Petrol Vs Diesel (again)

Senna

Every second thread seems to be about mpg, petrol vs diesel, DMF's etc etc, but i'm going to post this anyway.

I do about 15-18k miles per year, currently have a 2.0ltr forester that gets about 30mpg. My car journeys are fairly regular, 15 mile trip to work (90% at 80+kph), a good few longer trips a month (40-50miles).
Assuming i sell i wont be paying more for a new car than the cost of my own, would i be doing enough of a long daily commute to keep a modern diesel healthy, personally i think i might not do enough miles?

Mully_2011

30 mpg thats not bad actually for a Forester but in your case yeah petrol .I wouldn't buy a diesel unless your doing big miles and doing Journeys in which you can let the car warm up and cool off properly I have found that diesels run better if there driven hard

166man

The savings of a 50mpg diesel over a 30mpg petrol over 27k km a year would be fairly significant. It would appear that your car gets a regular spin each day and as such you shouldn't need to worry about the DPF clogging up. Diesel all the way at that mileage anyway.:D

Senna

Senna wrote: »

............... personally i think i might not do enough miles?

15k miles is enough for a diesel imo.

r3nu4l

At that mileage, if you are going to go for a diesel make sure that it really is giving high mpg. Some of the quoted figures are way off the mark. e.g. My A3 quattro is quoted at about 50 mpg combined and I barely scrape 42 mpg in my real-world scenario.

That said, I drove an eco A4 diesel for a couple of days and it gave 58+ mpg :eek: so you'd want to do a long test drive in a car, zero the trip computer and see what figures the trip computer quotes at the end of the drive. While you can't rely on a trip computer for complete accuracy of mpg it will give you some idea of what to expect.

r3nu4l

r3nu4l wrote: »

.............. My A3 quattro is quoted at about 50 mpg combined ............

..:eek:
Looney figures, I didn't get near that from a 140bhp front wheel drive A3 over a weekend.

EPM

RoverJames wrote: »

..:eek:
Looney figures, I didn't get near that from a 140bhp front wheel drive A3 over a weekend.

Some of the economy figures quoted are completely off the wall. My average is hovering around the 40mpg mark overall. The last tank was barely 38 and that was driven relatively easy too.

The only flaw I can really see in your logic OP is the car you are getting rid of is a known quantity and I assume it's been reliable etc. What you are buying could be fine or it could be a shed. I'd tred carefully.

r3nu4l

RoverJames wrote: »

..:eek:
Looney figures, I didn't get near that from a 140bhp front wheel drive A3 over a weekend.

Mine is the 170 PS quattro so I suppose I shouldn't expect very high mpg but I'd at least like the quoted mpg to be near to reality

The latest 140 2.0TDI FWD is quoted as 64.2 mpg combined, so I'm guessing that makes the figures you got even worse

In fairness, if I stick to 60 mph* (~100kph) on a dual-carriageway I can get up to 47 mpg (never 50mpg) but that's cruising with hardly any braking or accelerating taking place.

In reality though I tend to drive at about 80-85 mph as normal or dead on 75 mph where I know the speed traps are on my daily commute:)

Hence my advice to Senna, a long test drive with some idea of fuel consumption would be good. It would make the sacrifice of driving a petrol car worthwhile.

*Sorry for the use of mph, for those who don't know, I live in England.

Anan1

If you're changing from a petrol forester to a diesel for the same money then you're likely to be changing to an older/leggier/rougher car. At 15k miles pa it won't take much in the way of repair bills to send you back to square one. What model is the Forester, and what do you think it's worth? Are the Forester's AWD and ground clearance necessary/of value to you?

Senna

Its a 2004 forester, 105k with 2yr nct and 3 months tax, i'd be hopping for 4k, but i really dont know.

Don't really need a Jeep anymore, an estate car would suit my needs just fine.
Anyone any opinions on these smaller engine diesels? Slow and boring wouldn't bother me as I'll always have another weekend car (currently an MR2), reliability would be all that matters.

307 Diesel 1.6 hdi
http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/2619678

Ford Focus 1.6 Turbo Diesel Estate
http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/2781422

challengemaster

r3nu4l wrote: »

That said, I drove an eco A4 diesel for a couple of days and it gave 58+ mpg :eek: so you'd want to do a long test drive in a car, zero the trip computer and see what figures the trip computer quotes at the end of the drive. While you can't rely on a trip computer for complete accuracy of mpg it will give you some idea of what to expect.

Be very wary of trip computers, if I was to take mine seriously, I generate diesel while I drive, and only get 38MPG...

Unfortunately my car doesn't generate it's own diesel, and I'm getting 48MPG...

r3nu4l

challengemaster wrote: »

Be very wary of trip computers, if I was to take mine seriously, I generate diesel while I drive, and only get 38MPG...

Unfortunately my car doesn't generate it's own diesel, and I'm getting 48MPG...

Indeed but it's all you have when you're test driving...can't exactly tell the guy you want to brim his car and drive it until it's empty and calculate MPG from mileage Longest test drive evah!

Senna

Senna wrote: »

................. reliability would be all that matters.

307 Diesel 1.6 hdi
http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/2619678

Ford Focus 1.6 Turbo Diesel Estate
http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/2781422

Full service history from a decent garage would be a must with them and I'd still be slow to take the plunge for one as poor service practise can lead to problems down the road.