Am in the fortunate position to be able to purchase a new or nearly new car and I am trying to work out what the best solution is for me in terms of fuel type. My main concern is the current news topics of diesel cars and taxation, phasing them out from cities etc.

For context, I am scotland based, driving is probably a 60/40 split of short trips in and out of town, tescos etc vs long journeys into the highlands and up north coast for surfing (+200miles). Preference is for an estate car of some sort as i put my bikes / boards in the vehicle. Intend to keep the car for about 5 years.

Having had a precursory glance at whats available, there is definite bias towards diesel fuel in the estate or suv market, so my options seem to be pushing me in that direction. However with all the chat in the news regarding tax, banning etc is the value of such a car going to plummet over the next few years as people are swayed more towards hybrid/ electric and would I be better off going in that direction myself? Although to do so would severely limit the choice in the nearly new market.

Hedge your bets by leasing or PCP

There’s a lot of noise about diesels at the moment, spearheaded by the VW Scandal.

It’s worth remembering that diesel still use less fuel than petrols on a like-by-like basis so will always have a market.

The only ‘ban’ I know about is the London ULEZ coming into force next April, this will charge anyone with a Diesel that’s not Euro 6 compliant (these sold before Sept 2014) and Petrols before Euro 4 (2005) will pay more to drive there as both this types of vehicles supposedly produce no more than 0.080 NOx g/km

There is an expectation from consumers that there will be a ‘creep’ in legalisation, so at some point down the road (if you excuse the pun) they’ll change  it to Euro 7.

Euro 7 isn’t due until 2020, and it seems unlikely that London will in 2020 ban cars made only a few months before.

It’s also possible that other cities may introduce emission / congestion zones, but the London Congestion Zone has been in place for 15 years now, and as yet no other cities have followed it.

I suspect you’ll been completely unaffected by any legislation in Scotland with your Euro 6 compliant diesel.

Perhaps the good news is that Petrol, after decades in decline is becoming popular again, as a country we import diesel as we don’t produce enough here. As demand falls, so will the price.

I’d look at the fuel consumption and what you’re planning to do. If there’s a lot of distance motorway work at consistent speeds or you’re lugging a lot of kit I’d go diesel as the torque is great at low revs and the fuel economy is better. If it’s more winding roads I’d go petrol for the more flexible engine and lack of issues with a DPF.

I’ve not been, but judging by the roads to the highlands I assume the roads to the north coast are not motorways!

Long term value? Your car is going to depreciate like a stone regardless. The rest is in the lap of the gods.

Hedge your bets by… …PCP

Is what I did.  I’m actually looking to keep my car long term, yet I continued with PCP for 3 years just in case.

Yep, agree with above and go PCP on a 0% or low apr. That way if the diesel world does fall in you are insulated. You should also get a decent chunk of money off. I saw recently that Ford were offering 0% across the range and BMW had quiet a few models at 0%.

I bought my car at the end of the PCP deal last year and reckon it’s cost me due to the fall in value of diesel cars. Toying with the idea of selling it to go back to PCP or lease.

and BMW

I agreed £22k on a £36,500 8 month old fully loaded MSport touring 320d with 6k miles on it.  More than 1/3rd off.

PCP for me too on a new diesel. With its tank of super-wee it can run lean so returns 65mpg on the motorway while emitting little more than rainbows and daffodils.

Hyundai Kona electric is getting me interested in buying my 1st new car.

xDrive Kryton?

If you change your car every 5 years its a bit harder, but

If you buy new then sell after 2-4 years then as said PCH is your best bet, doesn’t even cover the depreciation on some of the silly deals available recently, check out the very long best lease deal threads on pistonheads.

xDrive Kryton?

No.  I decided to stick with RWD on the basis i’ll a) likely get a set of steel winters and b) we have a 11yo 4wd / m&s tyred Ford Kuga which will get shoved down a Gorrick forest track in winter carrying my bike rather than my shiny BM .

Also, I have MPS4’s on mine and I have only managed to invoke the traction control once with a deliberate very lary bit of torque based over-driving, so I reckon with current traction control science and a set of good tyres I didn’t need to wait for xdrive .

Any hint of snow in this here London and I’m WFH anyway 😉

Regardless of whether you like BMWs or not, the current crop of Touring 320/330d’s are very good pieces of equipment indeed. If you can get one cheap-ish, I don’t think you’ll be unhappy .

I went the other way and used the Diesel scaremongering to buy outright a 2.5 yo Golf GTD DSG for £14k, original receipt was for £26,500.

I can’t get my head around loosing £300 odd a month to rent a car.  Even if mine halves in value over 3 years (which I doubt) it’s still less than leasing the depreciation on a new one.  I think….

Sadly due to annual mileage in the 12K to 15K range would the PCP or PCH deals penalise quite heavily on over agreed mileage fees? BMW were quoting 8.2p / mile. Incidentally how do those that do use these deals avoid fees such as mileage or damage to the interior etc with taking bikes in/ out, kids, dogs etc?

