[Hyper Active]

Low mileage drivers who buy a diesel car may not be saving as much money as they thought.

The soaring cost of diesel means the price differential with petrol is greater than ever.

AA figures show the average fuel prices in the UK are now 106.9p a litre for petrol and 114.8p a litre for diesel, which means an oil-burner may no longer be the cheaper alternative.

Prices have risen due to rocketing sales of diesel cars and high demand for the fuel, which refineries have failed to meet.

A diesel car costs on average £1,400 more to buy than its petrol equivalent. A driver must now clock up over 46,000 miles before the benefits of fuel efficiency can be seen. At the start of this year, to break even with a petrol-engined car, the distance was 45,000 miles.

AA president Edmund King said: "Buying a diesel is not an automatic switch to cut-price motoring, particularly at current prices."

[baskers]

Hype - you got a link for this. I have been trying to tell my mates at work that me driving my S for 10,000 miles a year is better value than a diesel!

[Hat]

been saying this for years but nobody listens..

[baskers]

Oh... and Diesels are boooooooooooooring. Hehehe. Watch the Dooper and ONED owners flame me... hehe

[supa-dupa-cooper]

I didnt buy the diesel for the fuel consumption, that was just a bonus Fuel is fuel, you have to have it to run the car

[supa-dupa-cooper]

Quote: Originally Posted by baskers (original)

Oh... and Diesels are boooooooooooooring. Hehehe. Watch the Dooper and ONED owners flame me... hehe

You clearly have no idea



Booooooring

[baskers]

SDC - supercharger

Nuff said

Each to their own, eh? Still when you're being charged 8p/l more... it's a bit, eh?

[supa-dupa-cooper]

Quote: Originally Posted by baskers (original)

SDC - supercharger

Nuff said

Each to their own, eh? Still when you're being charged 8p/l more... it's a bit, eh?

Sarcasm - look it up in the dictionary

Not denying the supercharged S is great, in fact I never even mentioned it did I

[Hyper Active]

Quote: Originally Posted by baskers (original)

Hype - you got a link for this. I have been trying to tell my mates at work that me driving my S for 10,000 miles a year is better value than a diesel!

Here you go .

NEW CAR NET, the UK new car guide :: Auto news - Diesel not always the cheaper option :: Links, Newsletter, She Drives, Galleries, Motor Show, Road Tests, User Reviews, Daily News, Car Videos, Features, NEWS / REVIEWS, First Impressions, Motormouth,

[My MINI me and me]

Quote: Originally Posted by baskers (original)

Oh... and Diesels are boooooooooooooring. Hehehe. Watch the Dooper and ONED owners flame me... hehe

You have to do very odd things involving pressure and heat to make diesel flame!

This is all relative at 13,000 miles a year considering a 7% price increase of diesel over petrol and real life figures of 36 mpg rather than 23 mpg for my last convertible S, I am heading to be saving about £900 on fuel per year and £500 in insurance, road tax and local authority parking costs. Admittedly I don't drive the Clubman D in the same way as the S so whilst it's not completely like for like these are real life figures for me.

So it's "Horses for Courses" really, if I had a hatchback Cooper D (manual) the figures might be higher, but if I lived outside of London the differential on all of the factors might start to not outweight the initial purchase price.


Would I rather be driving a Cooper S Works .. Yes

Do I want to pay for one at the moment ... Afraid Not

[MartinH32]

Go LPG, I have. 52.9p a litre

[Rakey]

Quote: Originally Posted by Hat (original)

been saying this for years but nobody listens..

but you get more miles per gallon?

Quote: Originally Posted by baskers (original)

Oh... and Diesels are boooooooooooooring. Hehehe. Watch the Dooper and ONED owners flame me... hehe

Err no, I'd rather have a Diesel R56 than a petrol, its much more involving to drive than the flat petrol Cooper

Quote: Originally Posted by My MINI me and me (original)

You have to do very odd things involving pressure and heat to make diesel flame!

