Changing car for a petrol?

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We are running two 2 litre diesels at the moment (Mondeo 2014 / Tiguan 2014) but due to change in work etc, will no longer have need for regular trips between SE London and Yorkshire so are looking at moving to another couple of cars.

The received wisdom seems to be that unless one drives 12-15k miles per year, a petrol is the better option. Can anyone explain why this is? Petrol cars are higher to tax (at least at pre-April 2017 rates) and not as fuel efficient from what I can see.

Anyway, there will still be occasional journeys of 250 miles or so (maybe every couple of months or so) and the annual trek to the Mediterranean so we want something with some comfort and a bit of a kick when needed.

First off, any explanation as to why petrol would be better option (other than no DPF / DMF and all they require)?

Any particular car / engine combination to go for. I'm looking at the Mazda 3 2.0 SE Nav / Golf but pretty open minded to what to go for.

We usually buy a car that is about 6 months old or so.

Any thoughts most welcome.
 
I have run a 1.9 Skoda diesel since 2012. It now has 155K miles on it, and the last three years were all at sub 10K per year mileage. Throughout that time the fuel economy has not dropped below 50MPG (short trips), and is usually around the 55MPG mark. Tax is cheaper than the equivalent petrol car, as is insurance, and I can think of nothing which makes this car less economic than a petrol version.
On our last trip to Europe in 2013, the car returned 56MPG for a sustained 130KPH (I may have gone slightly quicker on some of the downhill sections:naughty:) drive to the Alsace and Germany.
 
My petrol car averages 18mpg. I think the usual reason it is suggested that petrol cars are cheaper for lower mileages is due to the decreased purchase price of petrol compared to diesel and higher servicing costs for diesel. Although I've no idea if the numbers stack up. I've only ever had one diesel car and as my old employer was good enough to supply it and pay for the fuel I didn't complain. I'd never buy one with my own money though. But that's not the question is it. I'd say a small turbo petrol engine will give similar MPG to a diesel nowadays and cost less to tax and the fuel is cheaper.
 
I drive a Citroen C3 1.4 petrol and have done 40k in 3 years in it.
much cheaper to service also much less to buy and much less to go wrong.
better for the environemnt which was my primary reason for switching.
 
Generally Diesel cars are more expensive to buy (sometimes by a few grand) and more expensive to maintain (service costs are more). Therefore you would need to drive be driving the extra mileage in order to offset those additional costs.

You also need to take into consideration the DPF. If you are not going to be driving longer / faster trips you could have an issue with the DPF clogging up / not regenerating fully.

For me, I just prefer a Petrol car. It's quieter and zippier than a diesel.

Engine size will largely depend on the size of the car you buy. My wife has a Nissan Juke with a 1.2 turbo engine and it goes like a bat out of hell. The same engine in a Qashqai is lacking, obviously due to the heavier body. I test drove the Qashqai with the 1.2 and 1.6 turbo engine and opted for the 1.6 which performs similarly to the 1.2 in the smaller Juke.

My previous car (Kia Sportage) had a 1.6 naturally aspirated engine (no turbo) and whilst it got me from A to B I felt it lacked power and I never felt confident overtaking slower cars on our narrow windy roads as I never felt I would get past quick enough.

I'd certainly be wary of a large petrol engine. Whilst they are nice and powerful, the power is often not needed and will very quickly push up your tax and cost of fuel. I had a 2.0 V6 Jag before the Kia and you could actually see the fuel gauge drop as you drove along. Needless to say, I didn't keep it very long.
 
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I'm intrigued to know what RIP off merchants people have been getting diesel vehicles services at. They aren't more expensive to service, other than possibly taking a litre or so more oil, they should cost the same as a petrol car to service.
 
nilagin said:
I'm intrigued to know what RIP off merchants people have been getting diesel vehicles services at. They aren't more expensive to service, other than possibly taking a litre or so more oil, they should cost the same as a petrol car to service.
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I'm not a mechanic / Technician so I don't know, but we drive two Nissans and Nissan do fixed price servicing. Minor service is £189 for petrol and £209 for diesel. Major services are £259 for petrol and £319 for diesel.
 
ecoleman said:
I'm not a mechanic / Technician so I don't know, but we drive two Nissans and Nissan do fixed price servicing. Minor service is £189 for petrol and £209 for diesel. Major services are £259 for petrol and £319 for diesel.
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A minor service should definitely cost the same. It's pretty much just an oil and filter change. Even if the diesel took more oil it wouldn't be £20 worth. Checking the rest of the car over would be identical. As for £60 difference for a major service I haven't a clue what the extra would be. Fuel filter should be good for at least 3 years and would be the only added expense.
 
nilagin said:
A minor service should definitely cost the same. It's pretty much just an oil and filter change. Even if the diesel took more oil it wouldn't be £20 worth. Checking the rest of the car over would be identical. As for £60 difference for a major service I haven't a clue what the extra would be. Fuel filter should be good for at least 3 years and would be the only added expense.
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Maybe, maybe not, but the fact is the dealers are charging that and therefore adds to the cost of ownership.
 
ecoleman said:
Maybe, maybe not, but the fact is the dealers are charging that and therefore adds to the cost of ownership.
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Reason enough not to buy a Nissan then. ;)
It's not an astronomical cost though, the amount saved in fuel would easily be higher than any extra servicing costs. Infact you could probably save it in a few months.
 
