Liam40 Posted February 19, 2016 Share Posted February 19, 2016 Hi, I've done a search on the basis on this topic, but can't find any! I can't decide for my next car whether to go for a petrol or diesel? I've always had petrol cars, but I've always wanted to get a diesel for my next car, because I am a 2nd named driver to drive my mum's motobility car and that's a Citreon C4 Picaso 1.6 diesel turbo and I love driving it because of the responsive pulling power of the turbo diesel, and it just cruises along a motorway in 6th gear effortlessly. But, I'm unsure what to get! My driving habits are, I do a mix of journeys on A and B roads, around local towns, country roads and on motorways, but I don't do that much long distance driving. I do a mix of driving styles depending on road conditions and traffic. Shameful to say after seeing how many miles members do annually, I do around 3000 miles annually! In my next car, I want to be confident in knowing I have some overtaking power under my right foot for that driver in the front who wants to go well below the speed limit Can you please give me some advice on what to choose and your thoughts on this please. Thank you, Liam. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dezwez Posted February 19, 2016 Share Posted February 19, 2016 i go with petrol with that sort of miles not worth the extra money spent on a diesel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexp999 Posted February 19, 2016 Share Posted February 19, 2016 3k p.a., definitely petrol. If you get an ecoboost it also has a turbo so has much more mid range torque than a N/A petrol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamesm182 Posted February 19, 2016 Share Posted February 19, 2016 3,000 miles per year you're likely to have dpf/egr issues with a diesel so definitely go petrol! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomsFocus Posted February 19, 2016 Share Posted February 19, 2016 Are you sure you only do 3k a year? That really is low mileage! As above though, you will have nothing but problems on a modern diesel doing that mileage. Petrol is the way to go - but make sure you choose one with some power, I assume fuel costs aren't really an issue with that mileage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MONDEO TXS 2.2 Posted February 19, 2016 Share Posted February 19, 2016 Low annual mileage in a diesel isn't an issue per se - it's the type / speed of driving that matters 3000 miles per annum in a diesel at motorway speeds is not an issue - 3000 miles per annum crawling round town @ 20 m.p.h is a seriously bad idea & not what a diesel engine is built for 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMX Posted February 19, 2016 Share Posted February 19, 2016 Definitely Petrol. I can't now remember if it was the AA or RAC who stated in a report, if you less than 10K miles a year and you're not a business user; Petrol or a petrol hybrid is fuel of choice when choosing your next car. Although as Mark said, you can get away with Diesel with a lower annual mileage, if your driving is mainly motorway speeds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmurray01 Posted February 19, 2016 Share Posted February 19, 2016 Purely because of your annual mileage, you should go for a petrol. I'd only own a diesel if I were doing over 10,000 miles per year (which I am, hence buying one). As much as diesels are great for torque and ease of driving, petrol engines can be just as fuel efficient and even if we had the worst winter ever, you'd have no worries getting it started (unlike a diesel at low temperatures). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MONDEO TXS 2.2 Posted February 19, 2016 Share Posted February 19, 2016 Please enlighten me as to why you think Diesels are harder to start than petrols in cold weather ? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmurray01 Posted February 19, 2016 Share Posted February 19, 2016 36 minutes ago, MONDEO TXS 2.2 said: Please enlighten me as to why you think Diesels are harder to start than petrols in cold weather ? Well, they used to be! Maybe these days the tables have turned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMo Posted February 19, 2016 Share Posted February 19, 2016 I totally back up what everyone else says. Definitely petrol! Unless your doing about 20k a year or more you're wasting money getting a diesel. You'll get more car for your money if you get a petrol. I Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexp999 Posted February 19, 2016 Share Posted February 19, 2016 20k into high a cut off. About 10k is a rough guide but that assumes a mostly motorway commute with no stops. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomsFocus Posted February 19, 2016 Share Posted February 19, 2016 2 hours ago, MONDEO TXS 2.2 said: Please enlighten me as to why you think Diesels are harder to start than petrols in cold weather ? Don't forget he's just bought an old IDI with most likely dying glowplugs... Very different to the common rail DI diesels of today! