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[mozilla]

You may find the 1.1 a little underpowered but depends what you are looking for.

Have you considered the diesel??

you comment about the 1.1 being under powered is true to some extent. its a cracking little engine which is nippy enough, it will hold its own on the motorway and will get you to where you want to go, but if your in a hurry then or try and accelerate in gear then its got 'no go' unless your above 3500 rpm. better buy a forfour with a bigger engine

the diesel is only worth considering IF you do the mileage to justify having one. if you do less than 12,000 miles a year then petrol will be cheaper. with the mileage im currently doing it would be worth me buying a diesel (mine has turned 98k miles today). i do 50 miles a day and fill my 1.1 every 8ish days, so in total about 420 miles or there about's to tank. the economy from a diesel is out-weight'd by the cost of filling it.

Diesel will always be cheaper to run whether you do high or low mileage. 5p/L extra over petrol at the pump is not a lot to pay considering you will be getting at 10-15mpg more of it and less frequest servicing. Only the initial car cost will most likely be higher but they are much easier to sell on.

[Brabs]

You may find the 1.1 a little underpowered but depends what you are looking for.

Have you considered the diesel??

you comment about the 1.1 being under powered is true to some extent. its a cracking little engine which is nippy enough, it will hold its own on the motorway and will get you to where you want to go, but if your in a hurry then or try and accelerate in gear then its got 'no go' unless your above 3500 rpm. better buy a forfour with a bigger engine

the diesel is only worth considering IF you do the mileage to justify having one. if you do less than 12,000 miles a year then petrol will be cheaper. with the mileage im currently doing it would be worth me buying a diesel (mine has turned 98k miles today). i do 50 miles a day and fill my 1.1 every 8ish days, so in total about 420 miles or there about's to tank. the economy from a diesel is out-weight'd by the cost of filling it.

Diesel will always be cheaper to run whether you do high or low mileage. 5p/L extra over petrol at the pump is not a lot to pay considering you will be getting at 10-15mpg more of it and less frequest servicing. Only the initial car cost will most likely be higher but they are much easier to sell on.

Not so at all! >>> http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-2025590/Is-diesel-car-cheaper-run-petrol-car.html

[mr singh]

Not so at all! >>> http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-2025590/Is-diesel-car-cheaper-run-petrol-car.html

thank you for the link.

[mozilla]

Im still sticking by my statement lol
I uphold the link out of context and poorly executed ;-)
Diesels have premium over petrols for this very reason of economy

[Unknown]

I am a former 1.3 AMT Pulse owner, only got rid of mine as she crept over the 100,00 mile mark and didn't want to worry about future costs - that aside it was an awesome car.

Having driven a 450 the gearbox is shocking but the 454 box is a vast improvement. Its the same 5 speed manual gearbox in the forfour, it has a few extra gizmos plus an overdrive giving it 6 gears. The 1.3 is the average engine, as in, it gives good power delivery, superb mpg and decent insurance.

As for the diesel v petrol argument, take a 55 plate VW Polo 1.4TDi and compare it with a 1.3 smart forfour... both will do 55mpg but what is cheaper to buy at the pumps?

Diesel no longer has the pull for the average driver, it costs too much to fill up and now many petrol engines give the same tax breaks and returns on fuel.

To the OP, the Pulse is an adequate spec for a car it will do the job - you'll more likely find the larger engines in a Pulse (cheaper trim level) than the Passion, the Passion you'll find the 1.1 and CDi engines, more expensive trim level so people scrimp on the engine.

[mr singh]

Im still sticking by my statement lol
I uphold the link out of context and poorly executed ;-)
Diesels have premium over petrols for this very reason of economy

and which one do you have?

[mozilla]

I have the brab but I did consider the cdi

[mr singh]

if you can get the same or similar mpg from a small turbo charged petrol would you consider it over a diesel?

[mozilla]

Of course! MPG is the main reason why more than half of new cars sold are diesels. Diesels also have less frequent servicing and lower tax. The twinair fiat 500 is a remarkable engine set up and the exception rather then norm in the petrol vs diesel matter. Someone also mentioned the polo tdi ahove but forgot to mention it weighs 350 kg more than the forfour 1.3.

[Unknown]

Of course! MPG is the main reason why more than half of new cars sold are diesels. Diesels also have less frequent servicing and lower tax. The twinair fiat 500 is a remarkable engine set up and the exception rather then norm in the petrol vs diesel matter. Someone also mentioned the polo tdi ahove but forgot to mention it weighs 350 kg more than the forfour 1.3.

Nothing about forgetting or neglecting, just comparing two similar cars.

Diesel is no longer the future, these small turbo'd units and proving to be far more popular than diesels. Diesel is also falling out of favour because of the DPF clogging up on shorter journeys and the lack of understanding by owners. But people buying these smaller units are finding the engines struggling to pull the weight and hampering the claimed mpg figures, plus being noisier at higher speeds due to the engine working harder. And when I compared a 1.2TSi Fabia it was twice the insurance of a 1.4 EcoTec Corsa.

[mozilla]

In city cars diesels dont return much better than petrol models so there are fewer available. When we move to the compact executive, family cars then diesels shine vs petrol equivalents. Just look at company cars, the likes of c220 cdi and BMW 320d

[Problemchild]

i want a renault twizy but they are too expensive and you have to rent the bagttery from renault

JJ

[basilbrush]

Diesels will not always be cheaper to run. An example is the need in a lot of cases for a dual mass flywheel. That will constantly be in action to damp out the crankshaft vibrations and when they fail they cost a lot of money to replace. With newer diesels; as unknown says;  the DPF legal requirements now make small diesel engines for town use a bad option. A bit ridiculous having to charge down the local bypass to burn the contaminants off. If anybody is looking for a Forfour the diesel is worth considering if you see a good buy, but the petrol models are economical too so it boils down to a matter of choice.
As the link above says it's the mileage you do that will determine if the purchase of a diesel is right for your particular circumstances. What I do find strange is that with all the arguments of fuel economy versus fuel price on diesel/ petrol arguments you're talking of maybe a couple of hundred quid a year difference at the most. Then people will ignore the maybe 60% they'll lose in depreciation in the first three years of ownership.

[lil.smartie]

i want a renault twizy but they are too expensive and you have to rent the bagttery from renault

JJ

Ditto but for a Zoe...

[basilbrush]

In city cars diesels dont return much better than petrol models so there are fewer available. When we move to the compact executive, family cars then diesels shine vs petrol equivalents. Just look at company cars, the likes of c220 cdi and BMW 320d

Company cars is a bit of a different ball game with a lot of them being on contract hire and covering long distances. Most of us will not be considering such comparisons with our motoring requirements.
I'll agree about German diesels covering long distances. I thought my dad was kidding me about the german diesel engined bombers when he was fire watching in the city of London, but he wasn't.