Petrol or diesel
 

Hi there, we are set on getting the XC90 Inscription but are going back and forth between petrol and diesel and would like some views on this.

We only average b/w 3-4k miles tops per year. We're buying second hand 2016+ plates and there only seem to be diesels around.

Concern with diesel is with the DPF as we don't do enough regular motorway driving and whether this will cause issues in the long run which mean expensive fixes. Also, we live in London and there's a lot of fear mongering about the decline of diesel cars and taxes (our resident parking permit has already had a £200 surcharge slapped on it by the council b/c we own a diesel car). Hopefully, by the time that happens, we will have moved out of London but you never know.

Yet there don't seem to be many petrol options around and we've been advised that petrol won't give much mpg for a car that heavy. For our out of town runs, including driving to France, we usually have 4 bikes attached to the car.

We were only looking at diesel then saw a great deal on a T8 Petrol Hybrid which has added to the confusion (only issue being we have street parking so not sure how we'd charge the car when half the time the only space is never the one outside our door!).

Any advice greatly welcome!

My personal preference is a petrol car but I'll let others debate the merits and demerits of both.
As I understand it the hybrid wouldn't be impossible as you have the petrol engine to move it even when it's not electrically charged so could you charge it at work or in a special bay in a carpark etc?

Regarding the availability we had a similar situation when we bought my wife's Kia, looking for a preloved car we are stuck with what people bought new some years ago, there was the great push on diesels a few years back so that's what people bought. In our case I could find only two petrol Kia Ceeds available in the whole country, fortunately one was less than 20 miles away, but the other was way up north. If you've got the luxury of time best I can suggest is waiting and watching and being prepared to travel to get it.

I would go for petrol. I have just traded an 2016 XC60 D5 R Design with Polestar for a 2018 petrol XC60 T5 R Design with Polestar. I disliked the Diesel whilst the noise is a lot better than they were I still prefer petrol but petrol are like hens teeth unless you buy new. On a run 35mpg same as my diesel. I did look at the T8 but would still be using 95% petrol on engine as no charge facilities at home. I have accepted my tax bill is £450 per annum. I only cover 3.5k per annum so diesel was a complete waste of money. It also looks like diesel will reach £1.50lt by August 18.
Best of luck.

Thanks both. Really useful. I've always leaned towards petrol but I need to convince my husband that we should go for the T8 or Petrol model. He's the one that wants diesel! I will show him this thread :)

As you have already said the DPF will be an issue which answers the question for you.

remember that all the volvo petrol engines for the last 4 years are GDi type direct injection which makes them a lot more efficient than the older 5 cylinder engines you might have been used to .

Petrolllll!