Hi all - first and foremost, please don't let this thread descend into a Diesel vs Petrol - "which one is better thread, and diesel's are for tractors" etc. thread. This is a serious question.
I've been pondering this for some months now. I'm over half way though my PCP on my current GTD, and to be honest, I still love it. It has a great mix of decent (enough) performance, great looks (with the carbon grey and 19" Santiago's) and great fuel economy (my fuelly average is currently 47.3mpg), which is pretty good considering that 90% of my miles are my daily commute between home and work (and back) through a busy town center with few real free motorway miles.
But (and it's a big but), we all know that over the last few months, diesel cars are being demonized and (rather unfairly for modern diesels) have fallen out of favour. I know that there are plans afoot to limit access to major city centers in the coming years to certain types and ages of diesel vehicles (not sure about Euro 6 category models though).
I therefore have a choice coming up in the next year or so. I can
a) give the car back and walk away (unlikely),
b) trade the car in for a newer car (using any collateral - if any) against the new car (would then be a petrol).
c) Pay off the balloon payment and just run the car.
Now all options are valid and as I say, I have time to consider, but what got me wondering was this. For me to get say a new GTI (to a similar as possible spec to mine) next year, would list at around £34.5k (assuming no price increases just for this argument). After discount I'd maybe get it for around £29-30k. My car is currently worth (trade in) approx £20k (from speaking to the dealer this weekend), with a good chunk of that still on finance, so only about £1k collateral). That would mean me refinancing nearly £30k again to get out of a GTD into a GTI - which is a lot of money. Even more if I go for my second choice - a new Tiguan R-Line (which I do really like) - unless my figures are totally out ?
Conversely, I could pay off the balloon payment (circa £13k) with money I already have say in my account, and get a really nice 3 year old car which would have around 25k miles - for £13k but...it's a diesel.
Now I know none of us have a crystal ball and know what will be happening to diesels over the next few years (higher road tax, more expensive fuel
, more restrictions), but maybe, the same will also happen to any non PHEV, Hybrid and Electric type vehicles as well - who knows?
Based upon the above, and bearing in mind as I say, I do like the car and I'm not anti-diesel ( I know a lot of you on here are), what would you do. Keep the car and run it for 6 years until the new MK8 performance models are available (possible with hybrid technology), or get rid sooner rather than later and get into a petrol or hybrid car now. I'm only doing around 10k miles per years, so whilst additional fuel costs for a petrol vs diesel won't in the real world be that much - the cost to change would.