So in November I was in a non-fault collision and my 17 plate mk3.5 vRS was written off as a result.

I recently found a hyper green mk4 vRS TDI but it went before I could purchase it due to the distance from my house and work 😢

I really like the colour so begs the question, as most of the hyper green cars are TSI do I make the switch to petrol or continue the hunt for a hyper green TDI?

My journey is mainly motorway and a normal round trip is 40 miles which is why I have always chose diesel!

What are people’s thoughts? I appreciate this will have been asked and answered before.

Edited 5 December, 20255 Dec by 64VRS
Spacing

That’s low miles really, my mk4 TSI vrs when I had it was capable of 42mpg+ just cruising on motorway. Petrol is cheaper as well.

Sorry to hear about the accident - hope you weren't injured and were treated fairly by the various insurers. Nice colour.

I remember that 'Honest John' said that the annual mileage must be at least 15,000 miles in order to justify running a diesel. There are a number of threads on this subject on the Honest John website. However, I think that a diesel suits motorway driving and this is one factor in its favour for you.

After owning a turbo diesel, I suggest that you test drive the turbo petrol to be sure that you can get used to the different way that the surge of acceleration comes in.

Points to consider with a diesel: initial extra cost of vehicle; extra cost of fuel; DPF needs plenty of work; will cover a huge mileage but with the huge mileage comes eventual glow plug replacement (to prevent them seizing) and the eventual cost of new replacement injectors (reconditioned don't last the same).

Good luck.

Edited 5 December, 20255 Dec by noccer99
typo

There is an interesting thread here that compares costs:

Honest John

Is a diesel still better than petrol for high mileages?

I have been a diesel car driver covering around 30,000 per year for the last 10 years and would like to add my two pence to the conversation. Along the A1, the cheapest fuel I have found is at Tesco

Regarding particulate filters, even the turbo petrol EA888 motor is fitted with one for the Mk4 VRS.

I came from an F21 BMW 320d Touring to my vRS 2.0 TSi Estate and it regularly gets between 12 - 14 km/l while the BMW did 15 - 16 km/l. However, in NZ, diesels pay a road user charge, so the running costs for fuel are about the same.

As advised by an earlier poster, you should take a test drive to see if you can re-acquaint yourself with the power delivery characteristics of a turbo petrol.

For me diesel in boat engines, petrol cars especially a sporting car otherwise you’re undoing a lot of the sportiness. And get a 4.5 that extra 20hp gives the car a top end the 4 never had, more power from 4300rpm onwards.

On 05/12/2025 at 21:21, noccer99 said:

will cover a huge mileage but with the huge mileage comes eventual glow plug replacement (to prevent them seizing) and the eventual cost of new replacement injectors (reconditioned don't last the same).

What would you consider a huge mileage and at what mileage do you think the injectors will need replacing ?

On 05/12/2025 at 22:07, CKO said:

Regarding particulate filters, even the turbo petrol EA888 motor is fitted with one for the Mk4 VRS.

I came from an F21 BMW 320d Touring to my vRS 2.0 TSi Estate and it regularly gets between 12 - 14 km/l while the BMW did 15 - 16 km/l. However, in NZ, diesels pay a road user charge, so the running costs for fuel are about the same.

As advised by an earlier poster, you should take a test drive to see if you can re-acquaint yourself with the power delivery characteristics of a turbo petrol.

Time will tell with any PPF issues, but they use a very different regen process compared to a DPF.

21 hours ago, whippersnapper said:

For me diesel in boat engines, petrol cars especially a sporting car otherwise you’re undoing a lot of the sportiness. And get a 4.5 that extra 20hp gives the car a top end the 4 never had, more power from 4300rpm onwards.

To each his/her own, but I've had experience with BMW diesels before coming to my MY23 petrol Octavia vRS and the BMW oil burners were far from boat engines. They were punchy from the get go owing to the massive torque low down and very refined in the E46 330d Touring and F31 320d Touring I was fortunate to own.

I do relish the ability of petrol units revving to a higher red line but sadly, in many road conditions these days, doing so would be seen as being anti social.

Good choice of colour (biased), and petrol might be the way to go, but I guess it also depends on what's available to purchase. If I were in your shoes, I'd go for petrol