Family car replacement

J

Jackers42

Member
Some advice please. I'm looking at a three year old Golf (can I say that on this forum?) We do lots of very short journeys - a mile or two - and a couple of longish trips a month. Overall 10k pa.

Economy is important so depreciation, servicing, tax and mpg are main factors. The question is, diesel or petrol?
 
I'd initially say petrol because of the low miles and short journeys - cheaper to buy too, but then worth less at the other end.
 
If they are short journeys the the DPF can get blocked as diesels like a good thrashing once in a while.

The link below is a spreadsheet I put together to work out the break even point of Diesel over Petrol. On something like 320i vs 320d it's something stupid like 140k. Even on a 335i vs 335d it's 43k although the figures a a few years out of date now.

Just substitute the bold figures and see what it throws out.

http://www.z4-forum.com/user_images/srhutch/Petrol_vs_Diesel_mpg_comparison.xls
 
I really cant agree with the above?

Stop start traffic, single lane, urban environment the diesel is much more worth it.
 
I would agree with Wondermike - if you're not doing many miles, the petrol is the better bet.
 
Does a Golf of that vintage have a DPF ? If so, then you either have to remove it & have the ECU recoded to ignore it, or (simpler) go petrol. Replacing a DPF is an expensive business.
 
What a great forum this is! Thanks guys.

Even Honest John quotes scary figures for diesel maintenence once they get to be a few years old. Makes the zed even more appealing...

Btw, this is clearly not a replacement for the zed!
 
Def go petrol. I had a diesel c max and did 5 miles to and from work, in that time it never got warmed up so never got the benefit of the added mpg plus the heater never got warm.
As someone has said there's a break even figure which I don't think you'll be hitting.
 
I have diesels and we import a lot of diesel cars.

The new Euro 5 engines all have a DPF.

I can tell you that the problematic engines are the toyota 2.0L and the nissan 2.0L engines.

Small engines like the nissa qashqai's (renault) 1.5DCi or the VWs bluemotion 1.6Tdi absolutely have no issues.

The mulijet 1.3 is also problematic.

Otherwise you will find that especially for short journeys the return is around 10mpg more.

Resale value of the diesel is also higher.

Maintenance is similair expect for turbo or intercooler issues.
 
Buy a petrol......modern diesels arent suited to short journeys

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/watchdog/2011/10/diesel_particulate_filters.html
 
Diesels are not good for stop start driving around town. There have been a number of issues so of which have been reported on Watchdog. Factor in more expensive fuel and higher cost to buy they are not always the right choice.

Don't get me wrong I love my 118d and have owned many diesels, but sometimes petrol is better.
 
I run a 12 year old petrol mkIV auto thats done 30k miles in start stop traffic and for short journeys. Still getting around 38mpg average.
 
Statistically oil burners are higher sellers in Europe especially in urban environments.

For short and long journeys, i have found them more economical along the years.

As i said, DPF is not an issue on smallish engines.

This is an arictle by WHICH, worth a read, and proves YOUR point that diesel is not cost effective but I beg to differ.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/9407960/The-hidden-cost-of-diesel-cars.html
 
Petrol 100% If you are doing a lot of short journeys I recommend a 1.4 or 1.6 in the golf guise.

Yes diesels are more economical, cheaper to tax but with so many short journeys as above you'll be forking all that saving out again in maintenance I'm sure.

Having said all that you mention there will be a couple of longish trips a month and a 10k pa overall which to me says you'll be more than ok with a diesel. Again as above there are plenty of articles as to the benefits of one over the other.
 
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