hi having read a previous topic about a year ago on this but unfortunatly topic was closed, i just wanted another opinion.

im getting a new car before the end of month ive decided to get a nissan quashqai. i had decided on the 2 litre diesel as i think the 1.6 version wouldnt be enough pull for this car. anyway my search has really hit dead ends as there just over my budget or they have 50000+ on the clock !! (3YR OLD) ive seen a couple of 2 litre petrol versions well in my budget, alot less than the diesel, less than 15000 on the clock, i no the tax is going to cost me more, but what about running costs, how much of a differance is there. the cars a 58 plate, i will be doing school run, going to work (less than 10 miles) probally use motorway twice a month for visting family or biking routes.

any advice will be great as im torn, try and wait for a diesel in budget or get the petrol version !!

many thanks

edit
i forgot to say in all probaly 10/12k a year, usually take kids away camping down south somewhere by sea.

TBH with that mileage diesel or petrol will return about the same MPG. So I’d go with petrol as it’s cheaper

my commute is 27 miles each way, half motorway half urban. I’m currently running a Citroen C4 1.6 petrol & getting 34-36mpg. Last two cars were diesel estates & I never got better than 41mpg. Not sure if even with my mileage diesel is worth the extra cost (at pump and to buy the car in the first place). Of course if I lived within 2 miles of the motorway diesel would win hands down…

my mate has a 2.0 petrol vectra, averages 27mpg, i have a 2.0 diesel mondeo, averges 50mpg, for a given age/mileage the diesel is more money to buy, so you have to do a fair few miles to make the diesel pay you back, but it will eventually.
if i drive with a lead foot and leave the aircon on mine will drop to about 42mpg, no 2.0 petrol car of a similar weight will get near that in the same driving comditions imo.

yeah but are your mileages & journeys comparable?

no point comparing 24k a year motorway mileage on a diesel with 10k a year urban miles in a petrol car of the same weight.

My only 2p’s worth after owning several of both types- generally buy diesel if
a- you do a lot of miles
OR
b- its under warranty and will remain so while you own it.

I had diesels for years and never had a problem. Then over the next few years I got all too familiar with TLA’s and other terms for diesel stuff (most of which seem to cost aound £800 to sort): dmf, injectors, injector pumps, turbos, intercooler, dpf, egr,…. They also seem harder on batteries, tyres and clutches.

Petrol stuff seems generally cheaper to replace/repair (eg ignition coils/leads).

We currently have 2 petrols and one diesel (and I’m not following my own warranty advice – but touch wood). In the long run – IME – there isnt much difference in the cost per mile. The cost at the pump is obvious week by week but the annual fleecing can be a shock!

Torquey diesels are easier to drive though – despite being a bit noisier.

Lastly – where is the quashqai made? My sis has a 1.6D from new and it’s been back in a couple of times with electrical niggles – I’ve got it in my mind that it’s French as a result.

If you are doing lots of short trips then definitely petrol. Or put your kids on the bus 🙂

Btw I bought a 3 year old car with 50k on it.. was still like new really.

I wouldn’t buy a diesel again, not after spending £1000 on a new fuel pump.

I would not buy a petrol again, not after spending thousands on extra fuel I didn’t need 🙂

For a car like a QuashQai I would get the Diesel for the reason you mentioned – the petrol will be gutless.

50k miles is nothing on a modern diesel now, I wouldn’t worry about the mileage.

My sister has a new 1.6 petrol and its fine. Test drive one mate its such a personal thing.

If you are concerned about economy, I would firstly consider whether you need a car like a Qashqai? You’d get better economy from something like a Fiesta/Fabia/Jazz etc.

If you are sold on the idea of the Qashqai, then I’d be getting the petrol for the mileage you do & the type of typical journey you describe above.

You seem concerned that the diesels you are looking at have 50k miles on after 3 years, but that isn’t really a big deal. It’s only just over 15k miles/year.
I currently do about 32k miles/year in my Ibiza diesel & it just (touch wood) keeps on going. It’s 8 years old & is just coming up to 180k miles. I bought it at 3yrs old and it had 24k miles on it, so I have stuck 156k miles on it in 5 years.

if you like high-revving and the associated noise and fuel bills; get a petrol.

if you like low-revving, and the associated noise and fuel bills; get a diesel.

if you like low-revving, AND high fuel bills, get V8…

If the Qashqai diesel has a diesel particulate filter then your decision is made for you pretty much. Your life of short runs will give you a lot of expensive trouble it.

The fuel cost of the petrol will be higher but it only takes one big bill from a diesel to counteract this, turbo, dual mass flywheel, DPF etc can be £1k each from a main dealer. In your position I’d go petrol but test drive a 1.6 too before you dismiss it.

@ drummer
yeah, our journeys are the same type of driving, a mixture of town and motorway split70/30.
on a gentle motorway cruise @ steady 60 ish mph, the difference is a lot smaller probably about 15-20%
bottom line, the best mpg he has achieved is 45mpg, and he had to go really steadu to get that,
i get 50+ nearly all the time.

