Comments on: The diesel price rise

By: Dianna

Dianna — Tue, 04 May 2010 00:53:48 +0000

I have a mazda 6 diesel wagon. The true value in a diesel comes in the number a Km I do each year. I average 60,000 km a year. so I am well and trully up in the savings on the fuel. Then there is the added advantage that if maintained well a diesel engine will run as well when is has 250,000km on the clock as it did when you bought it. My Car is a great example of this.

When chosing between petrol and diesel you need to think about what you are using the car for, how many kms a week/year you are likely to do and how long you want to keep the car before trading it in.

By: Gertsy

Gertsy — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 10:16:12 +0000

Just doing some sums here:
If the average cost of filling a petrol car is $75 a f/n
Filling the same car in a diesel scenario is going to cost $85 but you are only going to have to do it every 3 weeks. Better fuel econ.
In p/a fuel cost this translates to $1950 for Petrol and $1473 for diesel. A $477 saving. Lets round it off to $500 for the fun of it.
At a price difference of between 3-5k for diesel variants of cars it is going to take you 6-10 years to break even base cost wise.
A quick google search finds that 9.7 years is the average age of cars on Australias roads. On average cars are kept by new owners for 5.7 years.
This doesn’t take into account the maintenance differences of diesel cars but shows you how the price of diesel cars is the “eveneruper”
Quite simply the savings you can get from diesel are already in the manufacturers pocket as soon as you drive out of the lot.
Someone’s laughing until they wet their pants and it aint the car owner.
Buy a diesel car for reasons other than economy and its of no concern as the price is more or less the same as petrol for the 5-7 years you keep it.

By: R. Cameron

R. Cameron — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 22:07:39 +0000

the cost of diesel in New Jersey U.S.A. is the same as regular and it should be that way in oz.

By: R. Cameron

R. Cameron — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 22:01:26 +0000

the high price of diesel is due to the gouging of the Australian oil companies… that is par for the course in Australia as you are paying high prices for pritty much everything from cloths to washing machines and getting low qulity to-boot

By: Jens

Jens — Wed, 06 May 2009 05:36:27 +0000

I make my own Diesel out of used sump oil. or a mixture of refined sump oil and diesel. I can save about 50-60% off the pump price. Plus a little used cooking oil in there as well for extra lubricity, it’s great. try that with a petrol motor. But Diesel should still be cheaper. I was just in Brunei this year and it cost about 35c/pl. Even Thailand has way cheaper Diesel based on the Singapore market. ‘Australia, The lucky country’. That should actually be ‘the mark up country”.

By: Mick Nicholls

Mick Nicholls — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 05:13:40 +0000

Lets face it, diesel is not on the NRMA’s most urgent list as there are far fewer members that use diesel than those that use petrol so this is their area of concern. Its about time that the NRMA remeber that we are all memebrs and not only that we are all voters and the day will come when we going to say, enough is enough, NRMA Board Members treat us the same as you treat the petrol users or we will actively push to get someone elected who does give a damn about us. I am sick of reading “there is nothing we can do about the price of diesel”. Push harder or we will.

By: Keith de Jong

Keith de Jong — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 03:24:12 +0000

We often drive through Europe and having just (Nov.2008) returned from a 4500 km trip through France and Italy I can report we paid between Euros 1.21 and 1.28 per litre of diesel.

At todays exchange rates that equates to AUD 2.42 and 2.56 per litre.

About 70% of private cars in Europe run on diesel because it has always been about 15 to 20% cheaper than petrol.

Traffic in the cities and on motorways in Europe is still just as dense as it was last year and the year before etc. but there is a definite leaning towards smaller cars.

Our Renault Modus (not available in OZ) returned 4.6 ltr/ 100 km.
My VW Golf 2.0 TDI takes abt 6.5 ltr/ 100 km.

Last week I paid 35 cts more for my diesel car then my wife paid for her petrol Honda. I just cannot understand why truck owners don’t make more “noise”. For heavens sake: the price of oil has bottomed to close to US$40 a barrel.

By: Gerard Auckett

Gerard Auckett — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 02:34:05 +0000

I live on the central coast of NSW,the diesel prices here are anywhere between 40 and 44 cents per litre higher then standard unleaded.This is ABSOLUTELY CRIMINAL.Would someone please explain to me how we are to understand that our government is letting this RIP OFF happen. I sincerely hope that our “NRMA”, is going to do all that it can to” HELP”.We all need to pressure our leaders into looking after us all, in making sure that these oil companys are controlled.

By: Geoff

Geoff — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 12:43:23 +0000

When i ordered my new diesel prado in January , diesel prices in adelaide were on average 8 cents per litre higher than unleaded , by the time the car was delivered in july 25 cents per litre higher . Now the price of oil is through the floor we are paying up to 40 cents per litre more . where does this end , we are being ripped off by the oil companies and our elected government , our motoring clubs are standing by and doing nothing . do we have any options , i would like to hear some

By: sooty

sooty — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:11:22 +0000

As of December 2, diesel is now 40c more expensive than 91 RON unleaded petrol. That the gap is now this large is ridiculous, OR it must mean the economic slowdown in Asia (the market where we source our diesel) is still booming and has not been hit by the downturn in markets.

I suspect there is some truth to the suggestion that the petrochemical companies are ripping off diesel users (who are mainly businesses) because they will just carry the cost as part of expenses.

Private consumer diesel users are caught up in it all. Some pressure should be applied, as there is clearly something wrong here