Diesel Advice.

[hammerman]

Looking to buy a 3-4 year old Nissan Qashqai in the near future. The 1.5 diesels have a MPG of nearly 80 on a run and due to their low emissions, have £0 road tax.

But i'm concerned what the future holds for diesels with regards to the restrictions on there they can drive and huge tax increases.

I appreciate no one has a crystal ball but I would value your opinions on whether to go for a Petrol or diesel.

I do about 12k miles a year and i'm a pretty sensible driver, one would like to think.

Cheers, Hammer.

[bhg481]

I would have no hesitation in buying a second-hand diesel. I have a diesel Volvo which does about 40mpg average; my previous diesel was slighly better. Prior to that I had a petrol Vauxhall, similar performance (all 3 2.5 litre), which returned about 25 mpg.
12,000 miles at 40 mpg = 300 gals - at £5/gal = £1500.
12,000 miles at 25 mpg = 480 gals - at £5/gal = £2400 ie £900 a year more to run a petrol equivalent.
They can add a fair bit to RFL and diesel duty before you start losing out. In the meantime you get the benefit of greater distace between fill-ups etc. I can see no way they can make sudden large increases to diesel costs without upsetting large numbers of people - increases might come, but slowly.
Incidentally, it might not affect you but, in most countries on mainland Europe, diesel is around 20p/litre cheaper than petrol.

[TWR]

Go for it Hammer, it's another frightener from this Government, can you honestly think they are going to loose all that revenue? no chance, how they can have different tax prices for different cars make me angry, why wasn't this out year ago? as said another con job, give the choice I would go with your choice.

[mikey4444]

Buy the diesel hammerman !

I have driven diesel Fiestas for nearly 5 years, and consistently get 58 mpg at least.