Still not sure what to go for...

All depends on the mileage I might be doing and at the moment that's rather uncertain.

Will probably stick with the Tiguan till the autumn and see what's on the horizon after that.
 
Service intervals are bigger on petrol cars, therefore service costs overall are cheaper. My petrol Peugeot needed services at 18k miles my Ford diesel needs them at 10k miles. I reckon my diesel eats it's tyres quicker too, maybe the low down grunt pulls the tyres apart. Around town my diesel does 45/48 mpg my petrol car does 38 but petrol is cheaper. Add in dog etc and I don't see the benefits of a diesel car regardless of annual mileage, but I prefer the lazy engined diesel.
Matt
 
Diesel or petrol stop start doesn't help mpg. Long journeys favour diesel but the best all rounder is a hybrid
 
MatBin said:
Service intervals are bigger on petrol cars, therefore service costs overall are cheaper. My petrol Peugeot needed services at 18k miles my Ford diesel needs them at 10k miles. I reckon my diesel eats it's tyres quicker too, maybe the low down grunt pulls the tyres apart. Around town my diesel does 45/48 mpg my petrol car does 38 but petrol is cheaper. Add in dog etc and I don't see the benefits of a diesel car regardless of annual mileage, but I prefer the lazy engined diesel.
Matt
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My previous Audi diesel was on long life 18000m servicing intervals, but wife's previous Fiesta was annually, 12,500m, so think it does depend on manufacturer...

Agree with you though about the drive, if I drive a petrol, I do miss the torque (not drove one of the new generation of small petrol / turbo engines yet) that you get with a diesel - father in law used to have a peugoet 405 GTi which gave a good shove and fun factor, but used to drink petrol for the fun of it :)
 
Quoth said:
Still not sure what to go for...

All depends on the mileage I might be doing and at the moment that's rather uncertain.

Will probably stick with the Tiguan till the autumn and see what's on the horizon after that.
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I was going to suggest this option - if you are looking to swap, why not sell one of them and swap to a petrol (if that's what you want) and keep the other for the time being for the long journey's / holidays... This way you've kind of got the best of both worlds and can then make the choice after you've run the new one for a while...

Have you thought about a hybrid option ?
 
MatBin said:
Service intervals are bigger on petrol cars, therefore service costs overall are cheaper. My petrol Peugeot needed services at 18k miles my Ford diesel needs them at 10k miles. I reckon my diesel eats it's tyres quicker too, maybe the low down grunt pulls the tyres apart. Around town my diesel does 45/48 mpg my petrol car does 38 but petrol is cheaper. Add in dog etc and I don't see the benefits of a diesel car regardless of annual mileage, but I prefer the lazy engined diesel.
Matt
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All Ford cars regardless of fuel type are currently 12k miles or 12 months service intervals, whichever occurs soonest.
Your dog must be the size of a house to reduce your mpg by anymore than 1 or 2 mpg.
 
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wave01 said:
Diesel or petrol stop start doesn't help mpg. Long journeys favour diesel but the best all rounder is a hybrid
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Stop start is mainly about emissions. Stop start will only improve mpg if you are stationary in traffic jams for great lengths of time.
 
wave01 said:
Diesel or petrol stop start doesn't help mpg. Long journeys favour diesel but the best all rounder is a hybrid
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My spreadsheet says that ain't true ;) Short version: to get a decent hybrid you either buy a fairly new Toyota or you buy a brand new something else (Hyundai are probably the best choice ATM). For that you pay such a premium that the cost savings don't stack up. Also, residuals are largely unknown - when Toyota swapped their battery tech the older ones suddenly became fairly unattractive.

Quoth said:
First off, any explanation as to why petrol would be better option (other than no DPF / DMF and all they require)?
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My Honda Civic averages about 38 mpg on petrol. The same model on diesel would be about double that. So, 20K miles costs me £2,800 of petrol or £1,400 in diesel. If I drive 20K miles and can buy a diesel £1K per year cheaper then the diesel is cheaper. If I drive 10K miles a year then the fuel saving is £700 so on the same cars it's not worth it.

Service packs cost the same from Honda for petrol or diesel so pretty much everything comes down to fuel and purchase cost.

BTW best of luck buying a decent low mileage large petrol car ATM. I just went through that search - people are dumping diesels in droves. Canterbury BMW had loads of lovely series 1s until I asked for petrol - there were none in Kent. It's a really good time to buy a diesel - petrol not so much.

