Scary fuel prices

[219]

On the way into work this morning I had to get Diesel for the works van . The light had come on on the way home last night , so I didn't want to chance going too far with it and went to the BP station in the local village .

Part way through filling up I noticed the numbers were ramping up alarmingly , then I realised the price was £1.47.9 per litre ! I glanced over to the display board and saw that petrol was £1.42.9 !!!

Strangely enough , there was no one else using this petrol station ! Thankfully it was going on the fuel card and not coming out of my own pocket . It ended up being £65 to fill a little Corsa van - not so long ago I could fill my S Class for not much more than that .

The Tesco station about five miles away where I buy petrol for my own car is still charging £1.30.9

Glad I don't drive a Diesel and have to pay for the fuel .

 

[renault12ts]

So, if diesel costs about 5-10% more than petrol, but achieves about 50% greater mpg...what's the problem?

 

[A210AMG]

^ Agree I can get 45mpg easy on a run in my E320CDi what would a petrol E320 do ?

Its slightly more yes but you go further on it

You will probably find the nowadays almost all Mercedes S class are S320Cdi's along with CLS320Cdi's etc etc...

 

[st13phil]

At my local Shell filling station the price of both petrol & diesel has been marching inexorably upwards a penny at a time at least once a week, and sometimes more frequently than that. The differential between petrol and diesel has been 7p per litre throughout all the increases until diesel hit 139.9p / litre. Since then petrol has gone up twice and is now 134.9p / litre but diesel has remained at 139.9 Methinks they play games...

 

[219]

So, if diesel costs about 5-10% more than petrol, but achieves about 50% greater mpg...what's the problem?

Not all Diesels offer great MPG - a colleague is always complaining about the cost of running his Pathfinder which does 15-18mpg , and does not like it when I point out that my 500 betters it by at least 5mpg .

Then there are some petrol cars which offer very decent mpg - my 190E automatic always returned low 30's and could reach 40mpg with care on a run . Newer models will do much better .

The mpg gap is not as wide as some may imagine .

I'll still baulk at paying £1.50/litre for any fuel , and am far from happy even at the current £1.30.9 hereabouts .

 

[Dieselman]

I'll still baulk at paying £1.50/litre for any fuel ,

Best to not shop at the local garage then.

A few more months and we will be thinking £1.50 was a dream.

 

[219]

You will probably find the nowadays almost all Mercedes S class are S320Cdi's along with CLS320Cdi's etc etc...

Yes , I hear them clattering away when stopped beside me in traffic - most un- S Class like !

 

[A210AMG]

^ True from the outside but :-

0-62 in 7.1 seconds
limited to 155mph
45.6mpg combined


Thats pretty good in anyones language

 

[Shude]

Yes , I hear them clattering away when stopped beside me in traffic - most un- S Class like !

I was waiting for a removals van this morning, I felt sure it had arrived when I heard a rough, clattery, agricultural noise just around the corner. BMW 1-series diesel spluttered past!

 

[Dieselman]

I was waiting for a removals van this morning, I felt sure it had arrived when I heard a rough, clattery, agricultural noise just around the corner. BMW 1-series diesel spluttered past!

Bigger inside than they look, those 1 Series...

 

[219]

^ True from the outside but :-

0-62 in 7.1 seconds
limited to 155mph
45.6mpg combined


Thats pretty good in anyones language

I'd still rather go 20 miles in my car than 45 in the alternative

 

[renault12ts]

Not all Diesels offer great MPG - a colleague is always complaining about the cost of running his Pathfinder which does 15-18mpg , and does not like it when I point out that my 500 betters it by at least 5mpg .

Then there are some petrol cars which offer very decent mpg - my 190E automatic always returned low 30's and could reach 40mpg with care on a run . Newer models will do much better .

The mpg gap is not as wide as some may imagine .

I'll still baulk at paying £1.50/litre for any fuel , and am far from happy even at the current £1.30.9 hereabouts .

When doing comparisons, it is best to compare the petrol and diesel versions of the same car. Thus a 320 petrol and a 320 cdi, E class of the same era where both cars offer similar performance, but the diesel has far superior mpg.

If your petrol 190 can get those figures, what can the diesel version get?

If you compare a petrol Ka to my car then the Ka will probably win in the mpg stakes but lose in all others.

 

[219]

Hmmm - never had one , but I'd guess Diesel 190 50-55 mpg ??

Petrol 320 with sequential injection ought to be about as ecomomical as the older 190 was ? I'd be looking for low 30's in normal driving and expect to break 40 if driving economically ( steady speed on motorway long run ) .

The other thing that kind of tips the scales the other way is servicing costs .

Back in the days when the cars were simple , Diesel would be much cheaper to maintain - change oils and a few filters , drain the water trap and you were pretty much good to go .

These days , I am always hearing about diesel cars blowing injector seals , needing costly injectors , MAF's and all sorts of other costly problems , not to mention the ultra costly expensive oil they use ; on the other hand , I can put in £20 of GTX and a filter for less than a tenner then I'm good to go ; every so often I might need a dizzy cap or plugs ( I clean and recycle old plugs though ) but not very often . So it seems the shoe is kind of on the other foot now .

Edit - I have of course ignored things like brake pads and other non engine related service items as these will be the same on either variant .

 

[Benzowner]

Drove my car to Holland last weekend, unleaded was 1.79 euros per litre, diesel was 1.35 euros per litre. Are we being shafted, I think so on diesel, maybe not on unleaded

 

[BTB 500]

Yup 1.79 euros is about £1.58. All down to the local taxes I think.

IIRC in Germany the price of diesel is also a bit lower than UK, but they pay a lot more road tax than petrol vehicles so no real advantage unless you do a lot of miles a year.

 

[BoyracerAU]

You'll all be pleased to hear we're whinging about AUD1.47/l here in Sydney. I think that's about 91p/l.

 

[Scott_F]

Not all Diesels offer great MPG - a colleague is always complaining about the cost of running his Pathfinder which does 15-18mpg , and does not like it when I point out that my 500 betters it by at least 5mpg.

The Pathfinder was always a bit on the thirsty side.......

Riley Pathfinder - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Not all Diesels offer great MPG - a colleague is always complaining about the cost of running his Pathfinder which does 15-18mpg , and does not like it when I point out that my 500 betters it by at least 5mpg .


The mpg gap is not as wide as some may imagine .

The MPG figures are, in my own experience, poles apart.
About 6 year ago we had a Ford Ka as a courtesy car, in place of a Peugeot 406 2.0 HDi. The 406, even with an engine double the size, was about 30% better in real terms of MPG.

With regards the Nissan Pathfinder, I have owned its brother the Navara Aventura and can honestly say that it is one of the most gutless, thirsty monstrosities I've had the mis-fortune to own.
It was like driving one of those hideous 4x4 truck things you see in America- all show & no go....

 

[crockers]

I'd still rather go 20 miles in my car than 45 in the alternative

so you would walk the other 25 miles ??

 

[Ade B]

Anyone got any figures for the cost of biodiesel per litre - I can't find any current prices on google (in 2 minutes)..

Fuel costs are only going one way - glad I ditched petrol