Petrol Or Diesel - What Ya Got And Why?

[cruella]

I'm still looking!

There's been a few out there that have been interesting, but I've had the lurgy in the form of a chest infection (which in my case is a big deal ;) )

I went to Carsupermarket in London and they had two petrol versions, both 55 plate, one a XT4 with 50+k miles on the clock in silver for £7000, the other a 55 plate XTR in black, with a leather interior and 33k miles on the clock for £7779 or thereabouts. I liked the black one, but it had a lot of stone chips on the bonnet and a scrape on the wheel cover. All minor things, but to my mind it was worth 7K. The thing is, they do not budge on their prices at all, operating a fixed price policy.

Anyway, I digress. They also had a diesel model in. I amazingly seem to have gotten Him Indoors around to the idea of me 'needing' a rav4, he's a London Taxi driver (black cabbie; gor blimey guvnor - you'll never guess who I had in the back of my cab today :D ) and as such, worships at the altar of all things diesel. I was telling him that I wanted a petrol model as reviews and some of the opinions I had seen on here had led me to the conclusion that they have:

Less inherant faults

Are quieter whilst running

A bit 'nippier'

Not that much more expensive to run if you do relatively low mileage

Now HI has decided he approves of my choice, he keeps extolling the values of getting a diesel, but I know I'm riight in getting petrol - or am I? :)

[Plutus]

It really depends on your mileage.

Petrol models are usually cheaper so you have to calculate the saving against the saving made buying more expensive (but better mpg) diesel.

10k - 12k per annum seems to be the agreed break-even point.

If you want an auto you are stuck with petrol.

Keep looking, a very good deal will soon come along.

[local hero]

It really depends on your mileage.

Petrol models are usually cheaper so you have to calculate the saving against the saving made buying more expensive (but better mpg) diesel.

10k - 12k per annum seems to be the agreed break-even point.

If you want an auto you are stuck with petrol.

Keep looking, a very good deal will soon come along.

agree with the above, acouple of years ago i would have said diesel without question. but now i think if you don't do a lot of miles petrol makes more sense I am a black cab driver in Manchester + whatever model cab your o/h drives when he gets in your Rav petrol or diesel he will think he has died + gone to heaven :D And they don't turn into a George Foreman grille every 5 minutes.. :D :D

[anchorman]

I'm still looking!

There's been a few out there that have been interesting, but I've had the lurgy in the form of a chest infection (which in my case is a big deal ;) )

I went to Carsupermarket in London and they had two petrol versions, both 55 plate, one a XT4 with 50+k miles on the clock in silver for £7000, the other a 55 plate XTR in black, with a leather interior and 33k miles on the clock for £7779 or thereabouts. I liked the black one, but it had a lot of stone chips on the bonnet and a scrape on the wheel cover. All minor things, but to my mind it was worth 7K. The thing is, they do not budge on their prices at all, operating a fixed price policy.

Anyway, I digress. They also had a diesel model in. I amazingly seem to have gotten Him Indoors around to the idea of me 'needing' a rav4, he's a London Taxi driver (black cabbie; gor blimey guvnor - you'll never guess who I had in the back of my cab today :D ) and as such, worships at the altar of all things diesel. I was telling him that I wanted a petrol model as reviews and some of the opinions I had seen on here had led me to the conclusion that they have:

Less inherant faults

Are quieter whilst running

A bit 'nippier'

Not that much more expensive to run if you do relatively low mileage

Now HI has decided he approves of my choice, he keeps extolling the values of getting a diesel, but I know I'm riight in getting petrol - or am I? :)

I hope your chest gets better and if you were a bit more local I'd offer to rub some Vick on

Taxi drivers? Very dodgy breed and often ask difficult questions like "will a 4.3 fit inside a 4.1 without any cutting?".

Plutus has covered the mileage issue but you could have a browse through this poll to see what owners think;

http://toyotaownersclub.com/forums/index.p...833&hl=poll

Good luck

[local hero]

I'm still looking!

There's been a few out there that have been interesting, but I've had the lurgy in the form of a chest infection (which in my case is a big deal ;) )

I went to Carsupermarket in London and they had two petrol versions, both 55 plate, one a XT4 with 50+k miles on the clock in silver for £7000, the other a 55 plate XTR in black, with a leather interior and 33k miles on the clock for £7779 or thereabouts. I liked the black one, but it had a lot of stone chips on the bonnet and a scrape on the wheel cover. All minor things, but to my mind it was worth 7K. The thing is, they do not budge on their prices at all, operating a fixed price policy.

