How does the diesel compare to petrol?

[mtl_crv]

Originally Posted by Hughesy

All the figures are combined. The combined figure for the 2.4 auto is 22 US mpg. That is incredibly poor compared with 37 US mpg from the diesel!

To put in persective, the fuel consumption of the 166 horse power 2.4 CR-V is the same as a 367 horse power V8 BMW! If the BMW mpg is normal, surely the CR-V is poor?

Comparing diesel and petrol motors is not a fair comparison (that's also before you factor in the growing price spread on the two fuels) and neither is sedan vs SUV. I don't know what the frontal area, drag Cd, weight, emissions restrictions, etc is for that V8 BMW, but I certainly doubt you could say the two vehicles could be interchanged in a utilitarian manner. So basically the gas mileage comparison needs to happen between similar vehicles to make it reasonable. Is the 2.4L North American CRV a poor performer versus the 2.0L UK version? Hard to say, but I'm sure there were compromises at some level because I seriously doubt Honda would give up fuel economy just to let the marketing guys have a bigger motor.

[Hughesy]

I agree with your comments about comparison.
Still, not many people in the UK buy the 2.0 petrol CR-V because of poor fuel consumption. Virtually no one would buy the 2.4 because <30 UK mpg is worse than almost all cars on the road. That's why they don't sell the 2.4 in the UK! They sell the 2.4 Euro Accord, but that is in the highest road tax bracket, so will probably struggle in the future.

I considered the petrol, because I wanted an auto (not available in the diesel). However, the additional fuel cost was too much. The diesel doesn't cost any more than the petrol to buy, because you get the money back come resale time.

In modern cars, diesel is the higher performance choice. That might be a controversial statement in the US, but it's true. Compare a BMW 120i with 123d, or Audi A8 4.2 petrol with 4.2 diesel. Petrol is the performance underdog these days!

[mtl_crv]

I forgot that the UK also has a yearly emissions tax based on the fuel economy of the vehicle. Now that completely makes sense why people would opt for smaller and smaller petrol engines and that most people would head towards diesel because it would kill two birds with one stone (performance and fuel economy would both benefit).


Just for others who might be curious about the tax, here's the bands:
UK Car Tax Bands - Cost of Car Tax by Type of Car

[Hughesy]

From April 2009 there is a 13 band system, with a £950 first year tax for the highest band:
Low Carbon CO2 Green Car Guide To Fuel Duty, Road Tax & Congestion Charge

Luckily for me, my other car is a hybrid Civic in band C, which is only £30 /year.

Company car tax is also based on CO2.
VCAcarfueldata.org.uk - Database Search by Company Car Tax

[mtl_crv]

Originally Posted by Hughesy

From April 2009 there is a 13 band system, with a £950 first year tax for the highest band:

Gas guzzlers are definately getting relegated to those with considerable disposable income.

[Jimbo_EX]

My original question was aimed at the on road performance of models, but some interesing discussions here.
In the CRV brochure the official Honda 0-60 is 10.2 for vtec and 10.3 for the ctdi. I quickly began to feel that the ctdi is quicker than that. I've noticed that 2 UK car magazines at least (Autocar and What Car) own test figures clock the ctdi 0-60 at 9.3 secs.
So I was wondering how the ctdi felt in real world terms relative to the petrol when it comes to straight line performance, and also handling..

[netlang]

I previously owned a Honda Accord 2.2 diesel stick shift and around town I averaged 38 mpg (UK). I know have a CRV2 EX (2007) petrol auto and doing the same runs I get 30 mpg (UK).

On a recent highway run (300 mile round trip) using cruise control I got 42 MPG (UK) and on the same run in the Accord it never got better than 48 MPG (UK).

I bought the petrol because it is the last of the old model and the dealer discounted the car by around £7500 and I thought £7500 would buy a lot of gas. (In the UK approx 36000 miles worth) so for me the petrol was the way to go and it is so smooth and quiet compared with the diesel although the diesel has much more torque.

[Martin]

Originally Posted by Jimbo_EX

Im just wondering has anyone driven both the CTDI and 2.0 manual petrol? What is the driving experience like in the petrol - does it feel much slower without the slug of torque at 2k revs?

2.2 CDTI is amazing, best diesel I have ever driven are far outwieghs the petrols in terms of performance and efficency.

[WaterTiger]

Originally Posted by Jimbo_EX

Sorry, do you mean auto petrol CRV or Civic?

Apologies for the ambiguity - I meant an auto, petrol CR-V. I'm not a particular fan of small (sub 2.5 litre) auto engines whatever their fuel, mainly due to the power loss associated with auto-boxes. By the accounts I've heard, plus my own experience with the loaner, the petrol versions of the CR-V need all the help they can get!

I believe I posted elsewhere that my mate has recently bought a '99 manual petrol CR-V for his wife to use in her business. I'm going to ask him for a wee drive in it soon, just for compsarison purposes.

[bernithebiker]

I have not driven any petrol CRV's, but I have driven quite alot of different cars; I used to own an Audi S4.

I feel that the CRV 2.2Cdti is an excellent engine. Smooth, not too noisy, revs freely, and has excellent torque across the range. (Although, like many modern diesels it is a bit gutless below 1500rpm). But as soon as you approach 2000rpm the torque kicks in and off you go. Revs nicely to 5000rpm, I don't ever really go beyond that.

I would not want to own the 2.0 litre petrol. I am pretty certain it would feel underpowered (or more precisely, undertorqued). And it uses more fuel.

I already find that the 140hp that the Cdti puts out is only just enough for my driving style - I heard rumours that soon Honda will be upping the output to 150hp - anyone know more about that?

Oh, and just off topic a bit, I just changed my oil at 30 000km (was 1st serviced at 20 000km). Wasn't difficult, and not strictly necessary, but I got a good deal on some Castrol Magnatec 5w-40.