Team-BHP - Diesel: Facts or Myths

We are in need of a sedan for about 5-6 lacs which will be clocking about 75 km daily. I am totally in favor of Ikon TDCI but all members in my family are against a diesel car. I desperatly someone to throw some light on the below mentioned myths (or facts in some cases) which are used as an argument in my family. May sound like layman questions, especially in this forum, but we have never had a diesel car in our entire family ever. Here goes:

Diesel engines are very noisy.
Diesel engine cars give trouble on hill driving.
Smell of diesel continuously seeps in the cabin.
Refinement level is low, i.e harsh to drive.
Maintainance of diesel cars is an costly affair (service interval is half as compared to petrol engine)
Diesel engines go haywire within 3 years (50k kms)
Government will discontinue the subsidary on diesel in near future bringing its price same as petrol.
Private diesel cars may not be allowed on Delhi roads in near future.
Adultration level in Diesel is much higher as compared to petrol.

I may as well show the reply to this thread in my home to convince others
stupid:

My comments in italics below( god,blame on this email culture ..replied in red,,replies in blue etc etc! :))

Quote:

Originally Posted by akash_m (Post 1057252)

Diesel engines are very noisy - they are certainly noisier from outside than the petrol counterparts, especially in the 5-6 lakh price range. Inside the cabin, though, it should be quite tolerable.
Diesel engine cars give trouble on hill driving. Not necessarily. You may need to alter the driving style slightly depending on the car you purchase and the load you are carrying.
Smell of diesel continuously seeps in the cabin. Nope. This is a pyschological feeling based on bus/lorry experiences
Refinement level is low, i.e harsh to drive.Not necessarily. In your budget, drive each option and check out.
Maintainance of diesel cars is an costly affair (service interval is half as compared to petrol engine). It is costlier yes. But by how much? This is difficlut to estimate. it is safe to say that at roughly 75 km per day, the fuel savings will pay for itself.
Diesel engines go haywire within 3 years (50k kms). No. See, there are ambassador diesel cars which are 20 yrs old and still running.
Government will discontinue the subsidary on diesel in near future bringing its price same as petrol. Possible. But not in the near future.
Private diesel cars may not be allowed on Delhi roads in near future. I don't know about this
Adultration level in Diesel is much higher as compared to petrol. Possible, but i doubt this.

I may as well show the reply to this thread in my home to convince others
stupid:

Modern day diesels are extremely tolerable and almost on par with petrol engines. As each day passes the NVH levels are coming closer to a petrol engine and have already come in the luxury diesel car segment.

Diesel cars are more fun to drive ( take SwiftD, Accent CRDi, M-Hawk,Ford TDCi for e.g) without compromising on your pocket. And, i strongly dis-agree that it is costlier to maintain a diesel car than a petrol. It may be slightly costlier but then it is quite negligible that it goes without notice.

To give you an example, my 32K done Viva CRDi has been driven hard and in past 25 months have spent only 8K on its maintainence ( excluding wheel alignment and balance).

At the current price of Rs.60 for petrol with an average FE of 12 it is a blasphemous Rs.5/Litre. Where as it would be half the cost for a diesel car for per km. And, these days the difference between a petrol and diesel ain't 1 lakh rupees but a reasonable 50K.

For e.g Swift VXi is 5L on road and SwiftD LDi is 5.45L on road give and take 5-10K discounts et. all ( Hyderabad pricing) and it is easy to recover this additional cost over 2 years period if your driving for 75km/day.

To cut my story short, buying a diesel car will not invite any regret in future for either you nor your family:)