Is diesel dead?

barnettgs · 7 Jun 2008 at 08:52

http://www.whatcar.com/news-special-report.aspx?NA=233064&EL=3246015

Take the Citroen C1, for instance. The diesel version does an extra seven miles to the gallon and only costs £1000 more than the petrol. Sounds tempting, doesn't it?

Well, unless you plan on using it for space travel, forget it. You'd have to do around 1.3 million miles just to make the extra cost back. That's nearly three times to the moon and back.

A petrol, rather than diesel, Ford Focus will be the cheaper alternative for most people, too.

A petrol Mercedes E-Class probably won't be, though. You'll have to do 61,000 miles before you make back the extra cost of the diesel car in fuel savings, but many owners will spend a lot of time on the motorway, so they could do so quite easily.

'Bigger diesel cars generally hold their value better than petrol versions. However, if the cost of diesel fuel continues to soar, I expect many diesel cars to plummet in value as petrol cars become cheaper to run.'

Hmm, the end of the diesel era!

Howard · 7 Jun 2008 at 08:56

Let's hope so, eh?

JRS · 7 Jun 2008 at 09:01

No, diesel isn't dying. It's just that maybe now people/manufacturers will be a tiny bit more sensible about it.

I mean, what bright spark honestly thought sticking a diesel engine in a C1 was worth it? The petrol engines are pretty frugal anyway, all the diesel does is add weight and make the car more expensive. Same now goes for the smaller Fiats (500 and Panda) - the 1.2 petrol is almost obscenely frugal even around town if my mother's 500 is to be believed. Dad's 1.3 MultiJet Panda is better, but not by all that much.

L0rdMike · 7 Jun 2008 at 09:01

Whats the difference in performance in the C1 Petrol and Diesel?

JRS · 7 Jun 2008 at 09:05

C1 petrol - 1.0L 3-pot, 68PS, 61.4mpg combined. 98mph top speed, 0-62 in 13.7sec.
C1 diesel - 1.4L 4-pot, 55PS, 68.9mpg combined. 96mph top speed, 0-62 in 15.6sec.

***edit***

Citroen claims an extra-urban fuel consumption of 83.1mpg for the diesel. Not sure how realistic that is in The Real World™, given that you aren't likely to ever sit at 56mph for an entire tank of fuel....

DannyW · 7 Jun 2008 at 09:34

polo bluemotion's for everyone i say

Muffin` · 7 Jun 2008 at 09:35

If it was still 3p differnce it would be worth it, maybe

JRS · 7 Jun 2008 at 09:37

DannyW said:
polo bluemotion's for everyone i say

The day I willingly buy a VAG product is the day Satan heads off to work in the morning on a snowmobile

DiG · 7 Jun 2008 at 09:55

JRS said:
C1 petrol - 1.0L 3-pot, 68PS, 61.4mpg combined. 98mph top speed, 0-62 in 13.7sec.
C1 diesel - 1.4L 4-pot, 55PS, 68.9mpg combined. 96mph top speed, 0-62 in 15.6sec.

***edit***

Citroen claims an extra-urban fuel consumption of 83.1mpg for the diesel. Not sure how realistic that is in The Real World™, given that you aren't likely to ever sit at 56mph for an entire tank of fuel....

At home we have a C3 1.4 HDI and that gives us 85mpg on a motorway run with ease, at 70-80. In fact I did Southampton-Yorkshire Dales, driving round the dales for a week and then back again and got 72mpg average! Shame the build quality is so rubbish though!

Dogbreath · 7 Jun 2008 at 10:02

DannyW said:
polo bluemotion's for everyone i say

Yeah, why not pay a huge premium for a base spec car that doesn't even deliver the advertised mileage? Great choice.

JRS · 7 Jun 2008 at 10:07

DiG said:
At home we have a C3 1.4 HDI and that gives us 85mpg on a motorway run with ease, at 70-80. In fact I did Southampton-Yorkshire Dales, driving round the dales for a week and then back again and got 72mpg average! Shame the build quality is so rubbish though!

I don't doubt that the car is capable, even in C1 guise. But....would you honestly want to drive incredibly long distances at motorway cruising speed in something as small as a C1?

It's supposed to be a city car. If it was meant to be a motorway cruiser it'd be a lot larger

DannyW · 7 Jun 2008 at 10:09

Dogbreath said:
Yeah, why not pay a huge premium for a base spec car that doesn't even deliver the advertised mileage? Great choice.

but it's german?!?

ok,

focus econetic then?

Efaws · 7 Jun 2008 at 10:11

Nah there not dead

As long as the chippys are open, people will buy them

Muffin` · 7 Jun 2008 at 10:45

DiG said:
At home we have a C3 1.4 HDI and that gives us 85mpg on a motorway run with ease, at 70-80.

Demon · 7 Jun 2008 at 10:49

Also, the GM group is introducing the HCCi engines into the VX range next year, this is a petrol engine that can run in the same manner as a diesel engine using compression to ignite the petrol, or switch instantly to conventional 'spark' ignition, this is alledged to give 15%+ fuel consumption improvement for petrol engines..

[TR]SweetSpotOz · 7 Jun 2008 at 10:55

NathanE · 7 Jun 2008 at 10:57

markyp23 said:
Why does everyone hate diesels?

Why don't you....just not drive them?

And I guess that around 65% of people do that...

[TR]SweetSpotOz · 7 Jun 2008 at 10:58

Muffin` · 7 Jun 2008 at 10:59

NathanE said:
And I guess that around 65% of people do that...

Or have no say in the matter, wage > no wage and petrol

Muffin` · 7 Jun 2008 at 11:03

markyp23 said:
That's fine. I don't see the constant need to moan about them though when it has absolutely no bearing on their lives or their car experience.

Well it does have a bearing on our lives as things we buys as consumers get more expensive as the whole of the UK and now sadly Europe too think "OMG diesel, it's so cheap, we're saved!"

But unfortunately diesel is a by product of petrol and the refiners only make so much of the stuff, which ultimately leads to less availability for the haulage company’s, and supply and demand = more expensive fuel and goods.