Diesel or petrol?

[Eoghan]

Hi all,

First to introduce myself. I'm Eoghan from Scotland, don't own a CR-V yet but we are looking to purchase one in the not so distant future.


We went for a test drive in one yesterday and we were very impressed with the way it felt. our current car is a VW Golf GTI 1.8T and after the test drive we felt really cramped drive back in the golf.

I have read some comments on the diesel engine being a better buy than the petrol. The salesman at honda edinburgh was selling us the idea of a petrol engine being better if we did under 21,000 miles. theres a £1500 price difference between the petrol and diesel models (2001 -2006) he acknowledged that the MPG was less and the performance was slightly down between petrol and diesel but I'd like to hear your opinions.

Our driving will be a mix of everything, town and city driving, medium trips (100 -200miles to see the folks) and the occasional long distance trip. so which engine is best?

thanks and I look forward to your replies

Eog

(MODS - sorry if this is in the wrong forum)

[twinspark]

Hello Eogs,

A colleague at work has a MKII petrol, however would have got a Diesel if it had been cheaper - why can't they be a similar price to make things easy !

I have a MKIII Diesel.

So far, I'm averaging 47mpg. That includes bests of 57mpg (Edinburgh ~ Inverness) and 50mpg (Touring to Jura). My worst, mainly driving in town has been 43mpg. Note that all my figures are brim-to-brim calculations, I've found that the computer underreads slightly !

The pluses that I think the diesel has over the petrol are:-
- Better Mileage
- Better resale value
- Longer engine life (I'm in it hopefully for 5 years plus).
- Lower CO2 emissions (and therefore potential future taxation advantages).
- Better driveability.

As well as being cheaper, I think the petrol will have a handling advantage - that said I've driven my Gen III as a sports saloon on occasion and it can be quite "pointy" if you want.

As well as Honda Edinburgh, you might want to check out Arnold Clark in Kirkcaldy. We went there after Honda Edinburgh gave us the run-around when my partner was trying to purchase a Jazz. They seem to have a good reputation as they have customers not just in Fife / the Lothians, but all over Scotland (no link other than a satisfied customer twice over).

Gordon.

[pxpaulx]

This board is much more international than the Element Owners Club sister site!

If we could buy them here, I'd go Diesel in a second. I assume diesel prices are similar to gas prices per gallon, just as they are here (Diesel is generally about 10% cheaper than regular gasoline here). The resale would probably be higher (due to better mileage) and I would guess that if you drive a substantial enough amount, that the price diff. would be paid in gas savings in about 5 years or so. Anyways, just my 2 cents, I sure wish we had Diesel!