Motors What do you drive? - The Photo Gallery

I'd imagine it's more of a trust issue .

 

Let's see now: Diesel engines
- are more economical
- are less poluting (the Green Car of the year 2008 is a BMW 118d --outperforming hybrid petrol/electric cars in terms of clean emissions. The two runners-up were also diesels. The hybrids came place 4 and lower)
- are more reliable in use
- are more robust (stand a lot of abuse and don't get a nervous breakdown at some impurities in the fuel, like petrol engines)
- are more powerful (high RPM is nice, but torque is where it's at)
- are less prone to overheating
- last longer

Think about it: diesel cars are more expensive to buy than their equivalent petrol versions. Ought to tell you something. In mainland Europe nobody will consider anything else but a TDI. Only in the US and, apparently the UK, are petrol engines marketed heavily. Why? Because petrol is essentially the final waste product of the oil refinery process. It is what you've got left when you've refined all the other fuels. But we pay through the nose for it.

 

The gap is closing. Our developer has just bought an 07 plate Focus 1.6 Zetec (petrol) which does 48mpg at 70mph. My A6 diesel (granted a much bigger/heavier/more powerful car) only manages the same.

Depends how you define pollution - that's a whole new argument

Could be argued either way. The more complicated you make anything, the more prone it is (generally) to fail in an inexplicable way.

I'll give you that. THey don't take too kindly to having petrol in them though .

Depends on the gearing. Give me the power band of a good petrol any day. I had a Mazda 3 Sport (140ps) a few months ago it really put a smile on my face despite not being particularly quick

Perhaps

Depends which components you're talking about. What about turbo failure for instance?

 

but diesels smell awful... i can't even imagine what a whole city would smell like if all the cars were diesel

 

Because of the torque available, diesel engine-powered vehicles are also a damn site better at towing stuff.

CO2 rankings - not sure if it's current, but the top-performing car is a VW Polo 1.4TDI w/DPF Bluemotion @ 99g/km. Tax is £0 a year.

 

I disagree

 

lol Try getting it to pull a 21' caravan up the side of a mountain then

 

Looks like you've started the car while being parked too close to the garage door a few times

 

Diesels put out less CO2 - but more of every other hydrocarbon out there. Nasty things.

Easy test - Stand behind one and breathe in. Now do the same to a petrol engine. Which one makes you want to hurl more?

 

The newest generation of diesel cars burns cleanly, albeit due to some synthetically added catalytic element, I believe (diesel isn't my area of expertise). Unfortunately, the European Union are probably the only region who have widespread use of new diesel technology anyway.

 

bah my dad's truck was a 2006 and it smelled incredibly bad. We could smell it inside the house whenever the truck was parked in the driveway and the engine was running

 

Handbrake works fine and dandy, i was had jacked the car up on the slope to take off a disc brake cover, and put a new (read:missing) nut into the drive flange.
The brick just holds the car in case of anything, just a precaution! When jacking it up on the slope it rolls forward slightly.

Not half mate! Think my bros mini is more of a culprit than mine, as mine isn't allowed on the drive or in the garage as it leaks too much oil!!

 

Diesel engines have not got complicated fuel ignition systems, at least.

Most definitely. Last time we got stuck on the M4 for an hour, six petrol cars overheated and broke down. Not a single diesel.

Less likely in a diesel --it runs cooler, after all. And the 50.000 miles that are considered a lot for a petrol engine, are almost nothing for a diesel.

 

I would suggest that his truck was badly tuned/maintained. My diesel Fabia has no visible emissions and practically no smell.

 

Diesels are allot more expensive to service.

they need more regular servicing

They sound terrible compared to petrol.

You can't change down the gears that often and they run out of revs.

They are more expensive to buy new.

Petrol engines are for driving fun and sound great. It's not as if you'll be in a desiel, saying "listen to that roar" Not a good idea to take a deseil past 4,000, of even 3,000 if you want it to last.

Desiels are just donkeys thats why they belong in lorries!

They are NOT powerful. It's the turbo that gives it the boost.

A petrol focus 1.4 16v will get 50 mpg+ on the motorway and 40 around town.

I'm going to be driving a 2.0 petrol astra soon and it will get 40mpg on the motorway and 30mpg around town. not bad for the power it's got. although it will be allot less if I was to floor it!

& remember desiel is dearer than petrol.

Basically if you don't want as much fun, and are a miser, buy the desiel, it's great, especially if you have a horsebox!

 

I can't remember when a diesel engine is 'run in', but it's in the tens of thousands of miles. Basically, it's when the mpg figure stops going up and you can really start giving it some beans (and then the mpg goes down )

You'd find it more common that another component of the vehicle goes bang, forcing it off the road, rather than the engine; which can be good for well over 250,000 miles if serviced properly.

 

I thought diesels ran hotter? My disco tdi's exhaust gasses were ~700c and my turbo mini's are somewhere around 400?

 

Once a year. Same as a petrol engine. Because diesel is a lubricant in itself, they can run with less oil (I once ran my Nova TDI for over a week without any oil in the sump after the oil seal had popped --it didn't even heat up or grind).

Once it has warmed up, they are as quiet as a petrol engine.

You don't need to change gears. They have a massive range of torque. A 1.9 TDI Skoda can outperform an Audi TT pulling away from the lights.

They are cheaper to run, cheaper to insure, last much longer and have better residual value: a 50.000 mile Skoda Fabia 1.9TDI is worth twice as much as a Skoda Fabia 1.4 16v.

I want my car to take me from A to B quickly, reliably, dependably and cheaply. And new, young drivers find that due to high insurance premiums, they cannot afford "fun" --unless they drive a diesel. My first car, a Vauxhall Nova 1.5 TDI was incredibly cheap to insure, but outpaced every petrol hot hatch in Hull(!). Pocket rocket for a fraction of the price.

It is a little known fact that the new Honda Civic Type S diesel had to be slightly de-tuned because otherwise it would have outperformed the petrol Type R hot hatch.

No, it's the guy driving a thirsty, capricious fragile petrol car that is the donkey. Oh noes! Too much silicon in the fuel! Meanwhile diesels will run even on cooking oil.

Sure, that's why they are so popular in heavy load and contruction vehicles. That's why they climb hills so well.

My 1.9TDI Fabia gets 60mpg+ on the motorway and 45 around town.

You use much less.

Hang on. First you tell me how diesels are more expensive to buy, service and fill up. Then you say that it is the miser's choice. How does that figure?

 

I think anyone writing off a modern diesel is a bit naive, some of what has been said about diesels in this thread is true of the older generations, certainly not the more modern versions.

 

i donno... it was brand new and still smelled terrible