No ones going to ever meet eye to eye on this one :P

It's like arguing what your favourite football team is

It's like arguing what your favourite football team is

That's an easy one, I don't like football ;)

I can see this going for a while.

Horses for courses I think.

High mileage and commuting - Diesel

Low mileage or urban bimbling - Petrol

(we diesel owners will always know what's best though)

I actually prefer the way the diesel goes - okay, you change gear a lot, it's not quicker off the line than a petrol and the turbo does lag sometimes when you need it, but that burst of turbo that kicks in for overtaking is brilliant... I know a 1.6 is never going to set the world alight, but I'm glad I plumped for the 1.6TDCI over the petrol.

The turbo of the diesel can't beat the naturally aspirated Ti-VCT 1.6 when you drop into second and bury the throttle all the way to the red line! It makes a great noise and certainly gets the adrenaline pumping!

I find diesels run out of puff after 4000rpm and they are noisy (in a bad way). Yes, the power and torque is more accessible in everyday driving, but it can't compare with the petrol if you really want to shift.

It would have been nice if Ford had included a turbocharged petrol unit like in the Citoren DS3 1.6 D-Sport THP. It's 155hp and 0-60 in 7.3 sec. Hopefully the new ST will wipe the floor with that though.

Right, here we go Scott ;)

Assumptions:

• I know fuel cost won't be the same for 3 years but lets assume the gap stays the same
  
• As above for road tax
  
• I've been generous with the petrol MPG..
  
• Cost new was taken from the ford.co.uk configurator for a 1.6 petrol & diesel Zetec-S and is list price with no extras or haggling!
  

I honestly average about 42 mpg and I do 20% urban, 80% motorway on my commute. My miles per tank is normally 320-350.

Hi,

Can anyone tell me how much cash I would need to part with in order to trade in my white Zetec S for a similar age/mileage Metal. The ZS has 13k on the clock but I am putting 400 miles a week on it getting to work and back so should I be looking to trade up sooner rather than later?

My ZS is in immaculate condition but I am considering parting with a grand or so to have the leather interior, twin exhaust and performance boost, etc. I absolutely love the handling and driving characteristics of the ZS, I look forward to driving it every time I step into the car, but it just makes me want that little bit more power. I've looked into a Mountune upgrade but it would be cheaper to part ex my car for a Metal plus I would get all the extras as well.

Do you think it's worth it? Is the metal going to cost me more to run? (I do about 70% of my driving on the motorway).

I have just purchased a Metal to replace my petrol 1.6 ZS which was stolen. The thing is you don't get this car if you are worried about MPG. Depending how you drive the MPG will probably be only slighly less which in my case was about ave 39 mpg. The difference between the two is the extra performance, it is a joy to drive the engine has a nice purring sound to it.

In my s1600 (same engine as your metal) I average 32mpg. Solely city driving. On a motorway run it does rise to 45 if you're careful but like you say I didn't buy the car to worry about fuel consumption

I do about 17k a year and plumped for the 1.6 ti-vct petrol focus as I do a 25 mile commute each way plus local site visits in the day. The local site visits were killingly the mpg in my old work van as it never got warm enough. Getting 41 mpg and very happy. For comparison when I bought my focus the equivalent diesel model cost over 2k more at a year old and had double the mileage.

The difference between diesel and petrol is much smaller today due to improved fuel economy in both engines. Diesels cost more to service and have more to wrong such as turbos. Unless you're doing mega miles I think it's a very individual thing diesel vs petrol everyone prefers one over the other for whatever reason. I am no fan of diesels and much prefer the refined performance of a petrol.

My local dealer charges the same for petrol or diesel servicing.

My local dealer charges the same for petrol or diesel servicing.

Mine too, but I swapped from the original dealer when they tried arguing my spark plugs were on their way out... Not sure how I kept a straight face if honest.

Mine too, but I swapped from the original dealer when they tried arguing my spark plugs were on their way out... Not sure how I kept a straight face if honest.

What! For a TDCi? Seriously? They should be named & shamed.

Idiots.

I had a garage I used to go to that recommended two years in a row that my brake discs needed replacing within 2 months.

Suffice to say I don't use them anymore

Right, here we go Scott ;)

Assumptions:

• I know fuel cost won't be the same for 3 years but lets assume the gap stays the same
  
• As above for road tax
  
• I've been generous with the petrol MPG..
  
• Cost new was taken from the ford.co.uk configurator for a 1.6 petrol & diesel Zetec-S and is list price with no extras or haggling!
  

Nath,

Here's some real world figures for you to put into your spreadsheet. Filled up an almost empty tank yesterday. Odometer was 341.1 miles from full, with 5 miles left until 'empty'. Put in 41.87 litres at £1.319 per litre (Shell, Exeter), which came to £55.23. So my 1.6 118hp petrol engine costs £0.16 per mile to run based on a my average driving routes of 20% urban, 80% motorway. I don't exceed 70 on the m-way and change up on the green light in town. But no, that doesn't mean I drive like a granny, and acceleration is still 'decent' even when driving economically like this as it pulls reasonably well at relatively low speeds in high gear.