Diesel vs. petrol: What engine to choose for your lease car

When you’re looking at leasing your next car, you should think about what engine you are going to go for. Do you choose a diesel engine, or a petrol?

You may have already made your mind up, but want to know how your choice will affect your lease price.

We advise people on this every day so we’ve written an article outlining who is best suited to each engine, and how they affect lease price.

Which diesel cars are most popular to lease?

You tend to find that the most popular cars to lease in general are diesel engines, such as executive saloons. These include cars such as;

But equally, cars such as the VW Golf diesel are also extremely popular to lease.

Who are diesel engines best suited to?

Generally speaking, someone who is doing more than 10,000 miles a year would benefit from a diesel engine. Particularly if they are doing motorway driving.

Diesel engines are not particularly suited to those doing short distances or city driving.

Which petrol cars are the most popular to lease?

City cars tend to only come with petrol engines. These include cars such as;

So small hatchbacks and real city cars.

On the other hand, you also have sporty roadsters, coupes and convertibles. Some people tend to prefer petrol engines with those.

Who are petrol engines best suited to?

Petrol engines are best for those doing short journeys. So, popping to the shops or driving around a city. If you are doing 5,000 miles a year or less, the you’ll want to look at a petrol engine. If you are going to be stopping and starting a lot then petrol engines tend to cope with that better.

How does a diesel engine affect lease price?

There is not always a direct link between engine and lease price. But, it can make a difference.

Lease price is based on residual value. And for a lot of the popular diesel cars I mentioned, the diesels are more popular and therefore have a stronger residual value. So in that case, the lease prices tend to be lower.

Diesel cars also do well in the second-hand market, strengthening their residual value.

How does a petrol engine affect lease price?

As I mentioned earlier, some city cars only come with petrol engines. And, these aren’t particularly expensive anyway.

With some of the bigger cars, however, it again comes down to the residual value. There are some petrol heads that will say a true sports car has to be petrol so that’s what they will be looking for in the used car market. Therefore, the residual value for some petrol cars may be stronger.

But again, it’s not always a direct link.

Diesel vs. Petrol: Which is cheaper to lease?

Overall, a car with a diesel engine would be cheaper to lease. This is down to the fact that the lease cars that tend to be diesel are both popular and have a strong residual value. And both these factors keep the price down.

What are the advantages of a diesel car?

One of the biggest advantages of a diesel car used to be that they were more economical. They would provide more miles to the gallon and diesel used to be cheaper than petrol. This is why it’s so popular for long distance drivers. Plus, there are 18 manufacturer’s who can get a diesel car to do 80 MPG and only 8 manufacturers who can get the same results with a petrol. And, that’s only if it’s in hybrid form.

Diesel still has the edge when it comes to doing a high mileage. If you have a diesel engine you will definitely make fewer stops at the petrol station. Also, diesel engines tend to produce less CO2 emissions, which means they are cheaper in road tax. Plus, insurance on a diesel tends to be cheaper.

What are the disadvantages of a diesel car?

As of late, there has been a lot in the press about diesel not being as clean as people once thought it was. While there’s not much on what that means for diesel engines in the future, it has got people talking and it may have a knock-on effect in terms of popularity.

And, because of this, manufacturers have been ploughing a lot of money into their petrol engines to make them as good as their diesel engines. Also, while diesel used to be cheaper than petrol, it’s actually more per litre than petrol nowadays.

What are the advantages of a petrol car?

As I mentioned earlier, die-hard petrol heads won’t drive anything but a petrol engine. And they will say a petrol engine will give them a better performance. And, petrol engines are becoming more advanced so smaller petrol engines can be just as powerful as larger diesel ones.

Also, petrol is cheaper at the pump than diesel. And, petrol engines can cost less to repair than diesel engines.

What are the disadvantages of a petrol car?

One of the main disadvantages is that they are not economical when doing long journeys.

However, manufacturers are ploughing ahead with trying to make petrol engines more efficient and there are more economical, clean petrol engines on the market.Ultimately, however, whether you prefer petrol or diesel is down to personal preference. I personally prefer diesel. This is because I know it would cost me twice as much to travel to and from work. And, it would take quite a lot to convince me to go for a petrol engine. But there are some people that will only drive petrol engines. So sometimes it’s down to what you prefer as a driver.

The engine type can affect lease price. While there isn’t always a direct link, it does make a difference. However, there’s no clear cut cheaper option – it entirely depends on the car and your situation. Whether you choose petrol or diesel is up to you, but hopefully this has helped you on your way to making an informed decision.