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simcor Posted February 19, 2016 Share Posted February 19, 2016 2 hours ago, jmurray01 said: Well, they used to be! Maybe these days the tables have turned. Diesels in years gone by had fuel waxing up but we are talking a long time ago probably before you were born. That made them difficult to start, but with anti waxing agents etc added to fuel that was solved. In more recent years glow plugs failing etc caused starting issues on diesels if they were not maintained because the fuel needed to be preheated in the combustion cylinder. In even more recent years any 10 year old or so diesel should be able to start perfectly fine no matter the weather or temperature, glow plugs are not required for starting on common rail diesels due to the enormous high pressures achieved, unless you happen to be in ridiculous minus figures of which we never see in the UK. The other reasons why more modern diesel engines fail to start in cold weather are low fuel rail pressure or injectors leaking, bad spray and atomisation etc etc. Both my ZTT and My Focus start first time every time with a simple turn of the key no matter the weather, the only time I have had a non start or struggle to start episode was a flat battery that was well past it's sell by date. So yes Jamie the table have turned quite some years ago mostly. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmurray01 Posted February 19, 2016 Share Posted February 19, 2016 2 hours ago, TomsFocus said: Don't forget he's just bought an old IDI with most likely dying glowplugs... Very different to the common rail DI diesels of today! The glow plugs are fine, but yes you are right - it is an IDI and below -5*C would put up a fight as those old engines did. I most likely am underestimating modern diesels with higher pressure fuel systems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liam40 Posted February 19, 2016 Author Share Posted February 19, 2016 11 hours ago, TomsFocus said: Are you sure you only do 3k a year? That really is low mileage! As above though, you will have nothing but problems on a modern diesel doing that mileage. Petrol is the way to go - but make sure you choose one with some power, I assume fuel costs aren't really an issue with that mileage. Hi, Unfortunately I have to confirm that yes 'Only 3000 a year'. Shameful I know!!! Liam. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmurray01 Posted February 20, 2016 Share Posted February 20, 2016 7 hours ago, Liam40 said: Hi, Unfortunately I have to confirm that yes 'Only 3000 a year'. Shameful I know!!! Liam. On the plus side, you'll only need to get the oil changed once a year, unlike me who has to do it every 3-4 months! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liam40 Posted February 20, 2016 Author Share Posted February 20, 2016 Hi Everyone, Thank you to all those that have replied to my topic so far and have given me some really useful advice! I appreciate it! I shall leave it for a little while before making my mind up to see if any other members comment on this topic. I'm in the process of compiling a list of all cars that I have owned, which 2 have been non-ford. Thank you again! Liam. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V6 Lover Posted February 20, 2016 Share Posted February 20, 2016 I only do low mileages so have (if a bit old tech)a nice lusty 3 litre mondeo to waft about in.... Petrol all day fella with low miles:):) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Incontro Posted February 20, 2016 Share Posted February 20, 2016 Petrol all the way for small to mid-size cars (assuming not extremely high annual mileages). An example of a mid-size car is a Focus. For other large cars (e.g. Landrover Discovery), SUV's, trucks and buses, diesel all the way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theredfox Posted February 21, 2016 Share Posted February 21, 2016 On 19/02/2016 at 11:10 PM, Liam40 said: Hi, Unfortunately I have to confirm that yes 'Only 3000 a year'. Shameful I know!!! Liam. nothing wrong in doing low mileage mine is 5000 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmurray01 Posted February 21, 2016 Share Posted February 21, 2016 30 minutes ago, theredfox said: nothing wrong in doing low mileage mine is 5000 I wish I was doing low mileage! The reason mine is over 10k is because of work, and God knows I wish I wasn't doing that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liam40 Posted February 22, 2016 Author Share Posted February 22, 2016 12 hours ago, jmurray01 said: I wish I was doing low mileage! The reason mine is over 10k is because of work, and God knows I wish I wasn't doing that. No wonder your Nissan Primera has done 203,000 miles. That's a lot of miles! Liam. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmurray01 Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 9 minutes ago, Liam40 said: No wonder your Nissan Primera has done 203,000 miles. That's a lot of miles! Liam. I can't take the credit for that, as when we bought it in August last year it had 193,000 miles, so we've only done 10k so far (albeit in the short space of 6 months). Actually, thinking about it like that, theoretically our annual mileage must be closer to 20k... Not sure how that is possible, other than traveling back and forth to work and using the car on most of my days off for leisure trips. All those miles must add up to more than I'd thought. It was a taxi for most of its life until I bought it, but I don't think she's getting the "retirement" she hoped for Once I get the ABS and EML issues sorted, I'm hopeful that she'll easily make it to 300k with regular maintenance (oil and filter every 5k and air filter every 10k). 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexp999 Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 If I only drove to and from work my annual mileage would be about 2k, lol. I only have a petrol ST because my work mileage is so low, otherwise I couldn't really justify having it. However being that it is so much fun to take out and drive, I have already done 1500 miles in 3 months, lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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