Wow , this is going to start a debate and with 9 memebers reading as I type it will go on

I do 40k per year

I chose my car for the reliability and fuel economy

When I came in to work yesterday , I did 65.7 MPG

I can get 600 miles on £50 fuel

I can put my foot down and play with the torque in bits of the traffic that will allow and can still retain 60mpg easy

I think that diesel engines have laods more playing torque (sorry) just that I have road tested a few petrol cars , and a few diesels , the biggest grin came from testing a 150PD Golf that had just been mapped , wow

But I did have a petrol Fabia 1.4 16V for a while and fuel economy was rubbish

I was only getting mid 20`s out of it , could not believe it

Oh and my last 2p worth , same as Cheesie says , I think it is because diesel cars got better and better and people wanted it more , the heads above decided to coin in on it and charge more

Whats happened to LPG?

Sarah

Come on now, you cant tell me you Desired a mundaneo :P

I think there is something he isn't telling us.... He is a secret Mondeo Lover

I think there is something he isn't telling us.... He is a secret Mondeo Lover

Err, hardly.

I did however want a fully loaded comfy car that wasn't going to cost more than a grand to buy, had to be cheaper on fuel and insurance than the vRS (insurance is 37% what it was on the vRS), easy to maintain with cheap parts etc. I think I ticked all the boxs nicely, and I'm struggling to think what I could have got better for £770! Yes its cost me a total of £1050 to get to the condition its in now, but tinkering with it is part of the fun. Sure I could have bought a 106 diesel, but I didn't want to be embarassed when taking local members, contractors etc out in it.

If I get 3 months out of it then I'll be happy. You never know this one might be a keeper!

£300 one off for a luxury warranty, including wear and tear for 13 months from warranty direct doesn't sound too bad for me. It covers all the common parts and a few more.

That seems like a decent buy if it covers turbo, dmf, clutch, a/c related bits etc.

You are aware that when cold, a petrol car runs rich but a derv always runs lean aren't you? Dervs are more efficient when warm than cold, but petrols follow the same trait.

Well on my 5 mile commute my Passat and Fabia vRS both got under 40mpg, yet the 2.0TFSI and 2.5 V6 both get 35mpg. I'm only talking from personal experience.

I've been having a think, hypothetically of course, as to what I would choose if I had to have a company car (as a couple of my friends have to). I honestly don't know, as I love the drivability of a diesel when you are lazy, but then I love the silky smooth, torquey V6, and I also love the thrill of keeping a revvy petrol engine on the boil too... Fuel economy doesn't really come into it for me, as I do about 15k a year, about 8k of which are reimbursed at 40p a mile. The difference per month in fuel economy is completely overshadowed by depreciation when looking at a brand new car.

Its the opposite now in Ireland ( well starting next month), the VRT we have will now be based on CO2 emmissions. So in fact a Diesel vRS will now be cheaper to buy than a Petrol, 2,000 euro cheaper in fact.

http://www.skoda.ie/templates/SkodaV3/downloads/5Octavia%20Price%20and%20Spec.pdf

That seems like a decent buy if it covers turbo, dmf, clutch, a/c related bits etc.

I have previously had a warranty direct warranty and iirc clutches aren't covered and I doubt you would be able to successfully claim for a DMF either. Turbo and air con would be included but obviously your service records need to be spot on and something like an air con leak wouldn't be covered if it was arguable it was due to damage rather than breakdown.

You should be able to go to their website and download the T&Cs

Just been reported on our local BBC news that the AA now says that whereas the break even point for a diesel car used to be 14k miles per annum it is now an enormous 40k miles per annum :eek:

They said that Petrol is now the better option.

What a load of old B0ll0x - were they quoting Jeremy Clarkson ??

What a load of old B0ll0x - were they quoting Jeremy Clarkson ??

No they were quoting the AA as I said in the post.

Well, petrol cars have far fewer needs for a fuel filter change than a diesel and other than sparkplugs & HT leads (which if half decent should last for ages) I cannot think of any additional costs for a petrol service over a diesel?

Furthermore, you mention the residuals . . . which presumably were originally mainly to do with the desireability of a "more economical" diesel. As has been calculated, if this is no longer the case, perhaps the residuals of derv cars is about to plummet relative to the petrol models?

