Petrol or Diesel Cars

Everyone has their own preferences with the types of cars, but when it comes to choosing the engines then there are two main choices either diesel or petrol.

Which one do you prefer and what are your reasons for liking one and not liking the other!

First of all I will say now you have more variants available in the markets other that petrol and diesel and those are CNG and LPG.

If you have to strictly choose from a petrol or a diesel then you have to look on for few things, like which car your buying, what are your needs, I mean how many kms on an average you'll be driving daily, etc. etc...

I got a petrol one.

The petrol is for performance,pick up and response.

the CNG and LPG are mix of economy and environment friendly.pick up and response are little bit sluggish compared to petrol

the diesel is for economy, but not environment friendly.
performance and response has been dramatically improved in the latest machines.

Anything cant match with the pick up of petrol.

Everything said above is true. Some more thoughts ...

In the old days, the diesel engine was not efficient. It lacked power and performance. Also the diesel engine is quite heavy and used to vibrate a lot and the vibrations were sent to the car body especially at low RPMs.

The main difference between the petrol engine and the diesel engine is that the petrol engine burns by ignition from a spark whereas the diesel engine burns by high compression. Many may not be aware that there are no spark plugs in a diesel engine. The typical compression ratio inside the chamber of a petrol engine is 10:1 whereas in the diesel engine it is as high as 22:1. To sustain such high compression, the walls of the diesel engine are much thicker and hence it is heavy.

The old diesel engine used to leak fumes.

But with the Common Rail Diesel Injection (CRDI or DiCor) that factor is no more. Also engine noise and vibration to the passenger cabin are greatly reduced. So unless you pay close attention, you will not realize that you are traveling in a diesel powered car.

The diesel powered car will offer greater economy. But the diesel engine is designed and meant for long distance travel. It is not meant for start/stop rides. Start/Stop rides cause the engine to deteriorate quickly - this is also true for petrol engine but much less pronounced. So if you travel at least 30 km every the diesel car is right for you.

Petrol

but I do not have any valid reasons. Reasons which I would have mentioned, but can no longer, because of the improvements in diesel engine technology are:

1. Faster acceleration
2. Cleaner fuel
3. Less bulky
4. Less maintenance
5. Cheaper

I think the last one applies even now. In India, diesel fuel, however, is cheaper. Not so in every country though.

Originally Posted by smnesmwhr

In India, diesel fuel, however, is cheaper. Not so in every country though.

pal, diesel is not only a hazard to environmental, for our countries economy too.
why because, diesel is subsidized by the government for the peoples like farmer, fishermen and keep the inflation intact. but these car manufactures are exploiting the advantage and producing the diesel cars more and more.

i wonder why these governments still didn't have taken any action for misusing the subsidy. i guess culprits go by hands. so automobile business mens and government.

Originally Posted by prasannaganesh

pal, diesel is not only a hazard to environmental, for our countries economy too.
why because, diesel is subsidized by the government for the peoples like farmer, fishermen and keep the inflation intact. but these car manufactures are exploiting the advantage and producing the diesel cars more and more.

i wonder why these governments still didn't have taken any action for misusing the subsidy. i guess culprits go by hands. so automobile business mens and government.

Is diesel pollutive?
No. Pure diesel is not harmful to environment - or let me put it the other way - it is as harmful as pure petrol.

Because diesel engine burns by compression, it is very easy to add naptha and kerosene to it and make the mixture work. Now naptha and kerosene are an imperfect hydrocarbon. A pefect hydrocarbon is where C and H bonds are perfectly allocate in 1:1 ratio, e.g. Methane (CH4), Ethane (C2H6), etc. Imperfect hydrocarbons have double or triple C to C bonds. They also contain other atoms such as Oxygen. Thus they have higher carbon content and they do not burn clean.

A sureshot way of telling imperfect hydrocarbon burn is yellow flame and black smoke. Black smoke means more carbon content. A pure hydrocarbon burn has pale blue flame and colourless emission (CO2 and H20).

The polution that happens because of diesel vehicles is because of this (kerosene) adultration. If you visit Western countries (typically Europe) you will find that Diesel cars are quite common and clean.

Diesel Subsidy
As you have rightly put, the government has given subsidy on diesel because mass tranport of goods and people depends upon diesel, farm pumps use diesel, farm equipment such as tractors use diesel, fishing trawlers, etc. Diesel accounts for 70% of India's fuel consumption (includes petrol, diesel, naptha, natural gas, LPG/cooking gas, kerosene, etc.) Even a Re. 1/- cost increase will result in soaring inflation.

Automobile manufacturers are not doing anything wrong by producing diesel vehicles. Don't blame them. But what the government can do is introduce a special excise duty on diesel passenger cars to negate part of the subsidy passed.

I Accept the point of just4kix.
here is the another rep given ,for the information about the diesel.

speaking About your recommendation,Yes already government did it.
thats why diesel versions are expensive then petrol.
it should be raised further, but they don't for the sake of car manufacturers to sell their car.

i can't give the repo now, i will give it later.
i have it in mind.

There are basically two types of engine - petrol & diesel.
The petrol engine also has the added advantage of being able to run on CNG & LPG. All CNG/LPG engines are basically modified/retrofitted petrol engines.

The choice of the engine depends on the intended use.

With the advent of Common Rail Engine, diesel engines has now become less polluting and better combusting ones with higher power outputs and milage even better than petrol. So, its perhaps the best option for long haul.

But at the same time, diesel engines have some inherent latency and needs to run for a while to reach their peak performance and performs best only in high gears. So its not the best option in city conditions where there are frequent stop and go situations.

Also diesel engines are heavier than the petrol ones and causes more wear and tear on the vehicle.

Further, now that many cities also have the option of CNG, for mainly within city operations, a petrol engine is perhaps the best option. It can even be converted to CNG at any point.