2014 Volkswagen GTI vs Volkswagen GTD

What kind of driving you do?

Diesel is the devils fuel to me

But some people swear by it

Diesels cost more to buy initially too

If it is fuel economy and an entertaining drive then the GTD is good but it is going to cost more to maintain and to get the best out of it you need to bring it on long high speed drives fairly often.

Outright performance and pure joy of driving pleasure, in this class of car the leader is still the Renault Megane RS, probably not an ideal first car though as you do need to know car control to get the best out of it. A bit on the raw side though and might not be the nicest car as an everyday driver.

The GTI is the better performer of the GTI vs GTD, I find the GTI to be a bit more refined as well. I'd probably stick to this one as it is a good modern car to start out with if you have never owned any fast cars before.

The GTD is almost as fast as the GTI and drives just the same plus the added bonus of better fuel economy. I know which one I'll buy.

I thought you had to do mega mileage nowadays in a diesel to actually save money? Like 18k miles a year?

Yeah, it's great when it comes to fuel economy, but that comes at a price too! Diesels are more expensive to maintain, so you'd need to be doing loads of long distance driving to make it worth it. And, to be honest, petrol engines are nice to drive, while I absolutely hate small diesels.

18k miles in the UK is like galactic mileage, the average is 12k for people who live on the motorway in rep mobiles.

Very few people in the UK actually do enough miles to make diesel worthwhile.

Yeah, you have to do quite a few miles to make it worth it. On the other hand, it's not that hard. I mean 18k a year is really nothing big, although I usually drive in Europe, so I suppose it's a large number for the UK.

I never understood the "you need to be doing 1 million miles a year for diesel to be worthwhile" thing

If I was on a budget and only doing 5k of mixed driving a year, I would still be better off in a diesel

Well its simple. Diesel costs more than petrol, the mpg gain is not enough over the petrol equivalent to negate the extra cost of diesel fuel.

Yes it is. Diesel costs circa 4% more than petrol, and typically gives 25% more economy. This holds true if you are doing 1 mile a year or 10,000 miles a year.

If you are going to quote me, at least quote all of parts that make the summation! You missed out half of the attributes!

Here is some reading for you to back up my claims.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-2332107/Petrol-vs-diesel-cars-Drivers-warned-diesel-filter-trap.html

You need to be doing, according to this, 20 - 30k miles a year.

http://www.confused.com/car-insurance/articles/petrol-more-cost-efficient-than-diesel-when-buying-used-car

https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/is-a-car-diesel-much-cheaper-than-petrol-151945955.html

Old article in 2012, so the gap is even bigger now.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-2130561/Diesel-vs-petrol-Used-diesel-car-cheaper-10-000-miles.html

I doubt you will care, but it might help the OP make a decision. Unless you are doing mega mileage a year, then get the petrol.

I didn't realise we were talking about new cars. But yes this is true for new cars when a diesel may be a few k dearer. But if you are looking at a ~10 year old car, then the Petrol and Diesel are about the same price, but the Diesel is 25% more economical, then it's going to be the dirty diesel regardless of mileage.