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Petrol or diesel? It’s a question car buyers have grappled with for decades. With each type of fuel offering different benefits and pitfalls, it can be hard to pick the one most suited to your lifestyle and driving habits. But fear not, because we’re here to help with our no-nonsense guide to common car fuel.
Weighing up the pros and cons of petrol and diesel, and taking a look at how they’re made, our guide is here to help you make the right choice when it comes to your next car. Use the links below to navigate or read on for the complete guide.
Petrol or diesel? It’s a question car buyers have grappled with for decades. And now it’s even more complicated with all-electric, hybrids and even liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). With each type of fuel offering different benefits and pitfalls, it can be hard to pick the one most suited to your lifestyle and driving habits. But fear not, because we’re here to help with our no-nonsense guide to common car fuel.
Weighing up the pros and cons of petrol and diesel, and taking a look at how they’re made, our guide is here to help you make the right choice when it comes to your next car. We’re going to go through each type of fuel in detail to remove any guesswork when you are buying your next car.
The most common type of car engine, the petrol engine, is known for its cheap, lightweight and quiet running noise, when compared to similarly sized diesel engines.
Petrol is the most common type of car fuel in the UK, with around 18.5 million petrol-powered cars on Britain’s roads.
Petrol comes from crude oil, which itself is hauled up from oil fields below the Earth’s surface. This oil is then refined through a process of heat and pressure, so that it can acquire the explosive properties needed to fire in an engine.
Ever wondered what the difference between unleaded and super unleaded is? And why does one cost a few pence more per litre than the other? Let us fill you in.
Super unleaded is considered a high-performance variant of standard unleaded petrol. That’s because it has a higher-octane rating, usually of around 99 RON or higher.
Standard unleaded petrol has an octane rating of around 95 RON, so the difference between the two is very slight. That’s why we wouldn’t really recommend paying more for super unleaded, unless you drive a classic car or high-end sports car that requires a performance fuel.
Premium fuel sits comfortably between standard unleaded and super unleaded, offering an octane rating of about 97 RON.
Most modern cars are quite happy with any type of petrol you’d find at a petrol station, but if for performance cars, or just to squeeze out the most power from your engine, you should purchase the petrol with the highest octane rating.
Not sure whether to buy a petrol or diesel car? Take a look at the pros and cons of petrol below.
Brindley has a wide range of petrol cars available at our dealerships from popular brands like Honda, Hyundai and premium brands like Genesis. Petrol engines are very versatile, so car manufacturers put them in everything from city cars like a Hyundai i10 to large SUVs like the Volvo XC90.
Diesel cars have seen a large rise in their popularity, with many brands even offering performance diesel vehicles. Let’s take a deeper look into diesel, what its benefits are and why you might choose a diesel engine in your next car.
After petrol, diesel is the most widely used fuel in the UK, with an estimated 12.4 million diesel-powered cars on British roads. Like petrol, diesel has been around for decades, and was once billed as the ‘fuel of the future’ thanks to its impressive longevity and economy.
Diesel, like petrol, is produced when crude oil is heated. Diesel vapour is extracted from the same tank as petrol, though the oil needs to be heated for longer and at a higher temperature to attain diesel fuel.
When diesel first became available at fuel pumps, manufacturers touted it as a revolutionary product that would overtake petrol as the world’s go-to fuel. But this hasn’t quite worked out, as people came to realise that diesel was contributing more to air pollution than any other type of motor fuel.
The simple answer is, it depends. Diesel is great at long journeys, and it’s great at pulling things like caravans and trailers, because of its high torque at low revs. If those things match your use case, diesel is probably a solid option for you.
If you’re unsure between buying a petrol or diesel car, we’ve made things easier with a quick look at the pros and cons of diesel engines:
Although there are a few smaller cars which offer a diesel variant, generally speaking, diesel is more often found on larger, high-powered vehicles. The whole purpose of diesel is to provide the perfect combination of torque, power and efficiency, so the fuel is ideal for saloons, 4X4s and SUVs that need a little extra power beneath the bonnet.
As we mentioned, diesel is less popular than petrol, so there aren’t as many options, but there are still options from Mazda, like the CX60 and All-New CX80 and Genesis, like the GV70 and GV80, as well as used options.
Hybrid – a combination of a combustion engine and an electric motor – and fully-electric vehicles are on the rise, with the UK government forcing manufacturers to phase out the production of combustion engine cars. There’s still a lot of variety within the hybrid and electric space, which is why we put together a page to explain the different types.
EVs and hybrids are incredibly capable cars, with instant high-torque, fast acceleration and numerous features that simply aren’t available on petrol or diesel cars. Some electric cars allow you to control the heat of the car before getting in it via a mobile app, for example.
We took a deeper dive into EVs and Hybrids in our blog, 5 Reasons You Should Consider Electric or Hybrid for Your Next Car.
The Hyundai IONIQ range is an all-electric range known for its futuristic design elements, while Kia continues to expand its EV range with the All-New Kia EV9
As well as the fuel station mainstays of petrol and diesel, you may have noticed other pumps at your local garage, including biofuel and LPG Autogas. Let’s take a look at what these are and what they offer below.
LPG Autogas is a new type of fuel that’s said to offer an alternative to petrol and diesel. Currently, no cars are built with an engine that’s specifically designed to run on this type of fuel, but there is the option to convert a standard petrol car to run on it.
There are over 170,000 cars on UK roads which run on LPG Autogas, with the fuel offered at over 1,400 fuel stations across the country. LPG Autogas is very cheap to buy, although the low price is offset by poor performance and efficiency.
Biofuel is a new form of fuel that’s still in the development phase. Currently, biofuel is added to petrol and diesel to make these fuels more efficient and environmentally friendly, but there are plans to make it more readily available as manufacturers start building cars which run on it.
Biofuel is made from living matter, specifically biomass, that is refined and turned into a usable fuel. It’s not yet clear in what sort of situations biofuel will be an efficient choice for drivers, but it should be a good choice for those who regularly drive in a congestion zone, with no charges to pay for biofuel-powered cars.
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W Brindley Garages (Cannock) Limited
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W Brindley (Garages) Limited, W Brindley Garages (Cannock) Limited Central Car Clearance LLP is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority for consumer credit activity and the Firm Reference Numbers are 689220, 688878 and 688893 respectively. Permitted activities include acting as a credit broker not a lender. We can introduce you to a limited number of finance providers. We do not charge a fee for our Consumer Credit services. We do not act as a financial adviser, or fiduciary. We act in our own interest, whichever lender we introduce you to, we will typically receive commission from them based on either a fixed fee or a fixed percentage of the amount you borrow. Any and all commission amounts will be fully disclosed to you as part of your sales journey. You will be required to give your fully informed consent to our receipt of this commission. By doing this, you acknowledge that you understand our role as a credit broker, and that we will receive a financial incentive if you take out a loan from a lender that we introduce you to. All finance applications are subject to status, terms and conditions apply, UK residents only, 18s or over, Guarantees may be required.
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