Diesel vs petrol engine is probably one of the oldest battles in car industry, because even now close to 250 years after combustion engine was invented, we sill debate about which type of engine is better and also more economical. And even though different people might have different opinions, I want to attempt to settle this battle and tell my opinion about which of both engine types is more economical and why. Let’s get started. Ready, set, go!

It isn’t the easiest job to determine which engine is more economical, because we need to take into consideration a lot of different variables that lets us conclude that one of the engines is better than the other. We need to take into account the fuel economy of both engines, how much cars with each type of engine costs, how much the service and upkeep of each type of car costs, how much does each type of fuel costs and also which type of car is easier and better to drive. And only when all this has been considered we can determine which engine is in fact more economical.
First lets talk a little about what is the difference between diesel and petrol engine cars in terms of their price. We all know that diesel cars many times are much more expensive than cars with petrol engines. A different story often is the resale value of a diesel car. Because diesel engines often retain their value better, they can be sold for a larger price than petrol cars of the same age, which is a plus for diesel cars, because they aren’t that popular among used-car buyers.

Another thing that is a huge factor of making one or the other car more economical is also the costs of servicing the car and keeping it in tip top shape. Here I am talking not only about annual visit to the car mechanic, but also how much spare parts cost as well as how these cars are valued by insurance agencies, because that is also a part of the cars upkeep. Unfortunately to diesel cars their servicing costs are much larger, because their parts usually cost more and if something happens to your car, you will have to spend more money on repairing it. This alone I think is a very good reason to favor petrol engine cars over diesel cars, because car repairs by themselves aren’t cheap and nobody wants to add to those costs, because they have different type of engine. When it comes to insurance there isn’t that big of a difference in terms of what engine you have, because insurance companies are more concerned about what type of car you have than what type of engine is inside of it. The only thing that is cheaper when it comes to diesel engine cars might be the taxes that you will have to pay for your car, but in many cases this tax difference is very small and won’t even out the other aspect in which diesel engine cars rank up more costs than petrol engine cars.

When we think about economy in terms of cars the first thing that pops into our heads usually is how much each fuel costs and how efficiently each type of car uses the fuel. Because fuel usage is different for each engine size, be it a petrol or diesel car, here we can talk about the cost of each specific fuel. As of a couple of years petrol is cheaper than diesel. However diesel engines also burn fuel about 4 times slower, which means that even though you will have to spend more when you are at the gas station, you will be able to get further with a diesel engine car than you would with a petrol engine car.

And lastly lets talk about how each type of engine works, while we are driving. If in the past diesel engines were much louder and that is why petrol ones were often preferred over diesel engines, nowadays it is not the case anymore. The biggest difference now between petrol engines and diesel engines in terms of how it is to drive cars that have one or the other engine is in the car’s power. Even though diesel engine makes for more relaxed driving these type of engines also warm up much slower, meaning that if you usually drive your car from work and back and this distance isn’t that far, your diesel motor might not be able to warm up properly especially in the winter, which can damage the engine in the long run. And also petrol engines are more likely to start even in below zero temperatures, so if there are cold winters where you live, I would suggest going for petrol instead of diesel engine.

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Finally, I conclude that although the diesel engine might be more economical, when it comes to fuel consumption, overall petrol engine trumps diesel engine, because of three things:

1. First – cars with petrol engines are cheaper, making their upfront costs smaller;

2. Second – the price you will pay for petrol engine cars upkeep will be much smaller meaning that when something happens to your car, you will have to pay much less;

3. Third – if you live in a place where there are cold winters or use your car mainly to drive short distances, I would definitely go for petrol engine car, because all those savings you will get from more efficient fuel consumption are true only if you drive long distances and do it every day.

Billy Miller
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