Petrol Vs Diesel?

[Tsh93]

I'm in the market for a new (used) car and I'm debating between the above.

I've currently got a 1.2 petrol Seat Ibiza. The most important thing for me is that the car is economical and doesn't cost an arm and a leg to run and maintain.

I do the odd short journey however I'll mainly be travelling to work and back which is a 60 mile round trip mostly on the motorway.

Would it be more beneficial to get a diesel car this time due to my journey to work?

My current car shows the average mpg at a combined 57 however I'm not sure how accurate that is? Looking at diesels they all seem to average around 60/70mpg so I'd like this new car to work out cheaper to run than my current one. I'd say I'm putting about £120 a month into my current car on petrol costs. Probably averaging 10-12k miles a year.

Would appreciate some thoughts and advice.

[samoht]

What year is your current Ibiza?
What's your budget for the next car? Or alternatively, what age range are you looking at?

If your current car is truly doing 57mpg, then it's unlikely that any replacement is going to save any significant amount of money unless it's electric.
E.g. going from a petrol car doing 57mpg for 12k miles a year to a diesel doing 65mpg (the mid-point of your range) would save £138 a year, or less than £12 a month.
Fuel prices - https://www.fleetnews.co.uk/news/car-industry-news...

Edited by samoht on Friday 23 July 18:19

[Phil Dicky]

If budget allows I'd consider an EV.

[Pica-Pica]

The received wisdom is that the cheapest car to own and run is your current one.
If you can stick with the Ibiza do that. If it is the 1.2 TSi, even more so. It is a great engine, and the clutch is very light, so OK for town driving, on long motorways it ideally needs a 6th gear. If you go for a new car in the VW group (Skoda, Audi, VW, SEAT), you will need to go to a 1.5 engine before you get 4 cylinders.

[samoht]

Agree that if your top priority is saving money, it's unlikely that changing your car will do that, given it's already pretty economical keeping the Ibiza is likely the cheapest approach. But anyway...

There really aren't many cars that exceed your Ibiza's 57mpg or so by a significant margin, you have to look for the real eco-specials:

Honda Insight Mk1 - real world 68mpg "cruising between 70-80 on the motorway"
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=16...
Maybe £5k ?

Audi A2 1.4 TDI, but unsure how economical it really is
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284375758495
Asking £2200

Hyundai i20 BlueDrive diesel is meant to be very economical
https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/realmpg/hyundai/i20-2...
https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/hyundai/i20/89543/hy...
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202107225... £2600

Unfortunately the 300mpg VW XL1 sells for around £100K, as it was limited production. The Reliant Robin is also very economical, but hard to recommend due to the obvious shortfall in wheels.

Be aware that many cities, not only London, are applying ULEZ's which tax pre-Euro6 diesels (before 2015 or so), so if that matters to you, check the Euro compliance of a diesel. Petrols are from 2006 so fewer worries there.

[ZX10R NIN]

Yes a diesel would be the pick, I get that the Ibiza with a 5 speed box isn't the most motorway friendly car.

The answer to your question depends on how much you want to spend on the new car & also if you want to change for something more suited to you're new journey type.

You won't be getting a real 57mpg if the OBC is saying that you'll be 5-8mpg off, if you want to get a real idea of your fuel economy then check it from fill up to fill up.

Personally for your new journey I'd be looking for a Focus sized car with a 2.0d engine with diesel being only 1p more than petrol (the 1.4/1.5/1.6T engines have short gearing which means they're a bit buzy at motorway speeds compared to a 2.0d) the extra torque from the diesel just makes it a more relaxing motorway car.