BTW if you're open to any make/models - then I'm surprisingly happy with my Honda after years of driving pretend German cars.
 
Good to know it's a good time to buy diesel, I'll be looking to change my current Nissan for a diesel A4 or 3 series in a few months. I had thought the BMW's in particular were competitively priced for sub 10k/12month old ones :)
 
People are dumping diesel because the environmental issues are now out in the open and the tax down the line is unknown. Personally diesel needs hammering into the history books.
 
Mr Bump said:
People are dumping diesel because the environmental issues are now out in the open and the tax down the line is unknown. Personally diesel needs hammering into the history books.
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Euro6, which have been around for almost 3yrs will be ok. No reason to dump any of those. People are just panicking for no reason. So if someone can get a 1yr old bargain there is no reason not to buy it.
 
Mr Bump said:
People are dumping diesel because the environmental issues are now out in the open and the tax down the line is unknown. Personally diesel needs hammering into the history books.
Click to expand...
Euro6, which have been around for almost 3yrs will be ok. No reason to dump any of those. People are just panicking for no reason. So if someone can get a 1yr old bargain there is no reason not to buy it.
 
Mr Bump said:
People are dumping diesel because the environmental issues are now out in the open and the tax down the line is unknown. Personally diesel needs hammering into the history books.
Click to expand...
Euro6, which have been around for almost 3yrs will be ok. No reason to dump any of those. People are just panicking for no reason. So if someone can get a 1yr old bargain there is no reason not to buy it.
 
nilagin said:
Euro6, which have been around for almost 3yrs will be ok. No reason to dump any of those. People are just panicking for no reason. So if someone can get a 1yr old bargain there is no reason not to buy it.
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You can say that again [emoji6]

Anyway, looks like the comments about strong petrol engines are right - there are few of them around unless brand new.

I like the torque of the diesel and can't see a petrol that would match it. The only petrol I've driven recently is a 1.4tsi Golf which was ok but I wouldn't like to trust it loaded with holiday stuff.
 
Quoth said:
You can say that again [emoji6]

Anyway, looks like the comments about strong petrol engines are right - there are few of them around unless brand new.

I like the torque of the diesel and can't see a petrol that would match it. The only petrol I've driven recently is a 1.4tsi Golf which was ok but I wouldn't like to trust it loaded with holiday stuff.
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This is the only site that plays up on my laptop or phone. :(
If the engine is turbo charged it will have good torque, not as high as an equivalent capacity diesel but still good. People had bigger heavier and less powerful cars in the past and they coped fine.
 
Quoth said:
You can say that again [emoji6]

Anyway, looks like the comments about strong petrol engines are right - there are few of them around unless brand new.

I like the torque of the diesel and can't see a petrol that would match it. The only petrol I've driven recently is a 1.4tsi Golf which was ok but I wouldn't like to trust it loaded with holiday stuff.
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You would be fine with a turbo V6 or V8 petrol, or some of the performance hybrid options (not Prius!). You could kiss goodbye fuel economy with these, but the car would be "fun". That's perhaps a great option for low mileage weekend car, convertible, etc.

Anyway, you could get the best of both worlds and buy a V6 turbo diesel. That will do all the "fun" and still retain reasonable economy. You could even order one with very green paint to claim your eco credentials. :P
 
nilagin said:
All Ford cars regardless of fuel type are currently 12k miles or 12 months service intervals, whichever occurs soonest.
Your dog must be the size of a house to reduce your mpg by anymore than 1 or 2 mpg.
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Flipping predictive text!!!!!! Dog should have been dpf!!!!!
 
First suggestion would be to have a look at the "Real MPG" figures on the Honest John website to see what people are really getting compared with the fantasy manufacturer's figures. Second would be that I have always met or exceeded official petrol figures, but have come nowhere near official diesel figures. Those who meet the diesel figures are changing gear early at about 1600rpm and never getting above 2000 or 2500, and that's as much a killer for the egr/dpf as short runs. The OP should also be wondering what the Tiguan will fetch depending on whether or not it has had "the fix" done.
https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/realmpg/
 
Peter B said:
First suggestion would be to have a look at the "Real MPG" figures on the Honest John website to see what people are really getting compared with the fantasy manufacturer's figures. Second would be that I have always met or exceeded official petrol figures, but have come nowhere near official diesel figures. Those who meet the diesel figures are changing gear early at about 1600rpm and never getting above 2000 or 2500, and that's as much a killer for the egr/dpf as short runs. The OP should also be wondering what the Tiguan will fetch depending on whether or not it has had "the fix" done.
https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/realmpg/
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I never had any trouble meeting the official figures in my previous car. Official combined figure of 50mpg, I never dropped below 53mpg and I certainly never changed gear early. Most I ever had out of it was 60mpg.
 
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