Diesel or petrol

[leighdinglady]

Hi

I'm after an estate after having our first baby last month. Choice is between a VW Passat or a Skoda Octavia.

VW is 2015 with 7,000 miles. Diesel and manual.

Skoda is 2017, 4,000 miles, petrol and automatic

The VW is very high speck and is cheaper than the Skoda (because it's older I guess) BUT I'm worried about getting a diesel with the government vilifying it.

Which would you chose?? Need to decide today/tomorrow really

Neither, but if you put a gun to my head the Skoda, it’s likely to have fewer problems.

They're essentially the same cars-Skodas and VW are made by the same people and run on the same chassis

Personally I wouldn't get either; id want a manual petrol car
Do not get a diesel-the particulate matter they emit is horrendous and massive tax levies are just around the corner

As already mentioned. They are basically the same car underneath.

I would go Diesel, cheaper to run and better for the environment, and will last a lot longer than the petrol.

Depends on the type of driving you anticipate doing. If you are doing short journeys, petrol. Lots of long runs, diesel. Government is v unlikely to introduce taxes on pre-existing cars - it will always be new ones that get the penalties. Skoda and VW are both v reliable makes with good reputations (albeit not very cool!).

I would go Diesel, cheaper to run and better for the environment, and will last a lot longer than the petrol.

This particular diesel has only managed 7k miles in 3 years, that will have done it no good whatsoever. I’d run a mile from that particular car. Whatever VAG junk you buy will no doubt have issues but they’re less likely with a petrol.

Automatic - can't even imagine why I had manuals after 10 years of automatics (previous 15years manual)

Thank you everyone. I'm going to keep up the search!

Knowing what we now know about how bad the emissions of diesels are, I would pick the petrol.

Petrol and automatic. I don’t get the British obsession with manual cars. Automatics are great.

Don't buy a modern diesel unless you do regular long, top of speed limit motorway journeys. You'll have serious dpf issues if it's just going to be a runaround. I'd go auto too. Changing gear is such a bore.

I'd get the Skoda. I think diesal is going to be subject to loads of taxations that will devalue your car to a level where you wish you'd never got it. I went through the same thought process recently. I like diesal, I really do. I've never had a petrol before. But I went for the Skoda Octavia in the end although the manual version. It's a damn fine car. Nippy, loads of gadgets, I love it

They are not quite the same car.

The volkswagen passage Skoda equivalent is the superb, the Octavia is smaller. That said I always recommend Octavia's when people ask about decent family cars. It's a really decent motor and should last you well

*VW passat

Need to get a petrol vw passat.

Sorry!

VW passats are superbly reliable.

DH's friend is a mechanic. He never recommends diesal cars.

The Skoda. Essentially the same engineering with cheaper trim and a good auto gearbox.

VW passats are superbly reliable.

They’re quite a way below average actually.

We’ve had 2 x passats in the last 12 years.

They are amazingingly reliable cars, often fly through the MOT and have needed very little work.

Our current one has tonnes of life left, and next car will be a Passat.

Bearing in mind our current car is a 2003 model, pretty good going

That’s a very small sample size and you’ve clearly been lucky. As a whole they’re below average.

As I said, DH’s friend is a mechanic.

He’s done far too many MOT’s to count. Seen a lot of cars. Including passats - he agrees they are very reliable cars.

Bigger sample size

Try a bigger sample size. You’ll find they’re not great.

Determined to put down the passat aren't you?!

Don't stress, it's just my opinion (based on a small sample size)

Determined to put down the passat aren't you?!

Not at all, just correcting your assertion that they’re very reliable. They’re not terribly unreliable but somewhere below average. This is based on research by UK organisations such as Warranty Direct and What Car and JD Power in the US. All of whom are far more qualified to comment on the subject than some random MOT tester. Might as well ask his dog.

His dog agrees.

His dog agrees

You need to be avoiding the diesel. Nver mind the carbon dioxide emissions, those won't hurt you. But the particulates and the various oxides of nitrogen are lethal and the DPF which is meant to take care of them will simply fail after a few years, more quickly if you abuse it.

There will be a lot of restrictions on diesel cars in future and the resale value will be a lot less.