Diesel or Petrol?

[PAH]

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

I remember the 330d being EVO's car of the year when it came out. I see on autotrader they're going for around £13k for a 2005 model. Looks a bargain. Certainly one for the list. At least people will expect me to drive like a twat!

[miffy]

I remember the 330d being EVO's car of the year when it came out. I see on autotrader they're going for around £13k for a 2005 model. Looks a bargain. Certainly one for the list. At least people will expect me to drive like a twat!

Indeed. Awesome car. Rock solid reliablity too. A colleague had his chipped and that made a massive difference. He had it dyno'd and it was measured at 257 bhp.

Only downside was when you drove it hard everyday, the back tyres didn't seem to last too long. Mine was the m-sport with the 18" rims and you're looking at 400 notes to replenish the back axle, say every 10k or so

Great fun to drive though, 6 pot growl and it just begs you to drive it like a moron. A little sqeeze of the right pedal and you're off!

I know where my 15k would be spent...

[DimPrawn]

If you look in the back pages of most car mags, they show the true cost (pence per mile) of each new car.

This take into account:

Depreciation - diesels often cost £1000's more than the equivalent petrol model.
Servicing - servicing costs are generally higher - more filters to change
Price of diesel - diesel costs more per litre than petrol


Overall, the PPM seems to be about the same as the petrol, at least for those doing less than 15K miles per year.

If you are doing a lot more miles than that, you will save yourself some money.


I like the BMW 330d and 335d. But the low down vibration and heavy nose means the the petrol 330 is much more refined, smooth and sophisticated.

[Troll]

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....

Flip... I am old enough to remember when diesel was the cheapest fuel on the forecourt..I seem to recall it was due to getting more gallons of diesel than petrol from a barrel of oil

it all went tits up when the discount was given to get everyone to switch to unleaded - wasn't that 2 star?

[Peoplesoft bloke]

That's LRP rather than proper leaded 4 star is it not?...

And there's some sort of super unleaded with extra nasties in it for the exotica... never seen any around here though.

No it's proper 4 star

http://www.leadedpetrol.co.uk/

and that crapi would likely be happy on unleaded anyway unless you planned to do mega miles in it.

[Mr Crosby]

I remember the 330d being EVO's car of the year when it came out. I see on autotrader they're going for around £13k for a 2005 model. Looks a bargain. Certainly one for the list. At least people will expect me to drive like a twat!

There is a 2006 330d M sport with only 43k on the clock for £11,780

[PAH]

There is a 2006 330d M sport with only 43k on the clock for £11,780

Too cheap to be true. If you look closely the back half probably has a cooper badge on it.

[PAH]

If you are doing a lot more miles than that, you will save yourself some money.

That's the thing. If I stay in a b&b during the week I do around 30k miles per year. If I rent somewhere close to work (preferred option) I can do less than half that.

[DimPrawn]

Before you buy a 330d, try a petrol 330 and although it lacks the midrange thrust of the diesel, it is so smooth and quiet you wonder if the engine is actually turning at traffic lights.

On a long journey I find the lowdown vibration and hum of the modern diesel unpleasant. And who wants to get diesel on their clothes filling up?

Didn't top gear enter an old 330d into a 24 hr endurance race recently?

[NotAllThere]

I bought a peugeot 206 2.0l HDi Turbo-diesel for a 100 mile each way (weekly) commute. Fantastic around little mountain roads, great on the motorways. Fuel consumption of course was low.

There's a fairly steep hill on the motorway as I get close to home. I'd hit the bottom of it at about 90mph, and still be doing 90mph at the top.

The current family car is petrol. The next will be diesel.

( Also, I go to eastern europe fairly often, and sometimes unleaded isn't that easy to find ).