I'd buy a diesel tomorrow if it matched my petrol performance, which they are doing now.

If this topic had arisen say 18-24 months ago the gap was a little larger. The advent of PD makes "performance" diesel much better.

Costs can be adjusted away, but are the only real facotr when performance levels out.

Noise? Who cares, radio on, tyre noise, road noise, it's a non starter argument for me.

They do at that. Costs are more but the theory was your fuel would cost you far less...if the goverment cotton on then I guess we'll see v12 Petrol lorrys soon...okay I know we won't as there is no torque.

I'd like to see the new vRS as a diesel I think if VAG have there way it will be, simply because the GOLF GTi has lost so much ground...reshape the question: Octavia 200BHP for 15k GOlf GTi for 15K+say 3 or 4..which would you go for?

So IMHO if VAG have half a hand, we'll see the "classic" line classic performance, which with PD is not that bad atall

"a twelve-month-old Ford Focus 1.8 TDCi LX typically costs

I look at it like this;-

previous car - 34 mpg , group 10 insurance , green flag cover ,

On another note, Colin has hit the nail on the head really. Performance of diesel cars are now comparable with their petrol equivalent.

Well got my Octy 2.0TDi and have been well impressed so far with the cost savings compared to my old Honda Accord 2.0 Petrol.

Road Tax is

That data suggests that it would be more efficient for ALL CARS to be diesels. All those cars will last more than the 20-30k miles it takes to cover the difference in price. The nations economy would be better if we all had diesels. If the average car lasts 150,000 miles then the diesel is going to be several thousand pounds cheaper over it's whole life. That saving will be spread out over all the owners.

My dad ran a K-reg 1.9 diesel Citroen ZX for 15 years, covering almost 300,000 miles in it, using diesel saved him thousands - if that same car had had 5 owners, the same saving would have been shared by the 5 owners.

Absolutely right, clv. If diesel isn't cost-saving for the first owner who does less than (say) 30k or 40k, then it must by definition be cost-saving for the next owner who is getting it at less of a price premium. Or if not that owner, the one after.

Insurance costs are normally very similar but there are cases when the diesel model is quite a few groups lower.

Servicing costs do vary quite significantly, though, although again it depends on the model. Skoda's site includes a maintenance cost calculator, which suggests (at

Diesels work best over longer distances. I'm imagining you'll have some kind of electric car for < 100 miles in the near future, and then have some form of combustion engine, be it diesel, petrol or whatever for longer distances.

If the title is anything to go by - I'm 5000 miles into clear profit. :woohoo:

Only 2500 miles to go for me Only had it 13 months though :(

I have never thought about the savings or the like when buying either car.Don't really worry about the mileages,mpg,fuel costs etc.

Just chose the cars for the driving experiences.Love the grunt of the Fabia vRS .Love the fun I have in my petrol vRS

Probably the best thing is telling people who ask what you have you can just say "a diesel skoda " worth paying a extra few quid for that

I too chose my Fabia vRS independatly of running costs. Had there been a 150bhp petrol version for the same cost, I'd have still opted for the diesel. I love the way the power comes, nice and effortlessly without the need to keep "on the boil". The 45mpg average and cheap insurance etc is merely a bonus...

I do belive that many people are fooled into thinking a diesel will save them for money. For low mileages users who only keep the car 2/3 years, they simply don't.

For people like me, the savings are rather good

I've gone from an Octy RS, that I ran on either Super unleaded or optimax, to a diesel. I do approx 50k miles per year and keep the car at least 2 years. Seemed the sensible thing to do

Doing 100 miles a day I'm better off in what I pay at the pumps per week - whether this is a real saving or not I don't care, just seeing 40+ mpg is a novelty over the 27 I used to get!!

I do just shy of 19,000 miles a year just commuting to work and back, so I think my Fabia 1.9TDi should pay for itself. Even better, I actually prefer how it drives to my old petrol and to the 1.4 16v Fabia I tried - the power is much more usable in normal driving. The other thing I like is that while a fill-up costs more, I have to do them far less often, so even if it cost the same to run overall I'd have a car I prefer to drive and fewer petrol station stops. Good enough for me.

Just been having a look at car prices on parkers, trying to get a comparison of residual values for Petrol vs Diesel, and I came up with this (for Octavia Ambiente 5 door 2003/03)

1.6 Petrol cost new 11685 PX value 5315 = 45.5% of original

1.9TDi cost new 12555 PX value 6760 = 53.8% of original

So... after just over 2 yrs, the diesel which cost

2.5 years, 90,000 miles

I lug alot of heavy gear around so the diesel is much better for me and I enjoy the driving characteristics a good TDI offers.

I get around 500 miles to a tank on average, I would be looking at less than 300 in a petrol of similar power so in doing over 50,000 miles a year my boss is saving decent amounts of cash.

And as a company car driver the CO2 emissions are a strong factor. i can't believe the tax issue hasn't been covered in this thread!

Diesel or petrol Octy vRS? The diesel in a heartbeat

My diesel oct'y has a better towing capacity than the petrol.

Haven't we reached the point where car makers should stop ripping everyone off with premiums for a diesel?

This is obviously true for short term owners or those doing low mileages, but, there are other advantages to diesels.

Not true. My friend's father has a 92 Corolla which he bought brand new, and now has over 500,000kms on it. You take care of any car, it lasts forever.

I also chose the fabia vrs for the driving experience it gives, i only do 8000 miles per year, i came from an escort gti which had group 13 insurance and only did 25mpg, the fabia gives me at least 40 mpg when i drive it hard and i dont have to rev the nuts off it to get any power like i had to do with the gti

2.5 years, 90,000 miles

85,000 in 18 months :haha:

I think What Car recently ran an article about the true cost of running a diesel and it came up with some surprising figures. If I remember correctly, many new Diesels pay for themselves almost as soon as you drive them off the fore-court. VW Golfs, Nissan X-Trails and all the other really popular diesels eg Mercs and BMW often pay for themselves with an average mileage of only 2,000 miles a year. They even suggested that the X-Trail diesel might pay for itself, if it never left the owners garage. This was all based on the fact of vastly superior resale values of these sought after diesels. I think it’s becoming more and more likely that people are looking to second hand diesels as they believe that they will slash their fuel bills. They don’t really think about the slightly more frequent servicing, higher fuel costs and increased front tyre wear. Still, it means that I should get a better price for my Octy when it comes time to sell. Oh, I do about 20K miles per year so I think I win either way:orb_xmas_ don't know why i used this orb, but it's sooooo cute

Diesels need no more servicing than petrol, just look at the VW variable servicing regime. Fuel costs at the pump may be slightly greater but that is outweighed by the greater mileage and less frequent fill ups.