Diesel vs Petrol How much extra is it?

[AlanD]

Worth every penny

[PenguinGTI]

My GT 170 diesel road tax is £165.00

why not look for a TDI 140, seems to be alot more around & I bet your insurance quote will be alot less.

When I went to insure my GT 170 the people on the phone would say to me  "thats the fast diesel golf" resulting in my costs going up £200 from my old MK4 GT130 to £500.  Alot of insurance places seem to be wise to the 170bhp diesels

Jay

I just went off the statistics sheet online. Not sure why you pay less. Maybe the year? Yeah I already drive a 140 TDI I was just curious as to how much i'm saving Also went for it because 170 has a lot of extra expenses!

From your pricing it appears that you want to use regular unleaded for the ed30. IMO you need to run it on 98/99 RON petrol and that's more expensive.

That's a very valid point! But i'm guessing people might also want to run their TDI 170's on premium diesel too. I thought the MPG on the stats sheet seemed somewhat optimistic as it matched the GTI and seemed high for the power return. I just assumed it was more or less correct as I get the stated MPG for my 140 TDI in the real world.

The 170 is the closest diesel to the petrol GTI. If he was to go for the 140 diesel then the comparison would be the 160 TSI lump.

Also, going by the stats is actually very fair, because even diesel's don't always get what the manufacturer's claim. Case in point the new MINI Countryman's are quoted at around 60mpg on the motorway, yet people have been struggling to better 50mpg. Of course how you drive it is going to affect the fuel consumption, but the statistics do serve as fair indicators of the two models' economy.

And regarding the quality of fuel, I run my GTI on Sainsbury's Super Unleaded, which is cheaper than the local Shell garage's standard unleaded. And don't forget that some folks run their diesel's on the higher octane dark pump too, and that's even more expensive.

All in all it's a relatively fair comparison that's been made.

But £800 a year isn't enough to get me out of a petrol GTI.

[Mr Savage]

That's actually very true yes. The combined MPG of the 140 TDI is meant to be 51MPG and 60 for motorway but to be honest the best ive ever seen with pretty much pure motorway was 52MPG driving quite reasonably.

Don't get me wrong i'm not trying to say Diesel is superior to Petrol. I think that extra bit of cash gives you a lot in terms of performance and enjoyment. I don't think £800 roughly a year is that bad of a gap between the two!

Most importantly though, whatever you're driving, happy motoring!

[Panthera]

Thats a very good comparison Mr S. 

Also bear in mind that his insurance quotes are for a under 25 year old. Also he may live a 'bad postcode area', have a point or two on his license, thus his quote will be higher than say someone who is older, say nearer 30-35, live in a 'nice postcode area' and have a clean long held license.   I am not for one minute saying that Mr S is in the aforementioned, but worth bearing in mind.

[AlanD]

Oh yeah, totally ignore the insurance costs as they are so specific to an individual its pointless trying to compare.

[Mr Savage]

Thats a very good comparison Mr S. 

Also bear in mind that his insurance quotes are for a under 25 year old. Also he may live a 'bad postcode area', have a point or two on his license, thus his quote will be higher than say someone who is older, say nearer 30-35, live in a 'nice postcode area' and have a clean long held license.   I am not for one minute saying that Mr S is in the aforementioned, but worth bearing in mind.

Thank you very much! Haha I know what you mean yes but just to clarify! I have a clean license with no points, my postcode area isn't the best and I think it's mostly my age that drags it up. Sadly

Oh yeah, totally ignore the insurance costs as they are so specific to an individual its pointless trying to compare.

Yeah it does vary greatly, and the only thing that will be roughly the same for all of us is the fuel and road tax, just thought i'd include it to get a rough idea of the increased cost (percentage wise) even or just as a general estimate. For the savings the diesel user has to put up with a noisy engine that some really dislike and a slightly slower 0-60. I think both are fantastic cars.