Anyway, I digress. They also had a diesel model in. I amazingly seem to have gotten Him Indoors around to the idea of me 'needing' a rav4, he's a London Taxi driver (black cabbie; gor blimey guvnor - you'll never guess who I had in the back of my cab today :D ) and as such, worships at the altar of all things diesel. I was telling him that I wanted a petrol model as reviews and some of the opinions I had seen on here had led me to the conclusion that they have:

Less inherant faults

Are quieter whilst running

A bit 'nippier'

Not that much more expensive to run if you do relatively low mileage

Now HI has decided he approves of my choice, he keeps extolling the values of getting a diesel, but I know I'm riight in getting petrol - or am I? :)

I hope your chest gets better and if you were a bit more local I'd offer to rub some Vick on

Good luck

Come on Anchs if she took you up on that offer you would be down there on the next Pendolino..

[anchorman]

Just trying to think of a good excuse for anchorwoman..................

............any suggestions?

[local hero]

You could ask Anchorwoman as she has been making excuses for you for years.. :D Alternately you could text me, then i could phone you back + say that i am stranded somewhere then you being you could offer to come to my rescue, then we could phone your wife + say we need a part for my car which we can't get till the nearest Mr T opens in the morning. and you being the good samaritan will stay with me overnight as i cannot afford to have the part fitted by the garage. Although when you walk in the front door smelling of Vicks your on your own Mate..

[londonmark]

Those cars at Car Giant are the right money in my opinion, just compare them to those on Autotrader many comparable examples are £2K more! I have been looking at them myself but I need leather and SAT NAV but you cant expect them to move from those prices especially during challenging economic times when people value the reliability of cars like RAV4s.

I will have fiver with you they will have sold all three of those cars bys next weekend!

Cheers

Mark

[shcm]

yes, well, erm back on topic, to stop me thinking about chests.

(and I hope you are feeling better too, Cru).

A couple of minutes and I've done a quick spread sheet. (Think my maths is correct - otherwise, I'll never live it down on here ).

Hope this is fairly easy to follow, just ignore it if not.

Ok, this just compares cost based on fuel cost/use only. There are of course other factors which others have/will mention.

I've taken the cheapest current fuel costs for where I live (from petrolprices.com) and 2.0VVTi (petrol) and 2.0D4D (diesel) fuel consumption figures from the 2002 brochure, 'cause it is easy to hand. The fuel figures will be roughly the same for a 55 plate RAV.

This is a rough estimate, but think about what type of driving you will be doing. I expect it is mainly urban (London Traffic?), so use the urban fuel consumption figures. So, I've put a couple of examples. If you diesel RAV is £500 more expensive to buy than the petrol, for mostly urban driving you'll break even (only considering fuel) after about 26k miles (25945).

The most useful figures are at the bottom. (£1 difference break even). Just multiply these by the price difference between the petrol and diesel, to see when you are going to break even.

For example, if your diesel RAV is £750 more expensive than the petrol and you are doing mostly urban driving, take the urban figure (52) and multiply by £750, so you'll break even at about (52*£750) = 39000 miles.

Likewise, if you think you'll do a combination of town/motorway driving, use the combined figure 87 and multiply that by the price difference. So for a difference in price of £650 and combined driving, that would be a break even point of (650*87) = 56550 miles.

As I've said it doesn't take into account things like road tax, maintenance etc.........., but maybe it helps quantify things a bit. You may not get that fuel consumption or you may do better, depending on your driving style.

Most of the following can be got from any car buying magazine, but I'll repeat it:

Perhaps more important is how you feel about the car. If you can, take your time and try and get back to back test drives of the diesel and the petrol. Even if you have to go to a Toyota dealer to do it. Kingo may not like me saying this, but you can still walk away. I don't like doing that, but when I bought my current RAV, the local dealer was good enough to arrange back to back drives of three cars, but would not budge on what I felt was a bad deal. I walked away and went elsewhere and got exactly the deal I felt I should be getting.

Try and plan a test route you'll take from the dealer before you go with varying numbers of roads - Urban with traffic jams etc as well as motorway or dual carriageways. Take both cars over the same route and try and compare and see how you feel about it.

I bought diesel and have for over 10 years. As LH says it was once an easy choice, but as the government has effectively shifted its tax revenue stream as people shift their car buying habits, it's no longer clear. I'd have to think long and hard about it next time.

I happen to prefer diesels over petrol, because I think it suits my driving style and it's probably also a slightly psychological effect to see a higher mpg figure, but each to his own.

