it is strange.
i see a 4p difference as well.
my diesel megane does 47 mpg.
the clio 182 has done 40mpg for 1000 miles over 4 days.
i wonder what difference that is?
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The difference might be two different cars and the weight of those cars. Did the Megane only give 47mpg over the same 1000 mile/4 day journey?. One would have to assume that the trip consisted of many motorway miles.
I want a diesel for my next car, regardless of the 4 or 6p price difference per litre. My current car gives me 25mpg, the diesels I am looking at would at least double that, so even if diesel was 10p more than petrol I wouldn't be losing out. Then there is the other bit you can't do the sums on...the drive. I happen to like the low end grunt of diesels and believe it or not, the sound of diesels is also appealing, but that might be due to my HGV driving background.
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Hi Fellas,
Thanks for your inputs. I think I'm coming round to the idea that, for my usage, petrol is the way to go. Looking around the internet, it seems that many of the more common diesel engines leave a lot to be desired. The VAG group and the Ford group have well publicised problems: Fiat's JTD is a great drive, apparently, but the forums highlight its lack of reliability: Vauxhall diesels have glazed bores: Nissan diesels are not very economic and are rough; etc etc.
So, as I've found that repairs, or the lack of them, are a large factor in overall motoring costs, I'd like to read your opinions of the most reliable petrol engines in ordinary family cars. Are the Vauxhall and Ford 1.8's better than the larger sizes? That sort of thing for as many makes as you know about. Hope this isn't asking too much!
The budget could go up to about 8k if necessary although I'm also toying with the idea of getting something like a five or six year old car at auction. The Primera is supposed to be a tough and durable car and its prices seem very reasonable. Save enough on the purchase price and this would make up for the petrol mpg and would help pay for the repairs that would inevitable crop up.
What do you think?
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It's a 9p difference at my local Esso / BP stations in Leeds.
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I'll repeat something I wrote on here some time ago. Assuming you go for the same performance overall which rules out the low power diesels then I don't think their is much benefit.
Most diesels that are percieved as economic are so when driven relatively gently, I regularly get stuck behind badges such as HDi & TDi and I expect their owners acheive very good economy & so would anything driven at that speed.
However common rail is incredibly complex and my Alfa 156 JTD which does 40MPG on average driven enthusiastically lets say, has currently been off the road over 2 weeks because of a fueling fault which neither the Alfa dealer, Alfa Technical or Bosch can find. I might add that although an Italian car the entire fuel system is Bosch eg German so this could be any make not just Alfa. One of the diagnosis was injectors, refurbed they are £ 105 each or £ 225 new and don't forget their are 5 of them, however it now looks like its the high & low pressure pumps at circa £ 750! And thats without labour.
Given the greater weight of the engine disturbing the handling and the massive complexity of what is new technology my next car will be petrol. Yes I love the low down torque of the diesel but don't like the potential for huge bills especially once the miles start mounting up. I was brought up on diesels as my Father managed a fleet of commercials and I'm trained in electronics but the sheer complexity & potential for going wrong worries me and given my luck it will be me who gets the unreliable one!
I do 36K miles a year and pay my own bills, the potential for a very big one on a Common Rail Diesel means my next car is petrol! I can get circa 34-36MPG on the work run I do and thats fine.
Jim
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Hello Jim,
Yes, I've come round to that sort of thinking myself. There's quite a lot of information on diesel problems in forums such as www.dieselcar.com and they can be unbelievably expensive to fix. It's compounded by the fact that garages often don't seem to be able to pinpoint the trouble accurately but just change parts until something works.
So I'm back to one of my questions: anyone know what are the most reliable petrol engines in the ranges of the various manufacturers?
Best wishes,
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I've been a diesel driver for thirteen years, and when I bought my Mondeo one year ago I was specifically looking at diesels and wouldn't even have considered a petrol engined car.
I now regret it. As others have said, there is a six pence difference between the two fuels down here, and this is a trend I have noticed creeping in over the last few years. Diesel and petrol prices used to differ by only 1p and were often the same, but for some reason the balance has altered considerably. Add to that the more frquent servicing required by diesels, the fact that parts such as starter motors etc are always a lot dearer then on my current 20k per annum I reckon I am losing out.
In addition, from what I've seen in road tests mpg in petrol cars is closing the gap towards diesel all the time.
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Based on no hard facts, but *general* received opinion, it seems you'd probably feel most comfortable with (petrol) engines by
Nissan, Honda, Mazda, Toyota.
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On the same subject then I am looking to buy a Mazda 6 either new or up to 2 years old say. Sounds like petrol is the better option and about 2k cheaper? What do you think on an annual mielage of 18000 miles?
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Diesel unreliability?
There are enough stories of unrelaible new perol cars that garages cannot fix. Diesels are not unique!
I have driven 3 diesels over 100k miles in 6 years (AudiA4TDI,Rover 800) plus SWMBO has owned a Peugeot 106 deisel for 11 years. Apart from a timing tensioner on one A4 all engines have been trouble free (which is more than be said of suspensions etc).
I'd rather have a diesel around town as fuel economy is much better.
madf
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I have had diesel cars for the last twenty years and have just switched back to petrol engines, the main reason being (see Jim's Alfa JTD above) is the complexity of the new diesels. I sold my VW 1.9D recently after 175,000 trouble free miles, and I expect the young lady who now has the car will do a lot more miles in it. I think this engine (VW type 1Y reg. Jan 95) was one of the last of the simple mechanical types, no electronics at all, hence not a lot to go wrong. The alarm/immobiliser started to do strange things but this was bypassed by a key switch on the control unit. So the attraction used to be the simplicity, economy and durability. Well diesel aren't simple anymore, I've swapped from 52 mpg to a current 43 mpg, and the price difference narrows that down too, and the durability is going to be affected by the new complexity. However only time will tell if I'm correct!
I'm sure there is a market for simple diesels, but I don't see any manufacturers heading that way.
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So what simple, electronic-free, petrol engined car did you buy?.
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You're correct of course, they don't make those either, but you do start off +£1.5k to the better (price diff).
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Tunacat: I think you're right. The Japs do seem to have the edge mechanically, even over the top German makes. My idea of an auction buy of a Nissan Primera is looking more and more sensible.
Madf: Yes, of course you are right - there are plenty of unreliable petrol engines around, or so I read. However, when they have to be fixed they don't seem to incur the quite enormous bills that some unlucky diesel owners get stuck with. This is only my impression garnered from www. but firm data is hard to come by elsewhere.
Given my bad luck with cars, I'll be safer with petrol.
Thanks for your replies.
Cheers
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