Why isn't it recommended to get a diesel...

As a previously life-long confirmed petronista, I only last week succumbed to the oily stuff......even after years of childishly (:D) teasing my brother and father about their oil-burners.
Last few petrol cars have been an Omega 3.0 V6, Seat Toledo 20vT (180) and Saab 9-5 Aero......love the performance~y engines.
So, always thought diesel would not work for me......but just over 1 week ago I joined the club - spangly Jaguar XF-S 3.0D. Stunning performance from the twin-turbo V6, along with seemingly great economy. Most of the time, you wouldn't 'know' it was a diesel (lack of clattery malarkey) and it really is a joy to drive. For the stat-fans, 275BHP, 443lb/ft(600NM) and mpg well into the 40s from what I have seen so far.....albeit my current use is Poole - Brentford (pretty much all motorway for 90 miles, then about 7 miles faffing after the M3 finishes) and back each week. Perfect diesel journeys?
 
scott212 said:
One car I will never understand is the Mini Cooper Diesel. Every time I see these it makes me cry inside. Good on BMW for offering them as there's clearly a demand, only the demand is generated by people who don't have a clue. A diesel engine in a car like that just removes everything that makes the car so much fun to drive. Polo TDI, fine. Golf TDI, fine. Mini, just no.

It's like buying tickets to go and see a huge rock concert but opting to wear a blindfold and noise cancelling headphones.
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Same with the TT, Scirocco, RCZ etc.
 
I have been using an astra H 1.8 petrol the last couple of weeks and driving around town and a few short motorway trips it has averaged 36.7 mpg. My astra j with the 2.0 cdti engine on similar trips averages 42.6mpg.

The turbo diesel is much nicer to drive and a lot more responsive than the 1.8 petrol which just feels sluggish and needs to be revved hard. The diesel is very effortless to drive with tons of torque.
 
last 4 cars have been diesels. not had an issues. guess im lucky...

im sure it happens to some, but you never hear from the millions of people driving diesels who dont have the issue either - especially not on forums. people go on car forums to complain or find out information because they are having an issue. go look at some land rover forums. youd assume it would break down going around the block, and some do, but the vast vast majority dont. take with pinch of salt and all that.
 
Countcussy said:
I had 2 seat Leons with the 1.9 diesel, one with the DPF and one without. Always found the MPG decent, but I do 25k a year. Milage is all to and from work, at my cost, so I have to take mpg into account.

I Got a 6 month old Leon Copa at the end of March with the 1.6CR engine. The mpg can be good, but nowhere near manf numbers.
I have done just over 5k since I bought it and my average mpg is 57.8 according to the on-board readout. On a recent trip to Scotland, i got just over 700 miles on a single tank. Average is around 590.

As an experiment on a quiet evening, I tried to see what could be achieved on my way home by driving differently. Think Clarkson in the Audi. Got 71.1 mpg on a 58 mile journey. I stress however, this is something I will never, ever repeat. My car is boring enough as it is. :D

Not had any DPF issues so far. I had the 1.9DPF for 3 years. Perhaps its the fact that I`m on the A1m for 40 miles of my journey.

Re the 1.4 petrol. I normally get a Petrol Ibiza with the 1.4 engine as a loan car whilst mine is in for service. The fuel economy is awful. Less than 40mpg even on a good run.
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I have a 1.4L Petrol MK5 Ibiza and im getting no higher than 40 on a good run, it really isnt great on fuel for the size of the engine. Nice little car though.

Was looking at getting a Diesel myself.

I do a 13mile motorway commute to and from work, i then tend to use the motorway a lot on weekends with bits of city driving. Would a Diesel benefit me?
 
Well my latest 2013 1.6D Civic is returning me 70mpg for 4 weeks on the trot now from South Cheshire to Blackpool via M6 daily.

Mine is brand new lease, so if it goes bad, back to the lease company to fix under warranty.

Not noticed the cleaning phase at all, but then I am mostly at 75 - 80 constantly for 90% of the 150 mile round trip.

Around the 30 - 40 mph A road areas of my trip I too see better than motorway 80+ mpg with traffic lights and other things.
 
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It's impressive how much some of these trip computers lie about MPG, then when you work it out it can be wrong aswell due to the incorrect odometer reading you're using!

I cringe every time my neighbour A3, A4 or fiesta start and drive off. Diesel 4 cylinders are just not pleasant things to be around. Obviously insulation does reduce noise intrusion but seat rail shake is never truly fixed even with clever switchable engine mounts.

Much prefer my off beat 1/2 order V6 warble :p
 
Jonnycoupe said:
It's impressive how much some of these trip computers lie about MPG, then when you work it out it can be wrong aswell due to the incorrect odometer reading you're using!
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Sour grapes ??? Me saving over £250 a month on fuel alone ? Yet alone zero road tax :)

Checked my readings against brimming and proper calculations, it is within 1 - 2% accurate. My wallet also proves it too :)

Let's face it, as OP said, if you do high mileage with MODERN Diesels under warranty they ARE worth it, motorway or not as long as you at least once a few hundred miles get above 50mph for 5 mins or more.
As long as you don't mind having a Diesel, if you hate diesels, then stay clear of them, simples.

