Choosing diesel over petrol

[RobM]

Firstly, let me make it clear that this thread and question has no hidden agenda, no point to prove, nothing sinister or snide about it at all. It's a genuine question.
Also, PLEASE don't turn this into a 'my e-penis is bigger than yours' debate

Ok... I'm guilty myself of saying the only reason you chose diesel over petrol is if you do lots of miles and / or you are worried about fuel economy. You often here the 'penny pinching' statement too. But I'm interested to know if this is wrong or not?

So, my question is... How many past or present diesel owners here chose their diesel car without fuel economy being a consideration? And what made you chose the diesel car over the equivalent petrol version?

People who chose their diesel because of the fuel economy need not reply I guess, it's a question aimed at those who chose it for other reasons.

Ta,

Rob

 

[daveyonthemove]

I have to be honest and say the main reason for buying my diesel car is economy. When you do 500 miles a week to and from work and can manage it on one tankfull, it makes sense. Then there is cheaper road tax and insurance.
That said, i have driven plenty of petrol cars, and find that they are ok to drive, but i prefer a diesel engine. Also when it comes to tuning they respond very well and keep good economy.

 

[Big_daddy]

Thats true! its our personall choice!

 

[UncleFester]

Hi Rob,

I'm not so sure you can seperate out the economy as it's probably going to be at least a contributing factor for everyone, me included. I was doing 30k a year up and down the M1, when you look at the fuel receipts, the 260 miles to a tank at motorway speeds, the lure of something that will return 250 miles more to a tank with similar performance is a hard pull to resist. To be entirely fair, i'm not doing the motorway miles i once was so the difference in real world economy is not as great, but when i do want to go somewhere, i don't find my journey is routed around where the nearest petrol station is. I can go from milton keynes to my folks place and back on one tank of diesel, my old honda would have used a full tank going up and another one coming home and that was without any enthusiastic driving. In 9 months of ownership, i've never seen less than 350 miles to a tank, in 2 years of Honda Vtec ownership, i never saw more than 300 miles to a tank.

However the 'other' reasons i changed to Diesel was that i was utterly sick of buzzy, rev happy petrol engines. I do ( or did) a lot of motorway miles in a rev happy honda which whilst great fun became tiresome after 2 years.

I also found i was replacing batteries and alternators on about every petrol car i've owned due to the strain the audio gear puts on it - not having any problems with pulsing lights etc on this one at all - even at FULL volume.

I like the fact i can cruise in top gear on motorways and keep pace with traffic without the need to shift gears, the RPM of the engine at motorway speed is half what my prior car was, that in itself is a nice thing. The clattery engine note is inaudible once moving.

Lower tax is a bonus, the ability to chop the Cat out without failing an MOT is also nice, no lambda sensors or closed loop emission systems to worry about here!

Insurance grouping is another reason, pound for lb .... it's less expensive as to date, diesels don't seem to be attracting the same sort of premiums as the equivalent powered petrol model - although that might just be because i'm turning into an old git

I'd always seen diesels as something that powers commercial vehicles, every commercial diesel i've driven has always felt 'unstallable' and gear changes always felt hard to fluff. I guess i just fancied seeing what a modern derv was like and after 9 months or so of ownership i'm still very happy with it. So much so that i'd struggle to go back to petrol in the foreseeable future.

When i drove my honda, i always felt inclined to thrash the nuts out of it - it just begged to be murdered all the time - the diesel is just as quick in real world terms yet without that frantic urgency about it - a more civilised way of going quick i guess, or at least it feels that way to me. On the bad side, you don't notice how fast you are going because there's no screaming wailing cacophony of engine and exhaust to accompany your progress.

