Petrol vs Diesel: The Very Old Question!


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All,

Must be another repetitive thread for sure. Mods, please merge with appropriate thread if any!

This thought came up when I went to my new office building today from my house.

My old office used to be 7 kms from my home and the new one turns out to be twice as far. So, I would be covering 30kms daily.

Put together, I would be travelling 22 * 30 = 660kms/month.

I have an ikon 1.6 Sxi. Considering the mileage to be 11 kmpl in city (max obtainable in city limits), I ll be spending 60 litres for my office stints alone.

Considering another 340 kms for weekends, per month I get to travel 1000 kms.

Fuel Used: 1000/11 = 90 lts approx
Money Spent = 90 * 63.5 = Rs.5700 approx

If I used a diesel car with decent performance instead, considering a minimum mileage of 12kmpl,

Fuel used: 1000/12 = 83 lts approx
Money Spent = 83 * 42 = 3500 approx

Only with city driving, if I am able to save 2200 per month, I am very sure that one will easily save more than Rs.2500 per month.

With this kind of saving, my idea is that, one can easily spend the extra cost required for maintaining a diesel car. If save 1000 per month extra for this purpose along with the usual money spent on a petrol car, this would be balanced.

and I would end up saving a minimum of 1500 per month (18K per year).

Considering the following points,

1) Re-sale value of a diesel car vs petrol car
2) Difference in fuel prices
3) Ever increasing petrol rate

does the 1500 km per month limit for a diesel car still hold true? [confused]

I guess not. Please enlighten me. Sorry for the long post.
 
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Re: Petrol vs Diesel

Modern diesel engines are almost on par with the maintenance of petrol engines {may be the cost is little bit high)

but the benefit is there

i feel diesel is anytime better that petrol
 
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Re: Petrol vs Diesel

Yeah and that is the reason i love diesel![evil] Its economical especially for students like me! I fill up fuel for just Rs.200 to go to Mayajaal and return back home , my home is in Anna Nagar!


Modern day diesels are far better but you will miss the fun part in driving and readily available torque at all speeds , you will miss wheel spins!


You save 18k per year but you will pay atleast a Lakh higher than a petrol car to get a new diesel car. And so it will take atleast 5 years for you to get that money back and also maintenance of diesel is also slightly costlier. Re-sale value too depends on the make of the car!


All in all i would say it goes neck and neck when it comes to Petrol Vs Diesel! But still many people prefer diesel due to its low running cost and its very beneficial and economical for students like me who don earn![;)]
 
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Re: Petrol vs Diesel

All i can say is i am suffering.

Gone are days where the price difference is just 10rs

now the difference in pondicherry is 17rs

In tn the diesel cost 1.30 more than pondy and petrol cost 6rs more than pondy.
so there is huge difference in tn and worst in bangalore etc.

so when i fill 2L of petrol for 112 rs in pondy(present rate) , i get 3L of diesel for same price.
given a petrol car's milage is less than a diesel
say a lancer petrol gives 12 max and a lancer diesel gives 16 to 17 max
a swift petrol gives 14 max and a swift diesel gives 18 to 19 max in normal foot.

is that i look like a fool to govt.
i feel like killing some one when i am in filling for my starving lancer and a 525D and cruze filling there tummy to full


Forget the thrills of petrol. now its world of diesel and regular travellers need a diesel heart .

No i dont like the idea of LPG in petrol car where the filling becomes lesser than diesel.

some how i cant accept the LPG and CNG .
 
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Re: Petrol vs Diesel

Recently done a long trip here is the cost calculation

total distance covered 425

fuel Diesel
mileage 17 kmpl
Cost (40.50 per ltr) @ vellor tamilnadu

total fuel consumed (approx) 25 ltrs Total cost 1012.50 Rupees

if its petrol and with same mileage the cost will come around 1550 rupees
 
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Re: Petrol vs Diesel

and now with newer technology coming every day, diesel engines are more fun to drive as well with more torque refinment which was not the case 5-7 years back.There are surely advantage for diesel engines and fuels.+ for me improtant factor was with diesel cars i never had to think of going highways long runs in my car where before on petrol we usually wouldnt had gone.
 
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petrol vs diesel car! The VERY OLD QUESTION!

Dear Auto Gurus!

For a long time there is a race between petrol vs diesel in every common 'new/ car buyers'.

Now in some stats the diesel tax going up!

So let's have your comments on this.

