Diesel of Petrol?

[Drewboyaus]

In many ways this question has been done to death but this is more general and not specific to Patrols......
I've been considering what to do with my wife's car of late. It's an '05 Liberty 3.0R that's just hit 92K. As my kids are getting older its getting a little tight inside and having 7 seats would be useful now too. My dilemma is whether I should be looking at a petrol or diesel vehicle.
I've always had petrol cars and my understanding is that a diesel probably isn't the best for short, stop-start usage of the kind our second car gets subjected to. It would travel under 7K a year (typically) but I'm considering a brief that means possibly something that could do long distance touring duties as well (more comfortably than my toy GQ). With the type of cold start, drop the kids off, to the supermarket and back home again usage I'm concerned we'd be shortening the life of the car with a diesel.
A penny for your thoughts?
Cheers,
Drew

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[happygu]

Drew,

I would look at Petrol, as the modern units are quite economical, especially if you are looking at one of the newer diesels with a DPF filter. The DPF's clog up with short trips meaning you have to go on a long run to clear them out, costing money and time, if you arent doing it anyway

As you are only doing short mileage, the premium price of the diesel - initial buy price, and the fact that diesel is often 20 cents a litre more, means that it will be cheaper with the petrol ... this may change if you try to buy something that requires premium unleaded

Mic

[Clunk]

petrol for sure mate, for the limited driving you'd be doing it would be far cheaper in running costs

[the evil twin]

No brainer - Petrol for all the reasons mentioned above.

I just bought a "daily driver" that is a Diesel and it was still a 50/50 decision even tho it has to;
Tow my Van when the kids want to use it,
Drive to Darwin and back,
For short around town runs and less than 10K a year use, Petrol is the go

[Drewboyaus]

Thanks guys. I suspected as much. Part of me wants to see it used for long distance touring but you are right about the better efficiency of modern petrols and for sure with the money I would save on the purchase price, I could buy a lot of petrol......in fact with the usage it would get, the saving would be a year or more's worth of fuel.

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[Clunk]

depending on what you get of course, could take over five years to recoup the on the purchase price on a diesel car

[Gecko17]

About the only convincing argument for a diesel vehicle, that I've heard, is that if you intend to travel into the back of beyond and can only fill up on either farms or outback stations or fuel drops. Well, that and travelling long distance.

Otherwise, with the right vehicle, it has to be petrol...

My wife's car is still more economical on a 100km round trip than my patrol...

[Ben-e-boy]

Neither petrol or diesel......

Get methanol :)

[threedogs]

have you looked at some home grown dedicted gas station wagons.
Must admit those new holden wagons look tuff.
Other than shopping and soccer mum duties what else does the car need to do,???

[93patrol]

Petrol fore sure. We have a diesel epica. My wife's next car will be petrol due to better fuel economy around town.