This is from me a die hard petrol head who recently sold his modded 335i :(
 
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Sour grapes? My running costs of my petrol car are way lower than pretty much anything. Wrong person to pull that line on ;) it's even debatable as to which car would be better looking aswell!

I just know what a pain getting diesels into cars compared to petrols is with looming EU6 emissions.

It's not 1-2% is it though as your speedo isn't that accurate for the other half of 'real' world measurement.
 
Jonnycoupe said:
It's impressive how much some of these trip computers lie about MPG, then when you work it out it can be wrong aswell due to the incorrect odometer reading you're using!
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It's funny, on my Insight Mk2 the error on the speedometer is about 4-5%. I assume the oedometer is the same. I also get the trip computer reporting 4-5% higher mpg than I calculate with fuel receipts and the oedometer reading.

I suspect the trip computer mpg is practically bang-on accurate (as they don't want it to under-read upsetting customers), the speedo over reads (as they don't want customers to get tickets) and oedometer under-reads (just to be consistent with the speedo).

Can't be certain that the speedometer and oedometer have a consistent error but I read a Mazda6 review recently that confirmed that the error on both was consistent with each other (in that case 73 mph on the speedo for a genuine 70).
 
2.2 Diesel Civic checking in.

VaXG9AJ.jpg
 
Jonnycoupe said:
It's not 1-2% is it though as your speedo isn't that accurate for the other half of 'real' world measurement.
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mmm, so my GPS for realtime / average speed and distance covered is not accurate along with the petrol pump gauge measuring litres and my calculator is not accurate ?? Comon, it is old wifes tales gone too far. Nowadays the odo's and fuel calculators on modern cars are actually very good :)

I do miss my 335i tho :(
 
Catanonia said:
mmm, so my GPS for realtime / average speed and distance covered is not accurate along with the petrol pump gauge measuring litres and my calculator is not accurate ?? Comon, it is old wifes tales gone too far. Nowadays the odo's and fuel calculators on modern cars are actually very good :)

I do miss my 335i tho :(
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Well you havent confirmed it until this point and hence I can challenge that. By you then offering that data as a first go you cant then get sarcastic. ;) You dont seem to have answered your own question either - I dont know if your GPS comparison to indicated speed is accurate. This is the bit you're supposed to finish off your own sentence by telling us....

Old wifes tale? My 09 HONDA CIVIC 1.8 SE iVTEC on std 205/55/16 Tyres is 5mph out at 55 (50 real) mph and indicated 75mph (70mph) real. You will have to convince me why thinking the new Civic made only 3 years later wouldn't suffer the same affliction.

Its not a wifes tale at all.

For my commuter car ive already insured and fuelled it for a month on ~18k annual use before you've even leased 'your' Civic.

These diesel things to bring out irrational stuff!
 
Catanonia said:
I have heard that MPG goes up with ambient temperature, ie Diesels not so good on winter days compared to summer days in terms of mpg.

Bull or true ?
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Yea Diesel engines don't like being cold. The difference is negligible.
 
Jonnycoupe said:
Well you havent confirmed it until this point and hence I can challenge that. By you then offering that data as a first go you cant then get sarcastic. ;) You dont seem to have answered your own question either - I dont know if your GPS comparison to indicated speed is accurate. This is the bit you're supposed to finish off your own sentence by telling us....

Old wifes tale? My 09 HONDA CIVIC 1.8 SE iVTEC on std 205/55/16 Tyres is 5mph out at 55 (50 real) mph and indicated 75mph (70mph) real. You will have to convince me why thinking the new Civic made only 3 years later wouldn't suffer the same affliction.

Its not a wifes tale at all.

For my commuter car ive already insured and fuelled it for a month on ~18k annual use before you've even leased 'your' Civic.

These diesel things to bring out irrational stuff!
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lol,

I could have written a very boring post that I used GPS, proper measurements etc etc etc to work out the fuel consumption along with all the measurements etc etc or I could just say like everyone else what my MPG was and leave it at that.

It seems you can't make a statement about facts you have and others don't without being called on it :D lol, love forums at times.

Lease works for me and fitted my circumstances at the time and I am extremely happy with what I pay a month compared to savings etc I am getting back. The monthly savings over the previous car pays for the lease, hence the reason for taking the lease. Plus I HATE selling cars and had no intention of keeping the Civic after 3 years and 75k.

Anyways back to the OP thread, modern Diesels are not all that bad as long as bought for the right reasons and of course it really depends on what you are comparing it to in terms of your current wagon.
 
You could have just said they were the same as a summary which you didn't actually state.

Ie. GPS says 70 and so does my 70.... Have you read how waffly your post was? Captain Birdseye drives a Civic !
 
My current car is a diesel and at the time of getting it I was planning to do a fair bit of mileage. That didn't turn out as planned and its only done 6500miles in the past 2 years. Its been fine so far although I do try and give it a good run once a month or so. Its a Renault 1.5dci

Next car is definitely going to be a petrol, hopefully one of the new breed of petrol turbos if I can afford it.
 
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