Diesel versus gas in DR

Diesel used to cost less than gasoline in the US and now it costs more. (Makes me wonder if that is because of carbon credit BS).

People purchase diesels because the price of diesel fuel is lower in the DR than gasoline and the mileage is better. Worrying about repair costs is secondary. Also remember that repair costs here are not as heavily driven by labor costs.

Excellent article about the difference between gasoline engines and diesel.
How a diesel engine is different from a gasoline engine | Digital Trends

I agree gas engines last a lot longer then before. I have a 2001 Chevy 1500 truck 207,000 miles and no issues. I have changed the alternator, brakes and wheel bearings. If someone is buying a new or low mile car in the DR how long would it take them to hit 100,000 miles or 200,000 miles. How many miles a year is someone driving?

About diesel fuel pricing:

Why Diesel Costs More Than Gasoline | NACS Online

I'm actually in the process of buying a diesel car. A Mercedes ML320CDI. It's a V6 diesel that sounds as smooth as silk. I had a 5cyl diesel Merc in the UK and it returned nearly 50 MPG (imp gal). Quite astonishing. i have never driven a car with so much pulling power but literally sips fuel.

Diesel cars make up over 50% of all vehicle on the road in Europe. Fuel consumption being the main reason.

The main caveat to buying a diesel car here in the DR is fuel choice. Some forecourts sell diesel with more water in it than fuel. Shell is known to provide a better quality diesel and I've been informed by a few people that Sunix diesel is supposed to be quite good too.

Another thing to consider is that almost all diesel vehicles these days are turbocharged. It's a good practice to allow the engine to sit at idle for a minute before switching off the engine. This gives the turbo time to spin down from 120,000 rpm with oil circulation from the engine oil pump. It also gives it a chance to cool down using the engine's cooling system. failure to look after your turbo will cause premature and expensive failure.

I'm doing over 3,500 miles per month at the moment, hence my reason for choosing a diesel. I wanted a decent Prado, but they are still very expensive, so the Merc is my second choice.

Derfish said:

Once upon a time gasoline was made without lead. Then they started adding it and calling it ethyl and charging more for gasoline with lead in it. Then it was discovered how much crap was being added to the air with all that lead so they started leaving lead out of gasoline and the price of unleaded gasoline cost more than the leaded. Why? Because they could.
Der Fish

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Completely incorrect.

Once upon a time to develop power CR were high and a valvetrain-primarily exhaust valves-would wear out after 30,000 miles. Then lead was introduced into gasoline as a lubricant for the valve seats and guides to make them last longer. Remember doing "valve jobs" as a common maintenance item? When was the last time you heard about doing one?

It wasn't until technology figured out how to harden seats & guides-and a mandate to reduce CR's for emissions-did it make sense to use unleaded fuel. We got higher compression engines with the advent of better head cooling and variable ignition timing (not vacuum advance).

So it was not "greed." It was technology.

Diesels are as popular as petrol cars in Europe. The technology has come a long way in the past 10 yrs. They offer great reliability and consumption figures. I have been in many diesel cars and never knew as they are like silk and deliver great power and drivability.

Look at the success of diesel powered cars at Le Mans 24hr's, especially with Audi.

Back in europe whenI was I was a kid, the next man next door would get up in winter mornings, go outside, and burn newspapers and cardboard boxes under his diesel Renault. Then go back inside for coffee, letting the fire burn........

The only set back I have had with a polo Vw 2L tdi diesel, is the fact that u have to manually purge the diesl pump of air if u run out of diesel ( but there again one should try and not breakdown for lack of diesel.......).

Diesel fuel is a lubricant, gasoline is a solvent. Diesel engines have a much higher compression ratio, and the parts have to be more sturdy, so Diesel engines tend to outlast gas engines. Gas engines are LOTS better than they used to be. in the 1950's a car with 100,000 miles on it was pretty much ready an overhaul or the junkyard, but I have seen wrecked gas engine cars in junkyards with over 300,000, and not expensive cars either, Hyundai Excels from the late 1980's.

Derfish said:

ANd that answers why it cost more to not put lead in gasoline?

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As I understand it, adding tetraethyl of lead raised the octane rating of gasoline, so that adding ""ethyl" to 87 octane made it perform as though it was 94 octane.

Gasoline is an assortment of various hydrocarbons: septane, octane, nonane, etc. I read somewhere that someone decided that optimal performance from a practical standpoint was achieved with 100% octane, so that any fuel that performed as well as octane was said to have an octane rating of 100. Companies and the government have furgled around with the figure for some time, so 100 octane in 1950 is not the same as 100 octane today.

An alternative way to improve the octane was to refine it to a higher volatility, which was said to cost more to produce. That is why Big Oil claimed it was more expensive. This may or may not be true, they are not the most truthful people around.

Once I had a Renault R-16 that required high test gasoline. I read somewhere that I could raise the rating of the fuel by adding a specific amount (less than 4 oz) of a mixture of Benzene, 35% Hydrogen Peroxide and Methyl Alcohol. Being as I was always fond of experiments, outsmarting The Man, had read about how nasty lead was, and a cheapskate, I whipped up a batch, and it did indeed work: the engine ceased to knock under the heaviest of loads, and the cost was about 2? more per gallon. The car also got about 2 to 3 mpg more. I drove the R-16 for seven years and 80,000 miles and although it did have some maintenance problems, the fuel system and burning oil were never among them. I don't think I would be able to buy Benzene and 35% peroxide today due to the various restrictions imposed after 9-11.

No spark plugs.
No HT wires
No HT coil or coil packs
Stronger mechanicals (required for higher compressions)
Different torque curve which suits certain usages.
Diesel has a higher energy output for weight than gasoline. (jet planes run on diesel. JP1 is basically like a diesel product).
Less susceptible to fuel quality and or contamination.
Less susceptible to water ingress on electrics.

-Are among a few benefits of diesels.

Unfortunately modern diesels have just as much electronic stuff going on as gas engines but they used to be simpler to repair and less to go wrong.

You probably will not find a commercial vehicle outside the Americas running on gasoline.
Our company Volvo truck had done over 2 million Km and the Iveco well over a million when we sold them, still working.Both diesels.

Another reason for gas engines lasting so long these days is modern oils. Another beauty of diesels is once they start running they do not suddenly quit except for contaminated fuel. I had two different diesels in boats where not having the fire hazard of gasoline is a big plus. One was a Cat 3208 turboand the other was a Detroit diesel 1271 v12 twin turbo. Diesel drawback is tremendous cost of repair. In the DR for a car or small truck I am just fine with gasoline/propane