Uses scenario 1>

Monthly use : 500 -1000 KM .... long term ( 10years +) buy

Uses scenario 2>

Monthly use : 500 -1000 KM .... short term ( upto 5 years ) buy

Uses scenario 3>

Monthly use : 2000 -3000 KM .... long term ( 10years +) buy

Uses scenario 4>

Monthly use : 2000 -3000 KM .... short term ( upto 5 years ) buy

Uses scenario 5>

Monthly use : 4000 KM + .... long term ( 10years +) buy

Uses scenario 6>

Monthly use : 4000KM +.... short term ( upto 5 years ) buy

I found the following : Pl. note

PETROL VS. DIESEL CAR Review, Accessories, Price, India, PETROL VS. DIESEL CAR, petrol vs diesel car - MouthShut.com

Few other points also to be taken into consideration:-
1. The diesel car has a very high maintenance in comparison to a petrol car almost 1.5 times of that a petrol car and that keep on increasing after first three- four years.
2. The engine parts of diesel car is almost twice d cost of a petrol one e.g. a petrol car’s piston will long for bout say 15-16 yrs or say 2,00,000 kms or even more practically never and a diesel car’s piston has to be changed say every 6-7 years or every 80,000-1,00,000 kms.
3. The diesel engine no matter how high tech it may be is always noisy u can hear its irritating sound.
4. The subsidiary cost on petrol is at present Rs 4.00 and that on diesel is Rs 16.00 so in future chances of diesel price rise increases as now the companies are independent without the govt control.
5. The amount of pollution diesel car generates is also a lot higher in comparison to petrol car.
6. The second hand sale value of a diesel car is a lot less in comparison to petrol car even a diesel car almost zero’s its value after 90,000 kms or 7 yrs.
7. The lpg or cng gas kit are not compatible with diesel engines however they run very well on a petrol engine.
8. above all u can never get the petrol engine power in a diesel engine
What is your comments.
 
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Re: petrol vs diesel car! The VERY OLD QUESTION!

It is not a very simple question to answer, and IMO it should depend on the drivers choice and perspective. I would refute some of the points mentioned in your quote like Resale is less, diesel car is high maintenance, parts are expensive. These days with new techs like CRDI, maintenance has reduced significantly.

Some pros of diesel over Petrol are:-
1. They are more torquey and have more lugging power compared to petrols
2. Normally Petrol in Indian market are N/A and Diesel are turbo charged which improves their performance over a wide band of rpm
3. Recently maintenance intervals of diesel engines have gone up which means less frequent trips to A.S.C.

Regarding question of deciding when to buy a diesel, that decision is purely depending on the mileage and usage of the car. If you drive more, it is good to own a diesel. No of kms will keep on changing if you calculate the cross-over point, as the prices will keep on fluctuating forever.
 
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Re: petrol vs diesel car! The VERY OLD QUESTION!

As "Thetraveller" suggested it is not as simple as it looks.

Person should not only consider the petrol prices to decide about the car fuel. But also think from the different angles like, kms run monthly / yearly, maintenance, his own preferences, period he would like to keep it (it is easier to say that I would keep it for 10years. But mind changes after 3/4 years - generally.) and things like that.
 
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Re: petrol vs diesel car! The VERY OLD QUESTION!

I have been using diesal car since last two year. first one was Tata indica vista qdjt now Fiat 90hp.
but I wish to own a petrol jet,yeah A linea t-jet.the music of those powerful heart leaves much less to be desired.
If I would be buying a car it would be a petrol car.
Petrol prices are touching sky, Agreed . I won't be using it as a taxi or for daily commute but for occasional liesure activities so then why should I compromise on NVH,more pleasure ,lesser maintenance.
Modern diesals are coming up with lesser maintenance technologies but they are getting too much to ridiculously complicated compared to simpler petrol petrol engines so spare parts costs and service cost would soar sky high in case of major repair in long run.
So petrol cars can be considered .
but for health concerns ,diesal engines produces less toxic compared to petrol engines.
 
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Re: petrol vs diesel car! The VERY OLD QUESTION!

If your monthly running would be 700+ kms then go for Diesel.
Petrol will soon touch 80-90 Rs
Current Diesel engines are very refined and even fun to drive like petrol
 
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Re: petrol vs diesel car! The VERY OLD QUESTION!

@Shailinder:
In the may 2011 our net running came out nearly 19000 kms(not one car,but three of them running simultaneously one Innova,one i 10 and one Laura TSI),although it is less than 700 kms daily but it was higher than 600 kms per day.

Still I am sure that its the Surfer's love for zeros that has made 700 out of 70.

Actually friends,its not the diesel or petrol question,its the question of what the person thinks and then what the person needs comes second.
Firstly the what the person thinks factor because now a days I find some people buying diesel cars but their running is not more than 15-20 kms per day.They buy diesel because they think that diesel will save a lot for them.

Second comes the needs because most of the new buyers himself don't know their needs,what they know is that they have to get a diesel car.
Right now I have 4 cars with me,two petrol(i10 kappa and Laura TSI) ad two diesel(Innova and Corolla)and what I have felt is that at the time of need,whichever car is available irrespective of the fuel we just take the keys,get the tank filled up and carry out our work,simple as it sounds.
And I am sure after all this long discussion,the result is going to be the same.
 
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