The petrol or diesel debate has enthused and confused drivers for decades – and has been little helped by growing air quality concerns. However, diesel is far from dead and in some instances still remains the obvious choice for some drivers depending on a number of practical factors – not just personal preference. Our in-depth guide examines the performance and driving style of both engines, along with the many cost and environmental factors associated with them to help you make the right choice.
Here are the reasons why should choose petrol over diesel car.
1. Petrol cars are cheaper
Petrol cars are cheaper to purchase than diesel. New diesel cars cost a ton with taxes imposed on them. They also have a worse depreciation per year compared to a petrol car. Depreciation means the rate at which the value of the car declines if you sell it as a used car. Also, don’t forget that petrol cars are cheaper to get serviced as compared to diesel cars.
2. Almost no price difference between petrol and diesel
Earlier people used to buy a costly diesel car and with the difference in the price of petrol and diesel, they would make all the extra money spent back in a year and then spend less than a petrol owner would. Now however this has changed. First of all, as we already covered due to the increased taxes on diesel cars they are really costly compared to petrol cars and even more so the fuel prices are almost the same.
3. Petrol can be easily converted into CNG
If you decide to convert your petrol car into a CNG you are in luck because it won’t take a lot of modification necessary for it to do so. Converting a diesel engine into a CNG however, requires a lot of modification to the engine and is way costly compared to converting a petrol engine.
4. Petrol engines are cheaper to repair
Machines are inevitably gonna fail and when they do its better to have a petrol engine than a diesel engine because they are cheaper to get repaired. There is a big however here. Diesel engines are quite sturdy and often work longer than a petrol engine would but some parts of a diesel engine if they fail are really costly to repair due to both labour cost and the availability of the part. It can be said that it is almost similar in this to that of petrol because they fail less but when they do fail they cost more.
5. Diesel engines are bad for the environment
These engines produce emissions like soot which is not good for the environment at all. They do produce fewer greenhouses gasses but things like NOx are more harmful to the environment than CO2. Petrol on the other hand produces less air-polluting particles.
6. Diesel engines are noisy
Driving in a diesel-powered car is annoying, to say the least. Because of their higher compression ratio, they make a bigger ‘boom’ in the ignition chamber and just add to the already growing list of noise pollution sources. It may not appear much but noise pollution can cause serious health problems like high blood pressure, heart diseases and stress.
7. Petrol engines are more powerful
This one gets a bit vague. Diesel engines are not exactly made for speed. They have high torque in a short burst at the start which gives them good acceleration. Petrol engines, on the other hand, have their power depended on the revs of the engine which gives them power on a wider scale compared to diesel thus allowing them to have more RPM, horsepower and faster 0-100 km/hr timings.
8. Petrol engines are more responsive
Petrol engines have a better throttle response compared to diesel engines due to having better power delivery. This makes the petrol engine feel peppier to drive while the diesel feels a bit sluggish.
Conclusion
These are the reasons as to why your next car should be petrol operated. You’ll be doing both yourself and the environment a favor by choosing petrol over diesel.
