Big diesel or small petrol engine?

Question

I'm planning to buy a car to travel about 25 miles daily and 3-4 times travelling from london to cumbria monthly. which is is cheaper to run and maintain, is it 1.4-1.6 petrol engine or 1.8.2.0 diesel engine, give me some car suggestion as well please. current petrol price 1.18p diesel 1.32p

Answer 1

I would go for a Diesel, we have a VW Golf Match 1.9tdi and we are currently getting approx 550miles for a tank of fuel, which costs us about £50.00 to fill.

Answer 2

diesels will mostly be more efficient, but more sluggish than petrol than on older cars, the lower the engine size the cheaper/mpre efficient, however simple things can really make a difference on long journeys, like tyres being inflated to the correct pressure, water/coolant topped up, oil changes and regular servicing,

toyota's are pretty good usually nice clean interior good heaters low mileage cos old people use em, and reliable.

any vauxhall are really easy to maintain usually slightly better than average car,  often unreliable after 85/90k the head gaskets go, which costs a fortune to fix,

Answer 3

To be honest because of the annual mileage you will be doing I would go for the Diesel for more than one reason.

One being the diesel is likely to be more reliable - according to the AA/RAC about the biggest cause of beakdowns is a cars ignition system - a diesel does not have one!  Generally a diesel engine will last longer as well.

Bearing in mind your price range and mileage I would echo a suggestion from JG [whose answers are always well worth consideration] , take a look at the Citroen Xsara. (Not the Picasso version) Hatchback. This is available with either a 1.4hdi diesel, although these are a bit thin on the ground, or a 90bhp 2 litre diesel.

I would mention straight away that this model uses conventional suspension not the Hydro-Pneumatic type seen on the C5.  I put up nearly 90k on a leased 1.4hdi Xsara and it never missed a beat and averaged  (in Suffolk/Norfolk running) a smidgeon over 50mpg.  The ONLY replacements we had to have in this 90k were a pair of front Brake Discs.

My wife has a 2l  90bhp Xsara which has now covered 128k - same story, no problems and very economical.  You would get a pretty decent one within your budget on ebay.

Answer 4

Why do you have to buy a big diesel engine? If you're not too worried about performance a 1.5/1.6 diesel engine should be fine and give you approx 60m.p.g and will still do about 100mph tops.

Answer 5

There are a few too many variables here - how much would you spend on a car, and how old of a car are you looking at?

Without knowing, here's the best I can do:

Maintenance costs will be pretty similar - service intervals are similar between petrols & diesels, so no real price advantage either way.

Take for example a Citroen Xsara - very cheap little runaround - we'll take a 1.4iX & a 2.0HDi.

The petrol averages 40mpg, the diesel 54mpg.

The diesel will be dearer to buy, but will hold it's value better - the cars are available up to ten years old, so initial cost & depreciation is pretty irrelevant.

For your journey, we'll take a six month snapshot:

We'l take your Cumbria journey as Ambleside to London at 280 miles. So assuming your daily commute is Monday - Friday, you'll rack up 9130 miles in six months.

With the petrol, that's 228.25 gallons, or £1223

With diesel, it's 169 gallons, or £1013.

That's a £200 saving with a diesel in six months, disregarding tax & insurance differences.

Answer 6

If you don't do a huge amount of miles or tow a caravan/trailer, there is little difference.

If you're buying new, most diesels are more expensive too.

Depends on what size car too, a 1.4 Astra's economy is little different to a 1.6 on the motorway due to the 1.4s lower power having to work harder.

Down to personal preference at the end of the day, really.

Diesels are now as quick as a petrol, so a large engined one isn't necessary.

Answer 7

I think you gotta be doing something like 18,000 miles a year to warrant diesel now?? ROBBING FILTHY PIG  BARST***S!!!

(Not you)