Slightly OT: Petrol or Diesel?

[Huge]

I suspect you're not a run-of-the-mill pensioner.

[Dave Liquorice]

Define "long/fast"...

5 mins at 50 mph (4 miles, once along the bypass) or a couple hours at 70+ along a motorway? I have feeling it's nearer the former than the latter.

[eastender]

I've noticed that in the large car we have - Volvo V70 - the diesels are much more sought after for fuel economy. I rather rashly changed a

2.4 litre 140 bhp V70 petrol to a 2.5 litre turbo 210 bhp v70 petrol last year and it gulps petrol, which is why I only paid not much for it

- that's a factor. But we only do low mileage.

E.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Where did you get those figures from?

Really? Never seen one with glow plugs? Oh - petrol engine plugs these days can last to about 100,000 miles. I'd also like some figures to proves they are cheaper to maintain.

Think you need to do some accurate sums before deciding.

[The Natural Philosopher]

expoerience. Most petrol engines are sahgged at 180k miles. Diesels do 250k.

never seen one that needed a new glo plug : let's put it that way.

No catalytic converters mainly either. Apart from that its oil/air/fuel filters on both.

Not really. just owning both for a while and noting what costs and what goes wrong is enough.

[usenet2013xxa]

In message , "Dave Plowman (News)" writes

Isn't there an issue with the ?particulate filter? clogging up if a diesel is never run for a long journey to burn the crap off?

Personally I love the wide range in the gears and the resulting lack of need to change up/down.

[Another Dave]

Friend of mine with a BMW diesel; 60,000 mile service, 4 new glowplugs - £650. Admittedly, he may not have needed them.

Another Dave

[The Natural Philosopher]

well that is the way it goes if you get a jaguar as well.

Brakes drained and flushed and refilled with new hydraulics every 20k or so 'just in case'. Ditto antifreeze and inhibitor.

I put 60k on a brand new Defender TD5. nothing at all was needed service wise in that time beyond air/oil/fuel filters.Tyres even lasted that long :-)

cheapest vehicle I have ever owned in terms of service costs.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Was that the cost of the service, or just the glowplugs?

[charles]

I'm a pensioner and have a diesel - just bought based on 12,000 miles a year.

[harryagain]

Not a lot in it these days.

Might be worth diesel if you do high mileage. If low, buy the cheaper petrol vehical.

Diesels often need more frequent services too.

[charles]

I think that 20,000 miles isn't very frequent, even if some petrol engines might have longer intervals.

[Mike Barnes]

charles :

I'm a pensioner and I have a petrol - bought recently based on 7,500 miles a year.

FWIW I just did a comparison of the petrol and diesel costs here:

The diesel worked out cheaper overall but by less than 10%. The petrol is much faster, which suits me, so I feel I made the right choice.

As always, you need to take individual circumstances into account. There is no simple answer that suits everyone,

[bert]

I changed my 4.0 litre V8 petrol Land Rover Defender for a 2.4 turbo diesel. The latter is quite a bit cheaper to run even though I ran the V8 on LPG, but then it was an automatic.

[Steve Firth]

It doesn't matter how hard you try, you'll never be Andy Hall. HTH.

[bert]

You know a motorway in the UK where you can do 70+ for TWO HOURS?

[bert]

Not bad - for BMW spares.

[polygonum]

Or a DPF that needs it? :-)

"This process normally operates automatically without the driver even being aware that it is happening. However, under extreme conditions such as repeated short runs or particular driving styles the DPF warning light may illuminate. This is not a fault but an instruction to the driver to carry out the regeneration procedure which involves driving while maintaining an engine speed of 2,000-2,500 rpm for a period of up to 15 minutes or until the light goes out."

[charles]

[John Williamson]

There were a number of 50mph limits on that road last week.