off topic on to cars

Quick question guys my sister in law is a home to home carer and drives a corsa 1.2 petrol. She is looking to buy a new car around 4-5k. Now my brother in law said she should by this fiesta diesel 1.4 bcos it will be more economical than another 1.2 corsa petrol that she's looking at. But I argue that coź she only drives a mile or 2 then stops then 2 or 3 miles to another house etc that it wouldn't be any better economical. Am I right or wrong? Also I should add lives in valley's so lots of hills etc. Thanks for any opinions

I am not a car person so to speak, but the Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 is very cheap to run. Also I am not sure if you pay more on insurance for having a diesel engine due to a green tax on them for higher polution emissions

The thing with getting a diesel (older ones) not the new start stop ones,if your only doing short journeys ,the starter motor gets a hammering and you wont get the mileage ,and if the last owner has not had it serviced properly your buying problems ,and the diesels cost more for parts than the petrol and add on the extra cost of buying it in the first place because there 1to 2k more than a petrol , id go for a petrol stay away from the french stuff engines are good but get electrical problems once there few years old .

Thanks guys nice to be right for a change

If its a Fiesta shes after, & drives low average mileage, check out the 1.0 EcoBoost petrol models. Very economical to run.

These days I would almost certainly pick a petrol over a diesel, especially with newer cars - most modern diesels have those Diesel Particulate Filters which are a ticking financial timebomb if you only do short journeys; they'll clog up and cost a fortune to sort out. Plus many of them have Dual Mass Flywheel clutches that can also be expensive to maintain.

Yes, they'll be slightly more economical but diesel itself is more expensive at the pump also.

Cheers for all advice and guidance

Quick question guys my sister in law is a home to home carer and drives a corsa 1.2 petrol. She is looking to buy a new car around 4-5k. Now my brother in law said she should by this fiesta diesel 1.4 bcos it will be more economical than another 1.2 corsa petrol that she's looking at. But I argue that coź she only drives a mile or 2 then stops then 2 or 3 miles to another house etc that it wouldn't be any better economical. Am I right or wrong? Also I should add lives in valley's so lots of hills etc. Thanks for any opinions

No such thing as a "bad" car anymore, so long as it has been maintained properly and I think it won't matter too much what she buys with those sort of mileages, but obviously insurance, tax and maintenance costs will still be important factors

Agree with the guy above who says go for a petrol rather than a diesel for such small distances covered