Phew, long winded as usual :D.

Good Luck

[dave.m]

Have to agree with what SHCM said

As for me, I am on my second diesel Rav, so you could say the torqueyness (is that a word ?) is what I like when it comes

to engine choice. IMHO, there are only two perfect Rav's, a 4.2 diesel, with the engine removed and replaced with the 2.2

diesel engine from a 4.3, and secondly, a 4.3 diesel with a nice auto gearbox. Sadly neither exist, but the latter may in the

near future :D

[Tom 2009]

Petrol. 3.5L V6. I would have considered a Diesel, but we don't even have a Diesel offering in the U.S.

It was only from the 4.3 models that we even had a choice in gasoline engines.

1996-2000 2.0L (3S-FE) 125 HP

2001-2003 2.0L (1AZ-FE) 148 HP

2004-2005 2.4L (2AZ-FE) 161 HP

2006-2008 2.4L (2AZ-FE) 166 HP or 3.5L (2GR-FE) 269 HP

2009- 2.5L (2AR-FE) 179 HP or 2.5L (2GR-FE) 269 HP

As of yesterday, fuel prices at the gas station near my house was $1.79 a gallon for unleaded regular gasoline and $2.49 for Diesel. Back in the old days, (like 20 years ago), Diesel was much cheaper than Gasoline even in the U.S., but it's all about taxes.

BTW, gasoline was well over $4.00 per gallon in the summer. The prices dropped like stone.

Anyway, I got the V6 over the I4, as it has more power and much quieter. It was also the only way to get the 5-speed automatic transmission (4-cyl gets 4-speed auto). I prefer a manual transmission over an automatic, but no manuals have been offered in the RAV4 since 2005.

At 60 MPH, my engine is turning just 1700 RPM. Makes for a very relaxed crusing on the highways.

[Hoovie]

Seems that there are enough pros to both to make the decision on fuel type impossible!

so I reckon ignore the fuel question and buy based on the car itself - end of the day, you will enjoy either version :)

[sywy]

I chose the T180, which happens to be a diesel, because it was the most powerful. I was coming down from a 230bhp car, and didn't want to lose too much power.

[bothwell_buyer]

cor blimey me lud!

Dieselly oil is for lorries and smelly taxis, and people who like the sound of paddle wheels going round and round.

The choice is clear !

A 3 door petrol RAV with the 3SGTE turbo engine fitted, preferably using a CT20 turbo but a CT26 will do. Capability starting off at 250bhp and rising to 400bhp without too much agony!!

I was so pleased with one, I bought another!!!

And for show, here's a link to the Crail race day where you might just spot the car and me.....

wot a show!

and you'll see the guy wi the VW campervan !

[cruella]

Wow!!! Thanks for all the replies!

Very technical SHCM, I'll have a good look at that - I lurve a bit of research :)

I think though, that I still err on the side of Bothy and fancy me'sen a petrol jobbie ;)

Local Hero - HI has indeed got the George Foreman model - but as his is an 07 version he didn't get recalled thank goodness, gawd, life wouldn't have been worth living He still pines for his Fairway driver, which we still have

Londonmark; You might be right about those Carsupermarket cars, but they were just a bit top heavy for me.

Speaking of top heavy, the offers of assistance are most appreciated, but it would take a catering pack of Vicks and a strong arm to do the necessary ...

I am starting to recover (thanks for asking) but it has taken 3 weeks - and me a semi-tough northerner!

Mind you, I've been darn sarf for a goodly while now. :D

[bothwell_buyer]

Wow!!! Thanks for all the replies!

Very technical SHCM, I'll have a good look at that - I lurve a bit of research :)

I think though, that I still err on the side of Bothy and fancy me'sen a petrol jobbie ;)

Local Hero - HI has indeed got the George Foreman model - but as his is an 07 version he didn't get recalled thank goodness, gawd, life wouldn't have been worth living He still pines for his Fairway driver, which we still have

Londonmark; You might be right about those Carsupermarket cars, but they were just a bit top heavy for me.

Speaking of top heavy, the offers of assistance are most appreciated, but it would take a catering pack of Vicks and a strong arm to do the necessary ...

I am starting to recover (thanks for asking) but it has taken 3 weeks - and me a semi-tough northerner!

Mind you, I've been darn sarf for a goodly while now. :D

careful with the language - the dieselly people get aw steamed up an get a muderaoter to chenge yer ways!

