New car advice - is diesel a good choice?

marl · 1 Jan 2019 at 13:40

Hi guys,

a few months ago I put up a post about buying a new car, such as something with a DSG box such as an Octavia/Leon or Fabia/Ibiza.

My hand has now been somewhat forced as my current car, a Skoda Fabia now needs some work done which will cost more than the car is worth - plus later this year its due a new timing belt - so I think the time has come to change!

There are plenty of approved used examples of the above available, but I'm a bit wary of buying a diesel as there is so much ant-diesel press around at the moment!

Used prices for the models I'm looking at seem to be very similar for either a petrol or diesel.

So, what do you think, is diesel still a sensible purchase, or would petrol be a more sensible choice - I currently do about 15 000 miles a year!

Cheers and happy new year!

bloodiedathame · 1 Jan 2019 at 13:48

Petrol.

paradigm · 1 Jan 2019 at 14:21

At 15,000 miles annually, assuming 40MPG for the petrol and 60 for the diesel, given the current disparity between the fuel costs, you’d save around. £400 a year running the diesel, not exactly monumental savings.

I’d get the petrol personally.

MagicBoy · 1 Jan 2019 at 14:53

Petrol.

Purchase cost is higher. Modern diesels are a ticking time bomb with DPFs, DMFs and all the other tech they've deployed to try and keep emissions and vibrations in check going wrong.

OpenToSuggestions · 1 Jan 2019 at 14:55

MagicBoy said:
Petrol.

Purchase cost is higher. Modern diesels are a ticking time bomb with DPFs, DMFs and all the other tech they've deployed to try and keep emissions and vibrations in check going wrong.

This.

paradigm · 1 Jan 2019 at 15:01

MagicBoy said:
Petrol.

Purchase cost is higher. Modern diesels are a ticking time bomb with DPFs, DMFs and all the other tech they've deployed to try and keep emissions and vibrations in check going wrong.

I’m not sure this argument holds water these days, what with dual mass flywheels, petrol particulate filters, direct injection and variable vane turbos now commonplace on most petrols. Heck even the vibration thing is true with your 3-cyl petrols.

I’m all for the petrol, but down to preference rather than complexity.

Vita · 1 Jan 2019 at 15:02

Buy what you feel suits your needs the most. Every car has its issues.

MagicBoy · 1 Jan 2019 at 15:03

paradigm said:
I’m not sure this argument holds water these days, what with dual mass flywheels, petrol particulate filters, direct injection and variable vane turbos now commonplace on most petrols.

Darn, guess I'll have to run my EU3 TDI into the ground then. Or until the government legislate it off the road.

OpenToSuggestions · 1 Jan 2019 at 15:11

MagicBoy said:
Darn, guess I'll have to run my EU3 TDI into the ground then. Or until the government legislate it off the road.

I miss my remapped 2007 Focus 2.0 TDCI. It used to belch it's guts all over the road when you hit boost.

paradigm said:
I’m not sure this argument holds water these days, what with dual mass flywheels, petrol particulate filters, direct injection and variable vane turbos now commonplace on most petrols. Heck even the vibration thing is true with your 3-cyl petrols.

I’m all for the petrol, but down to preference rather than complexity.

Whilst I agree, the latest diesels have gone a step further with all the Adblue nonsense

.
Petrols are definitely getting more and more complex though sadly.

Jokester · 1 Jan 2019 at 15:22

How much is the work and timing belt going to cost you to keep the car going?

How much are you willing to spend on the new car?

MagicBoy · 1 Jan 2019 at 15:28

Jokester said:
How much is the work and timing belt going to cost you to keep the car going?

How much are you willing to spend on the new car?

I went through the same thought process in the summer after putting the timing belt change off for a year. Found a one-man band mechanic via a mate who keeps the overheads low. He did the work for 2/3rds the price of the local garage. If it gets me another 3-4 years out of the car then it was well worth it.

The old belt was physically fine, but was very close to the stretch limit on the tensioner after 6 years.

marl · 1 Jan 2019 at 15:57

paradigm said:
I’m not sure this argument holds water these days, what with dual mass flywheels, petrol particulate filters, direct injection and variable vane turbos now commonplace on most petrols. Heck even the vibration thing is true with your 3-cyl petrols.

This is what confuses me, my cousin is a mechanic and he reckons a lot of the newer, low capacity higher powered engines may not be durable over high mileages!

How much are you willing to spend on the new car?

Jokester said:
How much is the work and timing belt going to cost you to keep the car going?.

The power steering has failed and they say it needs a new power steering rack - they haven't ordered one but reckon it would be about £350 + fitting. The car is also due for a service and the MOT at the end of July. The timing belt is also due for replacement this year.

The other concern is that after 206000 miles and almost 14 years my Fabia is still on the same clutch, exhaust, turbo and injectors - so whilst I can't complain I'm thinking that any one, or combination of these parts might fail in the near future!

Price wise, I could go up to about 15k

Doobedoo · 1 Jan 2019 at 16:17

Timing belt is easy enough to do on a Fabia, did mine on the Vrs with no major dramas and quite a saving in labour.

Tinders · 1 Jan 2019 at 21:29

Ive run Diesels for a few years now, to be fair ive not had any catastrophic failures on any of my cars and I generally run them for 100k over 4 years, but my mileage is 70% motorway. I'd certainly still buy one, there still no penalty for owning a Euro 6 car. I wouldnt buy any Diesel over 7 or 8 years old unless i had evidence of the main failure points being addressed.

Daff_Duck · 2 Jan 2019 at 07:35

From over 20 yrs of driving diesel cars and various brands from Ford to German the biggest issue and cost I found was the DPF all cars I bought where between 4-6 yrs old. The worst offender I had, and sadly the best car was the Audi A4. I would have gladly kept this car till it was no longer economical to drive. Except the poor DPF failed and even after a “full clean” and eventually replacing ( at large cost) it failed again.
Bearing in mind he cost of diesel now and the miles I currently do. It pains me to say it’s Petrol from now on

Simon · 2 Jan 2019 at 08:08

Use decent fuel and diesel injectors don’t fail.

paradigm · 2 Jan 2019 at 08:23

Simon said:
Use decent fuel and diesel injectors don’t fail.

True. Also, use a diesel as it’s intended and DPFs tend to last for eons. Never had so much as a DPF warning on either of my A4s, let alone failure.

[TW]Fox · 2 Jan 2019 at 09:29

Diesel in small cars has never and will never make sense. It's less refined and the efficiency benefits are generally not useful as you wouldn't use such a car for significant distance work.

Diesel makes sense in large powerful long distance cars. It's here that the problem exists as imho despite the will to move on from diesel petrol is not a credible alternative.

ci_newman · 2 Jan 2019 at 09:34

paradigm said:
True. Also, use a diesel as it’s intended and DPFs tend to last for eons. Never had so much as a DPF warning on either of my A4s, let alone failure.

At 15K annual mileage, arguably he won't be using it for it's intended use though.

Rroff · 2 Jan 2019 at 10:40

My dad has been driving diesels for over 20 years (the bigger cars where they make more sense and tend to have a more substantial implementation) and 100s of thousands of miles (about 70% motorway) with very little problem in respect to it being a diesel - he did have fairly significant turbo failure in one at 70K miles - never had any DPF or DMF, etc. failures. Several of his cars have gone into the hands of a local taxi driver who has pushed them to 400-500K miles before stuff like that has become an issue at which point he just scraps them.