I guess like a lot of the 'new' Tdi owners, i've given petrol a fair chance over the years and wanted to try the darker side, having tried it ... i have to say I like it

Sorry for the essay

 

[rich RS]

I guess like a lot of the 'new' Tdi owners, i've given petrol a fair chance over the years and wanted to try the darker side, having tried it ... i have to say I like it

I would have to agree to that aswell

 

[RichLCR225]

Interesting thread Rob, before I decided to stick with my LCR I gave a lot of thought to buying a diesel. I will soon be doing two to three times my current mileage for my new job but decided that the £6k it would cost to trade mine in for a mk2 Leon FR TDI with a few toys would buy a lot of petrol for the LCR.

 

[RobM]

Cheers chaps

UncleFester... a question for you. If, when you bought your Leon, you were not doing the high miles like you mention, would you still have bought the TDi? Or would you have found a Cupra / Cupra R? Honestly.

What prompted this thread really, was I often read comments about why people prefer petrol engined cars. 'I prefer the way they drive' or 'I like higher revving engines' or many other variations of those sort of comments. It just struck me that if there are all these people whose personal preference is petrol for whatever reason, surely there must be people for whom the opposite is true?
'I prefer the lower revving engine' or 'I prefer the way it drives'.

Just interested to hear different opinions I guess, plus it makes for good discussion

 

[UncleFester]

Being completely honest and wanting to try a Tdi aside ... had i known that my mileage would decrease as drastically as it has, i'd probably have gone for a Cupra R - however having got the Tdi ( and done all the various mods to it) i don't regret buying it one bit. The modifications to me are part and parcel of buying a car, something i enjoy doing almost as much as driving. I did look at the R in the garage when i went down there but the Tdi was the first one I drove and it was the one i bought, largely because of the way it delivered power with so little fuss. You also have to remember that whilst my previous car was a vtec, it was also a 4x4 and getting in the Leon compared to that was heaven.

When i mark down all the various check boxes a car needs to tick, for me personally, there is nothing a Cupra R could do for me that the Tdi currently isn't doing - at least not enough to warrant changing. The one thing that the Tdi doesn't do is goad me into driving like a headcase all the time, i know if i got a petrol ... i'd be on the redline every chance I got, bad for my license and bad for my pocket. My bank balance and license prove this That's not to say I don't drive the Tdi hard because I do, i just don't drive it as hard as I would if it was a petrol and the running costs of a petrol would reflect that when driven the way i'd drive it.

When you look at how the cars deliver their power and where the cars are used, day to day I doubt there's any real difference between mine remapped and yours standard ..... bearing in mind that most of our mileage will be 'daily drive'. When i look around inside the car, look around the outside of the car ... i don't see anything vastly different to what you see.

However all this aside there is nothing that says IF i get behind the wheel of an LCR that i'm not going to fall instantly in love - thankfully i've yet to have that opportunity, it's almost a moot point really because even if i do love the LCR, i'm not sure i'd love it enough to to want to drive it all the time for all the reasons listed above.

 

[halo25]

I bought diesels after writing off a skyline

First reason was economy - then after a while I got hooked on the torque available from very modest engines along with cheaper running costs in general.

I went from a Golf TDI 110 GT to the last of the SEAT Leon FR+ TDIs - that was a great car and saw off many a petrol car that I wouldnt have believed myself. This firmly meant TDI's could be about performance as well as economy for me.

9 months later despite the new Leon coming out (and doom and gloom about depreciation) I sold it for the same price I paid for it Got an Audi TDI didnt like it as much then got the BMW 330d. I have to say its fantastic the six cylinder engine sounds agressive and on full chat is some beast. Its bloody quick - but just far too expensive to keep on the road.

However when the chance came up to get the Cupra R I just couldnt say no. I think diesels are starting to become an alternative performance car and becoming more so. But manufacturers at this point seem to be stopping short of out and out focussed TDI's - the perception is always they are "lesser" in many respects. What it needs is for 200 bhp + tdi's with the same performance focussed suspension and braking packages that the cupras and GTI's of the world get.

Even then what you going to do - probably look at the MPG and think well...

 

[andyb]

As requested..... topic moved as is not really Leon k1 related is it.

