Diesel to a petrol

[Jing]

At the mo I drive a diesel audi a3, I have sold it and its going at the weekend

I really want a Seat Leon, I have seen a red 1.6 stylance, 55 plate at a great price but I am unsure about going back to petrol. I only do 7000 miles a year. I am a mum and I just do school runs, shopping etc.. I don't do long journeys really ie motorway. I have been running a diesel for the last couple of years and I can get 500 miles out of a full tank (£65 to fill) which is great, I bet I won't get that from a petrol.

What do you think???

 

[P0LKR]

At just 7000 miles a year petrol is the way to go. The 1.6 in the Leon is quite an old engine though in design and subsequently is not brilliant in economy. I would expect around 30mpg. The new 1.4 Tsi in the Leon is much more powerful and should return nearer 40mpg

 

[alx_chung]

Agreed with POLKR, if you can I would try to get a 1.4 TSI Leon if you can as it has been said its a newer engine and its a bit more economical as well (but this depends on what kind of budget you have)
I have driven both and can say that the 1.4 is the better engine out of the two and its a lot more smoother as well.
Alex

 

[RickyD1975]

At the mo I drive a diesel audi a3, I have sold it and its going at the weekend

I really want a Seat Leon, I have seen a red 1.6 stylance, 55 plate at a great price but I am unsure about going back to petrol. I only do 7000 miles a year. I am a mum and I just do school runs, shopping etc.. I don't do long journeys really ie motorway. I have been running a diesel for the last couple of years and I can get 500 miles out of a full tank (£65 to fill) which is great, I bet I won't get that from a petrol.

What do you think???

To be honest if your only doing school runs & shopping going back to a petrol makes sense. The 1.6 Leon is a nice car. Go and take it for a test drive and see what you think.

I did the same move years ago from a BMW 330 Diesel to a Ford Focus 1.6 Petrol although was doing around 15,000 miles a year. The MPG was more or less the same, however the driving experience wasn't a good as the BMW.

Anyway I'm still running a petrol car and traded in the Focus for a Leon Cupra last Xmas and never looked back. The Leon is a far better car than the Focus.

I'm only doing around 7,000 miles a year as I changed jobs in August 2007, so now closer to home

 

[phil3012]

I would say for that sort of mileage the petrol will be a better choice, not sure what mileage you would get out of a tank as it is town driving, but a tank of petrol in the Leon will be less than £65.

If you are looking at a 55 reg Leon, then you will have to go for the 1.6 as the 1.4TSi only came out a year or so ago I think.

I imagine the price to buy a 1.6 petrol will be cheaper than a diesel as diesel cars seem to be more highly sort after at the moment.

For your sort of driving I'm not sure what mpg to expect, do you know what the Audi did?

I'm just thinking that if there is a lot of stop start driving you would get less than 30 mpg out of the petrol.

 

[JD_SCN]

The 1.6 VAG engine is not good at all, I had it in my mk5 golf earlier this year. Never liked it, slow around town and got 23mpg at times! 1.4tsi if petrol.

 

[SpursMadDave]

You will probably get around 350 to a tank if you do short trips so about 3 fill-ups of £50 against 2 fill-ups of £65 not a huge difference really....

 

[cheungy]

on a full tank the cpu tells me i have 300 ....doing roughly 40-45MPG normal drive keeping revs around 2-3k, again its down tro the way you drive floor it and it drinks like a drunk but gently it will last. its good fun XD

 

[flashp]

Diesel or petrol

I have an FR 170 diesel, I cover low mileage (750/month), 5.5 miles to work...2 of those miles at 50-70 mph and never seen a DPF light in 2956 miles (fingers crossed!).

The 140bhp diesel is without DPF, so if that is bothering you go for this and get a map (or not).

I banked on higher residuals in a few years when people fully realise what has happened to road tax costs. Petrol FR or Cupra will be £90 more expensive from April 2010, throw difference in economy into the mix with performane considered and I reckon diesel will be the weapon of choice in a couple of years and be carrying a premium and be easier to sell.

No car is doing well at the moment, so ignore the current market. It will get better and I think people will be 'smarter' with their readies when the climate improves.

Sports diesels...best of both worlds.

In my opinion of course...

 

[Donnyboy]

I went from a Mk1 FR TDI Leon to the Mk2 Cupra.............and fcuking love it!!!

The diesel was a great car, but I'm only doing 6-7k miles a year so wasn't really seeing the benefit. My insurance went down about £5 per month (don't know why) road tax has went up abit and MPG dropped from around mid 30's to mid 20's. I fill up around twice a month and get about 250-280 miles per tank, but never let it run right down. I've ran it on Tesco superduper 99RON since I got it and its currently 97p per litre. I only ran the the diesel on BP/Shell premium diesel with I think is about £1.10 per litre.

Over a 45 litre fill up I save about £5.50 with the Cupra. Thats £11 per month, £132 per year + the £60 per year I saved on insurance = £192..............so goes towards the extra road tax. These are rough calculations and I don't use the same every month. The TDi did do about 100 miles more per tank though.

The Cupra is great for cruising around at low revs if you want, and fantastic when you give some beans. Its got enough torque that you don't have to kick its brains in to get it to move.

The other thing with the diesel was I had not heaters in winter going to work. Its only about 4 miles so the car never got up to temp and the MPG was crap as a result. I get heaters and about the same MPG now.

So If it were you I'd go for a petrol, maybe even the FR TFSi??

 

[Jing]

Thanks everyone for your help

 

[OLDOILER]

I have an FR 170 diesel, I cover low mileage (750/month), 5.5 miles to work...2 of those miles at 50-70 mph and never seen a DPF light in 2956 miles (fingers crossed!).

The 140bhp diesel is without DPF, so if that is bothering you go for this and get a map (or not).

I banked on higher residuals in a few years when people fully realise what has happened to road tax costs. Petrol FR or Cupra will be £90 more expensive from April 2010, throw difference in economy into the mix with performane considered and I reckon diesel will be the weapon of choice in a couple of years and be carrying a premium and be easier to sell.

No car is doing well at the moment, so ignore the current market. It will get better and I think people will be 'smarter' with their readies when the climate improves.

Sports diesels...best of both worlds.

In my opinion of course...

I'm inclined to agree - I have been considering going back to a petrol cupra but the hike in road tax due in 2010?? [or defered if this gov wants to stay in] but the other alternative is the 2.0 tdi which will give good mpg on short/long runs - remap and you'l have simlar performance as a TDI FR and improved mpg.

 

[digby130?]

or if you dont mind going for a smaller car the ibiza 1.4tdi ecomotive
http://media.seat.co.uk/SEAT/MINDBLOWING/offerIbizaEco.asp
a claimed 74mpg!! u would probably fill it up 6 times a year if all your doing is town stuff!!