Petrol vs ethanol vs LPG vs diesel. Which fuel saves you money and how far do you need to drive to make it pay for itself? Filling up used to be easy.
Now, new engine technology, fuel types and car manufacturer’s instructions are making it harder to know what you should be filling up with – or which car you should be buying.
LPG
Liquid Petroleum Gas is taxed at a lower rate than petrol so it costs a lot less to fill up. However, it costs several thousand dollars to convert your petrol engine to LPG (partially subsidised by the Federal Government). It takes about 40,000kms of driving for the conversion to pay for itself.
If its performance you’re after, most LPG engine conversions result in lower engine power and poorer fuel consumption. If you want to save money, the cost of refilling compensates for the inefficiency.
You can optimise your engine to run on LPG without losses in power and efficiency, but it costs a lot more, taking longer to recoup your money.
Ethanol
Any petrol engine will run on E10 (a biofuel containing ten percent ethanol), but it will produce less power and worse fuel consumption – particularly in city traffic.
If you’re going to buy E10, it needs to be five percent cheaper than what you’d pay for regular unleaded to make up for the higher fuel consumption.
Unleaded Petrol
For engines specifically designed for it, premium unleaded petrol delivers an increase in power and fuel economy of a few percent. But it can cost a lot more. You’ll only be saving money in the long term if you’re only paying five percent extra.
Diesel
If it’s efficiency you’re after, diesel wins hands down. However, diesel cars cost more to buy than their petrol counterparts and diesel is taxed more. It will take 80,000kms of driving before this balances out in overall running costs.
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