Petrol (Gas) Vs Diesel

[tucker]

Hello all

I'm looking to buy one of these ever since I came across one the other day and thought it looked fantastic (I recon most of the MPV's in the UK look like you have been well and trully neutered)- it's not as practical as some of the 7 seaters - as a matter of fact I reckon I'm deffo going to need a roof box as the middle row seat doesn't look as if you'll get a child seat on - so one of the 3 kids will permanently have to be in the back.

However I was wondering if any of you good people who are living with these cars could answer a couple of questions for me.

A) petrol or diesel ? I know the diesel is more fuel efficient but on my test drive I was almost tempted to pick up a fare as it sounded like a London black cab, plus there was this little high pitched whine that went up in pitch when you revved the engine. So I was wondering, is the petrol motor significanlty quieter ? as the engine noise really did put me off.

B) secondly and most importantly, knowing what you know now about the car - would you still have bought it if you could go back in time?

I'm currently going to have to give up my Honda CRV whaich has never given me a days bother since I bought it, and I really don't wish to replace it with something that is going to frustrate me - no matter how fantastic I think it looks.

(going for the red SE for £12,300 which seems like a pretty good deal)

Thanks in advance for any advice I may receive, it is much appreciated.

[BAC]

Hi,

We've had our CRD R/T Auto for six months and love it!

Yes the engine does sound 'diesely' but it is quieter since it's run in but still a little noisey when cold. On a run you can hardly hear it and normal conversation is fine. It will be cheaper on fuel than the petrol but it depends what you want the car for. If you're doing mainly short trips then it's not going to make a huge amount of difference but if you want to use it for holidays all loaded up then I'd go for the diesel.

The high pitched whine is probably the turbo spinning up -I actually quite like that!

Also we chose the auto as we didn't like the manual -we tried both, maybe you should too.

It's a great car and we've had no regreats whatsoever

Cheers!

[tucker]

Cheers BAC

Finally decided to go for the RT anyway so petrol is a moot point now - just couldn't resist all the add ons - but I must say if there was an option of just adding the chrome handles and roof rails - I'd have probably stuck with the SE, for some reason those little touches make it look so much better. As it happened I got a stonkingly good deal on the RT manual, (£16,800) I would have liked to have tried both but they are very small dealerships in the south of england and only had autos so I'm taking a bit of a flyer but I'm used to manuals so it shouldn't be too bad. Anyway I thought that for the deal I was offered, it was a hell of a lot of car for the money. (i've seen them second hand for £18,500 on autotrader)

I took an SMAX out for a ride today and although the ride was smoother, I just couldn't stop thinking about the fact that I would always be dissapointed looking at the damn thing in my drive. I also thought that despite the fact it was a top of the range SMAX it felt cheap inside and the car feels flimsy (despite it costing nearly 23 grand). I like the big chunky doors on the Dodge and after seeing the footage of the crash tests on youtube, feel quite happy that my kids will be a lot safer in it, so a call went in to the dodge dealer when I got back home

Love the colour of yours - I was really torn between that and the red - went for the red in the end.

Thanks for answering, I'm really glad to hear that you're happy with yours. I think that once you set eyes on one of these - then nothing else will do.

Will now have to wait patiently for 3 weeks.