[Gristle]

Hi peeps

Just wanted to say hi and ask for some advice at the same time.
Due to pick up my car within the next couple of months and not sure what to go for - HDi 110 6-speed manual VTi 120 manual - both dstyle.
Would be mostly town driving with a 180 mile motorway drive once a month
Never driven a diesel before and not sure which one to go for.

 

[Dan]

Hi,Welcome to the site

Performance wise I think both are very similar.
MPG you are looking at up to 60mpg for the diesel and 45mpg for the petrol. If you do 10k miles a year the diesel would save you around £300 per year. Tax is about £35 a year cheaper too.


However I think the diesel is c. £1500 more to buy than the petrol, meaning you would need to own it for 5 years before starting to save any money. (Based on 10k miles per year).


So really - I would try and drive them both and see which engine you like the feel of best and which you think drives best around town but unless you do bigger miles you'll not save any money opting for a diesel I don't think.

 

[Gristle]

Hi Dan
Thanks for the response.



The car is on motability leased over a 3 year period. For a diesel i'd need to shell out another £300 and it's mostly town driving that i'll be doing.

Any idea how thedifferent torque figures - petrol 160/4250 and diesel 270/1750 - equate to everyday driving? Would i notice any major difference?

Had a test drive in a HDI 200 already, but it seems difficult to a dealerwith any of the smaller engines.

 

[Dan]

I'm no expert but I always put torque down to the kick you get when you put your foot on the accelerator, higher torque makes it better at being able to over take without changing down etc.

What I don't think I can help explain is whether that would be better for town driving...

 

[Gristle]

Yeah sorry mate, that last bit was a pretty big ask. Thanks for trying though!

 

[Aztek1701]

Hi Gristle,
I shoulda really replied earlier but who knows, maybe your still watching...

Comming from a 170HP petrol to a 160HP diesel. I might be able to provide you an opinion...
With the diesel, you will need to work harder on the gearbox to keep it in the powerband and maintain progress becausethe power is ina much narrower band... The petrol will pull in a much wider rev band but it wont pull anything like as much as a diesel on song (its just the diesels song is shorter lol)

The big downer is of course a petrol will drink more fuel with its higher revs and I betcha the cruise in top gear is much nicer in the diesel, mine does something like 70Mph at 1700 rpm.The petrol will be more like 2200. Overtaking on a motorway is wierd with a diesel, you but the pedal down and the engine doesnt change sound or get seem to speed up but all of a sudden yourmaking for the horizon at warp 3.

Take care... Azzy

 

[David]

Hello

My 110 diesel arrives next week. I've had one for a weekend and was really impressed with the performance. Also driven a 1.6 petrol engined new C4 which felt about the same. The biggest different is that Warp 3 that Azzy mentions. There is a bit of a delay with the diesel.

How many miles are you likely to do each year? Is the cost of the fuel much of a consideration? If it is, i suspect that you will easily get back your £300 in the running costs.

 

[Zippy]

What utter crap! The best mpg anyone is likely to get with the DS4 diesel is around 52!

 

[Zippy]

What utter crap! The best mpg you will get out of a DS4 diesel is around 52 pmg! Our car has been back and forth to the garage and as far as they are concerned that is the best anyone would get from the DS4 - so the selling literature is absolute rubbish - very misleading!

 

[boraxbill]

I have had my DS4 2.0l diesel Style Manual for a month now and am only getting 40mpg on mixed driving . I find the following


1. engine torque is fantastic; in 3rd or 4th the boost is incredible.

2. 6th is too high for town work; engine really grumbles at 30-40mph.

3.Motorway cruising is sooo quiet!

4.Love bluetooth/phone function and USB connectability; so civilised!

5. Minus point; I think find gearchange is heavy and far from slick. Compared to Ford or Honda boxes (10/10) I would score it 4 at best.The car is good as it is but with a decent gear change it could be stellar. On reflection the fantastic engine and good gear ratios are pulled down by the very poor gearchange.

 

[SBK61]

If you do mainly town driving you'll be better with a petrol because the HDI is fitted with a DPF and they are prone to getting blocked up with town/short trip type driving .

Boraxbill . I agree with you , I have got the same car as you and have found it the same , the gearbox is a real dog .

 

[boraxbill]

Tks for comments on DPF but tks to reading thro the forums before deciding on car I had picked that up; my saving grace is (hopefully) that I periodically visit my son in Crewe(which is a 150mile blast round trip on the M6) .Must say even after 50years motoring I find forums like this so useful and informative.Tks to all concerned.

 

[rich.cath]

For what its worth I would go for the diesel.I have had a few Citroen diesels and they are rock solid engines and used by Ford, Toyota, Bmw Mini etc.
All MPG figures given on new cars these days are a bit of a fantasy for petrol or diesel - they are done in perfect conditions with minimal fuel and weight in car, almnost impossible to replicate.


Simply a diesel in town or open road will do similar mpg whereas a petrol will do poor mpg in stop/start town driving but improve on distance driving.
As long as you do a reasonable run at speed every couple of weeks you will keep your particle filter clean.
As for torque well you have nearly double in diesel which means less gear changing, better pulling power in gears and better for caravan pulling.
For £300 you will save that in year one on fuel most likely.

 

[Rev G]

Ive had 5 Citroens (3 petrol, 2 diesel)and all are great engines ; but regards fuel economy I have to say diesels come out on top.
For long distance motoring,which I do a lot of, you'll save a fortune. Town driving with modern diesels has improved greatly and as Rich mentioned dont be over concerned with the dpf as if you give it a fortnightly higher speed run the filter will clear.