[Floyd de Souza]

The best thing to do would be to stick to GTO's suggestion of taking a 15 min test drive of each and see which fulfills your needs and wants best.

[N4Nikunj]

Dear Plosh,

I will suggest going with Turbo Diesel. The price difference will be justified once you will take it to the highway.

Also, Diesel will any day give better fuel economy and at the time of resale, It would fetch more than petrol.

Hope this helps to clear your confusion.

[sam264_2000]

Originally Posted by GTO

.....will get you significantly higher resale whenever you sell it. Don't sweat over phasing out either....

Originally Posted by arindambasu13

The INR 2 lakhs odd that you pay upfront higher than the petrol variant you will almost certainly make up t a large extent when the time comes to resell the Compass. Buyers will prefer the diesel variant any day over the petrol variant....

Originally Posted by N4Nikunj

...and at the time of resale, It would fetch more than petrol....

I agree on the fun to drive, powerful and fuel efficient nature of diesels however in the current scenario I am not too sure on how the resale would be higher for diesel cars 10-12 years down the line. By that time, most of the popular manufacturers would have stopped developing diesel engines/selling diesel cars, some of them as early as 2025 (Ex: Hyundai CRDI). Wouldn't the value of the diesel car we buy now be insignificant post that? Availability of diesel fuel may not be much of an issue. So, how much of a financial sense does it make to buy a diesel car now? Am I missing something here?

[PrasannaDhana]

Turbo diesel anyday!

That 2.0 turbo diesel motor offers good punch and also very efficient. My brother's Harrier runs on the same and returns 15+ kmpl consistently. Compass might return even better figures.

Whatever you spend extra initially, you will get it back long term, by reduced running costs.

[Roadster17]

I own a Petrol compass and have clocked around 10k on mix of Delhi traffic and highways runs to Agra, Jaipur, etc. I would suggest you to consider this :

Choose Diesel, if :

1. You don't live in Delhi NCR.
2. Plan to sell the car within 8 years. Pretty sure there will be lack of diesel buyers in another 10 years looking at manufacturer's current production plans.

Choose Petrol, if :

1. You can live with low FE ( 8 in city and 12 on highway)
2. Lag below 2000 rpm.

For most part, as a complete product which includes - performance and fuel efficiency Diesel compass outshines Petrol. There is a reason why it is leading in this poll and is loved by most.

However the USP of Compass is its ride and handling, safety and built too , which is same in both Petrol and Diesel.

I bought a petrol because Petrol made more sense to me as I live in NCR and Petrol is greener and slightly better than diesel for planet. Petrol felt faster to me as well. I can live with that lag and 8kmpl FE though.

[Phantom 510]

The diesel compass is the no-brainer and is the better bet of the two. It is better than the petrol in two crucial aspects - grunt and efficiency. The diesel will easily pull the full complement of passengers and their luggages without breaking into a sweat. There will be enough grunt in the reserve to make overtakes and cruising an effortless affair especially out on the open roads. A diesel engine is inherently efficient and will deliver atleast 30% more efficiency when compared to a petrol engine of similar displacement . However, the extra frugal nature of the diesel is not enough to make one richer but it will stretch every litre of fuel to the maximum all the time which results in a much better tank range, a blessing when doing long distances and will lower the fuel station visits as well. On the flip side though all modern day diesels (BS6) in India comes equipped with a pollution check device that requires attention. The driver would be informed by warnings flashed on their instrument console whenever the device is clogged (when driven more for the short grocery runs) or when needs a top up. It's a small ritual that all modern day diesel owners needs to keep in their minds. A small price to pay for all the benefits it offers over the petrol engined one IMHO.

[plosh]

Thanks for all the replies folks, they're definitely helping. Coming to the transmission bit, I do want a manual but I'm afraid of the clutch being too harsh for me. I've been driving an Altroz for a year and that's just good enough for me, but anything heavier may be an issue. I'll be test driving soon though.

But that raises another query. If I'm to want an automatic, would I be better suited by a Tata Harrier? It's the same engine, but the auto transmission is said to be much better, and I can get an auto for the price of the Compass diesel manual Sport model. If y'all have any thoughts on that, I'd love to hear them.

[Floyd de Souza]

Nothing beats the convenience of an automatic especially in heavy traffic conditions.
I would say, test drive the Compass petrol and diesel and the Harrier and any other desirable options in your normal driving environment and for at least 15 minutes.

[Baddychat]

Voted for the diesel and there is good reason why the diesel is winning this poll hands down.

I have been driving a Diesel MT(LTDP) for more than a year now and am really happy with how the engine pulls. The MT to me was more fun as compared to the 9 speed torque converter which comes with the diesel engine. Yes there is that convenience of an automatic but in case you absolutely want a diesel and an AT that particular combo isn't that great.

Someone mentioned the BS6 diesels have an additional overhead requiring the user to keep checking from time to time. All these cars have DEF indicators and they warn you well in advance. Also the Compass has a 13 litre tank for DEF which should give you a range of 6-7k kms at the least.

I took a chance with the MT during my purchase decision hoping that the knee holds up good for the next 5-7 years.

[shekar.ca]

Originally Posted by plosh

On the other hand, the diesel engine worries me because diesel cars seem to be getting phased out, and I won't want this car's life to be cut short. Additionally, the diesel variant will set me back by another 2-2.5 lakhs, which I'd prefer to avoid unless necessary. I'm looking at the Sport trim with manual transmission.

Thank you firstly for this poll thread, I am one of the beneficiaries from all the inputs received. I had the exact same dilemma last week, first booked the 1.4 Petrol MT (Sport) before shifting to the 2.0 Diesel MT (Longitude) just today, after taking test drives of both. The 2.0 Diesel is a completely different beast and would have my vote too.

Enjoy your drives and happy buying!

[pranavsh]

Really depends, the diesel manual is better. But the diesel auto is horrid to drive. Petrol auto is quite fun. Test drove both.

So if manual - Diesel, if auto - Petrol.

That's my 2 cents.

[sunikkat]

Definitely diesel of the both. For petrol I felt T Roc to be much better than Compass.

[Quoter]

Originally Posted by plosh

Basically want to ensure I pick a model that
1) Won't be rendered obsolete due to some fuel mix changes or regulations
2) Won't cost too much to buy and to run

While I own the petrol AT, the only reason for buying it was the need for an automatic gearbox and the diesel AT was significantly more expensive.
If you are sure you need only a manual gearbox, you should go ahead with the diesel. The only reason for you to buy the petrol would be extremely low running (Less than 500 km per month). Don't worry about either ethanol mixing in petrol or the diesel regulations. You will get to drive your new car for at least 10 years in either case.
Do check the NVH though. Both petrol and diesel engines in the Compass are noisy as compared to Hyundai engines.

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by plosh

Basically want to ensure I pick a model that
1) Won't be rendered obsolete due to some fuel mix changes or regulations
2) Won't cost too much to buy and to run

I'd love your opinions on this. The petrol/ethanol mix issue seems like it could end up being a big deal, else would've been leaning towards petrol.

These pros and cons would have been valid for discussion if the two engine choices were somewhat close to each other in performance. If one is discussing a petrol and diesel engine with similar performance, I would probably pick petrol.

However, in the specific case of compass, the 2.0 diesel is way superior to 1.4 petrol. The difference in the engine performance is so big in this case that my pick would be the diesel engine without a doubt in this case (all other points would be made moot by the performance difference).

The fly in the ointment for compass is the poorly tuned AT (I have taken multiple TDs but somehow just could not like the AT). Since you are picking a manual transmission anyways, I would say Diesel MT would be the right choice.

Originally Posted by GTO

It all depends on your individual preferences, but I (and a majority of BHPians) prefer the 2.0 turbo-diesel of the Compass. It's a capable motor with excellent driveability, mid-range punch, robustness & good efficiency. On the other hand, I found the 1.4L turbo-petrol to be above average, at best.

Agree 100%. This is the crux of the matter here. The performance gap between the two engines is so big that the usual diesel vs petrol discussion is moot here and it becomes more of a good engine vs average engine discussion.

[loki]

There are very few reviews of the Sport Petrol MT - I've only come across a couple of posts in the Official Review thread. I'm willing to bet that if its a matchup between the Petrol MT and Diesel MT, the Petrol MT might out-accelerate the diesel on a Long stretch.

I actually considered the Sport Petrol MT for a brief while. But ended up going for a Diesel Longitude MT anyways . And turned out to be a wise call. My previous Linea Petrol wasn't exactly a fuel efficiency champ. And the peace of mind of the Diesel with the longer range is a boon on the highways. The fact that the Diesel performs well is just icing on the cake.

I hear the latest diesel auto versions have the gearbox sorted out - so it should be an issue anymore. But nothing quite like going for a test-drive and then deciding.