[CarAbuser]

25 and only diesels up until now. The m135i may tempt me away.

Wonder if they will make an m435i. All the benefits of the 1 without looking gash.

[chrismanchr]

i drive diesels at work all day kinda nice to get into something a bit more refined

[verysideways]

Originally Posted by Phil325i

So now I enjoy my 6-cyl petrol burble through my Performance Exhaust...and still get 40+mpg on a run. Bliss!

[acerboo]

im 59 have a 335d and a 330i with performance exhaust. ive had 2 335d's and would buy another, I absolutely love the thing! only thing as others have said miss the sound of petrol exhaust (335i with perf exhaust is fantastic) id have the m3 for 3 years but wouldn't part with the 335d

[BoondogUK]

I'm 32 and have had a petrol car history... XR2, Nissan GTI-R, WRX STi and some old school 5l V8s (Ford Falcons) as I am originally from NZ... It was only once I came to the UK did a diesel get a look in... and while they are fun and great for motorway driving (I have a 320d currently) there is nothing like the sound of a petrol... so excl the M's I guess a 335i would be my choice!

[chriz1]

I on a 320d m sport and previous cars have been focus rs's,Leon Cupar r,evo 8 FQ 300 all were remapped, then I owned a seat Leon Tdi mk1 and found that I can have more fun in a diesel purely because I can afford to more of the time ie giving it the beans, same with the bmw ticks all the boxes, I don't do enough mileage to justify a diesel if I'm honest but your saving £ every time you drive if you compare that trip to a petrol.

[mob17]

Im 25 and have had a little 316 petrol (bless her), 318 petrol, 320 diesel and now a 335 diesel.

I'm a lazy person so i love my diesels. Maybe not the best sound but its still nice enough for me. Up to 49mpg on motorways @ 70mph and the potential to go even faster with a tune. So i'd choose my current car and the money saved on all my costs paid, i'd go modding crazy

[lemonukas]

I'm 29 and I prefer my 6 cylinder petrol. On uk motorway I can get 40 mpg, Germany 16mpg. But still love it. Sound of engine is nice.
Diesel engines and auto gearbox can kill you.

[bigbeemer]

Why do diesel engines and auto kill you?? is this a bad combination?? i am buying a 320d auto and cannot wait for it.

Originally Posted by lemonukas

I'm 29 and I prefer my 6 cylinder petrol. On uk motorway I can get 40 mpg, Germany 16mpg. But still love it. Sound of engine is nice.
Diesel engines and auto gearbox can kill you.

[skelts]

I'm 26 and own 2 335d's but only have a diesel as my work mileage is high. Car before that was an M6 if I didn't do the miles now I'd be back in a v8 v10 in a heart beat(can't beat the sound). Although I'm mightily impressed with the torque and that's something the M6 could not offer even with a remap.

[magic77]

Same here bought a 320D as was meant to do abotu 20k a year after 4 years only done 46k. Great car but having driven the new F30 328i I know what will be on order this time next year.

[Danny.B.]

25 years old with a 330d, had a diesel car for the last two years, was used to doing 30miles a week in various fast cars then this grew to 30 a day (ok still not alot, but when youve grown accustomted to the 30 per week for 4 years it hits you hard!)

[Russ.C]

I own an E92 330D and just love the torque of a diesel, I have always owned diesels due to the mileage I do a year (20K ish) If I could choose I would probably get a 335D but insurance was a bitch, I'm 21 now but was 20 when I bought my 330. The main thing that would draw me away from a Derv is the engine and exhaust noise, so much nicer in comparison!

[doughboy]

I'm 40, driver a derv van for business (bipper 1250 hdi) fantastic fun to drive, thrash it to death, never clean it, never less than 50mpg.

But for personal use only ever petrol. end of.

[ukbeemerboy]

I'm 36 and have only had two diesels, all the rest were petrol cars. The two diesels I've owned were both E90 330d's. Diesels have a to be a straight six to sound sweet I think!

[BanziBarn]

I'm 37 so I do remember when diesels were rubbish. But now they're not rubbish so that's fine. You have to move with the times.

Like someone else said, electric will be the next thing and I'll happily move over to that. The thing is, if you compare electric cars against diesel or petrol cars then it makes both of them seem almost identical. Both explode some oil based liquid in cylinder, wasting a large amounts of energy through heat and sound. If you think about it, both are such old technology. We drive around with our GPS guidance, heads-up display, radar controlled cruise control yet under the bonnet is something which hasn't changed for a 100 years.

But, to me, I don't care what fuel I put in the car, I just like cars and good performance. This time I went for a diesel because the feeling of performance was cheaper to achieve.

If money was no object I'd get a powerful petrol engine because they sound better and rev longer.

Having said that, I'd often wondered what it would be like to put a petrol rev counter in a diesel car and recalibrated it so 5k revs showed 7k. I wonder how many people, if you stuck some loud music on would be able to work out the car was a diesel?

I mean, in 3rd, my car can accelerate strongly from 30mh to well over the the legal limit - so the old reputation that in dervs you have to change gear all the time isn't always true.... you really can get close to that long hard in gear acceleration feeling.

So no, it's not an age thing to me, I just see what's available and choose the one that feels best at the time.

[too hot]

Just bought my second diesel the first was an A6 Avant which was agreat car butt the problem was I kept putting petrol in it !!!
Just recently got a 335D and I love the way it surges forward on a wave of torque.
As for preferences I like the mpg of diesel and the rev happy petrol engines.
An M3 may be on the horizon!!

[HighlandPete]

I sense quite a few replies 'diesel vs. petrol' indicate it is more a money thing, than age thing. More "Bangs per Buck".

If costs were equal, there would be some different viewpoints.

HighlandPete

[HighlandPete]

Originally Posted by BanziBarn

I'm 37 so I do remember when diesels were rubbish. But now they're not rubbish so that's fine. You have to move with the times.

I assume you are talking of 'old' engines of the time. I was driving 'new' diesel models 45 years ago, they were rubbish. BMC 1.5 diesel anyone, or the BMC 2.2 diesel?

HighlandPete

[Toughtop]

Never owned a diesel, just not really considered it...

Car history has been Fiesta Ghia, twin choke weber carb (nearest thing to a turbo then), Cavalier SRI (115) joke from a 1.8 engine?? Couple of Astra GTE 16v's and Mk1 Leon Cupra R QST mapped, just always done petrol..

Have a long term association of diesel with astra vans and transits, well out of date i know...

All the major manufacturers have invested massively in tech, BMW doing their bit and advances have been massive in power/economy/driveability in recent years and must say recently would find it harder to decide between a diesel and petrol..

Would be a 335i over a d, don't do massive miles and like a revving engine, from 16v era and always had performance bikes..

Surprisingly, not such an easy decision for this 39 y/o.

[rickyjones1209]

My choice would be a 335i, that's why I bought one! I'd never pick a diesel over a petrol if my heart were to rule an cost/economy didn't matter. Surely 90% of people prefer a petrol over a diesel if its just a choice of the 2 with all other factors equal. Although I do appreciate how far diesels have come they still don't have the feel of a petrol.

I'm 27 btw, petrol petrol petrol!

[Kerr]

Reading comments about how diesel cars have moved forward in recent years, the same could be said for petrol too.

Engines are getting more and more powerful, more torque, less emissions and better fuel economy in many of the modern turbocharged petrol engines.