.....so by those figures in about 2 years you'd re-coup the extra cost of buying a diesel.

But....

To those petrol heads (I used to be one) have you actually driven a TDI ?

As I've said above, most will easily outgrunt a petrol unless that petrol is either a huge V6 or V8 or if a smaller engine it'd have to drop 2 or 3 cogs to keep up. Us in the TDI's although having less revs to play with still also sometimes have the opportunity to drop a cog or two as well.

I think real in real world and day to day driving the diesel wins in every aspect but a high revving petrol especially if it has a V engined gurgle does bring a massive smile. I just couldn't justify the fuel bill.

Which leads me on to working out the milage break even point of petrol vs diesel. Very crudely and only on a financial basis assuming you'll keep the car 3 years this is what I use as my criteria...

less than 15k petrol
15-20k diesel or petrol
over 20k diesel

I always do way over 20k every year so for me it's a no brainer... except I've recently started a job that gives me a fuel card... hmmm, what to do. That said I reckon I'd have to go to a 2.0T or V6 2.8 to get the same performance.