Diesel v petrol (again!)

hadook

I know this has been done countless times before but my brain is mush from reading back through the forum and I can't decide if the info overload now is worse than the ignorance from before I started...

I need to change my car in the next couple of months and I can't decide whether petrol or diesel will suit me best. Having searched back through the forum I'm now aware that DPF's are the boogeymen of diesels and I know that personally I have bad luck with catalytic converters I've only owned small (<1.6l) petrol cars and I'm only an expert at the small number of things that have gone wrong with my previous cars. I have a mechanic I trust though and will have whatever I buy checked out before handing over the money.

I currently split my time between a 1.2l Fabia (228k miles, not long for this world) and a borrowed 1l Yaris (like driving a cross between a pogostick & an underfilled beanbag) and I do approx 25-30k miles a year, split 75%/25% motorway to minor roads. Budget is 6-8k depending on how soon my current car keels over or my back/nerves give in from driving a Yaris on 3 motorways twice a day.

I need something reliable, economical and comfortable with a boot that 2 large dogs can fit in so I'm currently looking at large hatch or estate (preference given to cars that are easy to perform minor maintenance). Obviously Skoda's are the best in my book so I like the Octavia or the Mondeo estate & the C'eed seems to get good reviews too. I don't like the Mazda 6 after one attempt to change a bulb on my mothers car at the side of a dark road one night. Himself doesn't like French cars. I have an unreasonable dislike of Nissans but for the right car I could probably bring myself to buy it and just kick it in passing every so often.

Good people of the Motors section - what models/types of cars should I be looking at? What are the things I really need to worry about in the petrol v diesel battle?

fasttalkerchat

Petrol - 1.6L Ford
Diesel - 1.9TDI/2L Octavia.

Pick a good car with a good engine and go for whichever feels right. You are not doing enough miles to rule out petrol.

00833827

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

You are not doing enough miles to rule out petrol.

Out of curiosity, what do we reckon the distance per year would be to rule out petrol?

tcawley29

2010 1.4 d4d Toyota Corolla? You'd be getting 65-70+ mpg and I think the tax is only 280 a year now since the budget. Nice car to drive. My mother has one and its never given a days bother since we got it about two years ago.

MuppetCheck

I'd argue at 30k miles a year there is a good reason to go for a diesel over a petrol, particularly if it was an older Ford 1.8 TDCi or 1.9 TDi VAG car without a dpf.

At €1.60 per litre for petrol or €1.56 for diesel (please correct me on the petrol price if required though).

At 25k miles a year the diesel doing 50mpg will cost €3541 to fuel, a petrol doing 38mpg will cost €4779. That's a difference of over €1200. When you go towards 30k miles a year you get close to €1500.

Now a diesel equivalent will cost more to buy and tax, be worth slightly more afterwards but there is more scope for things to go wrong. You need to do the sums on a particular car you are interested in and then compare it to a petrol equivalent. Your driving would suit a diesel quite well and I would be inclined to go down that route.

fasttalkerchat

00833827 wrote: »

Out of curiosity, what do we reckon the distance per year would be to rule out petrol?

It depends on the specific car. If you're doing 40k miles and buying a new car I wouldn't spend much time looking at petrol options. But if you get a good reliable petrol car it could work out better than a poorly maintained diesel because maintenance and repairs will be greater than the fuel saving. Also, tax and changes in fuel prices will be a big factor.

thecomedian

For 25k-30k miles, I'd be just looking at diesels.

discombobulate

MuppetCheck wrote: »

At €1.60 per litre for petrol or €1.56 for diesel (please correct me on the petrol price if required though).

The two garages near me (an Esso and Maxol in Rathmines / Harolds Cross area) are both €1.49 for Diesel

fasttalkerchat

thecomedian wrote: »

For 25k-30k miles, I'd be just looking at diesels.

I went for a diesel myself for 25k miles. Usually it will be the best option but I wouldn't choose one at all costs. A brilliant petrol option could work out cheaper.

MuppetCheck

discombobulate wrote: »

The two garages (an Esso and Maxol in Rathmines / Harolds Cross area) are both €1.49 for Diesel

I was just going on my last fill price. 5 cents either way won't make a huge difference.

discombobulate

MuppetCheck wrote: »

I was just going on my last fill price. 5 cents either way won't make a huge difference.

True. Just thought it very expensive.

One thing i found strange driving over in the UK the other week was that diesel is more expensive over there than petrol.

Another good reason to go for Diesel i think is the ease of sale when getting rid and how diesels keep their value a lot better. I think it negates some of the car price savings of a petrol as the petrol will in likelihood lose a larger percent of its value.

That said i'd prefer to have a petrol than a diesel purely for sound satisfaction from a petrol engine.

hadook

I was guessing yearly mileage between the two cars but I've since sat down and worked out that in an average week I'll easily do 650 miles between commuting & bringing the dogs to training. And that's without adding grocery shopping, the gym, visiting people etc. Even assuming I go nowhere on my holidays (and now I know why that seems so appealing every year!) I'm still comfortably doing over 30K.

Thanks MuppetCheck for the cost breakdown - I think a diesel is in my future.

Are there other makes/models I should be looking at? What makes a good diesel car?

MuppetCheck

It seems to make sense to be honest. I think if you buy the right car it will work out cheaper overall.

Idbatterim

http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/4479465

you could probably get the above down to closer to 8k ish...