What car would you buy?

[SumoDog68]

Originally Posted by Dr Terry

I meant Diesels return false economy overall, not just fuel mileage.

A Diesel is usually more expensive to purchase, more expensive to service & more expensive to buy parts for. Sure the fuel economy difference is greater in city traffic than on the open road, but even if your fuel saving covers all of these extras, any major repairs are ridiculously expensive.

I base this after owning & managing an automotive workshop for over 40 years. Direct injection type engines are very susceptible to variations in fuel quality & major repairs are commonplace on late model Diesels, even inside the warranty period, where thankfully the manufacturer covers costs. I also supply a lot of parts to the trade & it's not uncommon to spent $3000-$5,000 in parts alone, on things like injectors & pumps etc. on relatively low mileage Diesel vehicles.

It cost me nothing in labour to service my own cars, but I wouldn't have a Diesel as a gift.

My daily drive is a V8 Adventra, probably the thirstiest non-high performance car that GM-H has ever built & to my mind, petrol is the cheapest part of owning the car. If you purchase a car new, by the time you've taken into account, monthly payments, rego, insurance, scheduled services & then factor in depreciation, fuel is not the major cost.

In the long run electric cars, either hybrid, plug-in or a combination of both will take over, but in the meantime I believe that Diesel cars are NOT the answer.

Dr Terry

BTW, I think that any Prius that cannot better the overall running cost of a Fiesta Diesel needs serious attention. Also we weren't discussing small economy cars here, I thought the OP was asking about medium-sized SUVs.

Reading that you would wonder why anyone would produce a diesel car :-)
You tend to selectively pick scenarios that don't suit diesel equation. Let's use your example - Adventra LS1 doing ,say 15000 km a year at 18 l/100 that is roughly (at $1.40) that comes to $3780 per year . Pretty sure that would be the single biggest cost of running that car.
Diesel (turbo) engines are built stronger ( more expensive to build) last longer and are more efficient by design. They have narrow rev range but lots of torque down low. If you need a car (truck ) to work hard - diesel is way to go.
For passenger light cars diesel can be seen more as a enjoyable , efficient , effortless drive - people choose them for their driving characteristics as much for their efficiency .