Diesel or Petrol

get a diseasal again .... it'll be years before they drive (no pun intended) them of the road completely! I towed with petrol for years but they were big 3.0 engined cars which are virtually none existent these days.

Diesel every time. No brainer.

We had for 6weeks a petrol  2 ltr Kia Sportage It was terrible even  though it was okish solo ,once the c/van was on the hook it was so sluggish and although a 6 speed auto  the only time it got any higher than 4th was on the very level and never higher than fifth and 19mpg 

The  diesel 2ltr auto sportage is far superior iin all aspects and the fuel consumption far better with high 20s low 30s towing 

Both  vehicles have nearly the same bhp

Ps we have normally had diesels for towing or very big engines in any petrol tow vehicle

Even my 3.0 Omega & Senator used to manage 19mpg when towing but were good for almost 150mph (where permitted) & more than OK when solo

I went through the same dilemma at the end of last year. I went for diesel in the end (BMW X5) and dont regret it.

Prejudice against the petrol is based on the past before turbo and twin turbo petrol engines came into being. The latest generation of petrol engines that have recently been brought on to the market can easily match the characteristics of the diesel.

but turbo petrol have been around for a while ... 30/40 years ... though they tended to be the sportier versions with turbos that took a while to spool up to speed. SAAB springs to mind

That's not the experiance I have had with the petrol version of the identical diesel version we now have as posted earlier,  both have turbo 

Petrol may have the same bhp but not the torque of a diesel that a decent tow car requires

I don't think you must've been enthusiastic enough with the petrol. Just a quick look at a Vauxhall Insignia,  1800cc forced induction with around 200 horses & a little over 200 lb-ft of torque is not that dissimilar to the naturally aspirated 3.0 Vauxhalls that I had, but that will be at much higher revs than your equivalent diseasal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GM_Medium_Gasoline_Engine

I do not want to have any engine nearly in the red band , just to get any decent forward motion when towing thankyou when we can keep up with most traffic at 60mph at 2000revs and 30mpg with a long life diesel