Petrol or Diesel?

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Soldato
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I've finally got some money together for a car. Which car isn't important right now - i'm going to look at some over the next few weeks.

What I can't come to a decision over is the old chestnut of getting a petrol or diesel car. I currently drive a diesel and I find it fine, but this will be my own car, so i'm going to make my own decision. :)

Standard issue responses of "it's smelly, it's noisy, it's gay" etc. will just be ignored. I want to hear people's honest opinions of this.

Thanks.

*finds safe cover and dons flame retardant suit*
 
Basically, although I don't want recommendations as i'm going to try a few and form opinions, i'm looking at £6-7K and it's going to be doing 15-20K a year.

I want a hatchback only, and it needs 5 doors. And not be French. I'll test drive the usual suspects (Focus, Golf, Leon, Civic, Fabia, maybe A3?) and see what takes my fancy. Basically I don't have any rush to get this bought.

Can I ask how you arrive at the figure of 20K miles/year?
 
[TW]Fox;14055069 said:
Well do the maths then. Work out how much it costs in petrol to do 20k miles and how much it costs in diesel, then see if the saving offsets the higher purchase costs and the horrible noise from the diesel.
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Well obviously it depends totally on what I get.

However as regards purchase costs, is this still the same for used cars?

Also, how do you put a price on noise? :p
 
iaind said:
For 15-20k a year I'd definitely be getting a diesel, out of the list I'd say Focus or Leon. Golf is good but might be a bit on the pricey side. Have you considered something bigger - Mondeo, Passat etc?
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Considered them yes. Not a fan of the Passat at all. The Mondeo is a really nice car, nowt wrong with it but I prefer the looks of the Focus (and many of the other hatchbacks).
 
[TW]Fox;14055105 said:
It never ceases to amaze me how people DONT get this.

Sure, you dont decide to buy a 2006 Golf GT TDI with 30k on the clock. You decide to spend £10k. But if a 2006 Golf petrol of the same spec/performance (I know VW petrol engines are crap but for the sake of argument pretend not) is actually only £9k, you get £1k change to spend on running costs.

How is that difficult to get your head around?

Just because you have a budget doesn't mean you must spend all of it, especially if you can get a car of the same age, condition, spec and mileage just with a different engine for less money.
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Right, i'm actually grasping it. You only needed to explain. :)

Out of interest Fox, are there ANY diesels you would consider recommending?
 
iaind said:
Fair enough - £7k will buy a nice Focus :)

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1025961.htm
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That's 3 door sir, but don't worry, there are plenty to look at on PH. :)

I admit, I had a little look in a nice Civic Type-S today, sweet looking car. 150bhp too. :p

If you dont do 20k a year you're not allowed ;)
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It's all the commuting to Plymouth for 25 weeks a year. 100 miles a day.

Then allowing for leisure use the rest of the time, I think i'm going to end up just below that.
 
iaind said:
Was just pointing out what sort of thing you could be looking at - dont think there's much of a price difference between 3 and 5 door.

Dont think you can really go wrong with a Honda, the Civic doesnt really float my boat but its probably a good option if you like it.

100 miles a day to Plymouth - you must be around my neck of the woods?
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Actually yes!

I live in Crediton, but was born, raised, and my family all live in Exeter, so i'm regularly there. Also it's the best place to shop. ;)

I'm going Crediton, along the road to Exeter, along the foot of Exwick, onto the A30 then A38, to Plymouth. Then back again. Five days a week for 25 weeks a year.
 
Should I take into account the differing driving experiences?

I've heard some say that they don't like the power delivery of a diesel, is it something to consider?
 
All this talk of BMW 530d and 530i - i'm afraid they're not really my cup of tea. Nice cars though.

There seems to be quite a gap in economy where i'm looking - around 2.0TDI or 1.8/2.0 petrol. Claimed figures put the petrols in the 40s with the diesels in the mid 50s (this is with the Foci).
 
It's really irritating, as in all truth i'm a bit of a n00b to all this. Sure, I know what makes to watch out for, and what are better than others, but with regards to driving it I don't really know what makes a good car and what doesn't.

So i'm not really sure which suits my driving "style" at all. I guess I want something that's going to eat the motorway miles comfortably but that also has a bit of room for hooning around from time to time. Then again, that doesn't really narrow it down. :/

I don't feel a test drive would give a long enough time to get to grips with it. :o
 
Well it's going to come down to price then really. Have to see what I can get for my money, and go from there.

Thanks all, at least now I know how to work out what would be better for me.

When I was at the Honda dealer today there was a nice 05 plate Civic Type-S, maybe I should just go for that? :p
 
iaind said:
If you like the honda and the way it drives then go for it, I dont think many people will have anything bad to say about them. Any details of it?

I dont think on the whole diesels are more expensive to insure but everyone's mileage will vary (pun intended :D) - my Mondeo TDCi costs just under £300 to insure FC and I'm 24...
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It's expensive to insure, and i'm a bit apprehensive. At the very least i'm going to have a good look around, it'll probably be gone by the time I come back if I do decide to.
 
Just thought i'd give this a quick bump as I test drove a couple of cars today.

First up was a 2.0 Civic Type-S 05 plate. Took it up haldon on the A38 and down the other side. Didn't like it much at all, it felt really sluggish, and surprised me, as it was supposed to be 150bhp. Even when revved hard it didn't respond very quickly. Also the ride comfort was acceptable, but nothing special.

Next I took out a 1.8 Focus Sport, 08 plate (all they had in stock, I wanted a 2.0 05/06). Much, much better, despite being down on power compared to the Civic. Zipped around like a little go-kart, and beautifully comfortable inside.

Unless the other two test drives I have booked throw up a surprise, i'll be going for one of these I think (other two are a Leon 1.9TDI and a Fabia vRS).

Although i'm still no closer to deciding between petrol/diesel though! :p
 
I've been trying to read up on VTEC for the past hour, but i'm having trouble. All the articles find either go right over my head, or read like a big bowl of fanboyism.

What I want to ask, is that, if I have to rev it hard, isn't it just going to drink fuel, and feel woefully inadequate around town?
 
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