Petrol or Diesel?

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Tute said:
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).
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Fair enough - £7k will buy a nice Focus :)

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1025961.htm

Tute said:
Right, i'm actually grasping it. You only needed to explain. :)

Out of interest Fox, are there ANY diesels you would consider recommending?
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If you dont do 20k a year you're not allowed ;)
 
[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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Remeber that part fo that £1,000 saving will be lost come re-sale.
 
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.
 
the variations in the prices of cars is such that it is NOT a given that a second hand diesel will be more expensive than the equivalent petrol.

It is not even a given that with 2 brand new cars that the petrol will be cheaper to buy and this fact kind of destroys the above X miles one is better argument.

One last point is that it is not even a given that a diesel engine will be more frugal than a petrol engine, there are some very powerful big diesel engines that give out great performance but would make you cry at the fuel pump.

Set a budget, decide on what type of car you want then look at petrol or diesel.
 
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?
 
One basic fact is that Diesel is around 7% more expensive to buy than petrol, so the first thing the buyer should do is (once he's decided which type of car he's looking for) make sure the diesel variant is noticeably more than 7% more economical than the petrol variant.
Then he needs to work out the approximate savings in fuel given his estimated annual mileage, before checking the real world differences in price between the petrol/diesel models.
Finally if he plans to keep the car for, say, two years he should check the gap between the used values for this type of car that are two years older than the MY he's looking at. ie if the difference between the MY's he's looking at is £1k, but two years down the line the petrol model sells for approx £1.5k less than the diesel then that's another £500 saved by choosing the derv.

It's different for everyone in terms of the car they're looking at and the typical use they will put it to, so get your calculator out :D
 
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.
 
Decide on what you want from a car first, that will make it easier to find a match. Type of fuel shouldn't enter the equation at this stage in the process.
 
I cant think of any mainstream manufacturers that dont offer both.

Not so long ago Honda and Jaguar were the last but they've been doing dervs for a while now
 
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?
 
Personally I really like the way my diesel drives; others may differ. The notion that petrol vs. diesel is a major point of consideration is odd to me. The difference between a petrol engine and a diesel engine is small compared to the differences between different cars.
 
If you're not too sure and it's not going to make a difference which way you go really then find a car you like first and then pick the best engine.

For example the Mondeo engines are suppose to be a lot better than the derv's for reliability and stuff.

Also don't derv's cost more to service and use more oil?
 
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