The Definitive Petrol v/s Diesel Calculator

[Santosh V]

Hey Guys,

Am not here to add any valuable point or calculations as am not good at those, just enjoy your drive but yeah depending on usage choose your drive sensibly, it should not happen that we see only diesel cars all around creating a imbalance which might force our stupid Govt to take some stupid action on Diesel cars, In simple terms let there be a balance of both the cars, I would still opt petrol for my usage as I use my car less frequently, on a weekend or a trip with family & friends so honestly makes very less difference to me!! But I can bet there are people like me around who are buying diesel just for the heck of having it, which according to me makes no sense, Cmon guys makes no sense parking your diesel car & using it for weekend drives. Please correct me if am wrong here.

Drive Safe
Santosh.V

 

[jihu123]

Even my car goes out only after it has parked for 18hours in the shed. It is mostly used to go cities that means around just 5-10kms a day/2 days. Sometimes, we go to the nearby city, trips & it has covered 8800km in around 8 months. That gives approx. an average of 35-36 kms/day!
I am sure that if it was a petrol car, we surely wouldn't have drove this much. But still, I feel my diesel running is low. One of my cousin bought a new micra & its just one and a half month & it has travelled more than 6000kms till date!

 

[brandoo]

Guys,
One should't buy diesel for monthly running of 400 kms but Jihu123 in your case diesel make sense. Its still more than 1000 kms per month. My running is similar and I am driving diesel which is fun, super refined, no vibration at all, cheaper to run, easy to maintain, no nonsense. I have history of owing diesel in my khandan except one petrol swift and know how to manage then niggle free for years.
If some one is driving 3000 kms per month, it is no brainer and should go for diesel.

 

[CKM Gowda]

Petrol Car v/s Diesel Car - Common man's prespective

What should be the fuel type in your next car?
I have seen numerous analyses from various forums, auto magazines, news papers and many others sources where economic experts and auto experts have discussed this topic to death about the “fuel type”preference one should make in choosing the next car. Various attributes have taken for the extensive analysis done; expect how common man thinks when he starts shopping for his/her car. And recent trend in sales also show how market thinks otherwise. Auto experts and auto manufactures thought that or still think that people with low running need goes for petrol and those with high usage would go for diesel.

I completely disagree with that assumption. The reasons why people used to choose petrol car over diesel cars were.
1) Diesel car’s maintenance was high
2) Unreliable
3) Diesel cars were unrefined
4) NVH was high
5) Power output and outright pick up was less compared to petrol

Now, the time has changed. Evolution of diesel technology have addressed all the above pain-points to significant extent and also improved in few areas over petrol car. Hence people are turning to diesel cars. Just see the recent sales figures: Swift and Dezire combined sell more than Alto; i20 sells more the Eon and you can see many such examples. People are ready to shell out 8 – 9 lakh for diesel hatchbacks like i20 and Swift but not ready to shell out the same amount of money for “Once” the dream car Honda City.

My point is simple. If I have a budget to afford a diesel car, why on earth should I buy petrol car, even if the petrol car is a segment higher (Considering I am not an auto enthusiast, am talking common man’s perspective).Moreover today’s small cars are equipped with safety features, well built, luxurious and loaded with gadgets as well. It almost does the same job of a bigger petrol car at lesser running cost. Even if I am travelling 100km per month, I would still prefer a diesel car. For example:
If I have budget of 6-7 lakh, I would look for Figo, Beat, Vista
If I have budget of 7.5-9 lakh, I would look for diesel Swift, Polo, Punto, i20,
If I have a budget of around 10 lakh, I would see any of the available diesel cars in that range.

What you guys say ?

 

[allhyundaicars]

Re: Petrol Car v/s Diesel Car - Common man's prespective

you said you disagree with the assumption "Auto experts and auto manufactures thought that or still think that people with low running need goes for petrol and those with high usage would go for diesel."

i agree to this.

like you said people shed out more for diesel even if they can get higher variants of a petrol of the same car.

the thing is people with low commute as low as 20-30 kilometers a day , reach their break even point in some 4-5 years.

i'd be happy to explain this to you.

let's take example of verna. ( i know petrol and diesel prices of this car only and that too before the diesel price hike )

verna 1.6 vtvt - 8,50,000
average - 12
petrol cost - 75 rupees / liter.

verna 1.6 crdi - 10,00,000 ( this is in month of february 2012 , diesel car prices has been increased by some 50000 rupees , swift's and i20's price so maybe some 70000 for verna but i'm avoiding it right now )

average- 16
diesel - 45 rupees per liter.

let's say a user only drives 10000 kilometers per year.

petrol usage - 10000\ 12 * 75 = 62500 say 60000.

diesel usage - 10000\16 * 45 = 30000.

difference between petrol and diesel = 30000 per year. how much you had to pay extra for the diesel ?

