Patrol 3.0L

Hi Rigor,

In Europe Diesel is now king they now outsell petrol cars and they are much more useable on the road. The diesel car in Europe has advanced to such an extent we have diesel sports cars. Two examples spring to mind the new BMW 330 Dci (diesel) is faster than the 330 Ci (petrol) in real life where torque counts. The other example is the ne VW V10 diesel(Vw touareg 4x4) which produces over 300 Bhp and over 750Nm Torque and gets nearly 30 Mpg. And like all diesel turbos this one can easily be chiped to produce over 400 Bhp and 850 Nm torque. It is not uncommon for a diesel car to produce well over 200 Bhp and to be honest once your on the move you could never tell its a diesel. There are now very powerful small Diesels coming onto the market that are claiming to get 90 Mpg. I do not know if Australia will take to Diesel as much as europe as we were forced to by the high fuel costs. Diesel fuel is also slightly more expensive than petrol but only by about 2-3% but this is offset by the greater economy. The big problem with the older diesels was with the 6000 Mile service interval but with the new engines this is being extended to nearer 15,000 Miles.

There are several reasons for the price differences. Firstly, Australian crude is not the best for diesel production, so most (if not all) of our diesel is produced from overseas crude and costs more than what we extract locally. Secondly, diesel used to be cheaper until the government changed the tax rules on diesel, to bring it to parity with petrol. Thirdly, because our fuel prices are linked to world prices, our diesel costs can vary significantly. Crude prices tend to rise in the European winter to cope with the demand for heating.

The other thing to note is that if significantly more vehicles went to diesel, then diesel prices could rise even more because of the supply and demand issue. We would have to import more diesel grade crude and likely the costs would rise as refiners tried to keep up with demand.

The real sting, however, is in the vast quantities of natural gas Australia has in the North West Shelf (reported up to a 1000 years worth at current usage) that we export at somewhat around a 1c a litre (if not less) to fuel Japan's industries. Yet we can't get this for our own use at anywhere near the price.

I went to New Zealand's south island 2 months ago and the fuel price was-

Petrol - $1.11 - $1.21

Diesel - $0.75 - $0. 85

I think someone said that their diesel is subsidised. Although imported diesel 4x4's and little cars rule over there. Saw a few commodores but I think they were mostly rental ones. Biggest car otherwise would have been a Suburu Liberty.

I have noticed the increase ever since the rebate for the heavy transport industry was introduced by the government. Your right, it is a ripoff paying more than petrol considering it is cheaper to refine in the first place! Saying that I am happy with our diesel 4x4.

cheers