Petrol or diesel for low urban mileage?

Bray Head

I am looking to buy a new 7-seater MPV like a VW Touran, Citroen C4 Grand Picasso or Ford S-Max. Space for kids is essentially what we are in the market for.

We do about 9,000 km a year, mainly urban with a motorway trip every so often. Car will not be used for a commute and would not get any use about half of all days.

I am inclined to go diesel on the basis of a few calculations below.

Full price: Diesel version seems about 2,500 more expensive, though I am not sure if this is really like for like
Tax: Diesel will be around the 200 a year, petrol 280.
Fuel cost: For my mileage I reckon diesel saves about 220 a year
Diesel particulate filter: Would be doing 100kmh at least once a month
Resale value: plan is to keep it for 10 years so resale value not of huge importance

So over ten years the saving is 3000 for a 2500 higher upfront cost. Market seems to agree - about 90% of this class on carzone is diesel.

Would appreciate anyone's thoughts on this - thanks!

Soarer

I'd go for a Prius +.

Better than diesel economy in the short commutes without any of the modern diesel issues.

€180 per year road tax, and a claimed combined mpg of nearly 66mpg.

king_of_inismac

For such a marginal saving, I'd go with the petrol. The engines are much simpler and there's much less to go wrong.