Petrol vs Diesel

[Quasievil]

Im about to upgrade the company car, and with the price of petrol Im interested to understand the cost bennifit (if any) in having a diesel vehicle.

With Petrol you pay $1.76 a litre, Diesel is $1.20 ish ? but with diesel you have road user charges on top, taking those charges into account is it cheaper to have a diesel?

Being a company car some of you might say who gives a fuck, but the less impact to the company I can make reduces hassles I might get in relation to personal use, so its relevant to me.

The if Diesel, what to buy ? have to be a 4wd type thing or a comfy Double cab ute, I do big miles so comfort is important, speed, well dont care about that, handling I do though.

Appreciate your thoughts.

[SimJen]

If you're buying a diesel get something fuel efficient.
Some of the big euro cars are now getting 50+mpg, so with road user charges on top works out about half the cost compared to a petrol car that averages 25-30mpg (like a big Holden V6 or something)
Big 4x4's etc are seldom fuel efficient when powered by deisel and you probably won't see any difference in running costs.
A mate has a Pajero and guzzles as much as a petrol car would, with road user charges on top it works out about the same.

My father went to welly the other day & back in his Jag V6 3.0L cost him $195 in petrol and averaged about 27mpg (10.5ish L/100km)
In a car such as a Citroen C5 Turbo diesel which manages 55mpg + road user charges of $34/1000km I think. He would have just about halved the cost to $100 or so.
Modern turbo diesels are just as fast as petrol motors, and last far longer......BMW and Merc sell more diesels in Europe than their petrol models.

[James Deuce]

Diesel 4WDs end up being about the same as their petrol counterparts, when TOC is taken into account. Have you thought about a Diesel Stationwagon as opposed to a utility vehicle? Much more comfortable, and the European Diesel's give nothing away to the equivalent petrol engined units in performance and tend to be much more fuel efficient in comparison.

[Finn]

Go diesel Quasi. I heard your Duc on the Naki run and it's obviously diesel too so you could use your company fuel card for this and save yourself some money.

Either that or one of those dashing hybrids.

[Crisis management]

I would agree with Simjen, I have run an Isuzu 4x4 for 7 years and its expensive in fuel and maintenance. Fuel economy is about 10 km per litre, oil & filter @ 5000 km, tyres $1200 @ 30000 km, lots of gearboxes to maintain!
Handling is ok in the isuzu but varies wildly across the different makes, you definately drive more slowly cause its a truck not a car!
The european new generation diesels are the way to go but you will need to decide on how much carrying / towing capacity you need.
My pick would be a mid sized (2 litre) car, economical to run, comfortable to travel in and capable of towing up to one tonne.

Let me know what you decide.

[SimJen]

Hybrids are shit!
TopGear did a test as well as a few other mags on the Toyota Prius (shitbox) and found that it got nowhere near the Fuel Efficiency claims of the manufacturer.
A little diesel VW Polo was a better option in their opinion as it did a genuine 50+mpg with no effort.
Prius etc all have shitass low rolling resistance tires....much like the hardest possible cheap firestone retreads....so don't expect to go around corners!

[Quasievil]

Go diesel Quasi. I heard your Duc on the Naki run and it's obviously diesel too so you could use your company fuel card for this and save yourself some money.

Either that or one of those dashing hybrids.

Yeah I could do that, good thinking batman.

The new pipes will be installed soon, trying to figure out the best option without spending a fortune

[The Stranger:Me]

Im about to upgrade the company car, and with the price of petrol Im interested to understand the cost bennifit (if any) in having a diesel vehicle.

With Petrol you pay $1.76 a litre, Diesel is $1.20 ish ? but with diesel you have road user charges on top, taking those charges into account is it cheaper to have a diesel?

Being a company car some of you might say who gives a fuck, but the less impact to the company I can make reduces hassles I might get in relation to personal use, so its relevant to me.

The if Diesel, what to buy ? have to be a 4wd type thing or a comfy Double cab ute, I do big miles so comfort is important, speed, well dont care about that, handling I do though.

Appreciate your thoughts.

Many moons ago the AA did a cost comparison and the big killer for the diesel was maintenance. Newer diesels may require less frequent and/or less expensive maintenance I don't know. But in their testing you had to run up about 100,000km before diesel became cheaper to operate.

As I say this was a long time ago and a lot can change, however I would still check out the maintenance costs vs a petrol vehicle.

[Motu]

It's always been said that you have to be doing over 40,000km per year before a diesel becomes an economical proposistion - and that's regardless of which political party is in power or if there is a war in the middle east.18 mths ago I would of said diesel was the way to go,but they have tipped the balance against diesel by upping RUC and registration costs.I used our Diamante for a few days a month or so back,I stopped pretty quick when I saw how much fuel it was using in my 200km per day travels.I hate to think what my Pajero would cost to run with the V6 option,it would suck way more than the Diamante with the same engine.

The Pajero gets 28mpg (sorry,old fulla here) on the open road,which is bloody good for a vehicle that size,my Vanette gets 40mpg,all the time - it doesn't matter if it's empty or loaded to the roof hauling a heavy trailer,slow and steady,typical diesel.That's incredable mileage,double what you'd get out of a petrol van and just shows how efficient a diesel is.But a diesel has higher maintenance costs - 5,000km oil changes,most of the Jap diesels use an expensive dual element oil filter,the fuel filter gets changed every 20,000km,if you are stupid enough to have one with a cambelt they need changing too of course.They take more oil each fill,more coolant.At some stage the injectors will need servicing - but if this is a company car you can flick it before then and let the new owner pick up those costs.

If handling is your criteria you'll have to get a car,and that means Euro,they make the best diesels.

[Quasievil]

Okay so a modern diesel will provide some savings.

Then the question is what kinda vehicle.
options would be a Japan model double cab ute, nissan, toyota etc.
or a car which would have to be a stationwagon, who makes Diesel station wagon ? besides BMW VW Passats etc, Euros cost heaps.

[James Deuce]

Many moons ago the AA did a cost comparison and the big killer for the diesel was maintenance. Newer diesels may require less frequent and/or less expensive maintenance I don't know. But in their testing you had to run up about 100,000km before diesel became cheaper to operate.

As I say this was a long time ago and a lot can change, however I would still check out the maintenance costs vs a petrol vehicle.

There have been massive advances in Diesel fuel efficiency, engine longevity, and refinement. We don't get to see much of it because only the Euros bring Diesel's in and Kiwis are of course almost paranoid about buying European car. They seem to think that they are fragile or that people will think you're a wanker or a deviant.

Japanese passenger Diesels during the early used import era also put NZers off, because they tended to put Diesel heads on petrol blocks, and natrurally these had a limited lifespan that suited Japanese vehicle licensing requirements. 2nd hand ones over 100,000km tended to fail catastrophically.

[James Deuce]

The Japanese utes have the CD of a brick and really unrefined engines. You'd get pissed off really quick.

[Hellraiser]

Get LPG Fitted from new in a ute you won't loose too much space and now days the installers can fit them in some amazing places.

LPG is 0.70 per litre fuel accon will be the same as if you were on petrol and there is no power loss.

[Kickaha]

What about a vehicle with LPG or having it fitted? it's around 72c a litre

I would think it would be cheaper than both to run although that would depend on annual mileage as to how soon it would pay for itself

I think only Falcon and Commodore do one as a factory option

[Kickaha]

The Japanese utes have the CD of a brick and really unrefined engines. You'd get pissed off really quick.

I don't agree I have the new Toyota Hilux diesel 3.0 turbo and it is way in advance of the old models in engine and comfort, although they wont do much more than 160kmh with two bikes on the back (closed private road testing of course)