Civic 2.2 icdti gives me in town 45mpg, mixed around 50 but never had better than 50mpg but imo very good unit.

Cant answer for the others, I didnt think they were as good as Civic but slightly harder suspension on Civic as you know,I dont intend changing for a few years but like you I had 1.8 civic before and it was too juicy for me, and I think diesel is faster on acceleration without being heavy on fuel

Edited by magnit on 16/07/2014 at 23:05

As previous suggestion as a garage owner (service, repairs and MOTs) who also sells fuel I would agree stick with the petrol civic. In addition if you wish to improve your fuel economy/ save cash consider where you fill up your car. If you chase the cheapest fuel price and end up in a supermarket then try a branded fuel or even consider trying super unleaded. A local customer of ours was getting 36mpg on his peugeot on a daily 40 mile each way commute on supermarket fuel. Our fuel was 10% dearer than the local supermarket, (small local garage) but his economy increased to 42mpg on our fuel and apparently he was getting more than 46mpg on super and the car drove so much better. This was a 10 year old peugeot (100+K mileage). I am not promoting my business but I know from personal experience vehicles go better when not run on the cheap stuff. The newer the petrol car with adaptive ignition timing the greater the benefit should be when running on a better quality fuel. Other areas to look at is your tyres (not just keeping them correctly inflated) but again buying a quality tyre versus say one named after a "red Indian"

Tyres now come with an economy rating so consider this when purchasing. Diesels are good but a mid life diesel car fuel fault can coast an arm and a leg (depending what the fault is) . By comparison petrol cars are cheap to fix.

hope this helps

I have a Mokka 1.7CDTI 4X4, which delivers 50+ mpg on 80 miles per day in hilly A & B roads in the Scottish Highlands. It is a somewhat gruff unit, which I believe will be replaced shortly by the 1.6CDTI (more economy, more quiet and more bhp). Curiously I got even better economy on 16" winter tyres (about 10% more) than I do on the standard 18" wheels, so perhaps your wheel size is something you could change on your current car as a cheap means to assist economy

Look at the cost to change.. (I would guess £5,000+)

Your wekly fuel saving - see above - is going to be c £13.

Divide the cost to change by the wekly fule saving = number of weeks to repay the cot to change. (384 weeks on the example £5,000 ).

That's 7 years..

If you cannot save the cost to change within three years, you are wasting your money..

I think the problem is that Diesel cars come with more expensive ticking time bombs than petrols, you've set a money saving target and are presumably going to spend money out in order to save it.

Yes you might get 60mpg out of a decent mid sized Diesel hatch, but you might also find get an expensive fault that could wipe out your first two years savings in one repair, then your economy plan has gone out the window, and we don't want to goad you on.

If you were replacing the Civic because its getting tired or has run its time with you, or you just fancy another car, great, go out and buy whatever you want, personally out of your short list i'd go for the Civic.

No one here is saying you can't do this, you asked for our opinions and we seem in agreement (unusual in itself) that the savings, unless you go super frugal something like my mates C2 and drive miserly, won't be enough to warrant the change whilst your current car is still a good un.

Edited by gordonbennet on 18/07/2014 at 22:07

My annual mileage is 16-18k a year including commuting and leisure mileage. And my budget is approx £5-6k.