Well i was going by the fact the government use Kg per Km, rather than kg per litre, (hence road tax is lower) so i stand corrected if you measure it per litre. Although as a diesel engine uses less litres over the same distance as a petrol engine would it means less CO2 over all.

So my main point still stands, which one pumps out more 'nasties' depends on context. Diesel fumes in a confined space might make you feel ill and make the inside of the garage black, petrol fumes in the same space make you go bright pink and die, but at least the garage walls will be cleaner. Burning fossil fuels of any kind creates unpleasant pollution in one form or another. They're all bad, running a diesel car will generally speaking burn less fuel per mile so be better for the environment (whether it's 'cheaper' to run is a separate issue) - If driving an environmentally friendly car was high on our agenda - driving a Range Rover powered by either petrol or diesel probably isn't the best choice.

I was trying to get after the total cost (financial, not environmental) between the two so folks could see, impartiality, how much their choice would cost them with their type of driving.

The problem with the cost seems to be the higher purchase and resale price of the diesels. However, if the depreciation is more or less the same or at least if it is factored in the overall calculation, we should be able to do the math. But also maintenance cost should be included (plugs, filters, fluids) as well as the running cost (road tax / insurance).

I think if you look at lease prices, you should be able to make a fairly good comparison as lease companies need to be quite good at calculating the cost of a full operational lease car .

As for emissions, I understood (to be confirmed) that diesel exhaust fumes also have a higher percentage of nasties a.o. carcinogens than petrol. I understood that that is the main reason a number of politicians are now trying to ban them (Paris mayor for example). I would like to see thorough, properly studied data on that first though as there are too many parties with vested interest here to rely on their version of things.

Again, bottomline is, we need full EV (with hydrogen fuel cell range extenders maybe) as soon as possible and renewable electricity generation to fill those batteries. The sign of the times is clear and I think mr. Jeremy Rifkin is right in his Third Industrial Revolution . MY 2010 5.0 SC Galway green and sand interior!!
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I like to sniff petrol
Diesel is not so nice  2008 MY Supercharged
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Quote:

As for emissions, I understood (to be confirmed) that diesel exhaust fumes also have a higher percentage of nasties a.o. carcinogens than petrol. I understood that that is the main reason a number of politicians are now trying to ban them (Paris mayor for example). I would like to see thorough, properly studied data on that first though as there are too many parties with vested interest here to rely on their version of things.

That was exactly my point, it depends on context. If you're a group that's looking to protect historic buildings for example you'll campaign against diesels as they're the ones that blacken masonry for example.

If you go back to my example of sitting in the garage with your engine running. Then the petrol fumes would kill you, where as if you do it on a regular basis with a diesel then you might get cancer in later life.

It just depends on how you measure the air pollution. Diesel produces particulates in the air (soot), petrol creates carbon monoxide. Because more people have switched to Diesel large cities like paris have noticed the particulate levels have gone up. When they all eventually find a way of banning diesel engines from city centres, i would expect they'll switch to measuring carbon monoxide levels and then they'll be saying how terrible Petrol engines are and will want to ban those too. - I mean if you're paid to measure pollution levels, you're not going to turn around and say, the air is all good now, you can send me my redundancy cheque,

axle wrote:

I like to sniff petrol
Diesel is not so nice

I'm not sure which gives me the biggest head ache.

Hot gear oil is pretty good stuff too.

we deal with a lot of vehicles and typically the diesels are much more economical hence why they are used in all the commercial vehicles.

Having said that, the vehicle that has really taken over at the moment is the Toyota Prius which is a petrol hybrid. You'll probably see quite a few of these on the road as they are the preferred choice for Uber cab drivers. I have a feeling these hybrids will be taking over soon!

I think Hybrids are a stop gap technology.

I think we'll see Hydrogen take over as the preferred fuel eventually. The technology is proven, it's just the issue of refuelling to sort out.

Interestingly, on a recent trip to Dublin, I noticed that diesel was cheaper that petrol.............  Got - 2017 SDV8 Autobiography in Loire Blue
Had- 2008 TDV8 Vogue SE in Java black
Had - 2007 S/C in Stornoway Grey

It is in France too, it was 89p a litre for Diesel a couple of weeks ago, petrol was around £1.10. Hence on the continent Diesel cars are massively more common than Petrol cars.

Although i based my comments on UK running costs.

Currently generally €1.22/1.23 a litre which, on mid market rate equates to 87/88p.

One thing I find particularly noticeable here is that the price reacts very quickly to the market. It comes down just as fast as it goes up whereas, it seems to me, that in the UK the price reacts quickly upwards but lags when coming back down. John
2008 Stornoway Grey 3.6 Tdv8 Vogue
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Used to be cheaper here until the government decided it was a gravy train....

Easy decision here - fuel is 28p per litre