Do they still change fuel filters as my mum's 5 year old passat that was deler serviced never had the fuel filter swapped - they must have just drained it every service. Only found this out when we could smell diesel and found that the fuel filter had split and pi$$ed derv everywhere. When we took the filter out it was stamped 2003 ..... but that's main dealers for you I guess. I'm pretty sure mine hasn't been changed either and mine's done 46,000 miles and again been main dealer serviced. :thumbdwn:

I have previously had a warranty direct warranty and iirc clutches aren't covered and I doubt you would be able to successfully claim for a DMF either. Turbo and air con would be included but obviously your service records need to be spot on and something like an air con leak wouldn't be covered if it was arguable it was due to damage rather than breakdown.

You should be able to go to their website and download the T&Cs

I had one before (gold) but this is a different policy.

The DMF is specifically covered, I checked this point too, the clutch friction lining is not covered, nor are the clutch cover and release bearing.

The turbo is as is the air con, the price I gave was at a main dealer too.

A nice feature is that say your cambelt snaps but you are inside the change period, as long as you can show you have had it done at manufacturers specified period they cover that and damage caused.

A list of what isn't covered, the rest of it is

Warranty Direct :: The UK's leading car warranty & household warranty supplier. Providing used car warranties, new car warranties, and household protection for your TV, washing machine and other products.

FWIW we got a new DMF for a focus on one

Just been reported on our local BBC news that the AA now says that whereas the break even point for a diesel car used to be 14k miles per annum it is now an enormous 40k miles per annum :eek:

They said that Petrol is now the better option.

If you can get it. Went into my regular Shell filler yesterday. They'd totally run out of Vpower. They had supplies all during the strike. Presumably the production/distribution systems been tweaked to make up the backlog of deliveries in the rest of the country.

Nick.

The DMF is specifically covered, I checked this point too, the clutch friction lining is not covered, nor are the clutch cover and release bearing.

That's a pleasant surprise for any nervous TD owner.

What a load of old B0ll0x - were they quoting Jeremy Clarkson ??

damn. I think that's the entire argument settled right there, I mean how could anybody possibly counter such a well thought out and balanced response :eek:

:P

That's a pleasant surprise for any nervous TD owner.

I agree, it was why I got it

Won,t get economy out of a petrol engine with 4 passengers on board like you can with a diesel engine.

Hell of a lot of Diesel drivers getting on the defensive here.

Why would you assume that comparative economy on a Petrol engine with 4 passengers would be worse than a Diesel with 4 passengers?

Hell of a lot of Diesel drivers getting on the defensive here.

I know

If you look at my car just to confuse things.

I get about 40mpg combined.

Now the equivelent petrol with similar power would be averaging about 20mpg when driven at the same level of thrashing.

Therefore diesel is better for me....... 300bhp+ m3 bmws cant get away from me and I would like to see them do 40+mpg

how come i couldn't keep up with an M3 or a scooby WRX(with me running slightly over 200bhp according to a couple of rolling roads) and a 220bhp Fabia(Jason) couldn't keep up with me, this was at trax/airfields with everyone knowing what the score was and everyone going flat out.

Hell of a lot of Diesel drivers getting on the defensive here.

Why would you assume that comparative economy on a Petrol engine with 4 passengers would be worse than a Diesel with 4 passengers?

Iam not getting defensive here but based on experience i have had much better MPG out of a diesel with 4 up than a petrol engine but the petrol was just a N/A engine and the diesel was a TDi.

Just quoting my 2p worth thats all like everyone else.

Nope , it was slightly more expensive than unleaded (2p) back when I got my first Octy and that wass just over 5 years ago

Well back when I got me first diesel it was DERV was 5p cheaper (ok so age dulls the memory and it was probably nearer 10 years ago:rolleyes:)

Tom , no offense , but anyone who follows your advice on budget motoring needs their head examining

:orb_lol:

Therefore diesel is better for me....... 300bhp+ m3 bmws cant get away from me and I would like to see them do 40+mpg

But if I were to buy an M3, the last thing on my mind would be getting 40+mpg..... or raceing Fabia's

Skoda FSI - Superunleaded.

Might screw up the math a bit.

Is your Fabia on the usual fixed servicing 10k oil changes? The VAG fixed servicing regime seems short compared to other servicing regimes.

Yes, the Fabia is on 10,000 miles fixed service intervals. At getting on for £200 for an oil service at Skoda dealers these days, it is no wonder that I am giving very serious consideration to leaving the brand.

Chris

But if I were to buy an M3, the last thing on my mind would be getting 40+mpg..... or raceing Fabia's

But the M3 is better than a prius as proven on the TG track