save on fuel. Tax is the same as the Almera.

On the plus side the performance is much better (my diesel was non-turbo), and the Volvo cost me only 1,050 quid.

Reliability will depend on the make / model / condition and history. Mine is just as solid as the diesel beforehand. I service it myself and servicing costs are slightly more expensive with the petrol - due to the Volvo parts.

For little mileage, you're better off with the petrol. My next car will be diesel though (unless I go mad and get the T5)

voxpop

If you have a solid car, then why are you changing ? If you are not driving much and can sell your diesel and buy a cheaper petrol - that makes sense - due to less deprecation as it sits on the driveway and more money in your pocket.

Servicing cost the virtually the same - dont know whey ppl think petrols are cheaper to service ??

E39MSport

Diesel is going to climb in price according to Beeb news. The high grade oil needed for Diesel is harder to come by these days apparently. Might be the Iranian scenario.

Schism

voxpop wrote: »

If you have a solid car, then why are you changing ? If you are not driving much and can sell your diesel and buy a cheaper petrol - that makes sense - due to less deprecation as it sits on the driveway and more money in your pocket.

Servicing cost the virtually the same - dont know whey ppl think petrols are cheaper to service ??

The car has a good engine but has recently begun to leak a small bit of oil. Other than that I can't fault it mechanically and until now have had no trouble at all with it in that respect.

Other than that there's an ever growing list of electrical faults, water leaks, and bodywork problems (nothing aesthetic, for instance the front passenger door is leaking water and doesn't close properly). I don't mind the odd thing wrong but it's beginning to mount up now.

It's just coming to the end of it's life unfortunately. (In my mind anyway)

shawnee

Yeah , I see where you are at. Firstly when you change to petrol you will find yourself filling up a good bit more. You will probably get a much better choice of car and are more likely to get one with small mileage. I made the change , probably for the last two mentioned reasons. I have a cleaner better car , runs well , less complications with second hand disels... dpf, dmf, etc also was concerned at the washed diesel problem. Weekly running is no doubt higher but reliability and quality of car is much better than I would have got for 5500 in a diesel
If I was doing 20k a year I would probably have another look but overall I feel that some people are changing to diesel and incurring large costs and would be better using that money on petrol.:)

zilog_jones

voxpop wrote: »

Servicing cost the virtually the same - dont know whey ppl think petrols are cheaper to service ??

Traditionally diesels were bigger engines therefore required more oil, they had shorter service intervals, and you've got an extra filter to replace - but besides the fuel filter a lot of this is not really applicable any more. But modern diesels have DMFs, DPFs and high-pressure injection systems which can be very expensive if they go wrong.