This made me rather angry!

[Bailes1992]

Why on earth do they let people who clearly have no clue write about cars?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/artic ... icles.html

I'm a diesel fan, I love my MK4 Mondeo. It's now on 126,000miles and has never missed a beat in the last 30,000miles I've done in it over the last 12 month.

Now first of all he mentions the extra outlay needed in order to buy a diesel, this is absolute nonsense because it will still be worth that bit extra when you go to sell it! Not only that, a diesel version of any car will be far easier to sell than any petrol equivalent.

Then he goes on to say about the unreliability of diesels. Now the only reason that petrols are being considered to be efficient is because they are fitting the technology that has been fitted to diesels for over a decade to petrols! If you were to go buy a Focus 1.0T you'd have a Low pressure fuel pump, a high pressure fuel pump, expensive direct injection injectors, a high pressure rail to supply said injectors, an EGR valve, a VNT Turbo, a dual mass flywheel and then you still have an ignition system on top of it! If you went to buy a Focus 1.6TDCi you'd have the same amount of expensive and complicated technology minus the ignition system.

Then to add insult to injury he goes on to mention Diesel particulate filters. Now did you know that direct injection petrol engines produce particle matter too! A bit like a diesel. Therefore in the near future particulate filters will be a requirement on direct injection petrols also! How reliable is that?

"Modern diesels are highly-tuned pieces of precision engineering, impressive in their own way, and I have driven some diesels that are extraordinarily smooth and powerful."
Now considering what I said above, I highly doubt petrol engines are thrown together with no 'precision engineering'. Infact I personally feel a petrol engine would be far more fussy than any diesel. Chuck a little too much diesel into a diesel engine and you get some black smoke. Put a little too much petrol into a petrol engine and you end up washing the bores and wearing the piston rings.

Something that made me very angry though is the diesel in petrol and the petrol in diesel comments. I'm pretty sure a little petrol in your diesel would have far less detrimental effects than a little diesel in your petrol. Infact a few litres of petrol in your tank of diesel would probably do it a bit of good and give everything a clean. But I wouldn't reccomend it.

Now I don't care what you say, no petrol equivalent of my car would manage 74mpg driving back and fore Nottingham (Over 300miles round trip) at rush hour!
For long journeys there is nothing better than a good strong diesel engine.

I actually think the issue here is people who are going for the wrong fuel. If you drive around town you want a petrol, if you are driving up and down the country all day every day then you want a diesel. Simples! No need to publish such utter drivel!

[lozz]

idont bother listnin to all that borlox any more,

there was one article abit back blaming diesel cars for Cancer.

idont hear buses /wagons getting all this b/s tho,

[highlander]

Solution: don't read the Daily Fail

Oh and diesel exhaust is carcinogenic, but I reckon you'd need to wrap your gob round a bus exhaust pipe to get a lethal dose. But then you'd A) look like a twat and B) get burnt lips anyway. Don't try this at home, or anywhere else for that matter.

[rwb]

Isn't the Daily Fail written precisely to provoke you?

It's a pretty weak argument, plus a the author states that it doesn't apply to you anyway: he lets diesel off for 18k+ and larger cars.

If I was a 'typical' motorist taking a bern 2 miles to school and popping in to the supermarket for some trolley dings and turkey twizzlers then I agree that a small petrol car is better.

If I'm an accountant in a suit, a big diesel Audi, and an inferiority complex, dropping off the brats at a private school and going to Waitrose because you just can't get good brie anywhere else, thdn the cost isn't important.

[trufflehunt]

Isn't the Daily Fail written precisely to provoke you?

It's a pretty weak argument, plus a the author states that it doesn't apply to you anyway: he lets diesel off for 18k+ and larger cars.

If I was a 'typical' motorist taking a bern 2 miles to school and popping in to the supermarket for some trolley dings and turkey twizzlers then I agree that a small petrol car is better.

If I'm an accountant in a suit, a big diesel Audi, and an inferiority complex, dropping off the brats at a private school and going to Waitrose because you just can't get good brie anywhere else, thdn the cost isn't important.

I've just this afternoon been shopping in my local Waitrose. Free coffee with my Waitrose card in their cafe.., fresh, real, flowers on the table.
Better than being in Tesco, and watching a sulky 13 year old ramming his mother up the backside with the shopping trolley, head first into the electrical
goods shelves.....

All because he wanted a much more expensive phone than the one she was prepared to pay for.

[oldskoolskool]

As said particular filters will be appearing on direct injection petrol cars in the near future, (eurostage 6 and 7).

That artical is absolute crap and shows he knows pretty much nothing, or is being pushed to fight the corner for petrol engined cars.

[Welly]

It's all to do with how many miles you cover, like Sam said, however my experience has been that if you're in the market for a nice second hand motor (and do less than 10K per year) then the cheaper, lower mileage, petrol is well worth considering. You get yourself a much nicer, cleaner, tidier petrol than you do a diesel simply because it hasn't been used as much.

In January 2014 I'd have had the Volvo for 5 years I'll have covered 42K miles and apart from a split rubber diaphragm/breather (common issue) I've not had a single warning light or hiccup as far as the Petrol engine goes. I don't know if I could say that if it were a diesel but it certainly wouldn't enjoy 8 miles to work....8 miles back everyday (it probably wouldn't really reach its full temperature either).

I kinda get what this article is saying and I suppose it's that a diesel engine should be simple but now it is not and sort of goes against the principle. We can blame the emissions regs for all this. Aren't manufacturers concentrating on Petrols mainly for the future as the Diesel won't meet the Euro 6/7 standards? I don't know?