Diesel or Petrol?
I expect to be shopping for a tug in the next month, sadly it won't be a new car, I'm leaning towards a Mondeo 2/2.2 litre diesel.
In light of the current anti diesel feeling in the media and air quality lobby should I stick with diesel or move on to a petrol car?
Atb. Aamcle
Comments
-
This is a good question. How long before tax on diesel cars start to rise, or insurance has levies, or road tax goes sky high?
The trouble is, for somebody that does 15,000 miles a year diesels are better on fuel, I think better for towing, and are pretty good to drive these days. 45mpg or 25mpg not towing is the difference on the C70 I am looking at. Plus, auto c70 petrol is £500
a year tax! Diesel still makes sense to me.0 -
I would stick to diesel . I don't have any facts or figures regarding the environment , but quite often there is a lot of hype and different agendas regarding this subject . It's ok for the tree huggers to put their point over , but We are not soon going
to get petrol Lorries ( how many Lorries do You see ? ) obviously it's Your choice , for towing for Me , it will be a diesel .Paul
0 -
A turbo petrol will do the job, but the problem is not many are sold in the UK.
Vag are the ones that appear to have the largest range on sale. A 2L turbo with around 200bhp would be fine towing.
I've had a 1.8T which would tow 1500kg.
0 -
If you are going for the Mondeo, I would go for the diesel option. When we bought our first caravan 11 years ago we had a 2L petrol, which we towed our 1300KG van with for the first three years. It was a very stable tow car and great on most roads. However,
put any hills in its way, particularly if you ever had to come to a stop, and it was terribly underpowered. Just not enough torque to do the job. It was very much a case of, steep hill comming, switch off air con to get a bit of extra power. Replaced it with
a diesel X Trail, similar bhp to the Mondeo, but even with it in two wheel drive, so much more capable.0 -
aamcl, you're damned if you do & damned if you don't, re Petrol or Diesel. The 'climate change' lobby & Governments pushed Diesel engines due to their having less impact on the environment, now it's back to Petrol being better. In a few years it'll be Electric
cars are damaging the environment. Do what your research proves to be best for you & you alone. The rest is out of your control, good luck
0 -
Not all Diesels are expensive-I drive a 2.5ltr twin turbo pick up, rfl is £225 per year.
0 -
I expect my next tow car to be turbo petrol.
Although i have one of the best diesels in the world its still noisey compared to a petrol car.
But it will have over 200ps with 250 pound feet at around 1500 rpm.
That will outperform any 180ps kuga.
0 -
I did stray away from my usual Discovery diesels and had two Mercs estates. The second was a 2.8 6 cylinder petrol engine. A lovely silky quiet engine. The mpg drop was about 25 % when towing so no real change from the diesels tow cars I had. The difference
I did notice was that the petrol engine (auto gear box) was less inclined to change back to top gear after levelling out from a hill incline.0 -
X-trailman - funnily enough I used to have a 2ltr turbo petrol tug (Subaru Forester) until the engine went bang whilst towing, and died . Now have an X-trail diesel, mpg is magnificent, much better than the petrol car and I wouldn't swap back.
0 -
not all petrol towcars need forced induction ..... you just need more cubes. Never had a problem towing with any of my normally aspirated 3.0 Senators or Omega, but concede that my R Class is better.
But if I didn't have a caravan to lug about I'd not be using the Fuel of the Devil in any of my cars.0 -
We've got a 2.2 diesel auto Jag. Brilliant for towing, up to 53mpg solo and £145 a year to tax.
0 -
Having towed with both my experience is that the petrol tends to manage but tbe diesel is better? The lower down torque makes pulling away far easier with less gear changing out on the road.
I do wonder though if diesels are going to be hit with taxes or whatever and at the moment it is a gamble to go either way.
0
