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Not really. The difference in price is ~R7000. Assuming an average of R1500 on petrol per month for petrol cars, and R750 on diesel for diesel cars - after 10 months the owner of the petrol car would have spent R15 000 and the owner of the diesel car R7500. The difference of R7500 means that the diesel owner would have made up the difference in 10 months, and start saving from that point forward.
Can't be - the Trendline is ~R28000 less. I'm not sure which price Fudzy was looking at TBH.
Sure, you need to replace the oil more often, generally on 7500KM, but some TD cars now can handle 15000KM as well. I can tell you many "horror stories" of petrol engines as well
BUT, I've never actually seen a diesel engine seize-up 2KM after the 7500KM service interval. In fact, I often drive my 2.8TD Colt a bit further than the 7500KM interval, simply cause it doesn't have a new electronic dash like my merc that reminds me when to service it.
A well kept Diesel engine will outlast a petrol engine by miles (or KM's if you want) any day. An petrol engines which don't get taken care off also spell disaster in their own way.
Why do you think big trucks use diesel engines and not petrol? That transport company relies on their trucks to run without breakdowns far more than you do.
Yes, but Turbo petrol engines are becoming more and more popular as well. Remember, the turbo helps with the lower fuel consumption on a smaller engine so more and more smaller cars are going to get them and more and more people will guy them. Look how many Audi A3's there are on the roads right now, as an example and last time I checked it cost R25K to replace the turbo on the A3
That gap is growing ever smaller though. With the old SEAT Ibiza Cupras there was less than half a second difference in their lap times around the Hockenheim short track. 1.9TDI vs 1.8T.
Petrol engines have matured over more than a century of being used in everyday normal cars. It's only recently that diesels have started shaking the stigma of being noisy, smoky, smelly, clunky, slow tractor engines. The pace of development with diesel has just been so much higher than petrol over the last 10 or 20 years.
Personally I just prefer the surge that a modern turbo diesel engine gives you. It's addictive. The only way to match that with a petrol engine is to go big, and 5.7l V8s tend to guzzle.
If it's a choice between 1.2TDI and 1.4 petrol, wait... at least until you've driven one. Once you've gone diesel you won't want to go back.
That's roughly .3% difference in lap time, whilst using considerably less fuel. I'd call that impressive, at least moderately so.
This is where our opinions differ fundamentally. It ultimately depends on one's own priorities but I'd word it something more like "if you want 80 - 90% of the performance of petrol with 60 - 70% of the consumption, or if you enjoy the driving characteristics of an oil-burner, go diesel". There is no question that the higher-end of performance motoring - I'm thinking BMW M3 and up - is the arena of the petrol engine, but for slightly more sedate motoring diesel is making an ever better case for itself.
There's a difference between a road car and a purpose-built track car. The track car is likely to rev much higher, as it doesn't have to last for many years.
