Is Diesel The Cheapest Option?

Monday, 29. September 2008

A recent conference sponsored by leasing company Lex suggested that drivers and all businesses should consider ways of saving money. They concluded, as I have already suggested, that finance is one important area of consideration along with vehicle choice, emissions limits, fuel policies and for fleets even drink and drugs policies. Nothing very new there then but the interesting debate was over fuel choice. The proposal was that diesel no longer offers value for money because of its price premium (I would add to that the increased efficiency of the new generation petrol engines). A shocking statement was made by Colin Whelan, research and analyst manager for residual value expert CAP. He warned that in some cases a diesel car would have to cover more than 80,000 miles to break even compared to the running costs of an equivalent petrol car. No actual figures were provided and I feel that this is somewhat over the top but it raises an important point for those considering whether to change from petrol to diesel or revert back to petrol after driving a diesel car. By Graham Hill