Petrol or Diesel ?

Hi all

Just joined the forum,been without motorhome for about three years now and decided, time to do it again.

this time we have chosen to go for a van conversion( others have been A class hymers).

we have decided on a symbol between about 99 & -01 years.having had a look about there are
a lot of 2 ltr petrol compared to 1.9 diesels.

how many people have petrol/diesel, i would be interested in pros/cons for both, and what fuel consumption do people get we will not do
a lot of mileage, but will be my wifes main form of transport,so will get used daily.

Thanks for any info.


Karl

Hi KBSSERV
Welcome to the Forum.

We have a 2006 Symbol 2.2 HDI, It's our only vehicle.
We average 32 to 35 mpg. Bearing in mind we never go over 60 on motorways & 50 on A roads. and very light footed.
Good luck with your search
Plattypus

Hi,
I run a 2001 pre facelift petrol engined Symbol. A reasonable expectation on a run is 23 mpg driving normally. I believe the 1.9 non turbo diesel to be considered by many to be a bit underpowered but I have never driven one. My van copes reasonably well with normal road conditions and has towed a trailer tent without problems. The petrol version is exempt from the LEZ. All models, diesel or petrol can suffer from water in the gearbox and speedometer failure also fifth gear can fail but is a cheap repair. Remember that petrol is at the moment cheaper than diesel. My personal preference is for the petrol but you need to test drive bearing in mind that when you are fully laden with water, food etc this can make quite a difference,
regards,
Chris

Hi kbsserv and welcome to the forum

Brian & Chris

Hello kbsserv

Can I request that you introduce yourself in the intro section [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

thanks for all the info, i'm still unsure which to buy diesel or petrol.

i would had hoped for at least 30mpg from the diesel, 23mpg from the
petrol is quite scary.

there are a lot more petrol for sale than diesel though.

Karl

We have a 1995 2ltr petrol Symphony. I went for petrol as I don't know much about diesel engines but I sometimes wonder if I would have been better buying a diesel. I've never driven a 1.9 diesel Symphony but the 1.9 diesel Swift Mondial (which is very similar) I tried was rather sluggish which made my mind up to go for petrol.

Around town I get 20ish mpg, a couple of months ago on a run up to Fort William sticking to around 50mph I got 27.4 mpg over the 300+ miles, which is the best I've ever had. The return journey against strong headwinds gave 25.1 mpg, again sticking to 50 mph. A turbo diesel might be the answer but there were none in my price range when I was looking and I won't be changing now.

HTH
Frank

kbsserv wrote: we will not do a lot of mileage, but will be my wifes main form of transport,so will get used daily.
Thanks for any info.
Karl

If you work out some figures on say a mileage of 6k. On diesel at 30mpg at current cost of £6.22 gallon (136.9 ltr) you pay £1244. on petrol at 24mpg at current cost of £6.04 gallon (132.9 ltr) you pay £1555. So it costs £311 per year extra to run a petrol model, other mileages pro rata.

Hi,
Can't make any technical comment, but I've driven diesel vehicles for several years and been very satisfied. This obviously influenced our choice when selecting a motorhome, and our 1995 Symphony has the 2.5 litre turbo diesel variant. We couldn't be happier with the performance, (though it is quite noisey!) and we get a pretty constant 30ish to the gallon, regardless of driving conditions or terrain.
Hope this helps

Jeff and Di

My first post on this site but I have been lurking for a while. I have 1998 Duetto turbo diesel. Turbo retro fitted by TB Lancaster. I average 30 mpg. 32 when touring the highlands doing between 40 and 60. Going down to England on M6 max speed about 66 (3000 revs) I only get about 28 mpg. I would say go for diesel however has anyone tried an LPG conversion on the petrol engine?
Pete

cyclops2 wrote: has anyone tried an LPG conversion on the petrol engine?
Pete

I considered this Pete but I was quoted £1600 for the conversion which at the mileage I do would take about 4 years to break even.
If I could afford it I might have given it a go, but having been out of work for the last 3 years I don't have that kind of money.
You can buy a lorra petrol for £1600!

Frank

Thanks to all for replies,seems a mixture of petrol & diesel, the only question i would ask
the petrol owners is why did you buy petrol version, could'nt find a diesel, to expensive etc

Would be interested to know.

Have found two diesel symbols on internet, from Todds motorhomes in preston, anybody have any dealings with them before.

One of the ones they have for sale is an 01, with 9 previous owners!!!.


karl

kbsserv wrote:Thanks to all for replies,seems a mixture of petrol & diesel, the only question i would ask
the petrol owners is why did you buy petrol version, could'nt find a diesel, to expensive etc

Have found two diesel symbols on internet, from Todds motorhomes in preston, anybody have any dealings with them before.

One of the ones they have for sale is an 01, with 9 previous owners!!!.
karl

Hi Karl,
First question,
1)The 1.9 normally aspirated diesel Mondial that I tried was sluggish, slower and mechanically noisier than the 1647 petrol RV50 I was "upgrading" from. All the turbo diesels on the market at that time were out of my price range.
2) I've always been "hands on" and do my own repairs & servicing, I know very little about the workings of diesel engines apart from the theory. I'm more at home with petrol.

Second question
We bought our Conway trailer tent from Todds before they started specialising in motorhomes, and we bought our first van, an RV50 from them. I would have happily bought my next van from them but they didn't have what I was looking for.
BTW my surname is Todd but I'm no relation and no matter how many time I drop hints, I don't get any discount when I buy anything their accessory shop

HTH
Frank

kbsserv wrote:Thanks to all for replies,seems a mixture of petrol & diesel, the only question i would ask
the petrol owners is why did you buy petrol version, could'nt find a diesel, to expensive etc
Karl

I bought Petrol, first because it was the only MH that suited us within our budget and secondly, working on the figures I quoted previously, if we keep it 3 years it will have cost us under £1000 more in fuel than a diesel one and we would have to pay £1000 more for the same MH in a diesel version, so it really didn't matter. Our mileage is actually only around 3K per year so the difference is even less.