After being in a position to buy your own car, choosing a petrol or diesel engine car is one of the first decisions you’ll have to make before buying a new car. From a financial perspective, there’s now less and less difference between petrol and a diesel car. It is still true that if you look at pure fuel running costs, diesel will cost less. You will, though, have to have high annual mileages and use motorways more often to get the financial benefits.
This is because newer diesel vehicles now have higher tax, which can cost almost as much as the fuel savings you could make in a year, and there are also concerns over air pollution caused by diesel. That means that if most of your journeys are local and your mileage is lower, a small petrol car might be more suitable for you, especially if you’re looking to change vehicles in the next five years.
Here are some points to compare petrol vs diesel cars:
Cost of Petrol Vs Diesel Car
The diesel variant of cars cost more than the petrol variant. A diesel engine needs to maintain a higher compression ratio and handle greater vibration than the petrol engine, so the construction of the diesel engine is more rugged and are costly than the petrol engine. For example, cars which cost less than 10 Lakhs, the showroom price between diesel and petrol variants differs from 2 to 2.5 Lakhs. The difference in the on-road price of petrol and diesel car variants will be even more. This higher initial cost has a major significance in the overall economics of choosing a model and depending on the cost of the vehicle and where it is purchased.
Mileage of Petrol vs Diesel
Diesel engines tend to return more kilometres per litre than a similarly sized petrol motor.so we can say the mileage of the diesel engine is more than that of a Petrol engine. This factor tends to be the sole reason the majority of us tend to go for a diesel variant. A diesel engine does not need a spark plug and thus has higher compression. This makes the diesel engine utilise more fuel as compared to a petrol engine. The better mileage of a diesel engine makes it easy to cover the extra cost of the car paid initially, but with the increasing cost of cars, the time required to recover this cost has increased.
Smooth Drive
Apart from a fact that diesel engines are more powerful than petrol engines, they also have higher torque and hence they give a smoother drive. On the other hand, the harshness, noise, and vibrations in diesel-driven cars are way higher than that of a petrol-driven car which is a big reason for concern. In petrol engines, the power developed is low due to compression ratio whereas, in diesel engines, the power is more.
Maintenance Cost of Petrol vs Diesel Car
The maintenance cost of diesel cars is higher than petrol cars. This is because consumables like engine oil and spares used in diesel vehicles are more expensive. Also, keep in mind that newer diesel has a special filter fitted to help prevent pollution. It’s called a diesel particulate filter (DPF). These can clog if the vehicle isn’t used regularly on a motorway, and is costly to fix or replace. This means if you don’t use motorways often, a diesel might not be for you. The resale value of a used diesel car is higher than that of a petrol car. However, the life of a petrol engine is more than a diesel engine.
The price difference between Petrol vs Diesel
Since last one year, the prices of diesel and petrol have seen a big hike in Nepal. Fluctuation in price shows that the difference between both is reducing day by day, the difference in both is about 14 Rs per litre and is further decreasing day by day. The lower diesel price is a reality, with the price difference between a litre of petrol and diesel generally hovering 14 rupees. However in the long run, if you have to drive for a longer distance in a smaller span of time choosing Diesel engine car will be more beneficial.
Choice, it’s a personal thing
In the end, it's not possible to say which is better, petrol or diesel engines, because it's very much a case-by-case, or car-by-car thing, and it also comes down to personal preference. Some people just can't stand the sound that diesel engines make, particularly under strain, so they'll never buy one. Although some high-end brands, now make diesel that are so quiet you can barely tell which engine you're driving without putting the windows down.
Besides that, there are now many alternatives to petrol and diesel cars. Technological advances are beginning to make alternative energy vehicles a realistic alternative to petrol and diesel ones. With hybrid, electric, hydrogen fuel cell and LPG powered vehicles, there’s more choice than ever, some opportunities to save money, and there are of course significant environmental advantages to using this kind of vehicles.
Also Read:
UPCOMING MARUTI SUZUKI CARS HATCHBACKS SUVS
ELECTRIC VEHICLES | CARS | BIKES: ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES
TOP 5 CARS IN NEPAL UNDER 30 LAKHS
TOP 5 PICKUP TRUCKS IN NEPAL
TOP 5 SUVS IN NEPAL IN 2020 | UPDATED PRICE
Compiled by :
Swekshya Rajbhandari
Ankita Acharya
