New diesel car vs new petrol car

trixyben

Say you where in the market for a new car say 2010 up, you do average miles and need something spacy for the family. You have the option of one of the smaller diesel engines say a 1.6tdci Focus or or same sized petrol engine in an Avensis.

I know of 3 different parties who went down the smaller engine diesel route and are having probelms with dpf's, turbos, injectors etc, now not to say you wouldnt get these problems on an older car but a car only few years old you really shouldnt, now 2 of the car are still under warranty just about and the other is out of it unfortunatley for him.

So what comes to mind is are these modern diesels more trouble than they are worth? Would you be better with a petrol engine where you havent got turbos to fail, expensive fixes on injectors etc?

Now im not an expert on cars and maybe others peoples experiences or different but im just going on what I see and hear.

Zubeneschamali

trixyben wrote: »

I know of 3 different parties who went down the smaller engine diesel route and are having probelms with dpf's, turbos, injectors etc

DPF problems are usually from doing low mileage. I wouldn't get a diesel for a town/school run car.

Petrol engines will all be small capacity turbos within a few years, as in the Fiat 500, the Ford Focus, VW Passat and the new BMW 3 series.

Max Power1

What mileage, and what type of mileage, do you do?
The answer to your petrol/diesel query depends on this tbh

hunkydory1

I'm currently driving a Focus 1.6tdci . Brilliantly frugal car and very comfortable I'm doing 750kms a week and get at least 850kms from a full tank

Leonard Hofstadter

It's really quite simple OP.

If you're going to drive slowly or around town at least 50% of the time, then a diesel should be avoided.

However, if most of your time is spent driving out of town at decent speeds (over 80-90 kph), then you should worry.

The other thing to consider is your annual mileage - is it worth spending thousands of your money to save at most €200 a year on tax and maybe a small amount on fuel?

Personal opinion but petrols are much nicer to drive than diesels as well.

Mycroft H

captainspeed wrote: »

It's really quite simple OP.

If you're going to drive slowly or around town at least 50% of the time, then a diesel should be avoided.

However, if most of your time is spent driving out of town at decent speeds (over 80-90 kph), then you should worry.

The other thing to consider is your annual mileage - is it worth spending thousands of your money to save at most €200 a year on tax and maybe a small amount on fuel?

Personal opinion but petrols are much nicer to drive than diesels as well.

This is exactly what you should be listening to.

DPFs do not mind small mileages per say, the don't like not getting up to operating temperature for a sustained period of time. If your only doing 10,000 miles a year but all motorway miles, well then a diesel will cope fine.

Dismissing the use of a diesel because of small mileage is just silly without knowing the environment which the car will be driven in.

MuppetCheck

Over 80-90kph is often not enough for a dpf to burn off. Most models require 2k revs plus. There is little point to driving about in 4th gear:)

For an everyday car on open roads the diesel will be a nicer car to drive as it has performance where it matters.

Leonard Hofstadter

MuppetCheck wrote: »

Over 80-90kph is often not enough for a dpf to burn off. Most models require 2k revs plus. There is little point to driving about in 4th gear:)

For an everyday car on open roads the diesel will be a nicer car to drive as it has performance where it matters.

I just prefer the superior throttle response of a petrol, the smoothness, the quietness when you're not in a hurry and the much nicer sound when you want to have fun and rev them !

For everyday driving, most petrols have plenty of go if you know how to use them properly and aren't afraid of running them close to the redline when needed. Obviously for certain cars diesels are better but I find petrols more satisfying. I admit I haven't a lot of experience of diesels, but I have driven a fair few sh1tty petrols in my time and I still prefer petrol.

MuppetCheck

Yes, but the go is at the expense of fuel economy often. With a diesel 2-3.5k revs will have you moving very well.

I should say I'm referring to engines of the standard 4 cylinder variety which makes up the vast majority of cars on Irish roads.

Mycroft H

MuppetCheck wrote: »

Yes, but the go is at the expense of fuel economy often. With a diesel 2-3.5k revs will have you moving very well.

I should say I'm referring to engines of the standard 4 cylinder variety which makes up the vast majority of cars on Irish roads.

My old diesel Xantia was only ticking over at 100km/h. 1950rpm

The one thing I loved when driving a diesel was the sheer abundance of torque at any point. I hate having to drop gears to get past anything in a petrol where it was just as easy as planting the foot in 5th in a diesel.

MuppetCheck

BX 19 wrote: »

My old diesel Xantia was only ticking over at 100km/h. 1950rpm

The one thing I loved when driving a diesel was the sheer abundance of torque at any point. I hate having to drop gears to get past anything in a petrol where it was just as easy as planting the foot in 5th in a diesel.

Exactly. If you want to race from A to B then petrol no question, but for usable urge a diesel is where it is at.

September1

In 2009 new CO2 rules came in, and thanks to variety of VRT rates often diesel version of a car would cost very closely to petrol version. Let's look at Avensis:
2009 petrol one would range from 10k(low mileage) to 15k
2009 diesel one would range from 10k(100k+ mileage) or 12k(low mileage) to 20k

According to this http://www.advertiser.ie/galway/article/7710 initial prices were:

The entry level 1.6 litre Valvematic Terra petrol saloon sells for €25,565 (incl 20 per cent VRT + 21.5 per cent VAT) with the D-4D 2.0 Litre (125bhp) Terra diesel saloon selling for €26,015 (incl 16 per cent VRT + 21.5 per cent VAT).

That means that petrol owners lost 10-15k while diesel owners (low mileage) lost 6-14k - which means that diesel owner is at least 1k better off, I would be not suprised if more as even trading in petrol cars is sometimes tricky. If I look at cheap cars with lower mileage cheapest dealer supplied Avensis in petrol is 10k and 13k which would suggest 3k of a differene and that is in dealer pricing. Again dealer would be happier to take more "liquid" diesel car than frown upon petrol car.

Make sure that you add this 2-4k to cost of ownership of your Avensis or Focus, you might be in situation that chaging car at end of warranty would be better idea than buying more reliable petrol.

...and now for some quality trolling, have you considered electric vehicle...