I see, so £800 is irrelevant. Yet you recently felt the need to open a thread remarking on the near 2p+VAT rise on a litre of fuel, an increase which will cost the average 10,000 miles/year 30mpg driver a grand total of £36 extra?
Most people in the UK do not have the spare cash for a £25,000 car - most infact struggle to get by.
So turning this around, you are saying if you do not drive very many miles, you should buy a car which has worse fuel economy because it will only cost you a little bit more?
Sort of - I'm saying if you do not drive very many miles, fuel economy is a relatively unimportant factor in your car purchase, or at least, it should be. There are other factors which are more important. As I am sure you can appreciate.
So again, this £40/year road tax to the government is not useful, yet the £36/year extra in fuel tax is?
I'm not sure why you keep referring to the £36 thing (Or indeed what context its in, personally the 2p a litre in tax doesn't affect me as I also am a relatively low mileage driver) but lets just look at some key numbers.
Cost of vehicle: £25000
Saving in road tax (approx): £40
As you can see, a drop in the ocean. It is a figure which is so small compared to the outlay in question that it should not even feature on the radar.
So again, we're fixated on the performance differences between petrol and diesel. Yes the petrol is faster, I believe I pointed this out. Does this make the diesel slow? Is it not possible that the GTD is sufficiently fast, and more aesthetically pleasing than the TDI 140 SE? The beauty of choice in the car market is that you do not have to pick the fastest model, or the most comfortable. There are options available to compromise in between.
I cannot really see what, if any, advantages a GTD offers the low mileage driver over a GTI. Perhaps you'd like to point them out? We've already established how small the savings you can hope to gain from the GTD's economy are.
So providing 4 valid reasons why someone might choose to buy a diesel vehicle over a petrol is the worst post in this thread?
You completely ignore the purchase price in question here. If the guy had just bought a £1500 Golf diesel, then everything you say suddenly starts to make more sense. But he hasn't. He's just dropped £25,000 on a car. People who drop £25,000 on a car do not need to worry about whether they need to pay an extra 40 quid a year to put tax on it, and if they do, they shouldnt be buying £25,000 cars. A pretty simple concept.
I am not sure what you have against diesels. Have you been traumatized by a poor one earlier in your life? They offer acceptable performance, relaxed driving style, better economy, lower tax and emissions.
These benefits are, of course, indisputable - it is true that in many circumstances, you can realise these benefits by chosing a diesel car. But the OP's situation is unusual in that he simply doesn't cover the miles to benefit in any meaningful way from the better economy and lower tax.
To put it another way - it will take him nearly 5 years to save, in road tax, the amount he wasted when he was conned into buying Autoglym Lifeshine as part of his deal.
Surely you can see the complete mismatch of priorities here? On the one hand the car choice itself was exccesively (given the mileage) 'tight' when it came to running costs, but then any savings were reckessly thrown away by allowing the dealer to con him into purchasing not only the overpriced Lifeshine product but also GAP insurance from the dealer, which is often up to FOUR TIMES more expense than arranging the same cover from a dedicated provider of GAP cover.
Either he's watching the pennies - in which case stop throwing money at dealers for tat and spending £25,000 on very ordinary cars - or he's got the cash, in which case go for the proper model and enjoy it.
I might think you haven't had much experience of modern diesels, yet knowing your wide and thorough car knowledge I find this doubtful. This thread had highlighted that diesel cars are not more expensive to buy that their petrol equivalent, which is the usual argument as to why the latter should bought.
I'm glad you chose not to go down that road as I've extensive experience of modern diesels. Note infact I've not even claimed they are bad - I've recognised and stated several scenarios where the Golf GTD is absolutely the right car. Sadly though, the guy with the new Golf appears to fit none of these scenarios.
As a low mileage usage you simply cannot beat a quiet, refined, decent petrol engine. The engine in the Golf GTI is turbocharged, as well, which will provide him many of the perceived benefits in driveability people seek from diesels (Most of the positive driving traits of a diesel are from the fact they are turbocharged, not the fact they are diesel powered).
You appear to get a great deal of satisfaction in ridiculing people on this forum.
Not at all. I get a great deal of satisfaction from engaging in meaningful, passionate debate on all aspects of motoring. I enjoy long posts with many points. It's interesting - especially when the other person engages you back, counters your arguments with logical thought, etc etc. Sadly this is not something which happens often on here, with the other party usually descending into petty personal insults.
I cannot tell if you do it just to get a reaction, or if you are plain obnoxious.
Excelent - right on cue, infact.
I shall be joining them myself, goodnight.
What a shame you couldnt have stated this before I wasted 10 minutes compsing yet another well thought out, well considered and rational reply.
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