Comments on: Diesel Car vs Petrol Car

By: Narasa

Narasa — Sun, 20 May 2012 13:48:06 +0000

Hello Abishek,

I am getting confusion on diesel or petrol car, which one is good for me. I am considering below points in car buying.
1. Fuel efficiency
2. Maintenance
3. comfort.
My usage will be per day 20 KM 22 days in a month, 4 week ends – 100 to 200. 2 or 3 months once 900 to visit my native place.

I have selected couple of model in petrol and diesel as well.
Petrol: Hyundai i10 Sportz and Ritz vxi.(both are at same price)
Diesel: Chev Beat LT and Ritz VDI(Ritz VDI is bit expense to me)

I heard one of new channel today. Govt going to remove the subcide on diesel. Still I am considering diesel bcz it gives more FE.

Please suggest which one is suitable to me.

By: Venkat

Venkat — Sun, 20 May 2012 12:10:12 +0000

Hi Abhishek / Sahil,
Am planning to buy a car….but my usage would be very less since i have to learn to driving, Whether its wise to buy a Diesel car in case if am driving the car twice in 2 weeks…that is 2 weeks around 50 to 100 kms. Since ppl around me say that its better to go for diesel rather than petrol due to the increasing prices. Please advise me!!!!

By: Abhishek Sahu

Abhishek Sahu — Sat, 19 May 2012 17:53:16 +0000

@Preetam: For your need I would recommend Figo diesel. Your usage is suitable enough for it. Compare to Micra and Etios, Figo is bigger and has got better boot space for your quite often outdoors. Also Interior and features are more attractive then the other duo. Now Ford has good service network and support as no. of vehicle are increasing on the road. you can find more details about the Figo in my other post rightindicator.com/ford-figo-reviews/ .

By: Preetam

Preetam — Fri, 18 May 2012 06:06:47 +0000

Hi Abhishek,

I am planning to buy a diesel hatchback and did go through the diesel vs petrol comparisions. It definitely makes sense when you eloborate it with numbers. My question to you is considering that i even opt to go for a petrol variant I would still take up a loan, however it might not be as much as I would plan to go when it comes to diesel.

My usage will be around 1400kms/month, and probably 2-3 trips a year outside of bangalore which would be around 3000kms/year additional.

I am currently looking at Ford Figo diesel/Nissan Micra/Toyota Etios Liva as my 3 preferences. I will be finalizing on one by end of this week. So any inputs from you on this would also help.

By: Abhishek Sahu

Abhishek Sahu — Fri, 11 May 2012 07:07:34 +0000

Suria, I don’t have any experience in this , but I would like to understand why you want to do this? Cost or just fun and experiment? definitely it would be huge effort and this custom configuration would not be less cost efficient than replacing it with new Beat Diesel, and you need an expert to perform it correctly, not sure if still you will be get away with small niggling problems after that. Diesel engines are around 100 kg heavier than petrol engines of same size, how that weight balancing and structural modification will be done, would be interesting to see. Please share with us if you are doing this custom work, I would love to see it.

By: surianarayanan.R

surianarayanan.R — Wed, 09 May 2012 06:10:05 +0000

Splendid analysis between Diesel Vs Petrol cars. I own Spark petrol, I would like replace its engine alone with Beat Diesel engine with necessary accessories. Would it possible and what would be cost involved. We have make a suitable mounting flange to couple the clutch unit along with Gearbox. Transmission system will not be disturbed. Would you able to consider this and respond to this and guide me suitable.
Regards,
Suria

By: Punnoose

Punnoose — Tue, 08 May 2012 16:20:49 +0000

In normal driving conditions, its the torque that matters.. not the bhp.
Modern CRDI diesels are much better than petrols.. In terms of sheer driving pleasure, mileage. Noise is comparitively more than petrol, but only marginally.
I have driven my friends FIAT PALIO MJD, and esteem 1.3 MPFI. Believe me much famed esteems 1.3L dont even stand near to MultiJet Diesels. The turbo kick will blow your mind off.. A new Swift Diesel is at 2K rpm when the speedo touches 80, which shows the effect of torque. Remember that the idle speed is 1K. What it means is that engine is not under any stress when it is cruising at 2K. remember the turbo is not even on, when it is at 2K. What it translates is that you can cruise at comfortable speeds, while keeping engine stress to a minimal level.

Even if the govt subsidy of 16 rs is taken out, still diesel is cheaper. Morover any modern diesel will give a mileage of 21km/ltr, while a famed Swift Petrol will give a 12K/liter in normal conditions. And swift Petrol K series is now 1.2L, which means that it has to work more to get the power and torque produced.

And about reliability, all new modern diesels will last a 3 Lakhs kms, with out any engine overhauling..

