Petrol v Diesel

[A1Dan75]

Yeah, good pont on the availability, Phil. Seems to be the case form the searching I've done.

To be honest, having given it more thought I'm still leaning towards the diesels... I think I'd miss that torque and accompanying mid-range acceleration. While the 2.0T no doubt flies off the line, I'm not sure Im' convinced by the idea of taking the engine out of a Golf GTI and sticking it in a Passat estate!

[fat controller]

If it helps, I've recently moved from petrol to diesel when I bought my Passat - - I have had diesel before, but that was years ago when they were much less refined than they are now, and to further lessen the appeal it was a Citroen!

Anyway, wind the clock back to 2004, I had a Passat 1.8, which had turned out to be a bit of a lemon (not so much the car, but the way it had been treated before I got it I think), and wasn't the lightest on fuel; this spurred me to buy a Jaguar X-Type 2.5 V6, which was a cracking car despite its fairly hefty fuel consumption. The transfer box began to get noisy on mine after a couple of years of ownership, and I discovered that it was a weak spot that had a four figure sum attached to fixing it, so I got rid.

At the same time, I decided I didn't want finance or bank loan payments any more, so bought something older, in the form of a Jaguar XJ - - beautiful car, however very needy, and over the few months I owned it, it successfully raped my bank with the amount of repairs; in August 2008, our landlords had a fire, and it transpired that they weren't insured, so we ended up having to move home in a bit of a hurry - as a result, our rent shot up by around £400 a month, which meant that the Jag and its love of spares and motion lotion had to go.

It was rapidly replaced with an old Mercedes C180, which was a fair bit leaner on fuel, and to be fair didn't really ask a hell of a lot in spares (until the latter days of ownership) - - it was as dull as ditch water, slow, and didn't even have air con.

At the start of May, I brought my new baby home, and I have not looked back since. My fuel bill has literally halved overnight, and that is taking into account a hell of a lot of London driving. The handling from the Passat is remarkably good for such a big car, and a lot livelier than the Merc ever was - - better than that, with its grunt, it is easily as quick in most every day situations (if not quicker) than either of the Jaguars were.

I get a grin from its grip and handling, and having that bit of grunt there when I want it - and I get another grin at the fuel gauges reluctance to move. Diesel all the way for me now

[A1Dan75]

Cheers Controller - a very readable account!

Which engine you got - the 140 2.0? CR or PD?

[fat controller]

I've got the 140 PD - the dreaded BKP engine, apparently; I just hope that I've got one of the good ones

[gribbo]

Just been loaned a Passatt cc 1.8 TSI 160 BHP to cover warranty work on my Passat 2.0TDI 140 BHP estate, 57 plate... the Petrol version of the CC was dearer to insure, drank fuel like a fish but was smooth to drive and had noticeably better acceleration than my TDI. I only averaged 34 MPG at best compared with the CC as opposed to 46 average in my estate. I have fitted a K and N air filter to the estate and drive it incredibly sensibly and on a run I can get in excess of 55MPG. Only one choice really when it comes to running costs!!