I'm sorry but I agree with Mick on this, the tide is turning in Europe on diesel cars, last year was the first year since the late 90's that diesel car sales slipped (in percentage compared to petrols), many cities in Europe are putting plans into place to restrict or even ban them from city centers, it will happen here, they do pollute more than petrols, they have got complicated in their emission systems and already older ones are starting to become maintenance nightmares, I wouldn't be surprised if the government remove the road tax advantage on them sooner rather than later. When this happens used prices will plummet, especially for normal family cars. With the price difference of petrol over diesel, the increasing economy and performance of small petrol engines and the price difference when buying new with the added environmental and health issues of diesels, their days are numbered. Large SUV type vehicles will be ok for a while as it will be a while before they become economical with petrol engines, but even then, as the new hybrid petrol Volvo XC90 shows they are close to sorting that issue as well. Unless you do mega mileage (20+ k a year), diesel just isn't worth it. I got rid of my diesel car last year and haven't really noticed my fuel costs going up, plus I don't have to worry about the DPF etc anymore, don't have to deal with diesel pumps and the smell, don't have to deal with long warm up times in winter and enjoy the larger power bands and noise of both my small, turbocharged petrol cars.
