small diesel cars, way of the future?

Originally Posted by ravingdavis

Scrap road tax and increase fuel taxes?

Your half right.
Just scrap road tax full stop

I certainly don`t think we need taxed any more, look at the shocking state of the roads for one. All i`m saying is that the amount of fuel you use is directly related to the emissions emitted. Bigger engine, more miles, heavy foot = more fuel. Smaller engine, less miles, light foot = less fuel. Simples.

would cripple haulage firms so no chance.

[embee]

A modern diesel power-unit with regulated pollutant control systems (EGR/particulate trap etc) is more expensive to manufacture than a comparable performance petrol power unit, fact.

The real world fuel economy benefit of comparable performance models is of the order of 20% in favour of the diesel. If we're considering cars doing around 10 miles/litre = 45mpg, and the typical oncost of a diesel is around £1k purchase price, using round figures you need to be using around 5000 litres of fuel to save 1000 litres or £1200, so that's in the region of 50k miles to break even. If you're doing high mileages it will pay back, if you do modest mileages you'll be lucky to save money.

You may well prefer the feel of a larger diesel engine (e.g. 1.25 petrol compares with a 1.4 or even 1.6 TD), and yes a diesel is a more thermally efficient engine particularly at light loads, but economics of ownership is a complex issue.

Originally Posted by embee

A modern diesel power-unit with regulated pollutant control systems (EGR/particulate trap etc) is more expensive to manufacture than a comparable performance petrol power unit, fact.

The real world fuel economy benefit of comparable performance models is of the order of 20% in favour of the diesel. If we're considering cars doing around 10 miles/litre = 45mpg, and the typical oncost of a diesel is around £1k purchase price, using round figures you need to be using around 5000 litres of fuel to save 1000 litres or £1200, so that's in the region of 50k miles to break even. If you're doing high mileages it will pay back, if you do modest mileages you'll be lucky to save money.

You may well prefer the feel of a larger diesel engine (e.g. 1.25 petrol compares with a 1.4 or even 1.6 TD), and yes a diesel is a more thermally efficient engine particularly at light loads, but economics of ownership is a complex issue.

Exactly, what he said

Oh! cool signature

I was on a Citroën thread and talking about the old 2CV.

When is a car a car? A 2CV is still better than the bus queue.

I do believe that small cars with small engines are the way the car evolves in the future.

I know a guy with a V12 Jag which he got for virtually nothing...and he only drives it for giggles. The price of petrol means its for show.

If the price of petrol goes crazy and/or we start getting taxed off the roads then small diesels are going to be very attractive...tractor sounds included.

On petrol vs diesel tax cost etc. I was running a Fiesta Petrol 1.4 cost about £250 year to insure and tax at the time was £138. I averaged between 40-45 mpg. So i sold it and bought a Vectra 2.0 DTi that was 2 years older. I ended up with an extra £3400 in my pocket the Vec cost £289 to insure for the year, same tax band but returned 45-50mpg's. The only down side was the £3400 went on the wedding LOL!!!

[timwilky]

I have had two diesel cars in recent years. A mondao 2.0 TDCI which let me down 3 times with the engine dropping into safe mode finally requiring a replacement injector. My current 1.9 tdci on the vectra has been rock solid but with terrible turbo lag (Not good for the SRI image when it hesitates every time you put the foot down, pity the rest of the car is a big pile of poo and will stop me ever getting another vauxhall.

Very late on to this thread ..... but small diesels aren't the future ..... but small (turbo and supercharged) petrols are

Originally Posted by G

To be fair alot changes in 12 years

Lol, true. Although I think the Focus is considered one of the 'new breed' of Fords that aren't supposed to be the classic Fix-Or-Repair-Daily specials

My mum's recently got a 56 plate Fiesta so I'll take a peek at that and see if it looks any better built lol.

Unfortunately I'm not as confident as I should be...12 years isn't that long in the history of car-making, and my old '87 E30 BMW was so much better built than the Focus it's almost unbelievable...one thing I am happy about (this kinda applies to all manufacturer these days though) is that they seem to have sorted out the terminal rust problems cars used to get much more regularly a decade ago.

1.5 Diesel Pug. 65mpg. I chuck the cheapest tyres I can find on it. Insurance for me is costly but that's because I have a bad licence and it's the first car I have had to insure for nearly 20 years.