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As usual the initial cost comparison is between full retail value of petrol car against diesel version, who pays full list for a car these days?

I purchased a new 1.6 TDCi Fiesta in Nov 2011, for the same money I was offered a high spec petrol version and the saving over list was nearly £3.5K with all the extras, according to the Which magazine driver tool my savings were instant and the fuel saving paid for the yearly service.

I'm fortunate in that my drive to work is motorway and the car is not used for short distance so I get the maximum benefit of fuel saving but when the new Fox engined Fiesta is available I shall switch back to petrol.

Agree with HJ's comments on residuals, I would never buy a high mileage diesel ( I know plenty of fools who have! ) I intend to trade my car while it has low miles and value.

Our BMW 118D cost £300 more than a 118i in March 2008 when we bought it new. We save over £100 in RFL thus in 4 years we have saved the initial cost difference. It does an average of 48mpg (calculated) wheras petrols we have been loaned when it goes in for service do about 34mpg (on the dash), at £6,00 a gallon over 10,000 miles a year that is a £500 saving at least. Servicing costs are identical. Over the 4 years we have owned it we have saved £2000. Add to that residuals, Parkers say the 118D is worth approx £900 more than the 118i thus our total saving so far is approx £2900.

We tried a 118i and a 118D before we ordered, the 118i was poor in comparison to the 118D.

In the years ahead we may have dpf issues but without a crystal ball who knows. It regens when needed, what more can we do. Both the petrol and diesel use chain cams and have dmf so no difference there.

The longer I keep the car the greater the savings, if I have to spend some of that on a repair I will just have to do it. At least its a better drive than the petrol version.

Honest John and Which both have a habit of looking at only a small part of the story. Having run diesels sing 1996 I know which I will continue to buy.

people must be getting diesel fuel cheap??...thats all i'm saying on the matter..:-) 

voy2age

Don't understand your comment, I pay about £1.339 per litre for diesel from Tesco's, that is £6.09 per gallon which is why I used the £6.00 approximation in my calculation Petrol is £1.299 or £5.91 per gallon, very little difference. Some local independents charge virtually the same for both fuels, a Gulf station about 3 miles away was charging £1.469 for petrol and £1.479 for diesel when we passed last Saturday, now that is expensive.

If you are hinting that we use red diesel your post should be deleted.