Petrol or diesel?

Lily2018 · Senior Member

Petrol or diesel?

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

There are no petrol powered trucks out there on the highways.
Petrol for cars around town, diesel for heavier vehicles for longer distances.
Longer range, better fuel economy, better torque, less servicing issues, particularly applies to older vehicles, less differences with later models.

Cheers,
Peter

Aus-Kiwi · Guru

Trouble the Utes have become more like cars . So towing anything over 1500 kg or so requires a larger light truck . Not a SUV . Horses for courses . Only issue with diesels are short trips and with late models the exhaust partical filters . Seems expensive models are not exempt either !!

Tony Bev · Guru

In my opinion, so I could be wrong

All things being equal
When the same vehicle, has an option (on the showroom floor), of either a petrol, or diesel engine
Some people buy the petrol engine version for, more power for better hill climbing, faster take off at the lights, quicker to get up to the speed limit, and quieter
Some people buy the diesel engine version for, better fuel economy, and longer life due to the lower revs of the engine

If the motorhome is small, low, and light, such as a converted one tonne van, then perhaps a petrol engine for quietness, would override the small fuel saving, of a small diesel engine

If the motorhome is a converted Toyota Coaster bus, or a purpose built motorhome on a cab chassis, then the fuel efficiency of the diesel engine, is far superior than the large petrol engine required

As Peter above has already said, you do not usually see petrol engines in larger vehicles
A large (high) motorhome could be classed as a large vehicle, as there will be a lot of wind resistance, to push through

PS
If I am wrong, then I assume someone will come along and say so

Lily2018 · Senior Member

Thanks guys. I'm learning so much from you all. No doubt more newbie questions to come!

Aus-Kiwi · Guru

If its a turbo diesel ? As in the last 8 years . Single rail . It WILL have same or better pulling power than a petrol engine . Most 4 / 5 cyl diesels have around 500 nm torque. A petrol would have to be Atleast 4.00 and near peak rpm at wide open throttle . Meaning heaps of fuel consumption. Again theres so many variations., My 6.5 turbo GM is lucky to make 500 nm Yet late model 2.5 turbo diesels make that easy !! But I guess 10 years on my 6.5 is still going .. multy speed Transmision help keeping engine in peak torque. Its the package also .

LLD · Guru

After a 14,000km trip up thru the centre and down the west coast I can say a turbo diesel is better. Why? Every fuel stop had diesel. Given the turnover of diesel it would never get stale. There were lots of fuel stops that only had one petrol type. Sometimes it was just 91 unleaded.

Aus-Kiwi · Guru

Diesel with Diesel engines !!

LLD · Guru

Diesel works in petrol - just, but petrol will destroy a diesel.

Eaglemax · Guru

As an example, lets compare two cars both Hyundai i30 manual. One 2.0L petrol the other a 1.6L turbo diesel, the latter I've had since new in 2008 and has done 370,000 km

The petrol model in tests achieves around 7.2L/100km

The diesel constantly gets 5.6-5.8 L/100km

Over 1000 km the diesel uses 15L less fuel but in my region I pay say 5% more for my fuel than 95. So lets factor that in at say 14L less fuel. @ $1.50 per litre I save about $20 every 1000km.

For 370,000 km Ive spent $7400 less than the petrol version BUT WAIT... When new it cost me $2500 extra to buy the diesel car. And at 320,000 km my turbo disintegrated costing $3700. Total $6200.

The benefits of diesel as pointed out is it is available anywhere.

In 2016 I towed out 750kg atm van around the lap. Fuel cost only $1900. The petrol car might have been double that imo.

I have some reservations now on any turbo engine. Some turboes do break eventually costing a lot of money.

Factor in all this information and make your choice. Personally if towing larger than 2000kg atm Its diesel for me. Towing less and not often, petrol is fine.

Tony

villatranquilla · Guru

if you're buying an older vehicle get it checked out thoroughly - diesels can be very expensive to fix

bill12 · Guru

I have a dmax common rail diesel, and have also had falcon and holden ute in the past. The crd in the dmax pulls like train, and uses vastly less fuel under load than the petrol eqivalents. Also, diesel is avialiable in more remote places then petrol.I got 1250 klms out of a 100ltrs in the loaded dmax, not towing, recently. Love my dmax.

T1 Terry · Guru

I think the scales are already tipping away from the diesel engine with many manufacturers abandoning them in the smaller vehicle range. Comparing a heavy vehicle that is on the road 24/7 to an RV is a bit like comparing a taxi to mum's shopping trolley, the taxi still sees over a million kms and is only retired because of age not because it's worn out mechanically. The cost of servicing needs to be added into the over all cost of ownership to get a true balance as far as the benefits of one against the other.
When the hybrid march moves into the light to medium heavy vehicle range the petrol engine will return as king so petrol sales and availability will return. The heavy vehicle industry is already looking at a major shake up with the gas turbine gen set powering a battery that powered an all electric drive train. All that noise and lost energy using an exhaust or compression brake will be gone and that energy recovered into the battery for reuse. Will we start to see jet fuel bowsers popping up in the trucking servos? The one at Tarcutta already has a LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) pump and that stuff is cheap as chips, it will also fuel a diesel engine, will that be the fuel of the future, or LPG maybe make a come back?

