Petrol v Diesel?

[REDLEADER]

I put a post up in Newbies, And one reply was to the effect that Petrol engines are less bother than the Deisel engines!
Welly ...I think you may be my new best friend! But if this starts a Big Fight!" Its your Fault!"
How so? I thought the deisel was the one to go for.. and that Ive had to make a down grade by taking the petrol 2.0L LX (But with All the work done!)
I wanted the LX because im a bit of a beliver of keep it simple!, The less there is on the car !The Less there is to go wrong on the car?!! am I right? or am I right
I intend on running this estate for as long as I can.Im not that bad when it comes to mechanics and finding my way around an engine! Ok Im better with a power plant with only two wheels But Hey how hard can it be? At least I wont be able to knock this one over! LoL.
So come on then Whos for Diesel and Whos for Petrol?

Oh yer! Whats a Tubby? and What is D8 and D9?

[Blue406]

D8 = Mark 1 version of the 406. 1996 to 1999.
D9 = Mark 2 version (facelift) 1999 to 2004.


I bought a 1996 (N) 2L LX with 114K on the clock in 2001.
I finaly replaced her in 2007 with another 2L 406, but a coupe. I gave the saloon to my friend... yeas, thats right GAVE.

In the time I had the saloom, I put 81 thousand miles onto it, bringing the total mileage to 195K. I hit a 106 with it 4 months after buying the car. The damage to the valance was never repaired. Just stuck a new bonnet on the car (same colour) and carried on motoring.
She never let me down, never broke down once. The occasional part needed replacing here and there during services and MOTs, but thats to be expected.
The engine was still starting first time and ticking over perfectly when they drove her onto the lorry to take her to the Car graveyard (scrapyard) when I my friend decided he could not afford to pay £300 (inc VAT and labour) to replace a few suspension parts at the rear.

Over all ,the 2.0L engine is solid. If you do not tinker with it, it'll go forever. The reason why its so damn reliable is the internals are all from the XUD diesel engine. So you have parts designed to stay the course under the pressure of diesel combustion in a much friendlier less pressured Petrol engine!
The updated version of the 2.0L engine for the D9's is much the same, just refined.


As for the Diesels, well, the Diesels from the D8 are rock solid. Just like their petrol counter parts. I've seen Diesel 406's sell on Ebay with 190K on the clock no bother.

The D9's have the HDi engine, which asside from an issue with the BSI and Flywheel are also rock solid. Seen one sell on Ebay for 2 grand that had 225K on the clock!

[steve_earwig]

Tubby = a turbo.

The D9 petrols also have the dreaded BSI. The HDi lumps seem to have much more bits to go wrong on them, mainly to do with emissions and when they do go wrong they cost a fortune and it kind of kills the savings you make for better fuel consumption. I dunno, if you'd asked me a year ago I'd have said go for the diesel because of the fuel consumption, now I'm not so sure.

Mind you, if I'd have known what the fuel prices would be doing now I'd have gone for a petrol and had it converted to lpg (cheaper to do here) but I guess I'll be kicking myself about that one 'til some kind soul totals my D9.

[Welly]

All I can say is that the manufacturers efforts to make Diesels more petrol-like has made the once oh so simple Diesel engine a very complicated piece of machinery with more stuff to go wrong

[REDLEADER]

Arrr Now that makes a bit more sence! So mine id a D8 2ltr LX on an S reg! See im getting the jist!..

AnyBody Else?

[Livefast123]

I've got the D8 V6 petrol and to be honest I wouldn't change it for the world. It's got 115,000 on the clock now and still starts on the button and is as smooth as silk.

I've had plenty of diesels like a Clio, Skoda vRS and for economy and cheap motoring they were great, but with the price of fuel today the advantage they had has just about combusted.

I service it every 6,000 and it has never broken down on me and i drive at least 80 miles a day. The olly thing that has gone have been the rad fans and these can go on any 406 as they are pants!!!!