Isn't it funny that 2/3 of fawlk here are dieselly owners - is that cos 2/3 of faults are wi diselly burners? An 'ahve no even stairted oan the nummer o doors....... :P :P :P :lol:

Hope ye feel a wee bit better fur the swally oer the next week !!! A hot toddy !! Neat! Proven that alcohol kills germs... even the hospitals use it fur handwashing ! Whit a waste.

here's a link to more info about dieselly motors and how they should be used - dieselly dreams

[Robert6920]

As of yesterday, fuel prices at the gas station near my house was $1.79 a gallon for unleaded regular gasoline and $2.49 for Diesel

It's down to €0.99 per litre here in Ireland. It'll soon be worth going "up North" to fill up (as well as buy everything else 30% cheaper!)

[Dippy]

I had a diesel 4.2, now have a diesel 4.3, as it's a family car and my last car was an Impreza Turbo and I got tired of driving very quickly from one petrol station to the next. With a T180 the power is reasonable if not shattering.

[Hoovie]

Actually, I am not sure if I have every owned a diesel

I test drove a new suzuki GV in diesel and in petrol form shortly before I bought the RAV4, and also tested a diesel X-Trail.

I disliked both diesels - GV due to lack of power and X-Trail was SOOOO noisy

Never tried the Diesel RAV4, but I love the power and responsiveness of the Petrol engine - about 50% more then my last car (HR-V 1.6) and although I have had more powerful cars then the RAV4, the 2.0 VVTi is plenty enough for me and my license now.

[Dippy]

Hoovie, one of the main reasons I bought the 4.3, after the 4.2, is because it is SOOOO quiet by comparison. I drove a new CRV (yes, I know, I know!) on the same day expecting to love it but there was distinctly more noise. And noise was the number one reason for changing - in my 4.2, any motorway journey of over 2 hours was considered a loooong drive. Of course the 6-speed box helps, but it's incredibly quiet.

[junebug1701]

Hoovie, one of the main reasons I bought the 4.3, after the 4.2, is because it is SOOOO quiet by comparison. I drove a new CRV (yes, I know, I know!) on the same day expecting to love it but there was distinctly more noise. And noise was the number one reason for changing - in my 4.2, any motorway journey of over 2 hours was considered a loooong drive. Of course the 6-speed box helps, but it's incredibly quiet.

I test drove the CR-V as well, and it was just OK. When I pressed the accelerator down, the engine made a lot of noise but nothing much happened. When I drove the RAV4 with the V-6, I was sold. When I felt the smooth acceleration of the 3.5L, whatever small advantages the CR-V had quickly faded away. And even though the diesel isn't an option here, I wouldn't have chosen it anyway. Diesel fuel has been more expensive here for the past 3 years. My boss sold his diesel VW for that very reason.

[St Thicket]

To put things in perspective, in Norway, Diesel and Petrol costs about £1 per litre, which would be about £4.54 per imperial gallon, and $5.34 per US gallon.

Once upon a time, Diesel was considerably less expensive than Petrol, and since Diesel cars use less fuel per distance, people tended to buy Diesel cars. Now Diesel is slightly more expensive than Petrol, but still more cost efficient over all. People still buy Diesel cars, since the purchase price is about £1000-3000 less than an equivalent Petrol car...

And now for the prices of new XT3 RAVs...

2.2 D-4D 6 gear manual RAV4 £19,975 in UK... £35,700 in Norway

2.0 VVT-i 5 gear manual RAV4 £18,750 in UK... £37,300 in Norway

This is the result of socialist governments treating cars as a luxury commodity

[bothwell_buyer]

To put things in perspective, in Norway, Diesel and Petrol costs about £1 per litre, which would be about £4.54 per imperial gallon, and $5.34 per US gallon.

Once upon a time, Diesel was considerably less expensive than Petrol, and since Diesel cars use less fuel per distance, people tended to buy Diesel cars. Now Diesel is slightly more expensive than Petrol, but still more cost efficient over all. People still buy Diesel cars, since the purchase price is about £1000-3000 less than an equivalent Petrol car...

And now for the prices of new XT3 RAVs...

2.2 D-4D 6 gear manual RAV4 £19,975 in UK... £35,700 in Norway

2.0 VVT-i 5 gear manual RAV4 £18,750 in UK... £37,300 in Norway

This is the result of socialist governments treating cars as a luxury commodity

Ye see, thats where the benefits of the 4.1 model come in !

[St Thicket]

Ye see, thats where the benefits of the 4.1 model come in !

Why is that? No luxury, or not worth anything anymore?

[Fujisan]

City driving, low mileage = Petrol