For the record, I bought a TDi when I lived in the UK. I'd by a TDi again tomorrow if I could. Low down torque (as well as mpg), higher resale and lower insurance are all factors...IF its a good TDi

 

[aceman]

My reason for initially going TDI was performance, The power delivery of a TDI especially the VAG cars is quite exhilerating and effortless which I love to bits and won't change unless something special is put under my nose. Combined with this the low insurance and economy it is a no brainer for me. I only do 10K a year so economy shouldn't really be a consideration but not having to fill up until 450 miles instead of 300 you still appreciate the economy.

 

[bmsc22990]

I have a tdi pd115 bammer and it was purely for economy as i need a 7 seater and a petrol bammer sounded scary to me. I have driven a couple of petrol cars recently, the best being a 1.8 vectra(i say best but the other was a kia!). and i couldn't get used to putting my foot down and nothing happening without having to change gear. So all i can say is the reason i would stick with tdi's now is pure laziness.

 

[devonutopia]

I only went for TDI at the time, as it was cheap insurance for the power and had good economy figures. I didn't realise all those years ago what the tuning potential was (compared to say a 1.4 16v which also comes with 100bhp stock)

I'm not saying I dislike petrols - far from it, but I just prefer TDI for the kind of miles and driving and tuning I do.

 

[lukey]

initially the lure of slashing running costs dramatically, 50% in fuel, 25% in tax, 25% in insurance for a similar feeling performance out of it. Also hearing about the remap potential as ive loved modifying all my cars. Now ive owned it for a few months i have to say its the best car ive owned and definitely want to stick with it for a while, whereas all my other cars have been petrol high revving 16v, VVTi, VTEC and i got bored fairly quickly and usually swapped cars within 8 months

 

[devonutopia]

Oh yeah, I forgot about the saving on road tax too. That's saved me a couple of hunred quid+ in the last 5 years or so.

 

[RobM]

Cheers everyone, makes good reading Kind of a mixed bag of responses which is good.

 

[russbate]

If I was doing alot of mileage I have a diesel, but I'd prefer a petrol car everytime

 

[DIFT]

Cheaper to run for me I guess. I drive two completely different types of roads.
1)Commuting in London usually means 28-30 MPG, in a petrol, it would easily be in the teens.
2) motorway, in the diesel its ~46 MPG, Petrol around ~34

I originally test drove the Ibiza as a joke to myself... (ie a diesel cant be a hot hatch). Well I was proved wrong, 3 years later, and I am still driving it with a smile! Cars usually last me a year before getting itchy feet.

As a question back Rob, have you ever driving a leon/ibiza Fr/Cupra diesel?

Would I like a petrol motor?? You bet, as long as it had the same torque and running costs as the diesel

 

[fatbloke]

I like the low down pull of the tdi, in traffic you dont always get the road to get the high revs needed to really get moving whereas my tdi delivers maximum revs at around 1800 rpm
the fuel economy is a bonus

 

[wibbly]

Its an interesting concept really... as somewhat of a noob to the Seat scene but not to Derv burners I happen to be in a fortunate position to drive both a reasonably performance oriented derv and petrol car.

My company car is a Leon Cupra FR and my wife has a Mini Cooper S 210hp Works Car. The Mini is certainly intoxicating in terms of having a supercharger so there is no turbo lag, it picks up and goes and is very simple to drive.... the downside is it barely manages 23mpg average, if you hammer it, you can get that down to 18mpg, and a tankful of fuel (lets say £40 quid), can last as little as 190 miles of spirited driving)

Now take the other side of the coin with a diesel, massive torque (so long as you keep the turbo spinning), 50mpg, 450 miles to a tank, and performance not too far off that of the Mini.

Which do I prefer? Well if I'm truthfully honest, the supercharger is absolutely addictive, but the mid range pull of the Leon is fab!

I guess its just horses for courses at the end of the day