[navan49]

I will buy the diesel car. If it is a make of Maruthi. No doubt I will stickh to the present status of diesel head for ever. Of course there is power band is narrow still then it is fine with Diesel.The maintenance of Maruti is cheaper than others in Diesel.

[madhav]

Can someone work out the exact price that diesel would be at if it is deregulated? Without that information it seems very difficult to say if the diesel vs petrol equations will change.

Also the Govt as a part of deregulation might also tinker around with the tax part of diesel pricing so that it can still keep the cost low to avoid the cascading effects.

If the rates are even marginally lower (let us say Rs. 10) I think the diesel car market will grow. Recently a friend of mine contemplating a hatch decided to buy the Punto MJD over i20 petrol. The reasoning was that the cost of a i20 petrol top end was around Rs.7L OTR Bangalore while the i20 diesel was almost over a lac. This did not make sense to him as he would have to run much more to realize the difference. So instead of a looking at the price difference in the same category, he looked at diesel options for the same amount of money. The Punto top end with all the features of a i20 petrol top end was available (with discounts) for about Rs.7.3L. This made perfect sense to him as he would be able to realize his extra amount in a shorter period of time due to the diesel price difference and the extra mileage per liter. Every other expense remains the same for him (EMI, Insurance, down payment)

So even if the diesel price is deregulated and remains lower than Petrol, there will be takers for diesel cars.

[sam_sant2005]

Originally Posted by navan49

I will buy the diesel car. If it is a make of Maruthi. No doubt I will stickh to the present status of diesel head for ever. Of course there is power band is narrow still then it is fine with Diesel.The maintenance of Maruti is cheaper than others in Diesel.

I too was under the same impression. But a friend of mine who is a Supervisor at a Maruti A.S.S feels otherwise.

He says, Swift DDiS after a while does incur 'regular' maintenance. Though cheap he said it comes very often. For other brands, he says though it might be costly, the visits to workshops are less frequent and eventually it turns out that Swift Diesel is more costlier to maintain.

He in fact said I should take Figo TDCi instead of Swift Diesel. But I couldnt resist the sales statistics. so I booked Swift LDi

To me, a car won't sell like a 'Swift' for no reason.

[kadanaJ]

I would ordinarily say diesel, because of the better fuel efficiency and high torque, but the only problem is I dont like any of the diesels available under the 25 lac mark.
Skoda Laura and Superb - Excellent Engines, pleasure to drive, but ruined by horrible Skoda After Sales. I will never buy a Skoda after hearing the horror stories on this forum.
Chevrolet Cruze - Supposed to have massive turbo lag and horrible drivability in traffic. Otherwise another excellent car, would love to have on a highway.
Fiat Linea - Not very happy with the power delivery. Engine is too small for the car.
Tata Manza - Same reason as the Linea
Hyundai Verna - Horrible Handling Characteristics, lack of airbags and ABS for such a powerful car feels unsafe. (drove one on a straight empty stretch of road though, and the turbo put a HUGE smile on my face)
Volkswagen Jetta - Overpriced, negates any diesel savings.
Upcoming Toyota Corolla Altis Diesel - Is supposed to be a 1.4 l engine. Sorry but no thanks.
Most hatchbacks dont come into my consideration because I want a bigger car, comfortable for 5 people, so no Swift, Figo, Punto.
I don't like SUV's either so those are out as well.

So what diesel would I like to drive?
A pre-owned Mercedes C220 CDI. Incredible Engine, very fun to drive, has a three pointed star. All-in-all an excellent car.
Problem Solved Right???
No!
With the amount I'd have to pay to service and maintain the Mercedes, all my diesel savings are going down the drain.
Sorry, but it looks like I'm going to stick with my Civic for now. It may not give me great fuel efficiency, but for my daily run of 20 km (approx 7000 km a year), it doesn't really burn a hole in my pocket, and is one of the most fun to drive cars I know of.
Chevy Cruze Auto (so I don't have to worry about turbo lag) is the only diesel I would consider.