I’ve got a C-max which must weigh about the same and be a similar (un)aerodynamic shape.

1.6 petrol gets 36mpg on the way into/out of work (16mile round trip, should really cycle it but theres a big hill in the way). 43mpg on the drive down to my parents/girlfreind ona friday night, but odly the same journey in reverese on monday morning rush hour gets 47mpg, must be the denser trafic creating a drafting/tailwind effect.

Currently doing 30,000 a year. Diesel would work out cheeper week to week, but as someone said, unless you’re going to sell again before something goes wrong the diesel can easily eat £800+ in bills and there are plenty of £800 bills to chose from petrol parts by comparison are dirt cheep.

Then again my cambelt could snap tomorow.

43mpg on the drive down to my parents/girlfreind ona friday night, but odly the same journey in reverese on monday morning rush hour gets 47mpg, must be the denser trafic creating a drafting/tailwind effect.

Lower average speed while tottering along with all the traffic?

Currently doing 30,000 a year. Diesel would work out cheeper week to week, but as someone said, unless you’re going to sell again before something goes wrong the diesel can easily eat £800+ in bills and there are plenty of £800 bills to chose from petrol parts by comparison are dirt cheep.

This diesels are more expensive thing always get banded about, but is it actually fact?
A lot of petrol parts aren’t exactly cheap, like the cat for a mate’s Corolla T-Sport. He was quoted over £1k for it.
And there are loads of petrol cars out there now with turbos fitted, which used to be the main ‘expensive part’ people would level at diesels. You also hear of various manufacturers having problems with things like coil packs which can run into hundreds of £s to replace…..

This diesels are more expensive thing always get banded about, but is it actually fact?

i agree i do sod all miles and have a 1.4tdci fiesta £30 tax a year makes up for more expensive deisel to petrol ratio whatsit.

parts a cheap and servciing is easy DIY

thanks guys, seems to be split like always 😆

i am heading no towards the petrol, infact going this afternoon to look at one, its about a grand less then the diesel with 30k less on the clock.

i always try and think of the resale in a few years and how would that affect the price say in 5 years time. less milage on the clock should sell for alot more than say with 50k more ?!

i drive a astra sri 1.8 petrol now, love it but just not practical now the kids are at school, went on hols this year and the car was rammed !

if the running costs are the same and not more than my sri then i could live with that.

My experience is that diesels are lots more expensive when they go wrong. The design is just more complex. I think the older designs before EGR’s, dual mas flywheels, DPF’s etc. were actually a lot more reliable.

Think my next car will be a small petrol, they are dirt cheap 2nd hand too.

Although a diesel engine should be simpler than a gasoline one, unfortunately current engines have quite a few complex parts which are mainly there for emissions regulation. I wouldn’t say they are any less reliable than a gasoline engine, but parts like HP fuel pumps, EGR valves & coolers, VNT turbos etc are reasonably complex and so are quite expensive. High pressure common rail fuel systems are also taking repairs of that system out of the hands of most DIYers now as they are basically a fix in a clean room or replace job.

On the upside of all this is the best fuel economy you will get, a clean engine and (what I personally think is) the best driving characteristics of the two (i.e. low down torque). For short journeys though, look for small capacity, turbocharged petrol engines – these should get you the best economy and performance for what you are after but with a bit more torque than an small NA petrol.

if i drive with a lead foot and leave the aircon on mine will drop to about 42mpg, no 2.0 petrol car of a similar weight will get near that in the same driving comditions imo.

Yeah, but my 1.4 turbo petrol has similar performance to a 2.0 NA petrol and does return that sort of mpg (50+ on longer A road journeys without the aircon and lead foot).

Oh and it was 2k cheaper than the equivalent diesel.

Yep, our diesel isn’t very economical on short runs, but great on the motorway. Say 40 vs 55mpg. So for the school run and a short commute it’s petrol for me. But why a quashqai?

Based on 12k miles and 35mpg for a petrol and 50mpg for a diesel. The diesel saves around £550 in fuel a year. But as others have pointed out there is more to running a car than just fuel. Even not taking running cost into account if the diesel is £1500 more expensive then you need to run it for 3 year (and hope for no big bills) to be ahead of the petrol

YMMV, but I had one of the first model Qashqais and I had quite a lot of niggling issues with it (mileometer stopped working, CD player “ate” all my CDs 3 times, 2 or else 3 factory recalls, suspension failure…), and the backup/service from Nissan was frankly, sh*t.

It did however have a big boot, was comfortable, and the 1.5 diesel engine is/was very good.

Crack on 😉

Lower average speed while tottering along with all the traffic?

nope, set the avreage speed comuter as well, only things I can think of are posisbly the hills are steeper up/longer down on the way back up north maybe, or the density of trafic means the relative windspeed is less?

I only do 65 on the motorway anyway, so probably actualy drive faster at rushhour to keep up with the traffic!

This diesels are more expensive thing always get banded about, but is it actually fact?