T1 Terry

JayDee · Guru

wewent looking for a diesel 100 series Cruiser.

scarce as finding an honest politician.. so to speak.

Ended up settling for a V8 petrol.

Cost of Cruiser a lot cheaper andwith the price of diesel I am notthat disappointed that we ended up witha V8 petrol

Oh!!!! yes, thus far the petrol Cruiser has served us well.

Plus there is far more pressure on the price of petrol as against the price of diesel.

But as the saying goes. If you don't fill up you go no where.

Jay&Dee

Dickodownunder · Guru

The argument against diesel if based only on fuel cost is unjust as it is a product that is produce much more cheaply than petrol bu it attracts a much higher price in this country due to greed from the oil companies and the paper tiger attitude of the ACCC.
Governments dont want diesel to be cheaper because that will mean less tax collected per litre with the GST.
Now that rant is over....

Lily 2018,
I tow a largish van and I have a Diesle vehicle.
I could argue better resale, better economy, better performance (arguably) and my list may go on.
During the latter years of my working life I owned my own business which utility type vehicles were used.
When starting off I made an economic decision to purchase petrol driven vehicles but soon learned through my business wallet that it was a poor decision.
The cost of buying the cheaper petrol variety of the same ute was soon overtaken by the saving experienced by using the diesel variant.
I could mention that The fuel economy of the petrol vehicles was atrocious compared to the diesel as well as service costs and all this resulted in a huge saving over a couple of years by going with the diesel vehicles.
When it came to sell the vehicles the petrol model was worth around half the value of the same vehicle in diesel trim.

Since being on the road I have spoken to a few travellers with petrol vehicles and where they may be generally happy with their vehicles they all admit of the high fuel usage of the petrol engine.
The configuration of a Ute with a slide on camper in a petrol variant would be enough to keep you in the one spot for a long time if compared with my experience with my own company vehicles.
I would go the diesel with what some others have suggested, a reliable inspection by a qualified person prior to purchase.

T1 Terry · Guru

The mining industry affect the price of diesel. They pay full price but no tax, they are a regular purchasers so the fuel companies have a constant baseline profit. The road/service station supply is a drop in the bucket by comparison, the big trucking mobs already have their supply contracts sorted so they don't come into the equation. The only time you see the price of diesel drop is when the mining industry goes quite and they need to move excess product.

An engine in constant use doesn't wear out near as quick as one that has to often go through the warm up cycle only to be shut down again. Petrol engines warm up much faster than diesel engine because the mass is so much less for the same cubic capacity. If the engine is going to do high mileage each trip, go for a diesel if you can't wait for the hybrid petrol engines to hit the market. If the runs are relatively short distance and not all that frequent then the petrol engine is a much better option as that sort of treatment will destroy a diesel engine long before it has paid for the added purchase price in the form of fuel savings. Modern diesels are very expensive to maintain, petrol vehicle not so much.
You don't see diesel/electric hybrid in anything but very high mileage heavy vehicles because the engine can't handle being turned off frequently when it isn't needed. The heavy vehicle keep the engine running and the electric part is only a torque assist with regenerative braking all designed to reduce engine size, emissions and fuel usage.
Mining heavy equipment is all diesel electric, just like the rail locomotive, just more high tech, but the rail stuff is catching up. Only a matter of time before the piston diesel engine becomes a museum piece, it has had a long life but it is reaching the end, emissions will be its downfall. A petrol engine meeting full emissions compared to a diesel engine of the same capacity meeting full emissions, the petrol engine will win every time, you simply can't get the torque or raw horse power out of a diesel engine and still meet the NOX emissions requirements these days. That is why a certain vehicle manufacturer always makes their claim about high torque and horsepower on "over boost" and show it off road, not actually pulling a load on road

T1 Terry

T1 Terry · Guru

You could always look at something like this www.carsales.com.au/editorial/details/la-motor-show-rivian-reveals-go-anywhere-electric-suv-too-115844/ a fantastic caravan park hopper that you can "refuel" over night :lol: I wonder how one would go pulling a 5'er with a roof full of solar, refuel while free camping and the stops a bit longer so better planning for somewhere you want to camp up for more than an overnight stop every 400km or so.

T1 Terry

JackoFJR · Senior Member

Lily2018 wrote:
Sorry if this is a dumb question but wondering what your thoughts are when buying a motorhome should I look for petrol or diesel. Does it makes a difference either way?
TIA

What make , size motor home are you thinking of , is type size you considering even available with a choice of petrol or diesel, if so what make of motor and what size , do want new or used .