unleaded vs diesel

A non turbo means never having to say you were speeding :))

The extra range from a tank of diesel is a definate plus once you leave the cities behind.

Interesting question and when you think of it with todays motors quite a valid question. It used to be diesel for more reliablility, less chance of drowning the motor, better tourque and cheaper fuel. Now with the fuel injected petrol vs the diesel and both of them having heaps of electronic equipment there may not be a difference anymore. The petrol car is cheaper to buy, has more power, cheaper fuel and around the same consumption. Will be interesting to see what people say. Regards Tony

Presently petrol is the best option price wise particually for city drivers although the difference may close a little towing a heavy van. Where the diesels come into their own is with range as on remote trips not having to carry huge amounts of fuel is priceless. A Madigan run needs around 280L for a diesel where the petrol has to find space for over 400L! On a recent Easter run into Wonnangatta a petrol 80 driver in our convoy had to leave his car in camp for one day & still only just made it out to Myrtleford. To rub salt in, despite driving 200km less of high country tracks he still put more dollars worth of fuel in than any of the diesels.
Owning arguably one of the best turbo diesel engines you no doubt can appreciate the smooth power, good economy & low down torque so cost really becomes irrelevant :-)
Cheers Craig..............

Not our VW Polo
$25000 to buy
1.9 TDI turbo inter cooled common rail
50 mpg
195 km/hr @ 4000 rpm

And then the Troopy well what can I say "oh what a feeling" LOL

Cheers

Richard

Hi all,
One big factor I am seeing on various sites and forums is the safety factor. I would much prefer to be outback travelling with my tanks and jerrycans full of diesel than petrol. The similar performance issues and costs though are closing the argument as above postings are saying. My thoughts only.

Rgds

There is also the "third" fuel.

LPG is the most economical way to power a vehicle.

Disclaimer: LPG may have limited availability and/or be expensive in remote areas.

Jim.

Just to throw a spanner in the works heard a rumour from a truvking group that the Government is about to increase diesel by 40% (via tax I guess) as a carbon offset.
This will tip the balance quite significantly.
Also send most of the small truckers to the wall.

Rod

For a 100 series cruiser, the petrol V8 uses about 50% more fuel than the diesel. The price of diesel is only 10-15% more than petrol.

Diesals still got its place. heavy haulage, remote areas, beter range, better availability
its ULP that is now obselete with 3 grand rebate for gas conversons andless than 1/2 the price theres no reason to be using ULP anymore

Been through this a hundred times.

Bottom line.....it's horses for courses. What vehicles are you interested in buying, where do you want to go and for what percentage of the time????

Without this information the only advice you'll receive are useless sweeping generalisations that aren't worth a pinch of dried poop.

Be specific.

thats only true for jap crap.

my diesel v8 has more power than the alternative V10 petrol.
it was not more expensive considering the tranny upgrade, tow package etc., it is faster off the blocks than any V8 petrol Landcruisers and it uses less fuel than the V10 or Landcruiser when towing anyway. I service myself and it does not need spark plugs, timing adjustments. Oil change every 10k-15k as per computer (I ususally change oil every 7.5k). Top speed is irrelevant after the 9 seconds I need to get to 100kph.

the myths you are quoting are still sold here. The diesel engine is not yet at its peak development and the fuel price would be much less if the profiteering and lack of investment in refineries would not keep the prices up.

Your arguments were valid 40 years ago but then we drove diesel because the liter was at 12c for the heating oil which burnt nicely in a diesel merc.

have fun
gmd

I hear diesel prices are being heavily driven at present by the Chinese - they're stockpiling diesel to run their power stations instead of coal over the olympics - drive down pollution. They'll stop again after the olympics.

Also, apparently diesel comes from the same grade of oil as heavy fuel oils do. There isn't much market for those heavy fuel oils, and they come out in a fixed ratio - so the diesel subsidises the fuel oils. Apparently refineries can be modified to "crack" some of those heavier grades into diesel, but it takes a bit of investment. Nobody is sure if that will pay off long-term, so high prices for now. If these prices hang around then they will start upgrading the refineries, and the price will drop again.

What I'm interested in is how diesel goes on short trips. I'm thinking of replacing the town car with a diesel. We do a lot of shortish trips (only 5km to work), and petrol economy suffers enormously over this distance - it overfuels until it warms up. Wondering what a diesel does in the same situation - seems to me it doesn't have a choke so shouldn't suffer as badly?