Is it worth me looking at a diesel?

Tachyon

Tachyon

Tachyon

Associate
Joined
26 Dec 2003
Posts
2,154
Location
Same oul' town
Need a little bit of education on whether or not it's worth my while looking at a diesel car, it's not that I particularly want one but I'll explain this.

I'm thinking of changing my 10yr old Focus in the incoming months and I was thinking of something along the lines of an Octavia estate or maybe an i40 estate, something anyway that I can throw a lot of junk into when I'm out for the day or the odd family weekend away.

I do well below average miles, somewhere around 8k a year and it's probably 99% on the motorway. My daily commute is 13 mile each way, almost all on the motorway, I do next to no city driving.

The reason I'm even looking at diesel is because there seems to be far more selection in the second hand car market with diesel engines over petrol in the cars I'm considering.

I understand theres the extra cost of initial purchase and at the pump as well, however as I generally hold onto cars for at least 6-7 yrs I'm thinking I may break even, I don't know, I haven't worked it out for sure.

My concern is, is my low mileage going to make me a candidate for dpf problems or will the motorway driving help offset this? Anyways, just wondering if they're even worth looking at as I'm more than happy with a petrol car and it might just be a matter of waiting until I see something suitable, at the minute it's only about giving me more options.
 
Don't bother IMO based on those criteria, mileage is too low to make massive savings over only 6-7 years and nobody does 99% on the motorway in terms of time (certainly not if they only have a 13 mile commute each way), even if you live and work next to a motorway you still have junctions to exit, parking maneuvers and perhaps occasionally visit other places (friends, shopping etc).

You are correct in that there may be more choice of diesels but if you bide your time you can probably find acceptable offers on petrol.
 
Thanks for reply, pretty much the answer I was expecting due to my mileage. I'll just keep an eye out for a suitable petrol car.
 
Err I really don't know why you are nearly all bringing out the OcUK de-rigour line of No to derv because the mileage is too low...

Have you done any calculations?

Lets pick a couple of the most sold car in the UK (just so happens to be what the OP has anyway
Two 2010 Focus 1.6 Titaniums, one diesel, one petrol. Both £10,000 to buy S/H
I pulled the details off Autotrader for two examples

Now I could be looking at the figures completely wrong and that is very possible because my maths is, to be quite honest, utterly shocking!
But here...
costs_zpsdd599b77.png


Even after just one year you have made a saving of £957 driving the diesel
After seven years that's gone up to £6,699 !!!

That's a saving of 66% of the purchase price of the car itself!!!!!!!!!!!!


EDIT ***
Ahh shh...ugar!
Fuel costs are in Litres and not gallons that may well change things. :o
Back to the drawing board

EDIT 2 ***

Going to bed, you can work it out! I have work in the morning and it's 00:50 :eek:
 
Last edited:
Also add when the dirty diesel breaks it is likely to roughly cost 3x more than a petrol to maintain.

Get a petrol car.
 
My honest oppinion is that your 13 mile commute at motorway speeds is just enough to reduce the risk of problems caused by doing short trips in a diesel regularly.Still at 8k miles per year your still probably better off going petrol.. but if you can only find the car you want in diesel due to more availability theres nothing wrong with getting one.

Cheers
 
Suppose the only argument to say yes look at a diesel would be the general sheep public only buying new diesels so the most choice for say good condition would be a diesel as there's so many for sale.

I doubt it though as the cars you're looking at are run of the mill.
 
I guess the good thing about the likes of the i40 even in diesel form is the mega warranty - if you keep cars for a long time ( which it sounds like you do) it might work out well enough
 
Diesel also typically slightly higher servicing, slightly lower insurance

I also do similar mileage, about 9k per annum for my commute, use the other halfs compnay car for any private mileage.

Its a close call but it seems to work out that diesel is also better for me at my mileage.
Also the car I am seriously looking into (mini) has the same fuel tank on both models, I have to go out of my way to fill up since I do a cross country commute with no petrol stations on the way, I like to fill up fortnightly. The petrol model looks very iffy for a two week commute, the diesel is almost upto a 3 week cycle as opposed to two.

If like me you hate petrol stations then diesel helps to release some of that pain ;)
 
It completely depends on what's available and the purchase price difference between the engine choices.

Give us a budget and some spec and it'll be easier to advise.
 
Fuzz said:
Lets pick a couple of the most sold car in the UK (just so happens to be what the OP has anyway
Two 2010 Focus 1.6 Titaniums, one diesel, one petrol. Both £10,000 to buy S/H
I pulled the details off Autotrader for two examples
Click to expand...

Were those two examples of equivalent specification and mileage? It seems unusual that the diesel would be the same price if they were.
 
Fuzz said:
Now I could be looking at the figures completely wrong and that is very possible because my maths is, to be quite honest, utterly shocking!
But here...
costs_zpsdd599b77.png
Click to expand...

189 gallons is 858 litres = £1149 for the year
124 gallons is 563 litres = £769 for the year

In all likelihood I'd be surprised if you hit 64MPG on a commute where you're doing 8000 miles a year though. A diesel is at it's best sitting in 6th on a motorway at a constant speed.
 
desires said:
If he's keeping it for 7 years then he can just do his own services at a minimal cost
Click to expand...

My question is like this, OP would you be doing your own services?

As that will make a difference. Whatever you do buy/look at I would check out the common faults before going whether it is a petrol or diesel car.
 
daz said:
189 gallons is 858 litres = £1149 for the year
124 gallons is 563 litres = £769 for the year

In all likelihood I'd be surprised if you hit 64MPG on a commute where you're doing 8000 miles a year though. A diesel is at it's best sitting in 6th on a motorway at a constant speed.
Click to expand...

Cheers for the maths update. :D I needed sleep. ;)

But yea being as the only metrics we have to go on when comparing fuel usage is MPG, then using the combined MPG's of both cars as listed is the only way of doing it.

So then you end up being £380 quid in pocket over the Petrol version, even before taking the reduced tax into account.

Seems like a no brainer to me, epecially when you say the diesel will be best sat on a motorway at constant speed..... Is this not what the OP's main commute roads consisted of?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom