[mgh]

They have an article on Petrol vs Diesel economics
Petrol vs Diesel: And the Economies of Scale Page - 1| Zigwheels.com
purporting to show that diesel is economic only at about 45000 kms/year
they have added the difference in cost of a diesel car and petrol car in annual expenses, instead of difference in depreciation.
The cost calculations are not even consistent-see their page 3.
Obviously, the writer of the article needs a lesson in costing.

Your take please.

To me it seems to a blatant attempt to push petrol cars (how many have usage of above 45000 kms).


Note to moderators: If any other thread is there on this topic, pl delete this thread

[thoma]

What I was looking for was the maintenance costs for petrol vs diesel. I am doubtful on the diesel car's maintenance frequency and price given in the Zigwheels comparison. Just Rs 6000 over the petrol if you run 45k km per year! Though the many posts in the thread confirms that the diesel engine can last as much as the petrol, there is yet no clear picture on the maintenance frequency of the diesel under various driving conditions.

Why I am giving more importance to the maintenance and running costs is that, it is easy for you to spend money as a one time investment rather than taking money out of your pocket every now and then. The initial payment is (/like) an investment, so for the diesel, you have to invest a bit more. Yes, it's my mind, but it is a fact, right? My mind do not bend to pay more on running and maintenance after you have made a big investment (the car itself).

This is where the importance of the thread's title comes into play. Diesel or petrol, which is more reliable? Ultimately reliability translates into maintenance cost, right?

[amtak]

I too was shocked when I read the article. I think if the running is over 2000 kms a month, the car should be a diesel motor. Anyhow, given the current situation, DIESEL is the way to go.

[n.devdath]

Originally Posted by thoma

What I was looking for was the maintenance costs for petrol vs diesel.

In today's context, the maintenance costs of both petrol and diesel cars will pretty much be the same. I have seen friends spending similar amounts to maintain their Citys and Vernas as I do to maintain my Scorpio.

Originally Posted by thoma

This is where the importance of the thread's title comes into play. Diesel or petrol, which is more reliable? Ultimately reliability translates into maintenance cost, right?

A diesel engine, which is built to handle higher compression ratios, injection pressures, gear boxes which are built to handle the higher torque values, suspensions which are built to take on great loads and so on and so forth make diesel cars more reliable, tough and most of all give them the ability to take adulterated fuel much better than petrol engines. Keeping all the other things equal from designing to maintenance, a diesel engine will be more reliable than a petrol one.

[KALINGA]

And check the below points ...they consider for this article

Note: The study is based under the following assumptions:

1. Costs of Petrol and diesel are for representational purposes only
2. The difference in price of petrol and diesel remains constant throughout the five years.
3. Cost of repairs and maintenance on both the variants remains nil or equal.
4. Both the variants will bring in 50% of the cost at the time of resale
5. Average driving is 15,000kms/year for both the variants. (in case 2)
6. The car model under consideration is the new Maruti Suzuki Swift (entry level variants for both diesel and petrol).
7. This is only indicative, and gives a good idea since the difference of cost between petrol and diesel variants of other cars also hovers around the same figure.

OT :- Sorry mod for this OT

The author must get a Swift car free for this article.!!!!!

[wickedchauhan]

Well, if you really follow their reviews and reporting (even on Economic Times) you will find that not only the articles don't add any value, they are poorly researched and meant only to create sensation through head lines. No doubt this article too follows the same theme.

[shekhar_gogoi]

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[SAS]

Their article is pretty immature and stupid. I would take their article only with a pinch of salt. I have seen much better analysis here on team bhp where diverse views are openly debated and a balanced view comes out. That's the power of collaboration and open source.

The author at zigwheels seems foolish and his facts are just not true. IMHO, it makes sense to run a diesel at a slightly lower value than what they have quoted. Team bhp has a thread dedicated for the petrol v/s diesel debate and I would trust that much more than the garbage these newspaper companies come out. Now buying a petrol makes little sense if your running is any more than 14k kms per year IMHO.

[shashank.nk]

I don't think they are trying to mislead readers as such,they seem to be messed up in their thought process and definitely thier conclusion of 45k kms per year is wrong!
I found the article a little confusing, first he adds the additional amount+interest lost to the cost/km, which is wrong.
Second, i don't think diesel retails for Rs.50/litre anywhere in India. Heck! in bangalore i pay about 48 a litre, so narrowing the difference between prices clearly indicates a bias towards petrol.

Plus all these calculations go hay-wire as the difference between petrol and diesel may widen, before the government. acts.

[ankurvirmani19]

This article is already being discussed in similar forum:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...ability-3.html

[antz.bin]

Even if the Prices of Petrol and Diesel are for representation purposes only, they could have been better represented if the prices were closer to reality.

Prices they considered:

Petrol: 70
Diesel: 50
Price Difference: 40%

Current Prices in Mumbai:
Petrol: 71.47
Diesel: 45.99
Price Difference: 55%

Current Prices in Delhi:
Petrol: 66.42
Diesel: 40.91
Price Difference: 62%

Current Prices in Bengaluru:
Petrol: 74.36
Diesel: 46.21
Price Difference: 61%

Current Prices in Chennai:
Petrol: 70.38
Diesel: 43.95
Price Difference: 60%

Current Prices in Pune:
Petrol: 72.13
Diesel: 43.23
Price Difference: 66%

[SAS]

@antz.bin that's very nicely put. Those were my thoughts too. They seem to have written a very biased and one sided story. They have even failed to consider the resale values of the cars adequately.

[ACM]

I have not read the article but did they consider the ARAI values for effeciency as well for both the cars. In general Diesel Cars give better kmpl by about 30%. Can vary for specific models but is generally true for engines bigger than 1.3Ltrs. Resale price drop of petrol even considering the lower price of petrol cars to start with is still much higher than for diesels today.

Sound more like incompitence rather than a deliberate attempt to mislead the public. I did see this incompitence in a lot of previous articles that I went through. Missed this one.

[kadanaJ]

It really boils down to how much of a difference is there in the initial purchase price of the petrol and diesel models.

A friend of mine recently (2 weeks ago) bought a Skoda Superb Petrol. Naturally, with the price of petrol being as high as it is, I was shocked that he chose the gas-guzzler!
Upon asking him why he bought the petrol over the diesel, he told me, with the discounts and everything clubbed together, the diesel variant of the Superb cost over 3 lakh more than the petrol.

I argued no further.

[mohandas]

^^^ +1 to that.
In addition, the petrol car can be easily CNG-fied. This gives a whole new aspect of economics of scale. I, therefore, partly agree with this ZigWheels article.