Is Petrol King Again ?

G

Guest106

Guest
Once upon a time a short while back, diesel was way more attractive than petrol. The new diesels needed far less servicing, the mpg was significantly better, there was a lot more ooomph where it was needed, the mileage capability was much higher, and as if to drive home the superiority the purchase price of a diesel saloon averaged circa 2000 to 3000 Euros more.
These high prices, we were assured, were due to the higher costs of producing a superior car. Was this fact or fiction ? I know what I think now and I know what I thought back then and these thoughts are polar opposites.

Back then, many of us convinced ourselves that 'the diesel made economic sense' and could quote a stream of data in support and so despite the expense involved we bought the costlier cars in great numbers.

Now, imo, through stealth the diesel advantage has been well and truly lost. It's been gone for some time actually so why do so many of us allow ourselves to be led by the nose and pay over the odds for diesel cars that do not now have the advantages that induced us to engage with diesels in the first place ?

Is it time to clear away the (diesel) smoke, revert to buying petrol models and save ourselves a bundle of money in the process ?
What say ye ?
 
I've only recently started driving a diesel car, having been a petrol car driver previously. Sure enough, economically speaking diesel doesn't make a whole lot of sense unless you're doing relatively high mileage (probably >15k per annum), but I do prefer the diesel car- it's got those tangible advantages you list: "oomph" and fuel economy and I just simply prefer the diesel drive. I don't know if diesel prices will ever be on a par with petrol again (maybe refineries in Europe might expand their diesel capability to meet demand?) but I know from anecdotal evidence that most diesel drivers prefer the diesel drive and won't switch for that reason alone- unless of course the premium for ownership of diesel cars increases even more!
 
Diesel push in the back make for much more enjoyable driving.

Lower co2 how green are we.

Drive a BMW 320 and 320d side by side and you will appreciate the difference. The petrol car will feel adequate and slow. The diesel on the other will pull strongly.

Ease of drive les gear change on those long spins.

No down shift to overtake.

Diesel is alive and kicking, bye bye petrol.
 
Even before the recent price disparity between petrol and diesel the decision largely depended on the number of miles you did and whether the higher purchase price was outweighed by the increased economy. With the recent supply squeeze (and it's a case of building new refineries to resolve this, China and India will not be reducing their demand any time soon) hiking prices I'd say that buying a diesel may now be an even more marginal decision.

Plus - there is and has been a growing number of problems - common-rail, flywheels, EGR valves, suspicions around misfuelling - as diesels are often now much more complicated than their petrol equivalents. This will be (already is in the UK) reflected in the residuals for these cars, you no longer get much if anything of the higher purchase price back.

My personal opinion (and I've owned both) is that if you're buying a largish new/nearly new car, and intend to keep it for a while, and will be doing >15k a year - buy a diesel and service it properly. Otherwise bargain hard on a small 1.6 petrol.

SSE
 
I think it's a tad ridiculous for the Green Party to be pushing Diesel through the new carbon emissions VRT ratings.

How can we be saving the environment when Diesel cars emit Carcinogenic material into the atmosphere.

Lets get to the point here.

BMW have already built the Hydro 7 series.

This means that the technology IS AVAILABLE.

The question is how much is a litre of water at your local petrol station ( for those of you who still have a local petrol station left )
 
Greens are pushing low carbon not diesel.

Diesel just happens to be low carbon.

Surely 7 series hydro needs hydrogen to fuel it not water, water is the exhaust. How much is a litre of Hydrogen?

Petrol fumes will kill you in an enclosed space, diesel fumes will not.

The fact that it is as chaep to buy a used diesel is good for me, I will buy a diesel every time.

1john are you diesel hating Jeremy Clarkson in disguise?
 
John could you compare an Aston Martin DBS to a Toyota Yaris for us ?
 
Nope, I'm gonna stay on message with this one.
There must be a multitude of drivers out there now with a veritable avalanche of experience of the petrol versus diesel argument and I genuinely feel that it would be very beneficial to tap into that if only this can be done.

It would be beneficial to hear from some who have done the math, travelled the road, paid the price or whatever and who are prepared to set out for us in conversational terms what in the view of each that experience boiled down to in the end.

As regards possible association with the man bearing the same initials as Our Lord, (JC) well no connection there and small doses of him at a time would do me but he does have his moments and there are flashes of of concurrent thought.
 
So you don't wish to burn the Yaris out whilst shagging the Aston DBS up the tail pipe then.
 
And I haven't even asked about Bio-fuel yet or car gas.
Must be a tale or two to tell there too.
Fitted gas to a Merc 280SE some years back but never got satisfaction in the performance and was glad to see the back of it in the end.
 
Frank said:
Petrol fumes will kill you in an enclosed space, diesel fumes will not.
Click to expand...

How often do you find yourself in an enclosed space with the engine running?

Diesel fumes are disgusting and cause cancer. Do you diesel owners walk at all?

The sooner diesel bites the particulate matter dust the better.
 
What scientific proof do you have that Diesel fumes cause cancer?
Or is this just your view?
Most new diesel engines have particulate filters as standard and are far more economical then petrol engines with lower co2 as well.
 
Petrol is a cheaper fuel. Maybe 10% less per litre.

In all other respects under the new VRT and road tax regime diesel wins. Up to 50% better economy, cheaper to buy, more relaxing to drive etc. etc.
 
I drove petrol cars for years. In the last 10 I've only driven diesel. There is simply no competition. Diesel all the way!

That said I have to take issue with all the european governments who, through taxation, have made diesel more expensive than petrol even though the refining process is several steps simpler and thus cheaper.

As we have all slowly begun to switch to diesel the government has started to worry about its tax-take and unfairly taxed diesel. Let that be a warning to anyone who wants to buy a hybrid. As you do your bit for the environment so you make yourself a target for marginal taxation which will inevitably force you away from the greener fuel.
 
Spent a few weeks driving in France this summer. Diesel in UK and Ireland is dearer than petrol but in FRance the differential is the other way, petrol is dearer than diesel. Why is that?

Slim
 
Ed054 said:
What scientific proof do you have that Diesel fumes cause cancer?
Click to expand...

Not hard to find. Google "diesel cancer"
[broken link removed]
[broken link removed]
http://www.rag.org.au/buc/cancerrisk.htm

Ed054 said:
Most new diesel engines have particulate filters as standard and are far more economical then petrol engines with lower co2 as well.
Click to expand...

This I don't dispute, but "most" isn't good enough and there are plenty of older, noisy, smelly diesel vehicles out there.

Health > economy.
 
Anyone care to enlighten this discussion regarding the car price differentials across a number of makes/models ? Diesels are dearer but by how much and at what point could one expect to break even on the additional cost ?
Perhaps there's a website somewhere doing this already in an easy-to-read format ?
Seems to me that the reasons advanced for going diesel are not generally economic so what are they ?
 


Ireland's best selling car (Ford Focus) is a good example. A 1.4 80bhp petrol engined base car, is actually more expensive new than a 1.8TDCI diesel with 115bhp.

Diesel will have fuel economy, performance, driveability, and road tax advanatges.
 
Slim said:
Spent a few weeks driving in France this summer. Diesel in UK and Ireland is dearer than petrol but in FRance the differential is the other way, petrol is dearer than diesel. Why is that?

Slim
Click to expand...

Same in Germany, the diesel is about 7 cent cheaper.

Joejoe
 
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