Petrol or diesel for a seven-seat MPV?

I am buying a second hand seven-seater and wondering which is a better buy - petrol or diesel. It will mostly be used for city driving, probably less than 10,000 miles a year. I will only be spending €4,000 - €6,000 on a car. The choice seems to be a petrol car with low mileage or a diesel with high mileage.

Una Hegarty (Cork)

Jul 2013 Filed under: choosing used car

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Expert answer

Hi Una,

We'd immediately suggest you go for the petrol car. The low mileage one will be fresher all-round, plus it's likely it'll last longer before you need to spend money on serious maintenance and repairs. The diesel model may be more economical theoretically, but diesel cars are not best suited to permanent use in an urban environment and we suspect it'd cost you more in the long run.

We conducted some research into this subject in conjunction with Cartell.ie recently if you're interested. Read that piece in full here.

Best of luck

Shane O' Donoghue - Complete Car Adviser
@Shane_O_D