There's no one size fits all answer, but it's potentially very low as frequently a diesel car will command a premium on the used market.
I am currently doing 20k miles a year and figure that I paid a 50% premium for a diesel car, but then it was only £1,800 instead of £1,200. Getting 43 instead of 33 mpg, it'll only take just over a year to pay for itself and I'll get most of that premium back. The same might apply to a new car - at least half of a premium of £1k will be reflected at resale at three years and in the meantime, 45 vs 35 mpg translates to £280 per year at 12k. In the stereotypical 3 year, 36k example, less interest costs, diesel works out at £340 cheaper. That's only a tenner a month so if you prefer petrol you'd probably still go for it, but you don't need to be a high mileage driver to go for a new diesel car.
I'm not sure that the diesel premium will reduce, although it may in respect of some cars. Certainly in France, where the market is ~60% diesel, diesels hold their value much better. Admittedly diesel itself is cheaper there than petrol, although the gap has narrowed somewhat lately.
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In the bad old days when diesels were slow, noisy and pretty horrible, you would really have to find reasons to choose an oil burner.
For practical driving, the current generation of diesel engines offer so many advantages over petrol engines that they are fast becoming a default option. My Touran has a 140 bhp diesel engine that has so much torque that it feels "almost" as much fun to drive as my MINI Cooper S whilst achieving 30-50% better fuel economy and carrying up to 6 passengers. O.K., if you want a free revving blast to 6500 rpm, I agree that nothing beats a powerful petrol but for commuting in town or on the motorway, the acceleration response between 2000 and 4000 rpm is excellent and very enjoyable. The only real downside is a little added clatter at tickover.
Diesel service intervals also seem to be on a par with petrol engines and I am sure that resale values are far better.
All in all, I would have thought that the diesel option would be first choice for anyone doing an average mileage (10,000), particularly in larger cars such as an A6 unless someone else pays for your fuel!
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What are the figures for smaller engined automatics, say 2litre or less?
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What are the figures for smaller engined automatics, say 2litre or less?
For reasons that have been discussed in a couple of threads the economy of a diesel automatic suffers considerably in comparison with their manual equivalent. - torque converter losses etc.
The 2 main advantages of a diesel are economy and good low down torque. An automatic negates the economy advantage and it doesn't matter, in an automatic, if it can accelerate well in a high gear.
Presumably this is the reason why there are few small engined diesel automatics.
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If you're buying a new car, I'd treat diesel as the default nowadays, and petrol as quirky as diesel used to be. In a few years, you may take a hit when selling a petrol, just as when you sell a large saloon.
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My Mondeo TDCi is 13MPG better than my 1.8 Focus (43 vs. 30MPG)
I guess I paid a £1000-£1500 premium for a TDCi version over a 2.0 petrol.
The car will probably do about 17k this year based on what I've done up to now.
Assuming the Mondeo 2.0 would mirror the consumption of the Focus, I'd need 567 gallons or 2587 litres of petrol. The diesel would need 1804 litres of diesel. When I bought the car, the average price of petrol was about 78.9p a litre and diesel 79.9p a litre, giving a respective cost of £2041 and £1441, so the diesel saves me £600 a year. At todays prices which are about 87.9p a litre and 88.9p a litre, the saving increases to £670 per year.
Given that I'll probably keep only the car 12-18 months, on the face of it the diesel makes little sense unless you factor in the inevitable increased residuals.
However, I'd probably pay the premium for the diesel if there was no fuel saving at all. I much prefer the power delivery and refinement of a modern diesel and the way you can extract a good level of performance from the engine without revving it stupid. The far better motorway acceleration is another boon.
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Yup
people chose diesels as a preference to petrol these days, not for the economics.
For example a modern diesel with huge low rev torque and 6 speed box cruises silently and effortlessly at 2k revs at 70 mph and a big quick punch from 70 to 85 when needed.
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I always reckoned 15k/year the break even point - thats what would = our van customers needing to dismiss a petrol van, as their purchase.
Now, just try & find a PETROL van!!
Another thing to consider on used SMALL, older, diesel cars is the tax/insurance aspect.
An S plate 1.8 diesel Fiesta gets you 40-45mpg, but a higher roadtax cost & potentially increased insurance premiums & cam belts need changing too!
The same car, in 1.3 petrol would be nearly as fuel efficient, lower in all other costs & probably cost £3-500 more to buy!!
& would you REALLY want to do loads of miles in a Fiesta??
VB
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diesel if doing 18k plus.
15k - 18k - ive always gone for a 1.3 or 1.4 - just enough nip and still resonably economical.
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But diesels are far more economical at low load, such as idle, as there is no throttle and therefore no pumping losses, that is why they can be left on generators with no load and are so economical compared to petrols, so even low mileage in congestion may be worth it?
DAVEYK with reference to your problem, I woul file a disclosure order to find out who the party is that you want to sue for deffamation and losses maybe using your home insurance policy? Good luck!
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what is a disclosure order?
maybe i should ring my solicitor friend, i was never any good at law.
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