[buddha]

Here is what I think about Diesels. (Am repeating something I wrote in some other thread, with minor mods)

I haven't thought about power delivery in terms of low-end mid-end etc, but I think redlining in a petrol isnt much fun for me. I find diesels super fun because of the WHOOMPH they can deliver within a single gear. Eg: so I am quietly motoring along in my diesel car in the traffic, when I see an overtaking opportunity or an empty patch of road. I check to see if I am in the right gear, and WHOOMPH, I get an exhilarating nitrous-like kick and I am away! (this would typically happen in the 2nd or 3rd gear). Thats it then; in 3-4 heady seconds the gap has closed and I dont get to continue accelerating or upshift. Its all over in one gear. Now I go back to a commuter speed and quietly motor along - with a ear-to-ear grin though!

Haven't ever experienced such a kick in the pants in a petrol. Guess the whoomph kicks in at higher revs for petrol engines. And then diesels often have turbos powering such adrenalin rushes. Guess my vote is clear.

[ph03n!x]

Whoa! The results of this poll is indeed surprising! I expected about 30% for Diesels, 50 - 60% for petrols and the rest to be on-the-wall - but look at what we have!! Almost a tie between Petrols and Diesels?!! Interesting! All Indian Auto makers, take note!

This is not an argument for or against all yeah-sayers or nay-sayers here.

I am all for the addictive (especially FFE-induced) roar of a Petrol engine.

I definitely agree that a turbo-petrol is more fun to drive than a turbo-diesel (same capacity, etc).

The Diesels are definitely noisy, and clattery (some, including me, are not bothered though!).

I do agree that a Ferrari or a McLaren is not going to race a Diesel in F1, nor do I expect a Bentley or a Royce to have a CRDi tag.

But you cannot take away the following from Diesels:

1. Fuel Efficiency - Turbo or not, Diesels have a 30% advantage here. Examples aplenty for this - right from the BMW 320D / 320i to Superb 1.8TSi / 2.0 PD to Swift 1.3 / 1.3 MJD
2. Availability - A 1.2 or 1.4 Turbo Petrol in, say, a Punto would have me head over heels. But it is not there! I do not want a Laura or a Superb - because they are skoda, and because I do not want a sedan. Heck, there is no turbo-petrol in the horizon of the volume market here!
3. Torque - Diesels inherently are more torque than their petrol counterparts, NA or TC. For a torque-head like me, it matters.

This polls is for the current scenario we have - with Diesel still 10% or 20% higher priced, will we still buy a Diesel if bot Petrol and Diesel fuels are priced identically. And that is what I voted YES for. At an on-road of 5.6 lakhs (actual was 6.37L), my Getz CRDi will run rings around any petrol upto the 1.8 TFSI (the TFSI excluded, ofcourse). If we can get all automakers to offer turbocharged Petrols, it is good for us. But that is not the case, and I don't see that happening in the near future. So lets discuss what we have and are getting - NA Petrols / TC CRDi's, and pricy TFSI's!

[amulu10]

i voted yes.
Firstly people have understood the de-regulation wrong.
Petrol cost about Rs24 from refinery and diesel cost around Rs25.(this changes with the international crude oil prices)The taxes on petrol in India is around 52% and its 30% for diesel so if diesel is de-regulated , it means the cost of diesel from the refinery(the real cost) will increase but the 20% difference in taxes on petrol and diesel will make sure that there is alteast Rs10 difference in price between the 2 fuels.

secondly i dont know if its 1.2l rule of the government or what but at the moment for a person looking for a hatchback a diesel engine is better to drive than a petrol for certain models,case in point are the Punto,i20,Figo where the diesel engines outshines the petrol engines.In fact i bought a diesel even when my monthly running is less! My Punto has clocked 5000Kms in 12months! .I bought it for the sole reason that i felt( GTO in his review feels the same) that the multijet is a better engine for the city than the FIRE.

Thirdly a diesel in India has a higher resale value than a petrol! Especially in the luxury segment(20+lakh) petrols have poor resale values,just compare the sale price of a used BMW/MERC petrol and diesel of the same year and odo readings

[ampere]

amulu10, Agree with you on most points. My only diversion is that you are looking across segments. For example the luxury sedan segment has always been a diesel fort. Come what, it will remain so.

On the hatch segment, you are perfectly right. Diesel engines outdo petrol easily. So folks will buy diesel in spite of the price of fuel if they are looking performance (cost of maintainance not withstanding).