1,50,000

so break even point = 1,50,000 / 30000 = 5 years.

so you will recover your money after 5 years.

also you already mentioned some points like high maintenance cost. you have to consider this.

please correct me if i'm wrong.

*diesel parts are costlier than petrol's.
*depreciation on diesel car is more than petrol's. also the other day i was watching an auto show which said you are more likely to get lesser price for your diesel car even at current market situation.

 

[Raja]

Re: Petrol Car v/s Diesel Car - Common man's prespective

To add more points from your side of debate
1) insurance premiuim is also more.
2) servicing cost are more and sometimes sooner .

But I disagree that desiel cars depreciate more it's it true in today's market desiel car or cng car will always fetch you more value then petrol.
Iam surely going to trouble you when I will finally upgrade next year since you are a pro in this calculations .

Mr GOwDA - why will you buy a desiel car if your monthly commute is 100kms only ? Any special reason for that ? It's not a question of affordability it's a question of utility also right .? Now it's a differnt strory if you like the torque of desiel car and all.

 

[Superbad]

Re: Petrol Car v/s Diesel Car - Common man's prespective

But then question what if one wants to Buy an Suv. The ones in petrol are much expensive read CRV, GV.
So the break even point is valid only for a hatch, sedan. uvs In budget segment are in diesel, not to forget they give lower mileage to the petrol variants in comparison in the sedan or hatch.

 

[Raja]

Re: Petrol Car v/s Diesel Car - Common man's prespective

But then question what if one wants to Buy an Suv. The ones in petrol are much expensive read CRV, GV.
So the break even point is valid only for a hatch, sedan. uvs In budget segment are in diesel, not to forget they give lower mileage to the petrol variants in comparison in the sedan or hatch.

Perfectly said .
Sometimes I see people are buying desiel car in frenzy too . My freind bought a figo desiel guess what he is a doctor daily running 15 Kms , and 2 times in 6 months to Pune and this 2 trips were the reason for him to buy desiel figo .

 

[mahii]

Ertiga Petrol vs Diesel - Buying decison on cost of ownership

Hi Folks,

Just computed the cost of ownership between Diesel mil and petrol one for Ertiga. But this spreadsheet will be useful for any comparisons. Hope it helps fellow folks in deciding the vehicles to choose. This can be used to compare the other make/models also.

My lil contribution to start with is attached with this post (.xlsx format)



Btw, booked my Ertiga Zdi (W/o alloys) last 30th June and I'm told I will get Vdi by this weekend if I choose the Vdi. I've refused this and asked the dealer to deliver the Zdi. Let's see when I can get it.

Cheers..mahi

 

[jihu123]

Re: Ertiga Petrol vs Diesel - Buying decison on cost of ownership

Hi Folks,

Just computed the cost of ownership between Diesel mil and petrol one for Ertiga. But this spreadsheet will be useful for any comparisons. Hope it helps fellow folks in deciding the vehicles to choose. This can be used to compare the other make/models also.

My lil contribution to start with is attached with this post (.xlsx format)



Btw, booked my Ertiga Zdi (W/o alloys) last 30th June and I'm told I will get Vdi by this weekend if I choose the Vdi. I've refused this and asked the dealer to deliver the Zdi. Let's see when I can get it.

Cheers..mahi

that's an excellent spreadsheet. Quite easy to understand & very useful too! I am sure it will help a lot of people.
I am thinking of creating one for my polo the same way

 

[DrivenByCars]

It remains to be seen for how long diesel would continue to enjoy the current subsidy. As both diesel and petrol are originated from crude oil, and with further increasing diesel consumption; it will be more likely that the difference of cost would reduce.

Also on a lighter note, diesel induces vomiting :P

Happy Driving...

 

[mahii]

Pls find the calculator attached.

 

[Markiv]

Excellent statement, mahii. I think you also need to take into consideration the fact that we end up paying close to 1.5 lakhs extra for a diesel mill , accordingly higher interest if taken on loan, higher insurance costs etc. We might recover a part of the extra investment later when we sell the car, but blocking the extra money for the period we own the car needs to be taken into consideration.

Also the cash discounts /freebies offered by the dealers for the petrol version makes the initial investment lower.

But , anyways, excellent spread sheet. Very practical and easy to understand. Great going!

 

[threeace777]

diesel has finally been increased since last 2 years
petrol has been increasing
what if gov has planned another petrol increase before diwali :)

 

[allhyundaicars]

diesel has finally been increased since last 2 years
petrol has been increasing
what if gov has planned another petrol increase before diwali :)

people will be celebrating diwali near petrol pumps

"fill another tank with that price and we will fire a rocket "