This is all relative at 13,000 miles a year considering a 7% price increase of diesel over petrol and real life figures of 36 mpg rather than 23 mpg for my last convertible S, I am heading to be saving about £900 on fuel per year and £500 in insurance, road tax and local authority parking costs. Admittedly I don't drive the Clubman D in the same way as the S so whilst it's not completely like for like these are real life figures for me.

So it's "Horses for Courses" really, if I had a hatchback Cooper D (manual) the figures might be higher, but if I lived outside of London the differential on all of the factors might start to not outweight the initial purchase price.


Would I rather be driving a Cooper S Works .. Yes

Do I want to pay for one at the moment ... Afraid Not

See thats my thoughts too, 21mpg of my GP v's the 36mpg of the Dooper.... errr that says saving to me everyday

[Ant FR]

yeah but when you consider most C drivers run on Super anyway, then the price of petrol and diesel is the same. So throws that out the window for S drivers

[billy.batson]

[quote=Hyper Active;3376310] Low mileage drivers who buy a diesel car may not be saving as much money as they thought.

Agreed. I seriously considered a diesel which on the face of it seems the best buy (from purely the financial argument). But when you really delve into it, it doesn't really add up. If buying a new car the diesel version is more than £1000 more expensive, although the £35 road tax is a bonus against the £115 for the petrol.

However if you buy a new car every three years, and don't do a high mileage, buy a petrol model. I expect the trade-in value to be higher too.

Unless of course you live and drive in London, where (I heard) the diesel version qualifies for zero congestion charge (can anyone confirm that?)

[Hyper Active]

Quote: Originally Posted by Rakey (original)

but you get more miles per gallon?

Err no, I'd rather have a Diesel R56 than a petrol, its much more involving to drive than the flat petrol Cooper

See thats my thoughts too, 21mpg of my GP v's the 36mpg of the Dooper.... errr that says saving to me everyday

Your over looking the fact , that you pay more for a diesel car than the petrol equivalent. The average is £1400 more . It then on average, takes 46000 miles before the better fuel economy catches up and you reach the break even point.

The MINI does fall just below the average however, in that a Dooper costs £1100 more than a Cooper . With the Dooper Clubman costing £1200 more than a Cooper Clubman. This means the break even point is slightly less, say 40k-42k miles. Still a lot of miles though, and 4-5 years of ownership for most owners I'd guess.

[Hyper Active]

Quote: Originally Posted by billy.batson (original)

Unless of course you live and drive in London, where (I heard) the diesel version qualifies for zero congestion charge (can anyone confirm that?)

Yes it will qualify, but i'm not sure if it does yet .

[Fin]

I disagree with diesel cars having lower road tax than petrol cars.

[Rakey]

Quote: Originally Posted by Hyper Active (original)

Your over looking the fact , that you pay more for a diesel car than the petrol equivalent. The average is £1400 more . It then on average, takes 46000 miles before the better fuel economy catches up and you reach the break even point.

The MINI does fall just below the average however, in that a Dooper costs £1100 more than a Cooper . With the Dooper Clubman costing £1200 more than a Cooper Clubman. This means the break even point is slightly less, say 40k-42k miles. Still a lot of miles though, and 4-5 years of ownership for most owners I'd guess.

But I'd be having a Dooper instead of a MCS, so I'd be in pocket from day one

[Hyper Active]

Quote: Originally Posted by Rakey (original)

But I'd be having a Dooper instead of a MCS, so I'd be in pocket from day one

Ahh right, okay lol . Though a Cooper S isn't a petrol equivalent for a Dooper performance wise, or price wise .

[feenaldo]

For me a Dooper wouldn't be any better than my S really. I own my car outright, would have to pay loads more to get a Dooper to what I would need it to be spec wise and diesel is the fuel of the devil.... but dont flame me Dooper owners I love them really... and at least when R56 MCS owners complain about their car sounding like a Massey Ferguson you can sit knowing that for your car thats as god inteded it to be