Diesel DMF/clutch £800 (ok, soem sprty petrols have these too)
Petrol Clutch £300

Fuel Pump
Diesel £800
Petrol £300

Injectors
Diesel – £800
Petrol – £300

DPF
Diesel – £800
Petrol – N/A

Turbo
Diesel – £800 (if it doesn’t detroy the whole engine)
Petrol – N/a (on most engines, but I cant remember the last NA diesel I saw)

A lot of petrol parts aren’t exactly cheap, like the cat for a mate’s Corolla T-Sport. He was quoted over £1k for it.

‘Sports’ car in big bill shocker? And diesels have CAT’s too, so not a good example. How much is a new door on one of those would be almost as valid?

^^^ Yeah, I don’t doubt that the bits aren’t expensive…..

But my point is how often do they go wrong? I’ve had my car for 5 years and done an average of over 30k miles/year in it.
The only engine related part to go wrong was a clip holding an intercooler pipe on. Cost for a new clip & pipe – £45.

I just don’t hear many (if any) stories of massive repair bills due to someone running a diesel over a petrol.

The big diesel bills are a concern, my wife’s LR ate its injectors (BMW engine) at 75k – managed to get a deal to fix at £1200 😳

Never ever had injector problems in a petrol cars, nor it must be said in older diesels.

Ran petrols to 180k and a Xantia diesel to 160k (in 4 years…).

Turbo went on my 99 Peugeot 306 td estate at 158k miles, Cost me £185 inclusive of fitting. Old diesels, love em. I’ll never spend more than a couple of grand on any car, that way I’m limiting my exposure to risk. My other car is a Mercedes c250td estate, with 72k on the clock, more thirsty, but lovely to drive.

With majority of driving being less than 10miles I’d say it’s safe to assume that with a diesel you will incur a bill for the diesel particulate filter.

As I understand this is the thing that filters all the nasty emissions, but becoming clogged with them and then when you’re driving down the motorway or under similar conditions, the car chucks loads of fuel in to get things nice and hot so that the hit gasses burn the accumulated nasties out of the filter. The problem arising when the burn off phase is interrupted (like when the journey is too short) and the filter becomes more and more clogged.

I am not a mechanic.

richmtb above cuts through all the opinions… based on the official mpg of each car and your mileage, the additonal cost will require ‘x’ years to recuperate. Add in a bit for extra servicing and then you’re decision is made for you based on how long you think you’ll own the car.

Consider also manual or auto, with the cost of a replacement clutch, the small loss in mpg of an auto may make an auto more financially attractive… no clutch to replace.

There’s a lot of good deals with second hand diesels traded in/sold at the “supposed to replace the DPF and pigs piss” service age, as the quoted service prices are silly (ie, a grand)

buy cheap at that age, drop and jetwash the DPF yourself, add a a hundred or so quid for fluid and computer reset, and you can get a bargain!

Consider also manual or auto, with the cost of a replacement clutch, the small loss in mpg of an auto may make an auto more financially attractive… no clutch to replace.

Used to be true, a lot of ‘auto’ boxes now are just manual’s with actuators on the clutch/gear selector.

And a careful driver would probably get more miles from a clutch than a lot of auto-box’s did/do before they failed.

buy cheap at that age, drop and jetwash the DPF yourself, add a a hundred or so quid for fluid and computer reset, and you can get a bargain!

Never buy a S/H diesel of Z11!

What Z11 describes isnt far from what happens to be honest. Personally, if my DPF gets blocked, ill just get the car mapped to remove it. Costs about £200 to remove.

thanks for all the comments, a good discussion as per usual. pro’s and con’s for both sides, anyways i bought my car

went with the petrol, i managed to get £500 off the price, making it just over 2 grand cheaper than the diesel and 25000 miles less on the clock. really happy with my choice, the coshcow fits my bill, as im not ready for a people carrier just yet.

thanks again, loads of good advice, will hear from me again as i need to purchase a bike rack for tailgate !! 😀

Petrol Imo considering what you need out of it and your mileage. Diesel cashcows are overpriced as they are over popular.

If you do buy a 50k one- look into when the big service is due.

DPFs are fine if you know how to look after them. That is, don’t spend your entire time tootling to Tesco and back.

Oops missed the ops post. Op I’d get a towbar fitted and a towbar mounted rack.

Re looking after your dpf- bro in law has a 60k motorway miler 09 2.0tdi mk6 Golf with a recent dpf issue.

This week I read about a 09 Insigna miler owner coughing up 1700 because GM reckon its ‘a wear and tear item’ not warrantable

What was the issue though hora? Of course no component is perfect but your chances are vastly reduced if you understand the thing, as with most mechanical objects I think.

if you like low-revving, and [b]the associated noise[/b] AND high fuel bills, get V8…

FTFY

535i V8 here

I just got the new qq+2 on contract.

I got the 1.6 Petrol S/S, nearly went for the diesel but the petrol is impressive MPG – currently av about 38/39 mixed driving with roof-rack on. It’s not the quickest car, but it’s a fine practical motor and very well specced with good boot arrangements.

This is on a new engine too, I guess it may return better over time.