By: Narasa

Narasa — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 18:53:57 +0000

Corrections on my posting.

I had wrote suicide instead of subcide. Pls consider

By: Narasa

Narasa — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 18:51:59 +0000

Hello all,

I have selected couple of model in petrol and diesel as well.
Petrol: Hyundai i10 Sportz and Ritz vxi.(both are at same price)
Diesel: Chev Beat LT and Ritz VDI(Ritz VDI is bit expense to me)

I heard one of new channel today. Govt going to remove the suicide on diesel. Still I am considering diesel bcz it gives more FE.

Please suggest which one is suitable to me.

By: ANIL

ANIL — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 08:20:41 +0000

Hi, Don’t think of me as an expert in cars. but from my experience, a diesel is better if u travel a lot and keep the car for very long. if u are doing very few KMs and often chenge it for newer models, petrol is better bcas it cost less and need less to maintain. I tell u as an example, my cousin’s M800 was bought at 11000 (2nd hand), he used it for more than 5years and sold @ 92000! decide yourself. (I am a fan of jeep, don’t like cars and thus no confusion about petrol or diesel)

By: swapnil jinnawar

swapnil jinnawar — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 08:37:38 +0000

hello abhishek sir im getting delivery of my swift dzire vxi on 1 may 2012 so please tell me what should i check pre-registration & pre-delivery ?
should i take a test drive?

By: Mohan

Mohan — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 17:14:18 +0000

Thank you Abhishek. Your reasoning of 8 years makes perfect sense…With your experience/research can you elaborate how the regular servicing or maintenance cost differs between petrol and diesel cars of same car variant (let us use Swift Dzire)? Please help telling in absolute rupees rather % difference.

Just give some rough idea in practical numbers before 8 year and after 8 years.

Am I asking too much …

By: Abhishek Sahu

Abhishek Sahu — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 11:18:08 +0000

@ Mohan In my opinion for your need still the petrol cars better
First Reason- As per your calculation it will take five years to fill the gap between these two vehicle without considering income from FD. If you consider FD interest it will take more than 8 yrs.
Second Reason- wear and tear is more in Diesel engines and engine life is lesser. No matter how good you drive after 5 yrs there will be huge difference in total maintenance cost.
Third Reason- The way diesel vehicles are increasing nobody knows what steps govt. takes the subsidy of diesel but yes if think positive then yes bio diesel could be possible substitute. In other countries petrol and diesel cost same. I suggest to just take five years from now in account and calculate your expense.

By: Mohan

Mohan — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 18:23:28 +0000

My usage is 12000km/year. Should I go for Vxi or Vdi of New Swift Dzire?

Cost difference is Rs 1,22,264. This is how my perception — should I invest this in FD with @ 9% rate? or should I invest on Diesel car?

Investing in FD – return is Rs 11,004 / year.
Investing on Diesel – will save Rs 22,957 / Year. See below for fuel cost and mileage assumed. Even assuming Rs 2000 more on diesel maintenance in year – saving is still 20,957…..which is way above than investing in FD.

Petrol @75/lit and mileage of 16.3/lit – will cost Rs 55,215
Diesel @50/lit and mileage of 18.6/lit – will cost Rs 32,258

Am I going in right direction and choose Diesel car? Please note, I have no plans to sell this car in future, as I feel not worth due to depreciation loss and cost of buying new car.

We might argue the investment made on car will be depreciated (but not the case with FD). But this matters ONLY if you want to sell the car.

Any comments? where you still suggest me to go for petrol (Only in financial terms), exclude all like driving fun and noise etc..

Or any anticipated financial factors, that might force me to sell the car..

By: Rohan

Rohan — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 17:42:07 +0000

@Sreenath, you must have taken the test drive of both of the vehicle. After driving i20 1.4 feels more powerful and torqueie .. also space and good interior are the advantage in i20, but on the other side Swift is more FE, and comfortable, though the space seems to be lesser but ergonomically its better (Take a longer ride of both). Maintenance cost difference is not so much also the service network is pretty good for both, and the reliability is proven. Its a tough choice to make If you liked i20 go for it, for sure you would love the driving on it.

By: sreenath

sreenath — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 07:09:22 +0000

Booked swift VDI,bt now confused between new gen i20 era crdi and swift.Both are same price. Lookig for power, comfort and FE and mostely concerned with maintanance cost. Feel i20 is having appealing exterier and interier, more power, leg room, boot space like a family car for comfort and luxury feeling bt want to know the maintaince cost comparing to swift. whereas swift is good in handling,lack of leg and boot space, cramped back seat and feel value of money is much less comparing to i20.
keeping the car for long and not worried with resale. city driving.

pls suggest to pick the right one