[pavlf]

I've had three pug diesels, a 305 van, a 405 estate and now a 406 2.1 (i had a xantia diesel estate in between but I don't like to talk about that). They were all great - the 305 and 405 went forever, the 305 went to spain and is probably still cruising around over there as I type, the 405 would still be going if it wasn't for stagecoach bus drivers. Those 1.9 xud engines were - and still are - solid and of the three cars I've owned with them in nothing ever happened (oh ... but there was the citroen .... errrrr ,... it wasn't the engine .... nor was it the suspension ...). A mate of mine had a 405 petrol whilst I had the diesel and he had nothing but sh*t. I used to think diesels were great, simply from the point of view of simplicity and economy, but the present economic climate and the increasing complexity of diesel engines seems to have outweighed my previous position. I'll probably get some old Jap petrol car next! The 2.1 Td is totally fantastic - so far! - but if you want it to drive fantastic it costs a stack of cash. If I drive it as hard as it seems to demand I do fuel consumption hits the roof, so these days I'm always driving around with a feeling of serious restraint weighing down on my shoulders. It isn't so long ago a tenner would see me well past 100 miles, no longer. I'm not sure if it's worth the economy of a reliable engine (which in my case is presently only an economy until it breaks down - 2.1 = "engine out" :-)) anymore. It's sad but true. Maybe the days of the diesel belong back in the 90s and, as someone says above, the sensible car purchaser will go for LPG these days?

Actually, the way things seem to be going we're all going to end up on donkeys pretty soon!

paul

[ed209]

I have had my d8 1.9td for 2 years, she has 220000 miles on the clock now and gets an oil and filter every 6000miles. She has gone through a few parts, but mainly service items and never at any real expense!! She maybe getting a bit battered and bruised, but her heart still beats strong and I still get a reasonable MPG.

Certainly the car I have kept the longest, and I won't be getting rid until she is totally dead, which I hope is far far away

[Gizmo]

Actually, the way things seem to be going we're all going to end up on donkeys pretty soon!

Protesting about donkey tax, I can just see that one.

[robconnors1977]

Well i bought a Y reg hdi 90 4 years ago with 33k on it, to use as a taxi.
Its done 187k now, never broke down once, and still goes strong, ok it gets serviced every 10k and its only ever driven by me and i never go past 3000 rpm (dont have to as i got it remapped when i bought it - best £165 ever spent)

Apart from routine services, it is still only on its second set of brake discs, i get 30k out of front tyres, and it never breaks down and economy never goes below 40 mpg, oh and it is still on the original low pressure pump in tank!!.. Only problem if i am honest is with clutches, they never last more than 55k, even though i have changed the flywheel too, but i can live with that seeing as my local dealer only charges £200 a time all in.... So it might just be my car, but i love it and am dreading the day when i gotta replace it as 407's are just soo soo rubbish.

Must admit i have had a d8 / d9 petrol, yes the turbo was brill, and even the 2.0 litre good, but with out a shadow of doubt every one i have had (about 5) has been crap on fuel, so i would go for the diesel every time, hdi or 2.1, and dont listen to people who slate the 90bhp for being under powered, - just remap it and its quicker than the 110, and also seems to be alot more reliable than the 110!!

[mjb]

I tow a caravan with my 406 110 HDI so there is no way a petrol engine could compete with it - even the V6 would struggle as the torque on the diesel is probably higher than the V6?

250Nm as opposed to about 220Nm. The V6 can still pull though - it had no problems at all shifting while pulling my old 406 estate to the scrappers. Guy I had steering in the estate behind said it was actually accelerating quicker than his little 206, and I was being bloody careful

[SimonTNUK]

My last car was a 309 GLD with the normally aspirated 1.9 diesel on a K plate.
I sold it with 190K on it. The fella who bought it off me put another 60k on it, it then sailed through it's MOT test without even having to warm the engine up to get through the emissions test. I didn't work out exactly how many miles I was getting to the gallon with it, but it was well over 55mpg and I drive quite 'spiritedly', considering its a diesel . I was more interested in any changes in miles to the tank full, rather than mpg if you see what I mean.
It never let me down, only ever had the usual things that wear out replaced. It didn't even need a clutch. I had to put a new radiator on it once.
It was scrapped when the gearbox started playing up at 250k. He couldn't get a decent replacement at a sensible price and apparently stripping it was going to cost too much, so it was scrapped.

I changed that for a 406 2.0l hdi, 90bhp D9 on an X plate with 100k on it (ex-police.runabout).
I've only done a few thousand in it, but so far I'm quite impressed. According to the computer display, I'm getting 47.1 - 47.9 mpg, most of the time it's 47.9. I'm only running back and forward to work in it, a run of 35 miles each way. Half on dual n motorway, the other half on good B roads. I don't hang about in this car either .
It accelerates surprisingly well, especially considering the size of the car and the bhp.

My mechanic loves Peugeots diesels now, after seeing how well my old 309 lasted. He also reckons they handle better than the petrol engined ones due to being designed as diesels, then adjusted to suit a petrol engines relatively lightness. How true that is, I don't know .

So, for me, diesel every time.