I'm sure I've read on here a way of calculating when it's best to go for diesel vs petrol on a mileage per year basis, taking into account initial costs

I think I know the answer in my case as I do about £30k per year as a vet so do a lot of country miles and muddy farm tracks. What are the comparitive running costs of the diesel v petrol versions?

Seems that I can get an equivalent spec petrol version for about £3-4k less than the diesel

thanks for any advice

andrew

Edited 4 March, 201016 yr by lard-ajc

Since you do lots of country miles, I think diesel cars are better for you.

if it helps, my scout tdi does 39mpg commuting 12 miles, and 45 on a long trip. averaging 42. I can recommend it for driving in muddy fields, and on pot-holed roads.

Seems simple to me. If you do 10000 miles a year at 44miles /gallon in a diesel that works out at about £1136 in diesel fuel. In petrol form at about 36miles /gallon it is £1388. A difference of £252 annually. If the diesel car is £1500 more than a petrol to get your money back you will have to run it for about 6 years i.e. £1500 divided by £252 extra /year. Or am I not thinking correct. . Figures will vary of course depending on fuel consumption and other costs like tax and insurance and servicing in respect of each car.Of course if you do more miles per year you may recoup your costs for a diesel sooner.

Edited 4 March, 201016 yr by morganic

Thanks morganic - that's what i was looking for.

So at, say 40k per year:

diesel @ 44mpg and fuel @ 115p = 909 gallons @ 115p/l = £5331 per year

petrol @ 36mg and fuel @ 110p = 1111 gallons @110p/l = £6233 per year

so at 40k looks like petrol is £902 more expensive per year so will get £3-4k back in 3-4 years. As I'm planning to keep it 5y+ looks like diesel is better way to go (and better potential resale value)

cheers

andrew

Dont forget also that diesels are typically worth more come resale time, in some cases quiet a lot more than the petrol counterpart.

With that sort of mileage I'd say definitely get the diesel. Also if you're doing most of that on slow country roads you'll get shocking consumption from a petrol (I should know - my wife's got a petrol RAV4).

Bob

--

Are service costs different between the two fuels?

Steve

Try Parkers.co.uk to compare petrol v diesel

http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/petrol-vs-diesel/default.aspx?deriv=42106#manu=10172&model=1349&deriv=42106

dill

See if this is any use for you, there's an excel spreadsheet in the zip file http://www.velorider.co.uk/wp02/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/DieselVSPetrol_vRS.zip

You might be surprised that you don't need to do as many miles as some people say to break even. The MPG figures in the spreadsheet are from real life users on spiritmonitor.de

Figures in red can be changed to weight the results.

Edited 5 March, 201016 yr by Dodgy

Are service costs different between the two fuels?

Steve

Very little if anything in it, in fact on some services the diesel maybe cheaper.

The other advantage with the diesel is that you don't have to fill up so often which with high mileage driving is definitley more convinient.

Tax and insurance should both be cheaper too. I note VED is the same for 2009/10, £20 cheaper in 10/11 and £50 cheaper in 11/12 in favour of the diesel so it's clear which way it's going. I really don't fancy paying £300 (or more) a year road tax to run a family car.

If it's of interest, I've just been through exactly the same process before ordering my Scout diesel this week. I've bought on finance, so clearly there is a trade-off in my situation between the lower finance payments on the petrol vs. its higher fuel costs. Having calculated it through, with all running costs included, the better fuel economy of the diesel starts to make sense for me at about 18.5k miles a year - in your situation it would seem that there is no other choice, financially. When you factor in the likely higher resale value, you would be doing the right thing with the diesel. What finally made up my mind is that the diesel is better suited (for me, anyway) to driving round the hills and lanes of rural Devon. Hope this helps....

thanks very much for all the input. Looks like diesel is definitely the way to go (especially as planning to keep it for 5y+).

As I carry around about 100kg of stuff in the boot (afraid it's essential for my job), the diesel makes even more sense with the extra torque, rather than flogging the petrol all the time.

cheers all

andrew