Has anybody read this article ? No prizes for remembering what Mark Twain said about reports of his death.
www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/green-motoring/716644...l
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Although many will be happy with a shopping trolley powered by lawn mower sized petrol engine I think I will stick to a 100+ BHP diesel. As almost all commercial vehicles use diesel I think it will be around for my driving lifespan.
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I think this is an artefact of the scrappage scheme.
Assumption: many -but not all, of course- who keep cars beyond 10 years are on more limited incomes. I think it reasonable to assume this.
Hence, many who have traded in card for scrappage cannot afford the premium of a diesel engine and buy the less-expensive petrol models.
Simples.
Edited by theterranaut on 07/02/2010 at 16:21
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its hardly rocket science that the blue rinse brigade who are private punters buying the cheapest horriibilist car on the market for the least amount of money are obviously going to chop in a mint corsa 32,000 16 valve petrol for something petrol that doesnt even have intermittant wipers
they aint gonna buy diesel is they even if it was availabubble
diesel dorling? certainly not my precious cufflink.................
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Diesel dead? Not with that 230hp BMW that does 65 to the gallon.
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What I didn't pick up was the future situation regarding diesel supply; is he saying that availability will be so restricted that the price will become uneconomic?
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We're movIng over to lawnmower engInes ;-) one of the dIesels threatened a £1,200 bIll, wIth no guarantee of a fIx.
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Well if it becomes uneconomic how are the pies and the beer and the really important stuff going to get delivered? Oil is 20 times the price it was in the early 70s and we are all still alive and travelling, we'll manage
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oh great, and I brought a brand new diesel last year.
I actually like the way a diesel engine develops power and I don't fancy going back to petrol.
I am not too sure how much I would be happy to pay for a litre od diesel though just to keep driving diesel.
I noticed that the article did not mention of where we in the UK source oil for diesel production since middle east oil is not good for refining diesel.
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I agree with the point about the scrappage scheme in the article. This scheme has resulted in a significant, but temporary distortion in many aspects of the car market from the number of new cars registered, the ratio of fleet-to-private registrations, and the type of cars being bought. Most people I know who have taken advantage of the scheme have bought the absolute cheapest version of their chosen new car which, as the article says, always has a small petrol engine.
I suspect that DPFs and their unsuitability for constant urban use has also put people off diesel. I can't remember any other kind of car in my lifetime having usage caveats put into its advertising small print, yet most ads for diesel cars now have some kind of warning about being unsuited to short run/urban use. This immediately eliminates a chunk of the car buying public, whether they want to go diesel or not.
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There have been some concerns raised about DPFs and the fact the oil level can rise if the car is used mostly on short journeys etc. I have had an oil change (about £100) in between services because of this. But for the rest of the time I would say I still like the characteristics of diesel a great deal. And the oil change didn't need doing just yet but the lease company won't take responsibility for their car ;-)
In fact having the interim oil change might not be a bad thing ;-) And the oil used by Mazda is said to keep it's characteristics for lubrication even when diluted to diesel. Hence only the correct, but expensive, oil is to be used.
If choosing the same car or a petrol one at the time... still diesel for me even knowing this. And the Mazda6 is such a comfortable cruiser I'd have had the same car again.
I might go for a petrol turbo next time around but it will have to be fairly torquey for me to give up the diesel. And return good mpg.
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Great isn't it? I've heard this before. We are set up in this country to produce petrol at the refineries, you get more petrol out of a gallon of crude oil, we export our surplus of petrol to the US. And we still pay through the nose for it, when America pays a pittance, even though it's been tankered many miles to get there. What a joke.
It makes sense to buy a small petrol car, but for people who are doing large mileages, they will want the advantage of a refined, larger car, and they will want it to be economical. Here diesel makes more sense, so until petrol engines become much more efficient, people will keep buying diesel as long as they are available.
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Diesel won't be dead but less & less customers will buy them because:
1. only very high will justify a diesel cost
2. DMF + DPF + CRDi + Turbo etc. are money pits once failed
3. Lots of short trips will screw the DPF
So diesel will just be less popular but never dead.
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Don't worry the Americans will sell us their surplus heating oil at an exorbitant mark up.
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But a lot of petrols have or soon will have DMF + turbo + ...
Short trips only leads to the DPF needing regenerations. It is not 'screwed' just not having a chance to regenerate. And it will eventually for most. The side issue could be raised oil levels.
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Great isn't it? I've heard this before. We are set up in this country to produce petrol at the refineries you get more petrol out of a gallon of crude oil we export our surplus of petrol to the US.
This isn't entirely correct. More diesel is gained from crude than lighter products such as octane. HOWEVER, in the late 80's and early 90's most of the oil companies fosaw a greater demand for the the THEN more valuable petrol product. So the set about building giant catalyst cracking plants (like the one in Milford Haven partly owned by Texaco-Chevron).
This said, in the late 90's and early noughties as we all know, large swathes of the world went diesel car crazy patly due to the refinements of the newer vehicles, so all of this extra petrol producing capacity became a bit redundant, forcing them to export to the US as you say.
Since my father retired from the oil industry I'm a bit out of touch, but I would assume they have spent the last decade catching up with the demand for diesel fuels. The fun will realy start when the new anti-pollution laws start to dictate sulphur levels on very heavy fuel oils for trains and ships etc.
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its hardly rocket science that the blue rinse brigade who are private punters buying the cheapest horriibilist car on the market for the least amount of money are obviously going
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Absolutely right !
I do 24K ish a year and get paid a fixed amount per mile to do it, and I can say that every time I get home having done 45+ mpg in my Audi A4 after some serious motorway work, I dont think petrol will be an option for me anytime soon.
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