Diesel, Petrol or Hybrid

Unless you tow a very large and heavy van then I think the days of a diesel are over. I've posted this several times, but the short version is I replaced consecutive 2L diesels with a 1.5L Audi A3 petrol manual in 2019. It has 150 bhp and 250 N/m torque. It typically returned 32-40 mpg towing a 1200kg low profile Eriba Touring. I now tow a low profile but wide body Eriba Feeling, running at around 1350kg [max up to 1500kg] and achieve 30-36 mpg. From memory, when I towed from Merseyside to Devon I sat in 6th gear on cruise control until near Bristol. Modern petrol engines offer the torque over a far wider rev range than a modern diesel and are very relaxing to drive. Overall solo economy is also on a par with a diesel. I've had a genuine 76mpg on a long run. I know of a VW Golf owner running a hybrid version of this engine towing the same van and his figures are no better, but he paid a premium price for the Hybrid facility.

When it comes to change it will be petrol again for me, albeit by then a self charging hybrid mild assistance will probably be the norm. If my pockets are deep enough the Volvo XC40 would be at the top of my list. 

If you are looking at the finances then it gets complicated when you run two vehicles. Then it may be worth while dropping to one and having this as a plug in hybrid. 

Colin

Putting aside budget and weight of caravan, there are 3 types of petrol hybrid. Mild, which is a small battery and electric motor set up to provide marginal support the ICE. The car will not run in any form of EV mode. Full, uses a larger battery/motor package which provides significant back up and can run in EV only mode for a few miles at lower speeds. Plug in hybrid as the name suggests is part EV, part ICE powered. These are charged the same as an EV or, can be charged from The engine and with regenerative braking. EV only range can be upto 60 miles with the very latest systems. Most are much less. The benefit of Full and Plug-in hybrids is they can bring diesel rivalling levels of power, torque and economy, albeit at a cost to buy new. The other disadvantage is they often come with quite low tow weight limits so care is needed when researching options. I have a a RAV4 PHEV and it suits our life style very well. The economy for a 2 tonne SUV is amazing and performance matches a hot hatch. 

You need to decide your needs in a car now and in the near future. Research the options within your budget and when you have a short list go on the forums for the relevant models. Albeit another topic altogether Personally I think diesel is getting an unfair hammering. Had the same money invested in the ultimately dead end EV technology in recent years been spent on clean diesel tech, we would be better served. 

Flatcoat said:

Personally I think diesel is getting an unfair hammering. Had the same money invested in the ultimately dead end EV technology in recent years been spent on clean diesel tech, we would be better served.

Here here. The converts to EV's in the main still will not admit that massive pollution is caused by the manufacture of the things, extraction of rare metals for the batteries, not to mention the children in slave labour digging it out. Even the EV manufacturers estimate that an EV must be covering approx 80k miles or 10 years before they become carbon neutral (whatever that it is). Politicians jumped on this bandwagon without knowing what they were doing (not unusual for politicians), but at least the manufacturers are now seeing that the experiment is failing, and cutting back on production before they go bust (apart from heavily subsidised Chinese manufacturers).

EV's have a place, particularly for local journeys, but are proving (in the main) useless for long journeys. 

Although I’ll not deny you have a point, Nutsy, don’t forget that jobs are being created in the UK and they don’t involve child slave labour either. For instance, Lithium is being extracted from old china clay workings in Cornwall which can only be seen as a good re-use of resources.

Sure Tinwheeler, but that is a tiny amount of production compared to China, and Chinese controlled Africa.

Maybe but it’s worth acknowledging that not everything is as negative as you paint it. 👍

Toyota RAV4 Hybrid excellent 50mpg solo full consumption and 30 plus towing, towing weight 1650kg and bulletproof reliability, I read used as taxi's in part of the US recording over 300,000 miles. If serviced by Toyota an extended warranty up to 10 years.

But not a new one though as 800kg tow limit. Somebody at Toyota was not thinking about an important sector of the market.

Colin

But perhaps they are thinking about the environmental impact and the added harmful outputs when towing heavier units.

Totally incorrect. The tow limit on the 2wd is 800kg, the AWD or is 1650kg for the HEV and 1500 for the PHEV. Suzuki Across is the same as the RAV4 PHEV. 

As for exhaust emissions bring a reason to set low tow weight limits, really??!!