Diesel or Petrol?

[DiscoStu]

I recently bought my first diesel and I don't think I'll ever go back to petrol.

Bucketloads of torque and 50 mpg, perfect for a skinflint like myself

[Archangel]

Started the long deliberation of what car to get next. Nothing too exotic, just a medium sized motorway cruiser that's not too dull or too expensive to run, around 3 years old and preferably under £15k.

I've never owned a diesel before, mainly because I like something with a 0-60 of under 8 seconds. However looking on Parkers some of the recentish models offer a similar performance with diesel as they do with the equivalent petrol variant, yet still have an average mpg around the 50s where petrol is mid 30s at best.

So is diesel becoming a no brainer? Road tax is typically a lot cheaper (e.g. diesel is band B or C where the petrol is F or G), performance is on par (even if it's delivered differently with low down torque rather than the high revs of petrol), and some diesels even sound less clattery than we've come to expect.

As a non-diesel owner am I missing some downsides that need to be considered?

My wife drives an X type Jag 2.0 turbo diesel (basically a re-skinned mondeo), I like the mid range acceleration, its quite nippy, and does about 40mpg. Pretty good value 2nd hand (and quite well equpped with leather c/c etc).

The servicing probably works out cheaper than a petrol, because there are no spark plugs to change.

[Troll]

red diesel

[Peoplesoft bloke]

I recently bought my first diesel and I don't think I'll ever go back to petrol.

Bucketloads of torque and 50 mpg, perfect for a skinflint like myself

Seconded - 0-60 is all very well, but in real world situations - eg overtaking, current diesel is every but as quick as old Impreza (and nearly twice as economical) - just not as much fun around roundabouts etc.

[PAH]

I recently bought my first diesel and I don't think I'll ever go back to petrol.

Bucketloads of torque and 50 mpg, perfect for a skinflint like myself

A recent episode with a diesel where we were doing a bit of a drag race up a steep dual carriageway opened my eyes to modern diesel performance. His low down torque meant it took me quite a few seconds to catch him up and overtake him, even though on paper my car should be a lot quicker.

Maybe I need to find that site that shows accurate 0-100 times rather than pay too much attention to 0-60s as a gauge of performance.

[PAH]

Seconded - 0-60 is all very well, but in real world situations - eg overtaking, current diesel is every but as quick as old Impreza (and nearly twice as economical) - just not as much fun around roundabouts etc.

How do you find the driving experience though? Is the engine soundproofed out or do they still give some of that aural enjoyment a meaty petrol engine does?

I suppose for your normal Fords and Vauxhalls once you're at cruising speed there's little difference apart from the speed the fuel gauge drops.

I certainly see diesels becoming more popular than petrol if the government keeps increasing road tax based on CO2. I was thinking about a scooby seeing as they're relatively cheap if you can live with the styling, but at £300-400 for road tax per year, high insurance group, plus 20mpg if lucky and probably requiring super unleaded, it's a tad on the expensive to run side.

[sasguru]

Mazda 6

[miffy]

A 3 year old beemer 330d will do the trick for you.

I've had one and I'm considering binning the S4 and getting a fully loaded 335d with the auto box.

Will convince you diesel is the way forward. Mustle car torque. Leaves a lot of cars for dust and the manuals (well any diesel manual) is much easier to drive than a petrol with fewer gear changes. The autos are sublime.

My old 330 was the 204bhp model. Even if you trash it round, 30+ mpg round town, 40+ on motorways.

Edit: I forgot to add. Running costs aren't that high either. 18k service intervals and the three different services (Oil, Inspection 1, Inspection 2) are roughly £190, £250, £300 respectively from a beemer dealer, even cheaper at a specialist. I did 50k in mine and never even had the brake discs replaced. Every other car no more than 20k before I burnt the discs out.

Quality bit of kit.

[Peoplesoft bloke]

How do you find the driving experience though? Is the engine soundproofed out or do they still give some of that aural enjoyment a meaty petrol engine does?

I suppose for your normal Fords and Vauxhalls once you're at cruising speed there's little difference apart from the speed the fuel gauge drops.

I certainly see diesels becoming more popular than petrol if the government keeps increasing road tax based on CO2. I was thinking about a scooby seeing as they're relatively cheap if you can live with the styling, but at £300-400 for road tax per year, high insurance group, plus 20mpg if lucky and probably requiring super unleaded, it's a tad on the expensive to run side.

It's so quiet you don't notice - so you don't get the same soundtrack - however BMW Audi and Merc do diesel sixes and eights which ought to sound quite nice and there's a v6 diesel Jag too.

For nice sounds I go out in my old petrol v8 :-) For getting there quickish and quietish modern diesels take some beating IMHO of course.

[Peoplesoft bloke]

AFAIR Diesel was never cheeper than unleaded cause unleaded is 3 Star. Diesel was cheeper than old 4 star, which you can't get any more....

You can still get 4 star. It's not easy to find, but it is still sold (and it's more than diesel now)