My next car is almost certainly going to be diesel, and second-hand, I’ll see about getting a bank loan, because I’m intending to keep it for quite a long time, I’ve had my current car for 12 years, by the time I replace it, early next year, and if I keep the replacement as long, I’ll be nearly 80!

I’m commuting 151 miles a week, just over 600 miles a month, fuel economy is paramount, and a diesel is currently the most economical option, without going for something like a Smart fourtwo. Which is not without a certain appeal, I rather like them, but as a second car; I need something a bit bigger, but smaller than my Octavia, a crossover SUV about the size of a Mokka or Hyundai iX35, and as my commute is almost  a straight line on the A350 from Chippenham to Westbury with a lot of traffic, sporty isn’t an option, comfort is. Although, with around 150ps on tap, quite sprightly for my needs.

Sadly due to annual mileage in the 12K to 15K range would the PCP or PCH deals penalise quite heavily on over agreed mileage fees? BMW were quoting 8.2p / mile. Incidentally how do those that do use these deals avoid fees such as mileage or damage to the interior etc with taking bikes in/ out, kids, dogs etc?

If your either buying at the end of the PCP or buying a new car from them, to a point it doesn’t matter.   I handed back my 120d in June with 400 miles over, 4 bald tyres and 3 dents in the wing – about large marble size from people hitting it with thier doors in car parks – and negotiated an equity in it.  The mileage – well I just agreed on 15k miles a year.

I spent 3 years/36k miles with bikes in an out in all weathers and places.  Just take some caution and line the car with cheap Ikea throws.  I dont have a dog though.

I can’t get my head around loosing £300 odd a month to rent a car.  Even if mine halves in value over 3 years (which I doubt) it’s still less than leasing the depreciation on a new one.  I think….

Firstly, you’re not ‘losing’ money, you’re paying to use something. Losing implies £300 is falling out of your wallet for nothing in return.

I get to drive a reasonably nice new car £37k Skoda Superb for £271 a month. After 4 years, I give it back. All I have to do is insure it, fuel it and put tyres on it.

Buying your car outright, using your example is costing you ~£200 a month in depreciation alone. By the time you take into account all your running costs you have to pay for which can be included in a lease, along with the list interest & capital availability.

I have to drive something in set parameters for work to get my car allowance, I can see no benefit to owning a heavily depreciating asset if I don’t have to.

PCP for me too on a new diesel. With its tank of super-wee it can run lean

All diesels run lean. That’s part of the reason they emit so much NOx. All the soot and unburnt fuel is just down to how poor the combustion is/isn’t which is why modern common rail engines with higher pressure injectors were such a leap forwards.

Firstly, you’re not ‘losing’ money, you’re paying to use something. Losing implies £300 is falling out of your wallet for nothing in return.

I get to drive a reasonably nice new car £37k Skoda Superb for £271 a month. After 4 years, I give it back. All I have to do is insure it, fuel it and put tyres on it.

Yes, appreciate that, maybe it’s just my brain doesn’t work like that,  But if I bought new and gave it back after 4 years, I’d have spent £13,008 and have nothing to show for it afterwards.  As it is I have spent £14k and after 4 years I’ll have 6-7k worth to sell if I chose to.

The other thing is I’ve always been a save up and buy kind of person, I don’t like monthly finance as I’m self employed and there’s always the chance work could dry up.

I’m commuting 151 miles a week, just over 600 miles a month, fuel economy is paramount,

its worth doing the maths on economy, as its diminishing returns. Assuming £1.30 a litre for petrol and £1.35 for diesel, lets say a diesel does 55mpg and a petrol does 45mpg in the real world (seems about right for a moderately powerful astra-ish car).

The diesel car needs near enough 50l of diesel, so costs £67.50 a month to fuel

The petrol car needs near enough 60l of petrol, so costs £78.50 a month more to fuel

so roughly a tenner difference in commuting costs. That’s a reasonable amount, but in the grand scheme of running a car, it might be that you’d find those savings easily wiped out by a single expensive repair (say a grand for diesel injectors – that’s 8 years fuel saving cleaned out), or by depreciation (although that’s not so much of an issue), or by purchase costs (I don’t know the cost difference for petrol/diesel cars these days, it used to be the latter was more expensive)

Random question but how does trade in value on my current car get factored into a PCP or HP plan? Does the dealer simply take the trade in value of the customers car and subtract that from the cost of the new vehicle then do the sums from there?

Say I want a BMW and its 30k new, with a PCP deal, its a 6k customer deposit, then the 36 monthly payments at XX/month or whatever, then the changover at the end of the agreement. If my trade in is valued at 18K would they simply subtract that from the original 30K new price as a larger deposit and work out payments from there? I’ve always bought outright so am new to the whole monthly/deposit thing and the dealer websites aren’t particularly informative.

Corundum – the short answer is yes.  However – in my experience anyway – they are very good at predicting the future value of your car, and if you believ you have equity you will need to evidence how.

In my case, my future agreed value was £10.5k, but i evidenced same car, same spec, same mileage from various sources for sale at £12.5k.  We agreed on £11.5k in addition to £3.5k off the new cars value.