The segment what is left is the C and D.

Honda/Ford/Fiat are already battling it out. Honda is holding fort due to the
quality of finished product and handling. Else diesel would win there as well.

That leaves the Skoda/VW/Toyota/Honda section. Again lines are clearly drawn there as well.

[Zero Cool]

Heck i didnt buy a diesel car this time around despite having quite a long daily trip. reason ...simple - To offset the marginally higher price of a diesel vehicle one has to run it for more than 1L kms. by then a few crucial and expensive engine parts need replacing. hence you dont actually save much using a diesel vehicle. i have my own experience where i owned a viva crdi along with a accent gle. the torque sure is great the clutch is heavier and the NVH is not as good as the petrol sibling. its a fair trade off.

[.anshuman]

I don't know about down South but here in Northern states Diesel cars have much much better resale value compared to their Petrol counterparts. Diesel cars are very easy to sell too in states like Haryana and Punjab. The Initial extra cost when buying a Diesel gets reimbursed at the time of resale.

The lighter Japanese Petrols are quite fuel efficient due to light weight and more efficient engines so at times it makes sense to go in for a Petrol version over Diesel. The heavier Petrol cars like Punto sip a lot more fuel making the running costs much much higher over Diesel version. This is changing slowly with the Europeans coming with Direct Injection Petrol engines, though the Japanese and Koreans will also join DI engine race later.

[xingamazon]

I am still undecided. But one thing I have noticed being common across all the manufacturers. I might be wrong anyway here it goes.

None of the manufacturers have till not brought ahead a sports version in diesel engines, its normally only with the petrol engine.
I keep wondering, when the enthusiasts normally like the diesel engines why does the sport version always come only with petrol option.

Case in the same is the Fiesta 1.6S the most nearest to enthusiasts car available in India. I still wonder why dint Ford come up with as S for the diesel car. I am still wondering.

[.anshuman]

^^ Manufacturers perception that Diesel cars are just bought for economy has changed after launch of cars like Verna, Magnum and Swift D. The introduction of TCDi engine gave the dying Optra a fresh lease of life. Similarly the Verna is still alive because of monster CRDi engine it comes with, other wise better cars in the Segment like Fiesta and ANHC would have made Verna a flop. Most Swift diesel owners buy this car only because of the brilliant Economy+Performance combination.

[nottobesaid]

Diesel for me. If you don't trust me, try driving Getz CRDI and you will have answer.

More Power delivery, more economy, lower stable price.

[ph03n!x]

Originally Posted by xingamazon

None of the manufacturers have till not brought ahead a sports version in diesel engines, its normally only with the petrol engine.
I keep wondering, when the enthusiasts normally like the diesel engines why does the sport version always come only with petrol option.

I'd say Ford does not have a good Diesel mill in India - the 1.4 DuraTorq is sourced from Peugeot. But then, when they have a helluva driver's car in the 1.6S, I don't think they will even try to create a Diesel power-car - it's a niche.

Same applies for others. Fiat has beautiful MJD mills - 1.6 and above. But they seem hesitant to bring them here, even for the Linea which badly needs it!

Originally Posted by nottobesaid

...try driving Getz CRDI and you will have answer.

More Power delivery, more economy, lower stable price.

I am, and just did a 160 blast at 1 AM in the open OMR stretch! And, take this, I would still get 14 ~ 15 KMPL, no matter how hard I push the car! I don't think the same can be told, even about the most frugal petrols - the more you push, the less you get seems to be the norm there!

[rajtheindian]

Originally Posted by MileCruncher

@ Redliner: Diesel Engines are more efficient and less polluting per Litre CC.
And in Europe even though Diesel is more expensive, people still them because of higher mileage, better driveability and less polluting vehicle.

The pollution in diesel is caused by the sulphur content and with BS-III/BS-IV fuel being ULSD, polluting diesel vehicles are things of past. Black smoke of diesel also come from enlarged nozzle or clogged air filter

OH Yes, I'll still buy a diesel

I agree with your point, In europe there is a drastic increase in the Diesel car

Any day I prefer a diesel car over Pertol, but I am a petrol head though