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IRISH MOTORISTS LOVE their diesel cars. Last year 102,699 new car registrations were diesel-powered compared to just 40,641 petrol engined cars.
However, so far this year there seems to be a swing in the direction of petrol power. The first quarter of this year shows that petrol cars have a 29.59% market share compared to 27.97% for the same period last year and diesel cars have a market share of 66.72% which is down from 70.04% on the same period last year.
Many people believe that diesel is best due to better economy figures and cheaper tax and fuel prices – although you pay more for the car in the first place.
But is this a false economy?
Petrol vs diesel
Let’s take a look by comparing the costs of buying and owning of a diesel car compared to a petrol car over a four-year period (the average Irish car owner holds on to their car for 3.55 years). We’ll take the Hyundai Tucson as an example as it is the best selling car in Ireland at the moment.
The Hyundai Tucson comes with one petrol engine, a 132hp 1.6-litre unit. It has a Co2 figure of 147g/km, is €390 a year to tax and has an official combined fuel economy figure of 6.3 litres/100km (44.8mpg). It has an RRP of €26,245.
According to Cartell.ie, in Ireland in 2016, the average annual mileage travelled by a private car five years of age or less was 21,028km. The average price of petrol in Ireland in March 2017 was 136.6c a litre. Taking these figures into account, to buy and tax and run a petrol Hyundai Tucson for four years will cost €35,043.
The comparable diesel Tucson is the 115hp 1.7-litre unit. This has a C02 figure of 119g/km, is €200 a year to tax and has an official combined fuel economy figure of 4.6 litres/100km (61.4mpg). It has an RRP of €27,995.
The average price of diesel in Ireland in March 2017 was 126.0c a litre. Using these figures and the same annual mileage as above the cost to buy and run a diesel Tucson for four years is €33,670.
Therefore it is just €1,373 cheaper to buy and run a diesel Hyundai for four years.
Insurance costs
But that’s not the whole story, other costs need to be factored in too. Diesel cars tend to be more expensive to insure as they have a higher value. We got one quote of €555 for the petrol model and €647 for the diesel version. This takes the difference in cost between the diesel and petrol car over the four years to just €1,005.
Service costs
Diesel cars are also, in general, more expensive to service. Hyundai’s own Complete Care plan costs €600 for five services for petrol engines and €500 for just three services for a diesel Tucson. Both plans last 100,000km or five years.
Maintenance costs
Furthermore, diesel engines are more expensive to build than petrol ones and they have more expensive parts. If something goes wrong then it is more expensive to fix a diesel engine than a petrol one.
Resale values
Diesel cars hold residual values well. Bear in mind though that is on a sliding scale – big, expensive diesel cars hold their value very well, but the gap grows smaller as the car shrinks in size with small petrol cars holding their value better than small diesel cars.
Of course, when it comes to deciding whether to go for a diesel or petrol car you have to taken into account many factors and your own particular needs – eg towing and how many motorway miles you do a year. But when it comes to overall cost, in this example it would seem there isn’t that much of a saving to be made when buying a diesel car rather than a petrol one.
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Diesel engines of today are fighting emissions so much that they have a ton of extra parts built onto and around the engine and exhaust system that petrol engines don’t. Very often you’ll find the diesel engines themselves are bulletproof but the likes of EGR valves, turbos and DPFs inevitably need replacing and all three cost upwards of a thousand euro or more to get done.
VW’s 1.6l diesel engine in particular has a huge problem with EGR valves that should have been a global recall but instead they offer to share the costs of replacement with the owner to give they illusion they are being sound about it when in fact you’re still getting screwed for 500 euro to replace a badly designed part.
You have to factor in aswell that the green’s stupid policy of focusing on CO2 emissions will be swept aside in favour of focusing on NOX emissions in the coming years and by then diesel engines will be far and away the highest tax bracket. Unless you’re doing 40k plus a year on the motorway, go petrol IMO. If you’re only doing city and short commutes you have to go petrol or you’ll be replacing your DPF every 18 months.
@Jimmy Ireland: Indeed, you have to use dipetane all the time and push the engine to high rpm everyday for a good while to keep it working well. Then your low fuel consumption is not low anymore. And then dual mass flywhell and other usless stuff. Hate diesels. I have 2L petrol, was cheap to buy, timing chain, great japanease big car. Plus motorbike for comuting. But the true is that electric is the future…
@BogumilM: The diesel particular filter clogging up costs a fortune to clean out and a bigger fortune to repair. Dual mass flywheels can have miserable lifespans. What is the max miles you have ever heard a dual mass flywheel lasting for & then you need a full new clutch replacement again adding to diesel cars of the last 16+ years costing a fortune to maintain
If 21kms a year’s for average driver then at 400kms a week it’s ELECTRIC for the future and powered by our own nuclear power plant!!!
Diesels will crash in value once the government bans them – like us happening in cities across the world now
The big issue now is dealers won’t stock petrol cars so they are coming even harder to get. I was trying for a year to get a petrol focus but no dealer had one or would get one so I ended up getting the diesel version as all dealers just told me there was no hope of getting a petrol one and there was even none on carzone.
@Stephen Kearns: who buys cars on carzone? why would you use this whitty overprice site when we have donedeal?
Torque. That is all.
Melanie you missed one crucial point in your costings. The purchase price excess of the diesel in the order of €3000 is a one off cost which can be capitalised over a 50 year driving career since the diesel holds at least this advantage over the petrol each time it is traded.
This is the mistake all motoring correspondents make in such comparisons.
Diesel is thus on average 40% cheaper overall. The main reason to drive petrol is if you do mostly town driving as the diesel particulate filter requires a decent amount of over 50 mph driving to prevent clogging.
@James Gorman: Most diesel cars since the year 2000 have dual mass flywheels which fail after a certain milage requiring a full clutch replacement which is very expensive & getting the diesel filter repaired costs even more. The filters on most diesel cars of 12 years or older are pointless for short stop/start journeys around towns
@Glen Quagmire: The diesel particular filters first came in around 12 years ago. I don’t mean that only 12 year old filters are bad as they all clog up if cars not driven at 80km/hr plus regularly & not town & city driving.
@Glen Quagmire: dual mass flywheel last between 120k miles and 200k miles depending on model and driver and cost €700 to €1300 for regular car.
Ive never required a DPF regen and if I did I can get it done for €200.
The diesel differential is still 40%.
I have something useful for simple comparison:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10lgOSm8ykggTDyynVbYu70OLMMXytPGvfEXntgF2Hac/edit?usp=sharing
@BogumilM: Very good sheet. Thanks!!
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