Should I bother with a diesel (sorry)

ryanpetit

ryanpetit

ryanpetit

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5 Mar 2010
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392
Location
Brighton
Hi all,

I know this has been debated to death on here but I guess I need some re-assurance to rest my mind.

My current commute is 54 miles to a from work, and in my petrol car that achieves on average 40mpg this is fine. I prefer driving petrol cars and would not swap it for a DUG DUG in a thousand years with the current fuel prices.

A potential change of circumstance could mean that my commute will increase to 93.4 miles a day, but I could work from home a day a week to bring the miles down. This equates to 373 miles a week which is a fair chunk more than I currently do and that's without adding on personal miles at the weekend.

I'm thinking it would probably put me close to benefiting from a diesel if I swapped my car for one of the same value (around £3.5k). However the diesel would likely have higher running costs and more miles on it (my car is mint with ~50k on). This makes the swap a gamble as any saving in fuel would be wiped out my a turbo or DMF going.

I am leaning towards keeping the petrol car in the event of this change of circumstance, however I still keep browsing auto trader for cheap diesels.

Not quite the 'I've got a new F10 M5 tread!" but what would you recommend? :)
 
Sone said:
i recommend another job, 93.4 mile commute :eek:
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Less than 50 miles each way. Depending on what the OP does it might be something he just has to live with as finding jobs in certain sectors isn't an easy task at the moment.

I've had to swap my <5 mile daily commute for one that will be just over 60 miles. It sucks but my alternative was unemployment.

As for the question, it is one that I ask myself twenty times a day. I've considered everything from an Aygo to a 125cc motorbike and still can't decide what is best! Currently I'm thinking that a Mondeo and halving my original budget is the obvious choice. I've been having a look locally and what I would consider a good buy (not too many miles on the clock, no more than about 7 years old) and the difference between a petrol and diesel is about £1700. On an old car it is debatable whether I would see that back as the fuel saving is about £600 a year. So after three years I could be slightly better off or I could be mopping my tears away with a bill for a new turbo.

Obviously the only way to make the risk worth while is if I am looking at the longer game (5 years +) but then I am in the realms of running about in a 12 year old 200k Mondeo which is less appealing than binning it after three years and starting again.

Sorry that is no help what so ever! If you are happy with your current car and you are getting 40mpg (which is pretty damn good really) then it is a case for "better the devil you know" if ever I've heard one.
 
Thanks for your response lordrobs, sounds like you have a similar conundrum to me.

I'm thinking I should keep my current car, it's just had a fair bit of work done to it too so definitely better the devil you know.
 
Stick with your current petrol maximise your mpg roof rack off empty the frap put your boot etc etc and drive sensibly. Your average digital will probably get 50-mpg so 25% extra mpg But derv is 11p/litre dearer than petrol so bear that in mind too plus the cost to change and the epic bills an oil burner WILL throw at you


Thought a obout an LPG conversion for your current car? Keeps your current admittedly reliable and recent work done to car which you know well and saves you a fair chunk on fuelling costs

Price up the cost of converting it then work out your savings and see his long it takes you to break even
 
ryanpetit said:
Thanks for your response lordrobs, sounds like you have a similar conundrum to me.

I'm thinking I should keep my current car, it's just had a fair bit of work done to it too so definitely better the devil you know.
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Keep it, run it into the ground, recognise you are paying more in fuel but saving in depreciation.
 
[TW]Fox;21346404 said:
Keep it, run it into the ground, recognise you are paying more in fuel but saving in depreciation.
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Generally when you (by you I mean everyone) say "run it into the ground" is there any need? Surely just replace the parts as they go will ensure faultless motoring?
 
Against swap:

1. Your petrol is pretty efficient already
2. You've invested time and money in your car, you know it and can trust its reliability, wheras a new car would be unknown and could throw up bills.
3. You dont want a diesel
4. Petrol car is cheaper to run/maintain
5. Diesels suck

For swap
1. Small fuel cost saving
 
It's definitely worth considering.

Modern Common Rail diesel engines are much more refined than the diesels of old. Plus they can comfortably get over 70mpg on a motorway run. I'm looking at the new VW Jetta and the bluemotion does 75mpg.

35 miles extra per gallon
12 gallon tank
=
420 extra miles per tank

(plus only £20 a year car tax)

You'll not be far off halving your fuel costs. Not in your budget unfortunately but the fuel savings for any diesel aren't to be sniffed at when you're doing that many miles.
 
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Ricochet J said:
Generally when you (by you I mean everyone) say "run it into the ground" is there any need? Surely just replace the parts as they go will ensure faultless motoring?
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People don't mean 'treat it like **** and never maintain it' by that, they mean keep it until it is beyond economical usage, ie. when it's well and truly dead and no longer worth anything.
 
kristmace said:
It's definitely worth considering.

Modern Common Rail diesel engines are much more refined than the diesels of old. Plus they can comfortably get over 70mpg on a motorway run. I'm looking at the new VW Jetta and the bluemotion does 75mpg.

35 miles extra per gallon
12 gallon tank
=
420 extra miles per tank

(plus only £20 a year car tax)

You'll not be far off halving your fuel costs. Not in your budget unfortunately but the fuel savings for any diesel aren't to be sniffed at when you're doing that many miles.
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drive a bluemotion golf at work regularly, never seen 70mpg on the motorway
 
kristmace said:
It's definitely worth considering.

Modern Common Rail diesel engines are much more refined than the diesels of old. Plus they can comfortably get over 70mpg on a motorway run. I'm looking at the new VW Jetta and the bluemotion does 75mpg.
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Good luck with that. The Focus 1.6 TDCi is supposed to get close to that - and maybe it does if you like slipstreaming HGVs but not in the real world, and not by a significant margin.
 
kristmace said:
It's definitely worth considering.

Modern Common Rail diesel engines are much more refined than the diesels of old. Plus they can comfortably get over 70mpg on a motorway run. I'm looking at the new VW Jetta and the bluemotion does 75mpg.

35 miles extra per gallon
12 gallon tank
=
420 extra miles per tank

(plus only £20 a year car tax)

You'll not be far off halving your fuel costs. Not in your budget unfortunately but the fuel savings for any diesel aren't to be sniffed at when you're doing that many miles.
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The route to work would be mixed A and B roads so doubt I'd achieve anywhere near 70mpg. If this were true I'd consider upping my budget, but with a house purchase thrown in the mix it would not be wise.
 
kristmace said:
Modern Common Rail diesel engines are much more refined than the diesels of old. Plus they can comfortably get over 70mpg on a motorway run. I'm looking at the new VW Jetta and the bluemotion does 75mpg.
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They dont do 75mpg - they have just got much better at winning in tests.

The 320d is particularly like this. Never, ever, ever have I got anywhere near the book figures. I barely scrape combined on a long Motorway run - whereas with older BMW's driven in exactly the same way my sort of driving on the Motorway run yields much more than combined.
 
Kenai said:
People don't mean 'treat it like **** and never maintain it' by that, they mean keep it until it is beyond economical usage, ie. when it's well and truly dead and no longer worth anything.
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If it's an MGF like his sig, everything in a K series is dirt cheap to replace. The point of no return is when your feet go through the floor. :D

Edit: Now looking at the pic I'm not too sure what it is. :p
 
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