ANALYSIS: Diesel vs Petrol

The union budget is around the curve and there's talk of a cess on diesel cars by a certain section in the power corridors of New Delhi. The cess could either be a percentage of the value of the car or a flat charge, something to the tune of Rs 80,000 if we have to go by what the press is brandishing about. If indeed this is true, then it could pretty much turn the whole argument in favour of diesel on its head. Besides, the industry is trying to stay afloat at a time when global economic policies and conditions are threatening to put India in the same spot as the developed world. Already, demand for petrol cars has reached an all-time low, thanks to the lopsided fuel pricing policies that have lead to a near 66 per cent price difference on a per litre basis, in favour of the diesel. This has led to the marketshare of diesel cars to rise substantially over the last few years. As a case study, we decided to find out if you did indeed purchase a Maruti Suzuki Swift VDi or a Maruti Suzuki Swift VXi four years ago, would you have made the right decision. The idea here is simple – take a Maruti Suzuki Swift VDi with a purchase date of March 1, 2008. Most of our Which Car? questions have been about people with an average running of 1,000 kilometres a month and therefore used it as a pre-condition for our analysis. If you are wondering, 1,000 km/month is the kind of threshold that makes most people wonder if it makes sense to spend extra on a diesel or go in for a petrol. That should translate to about 40 km a day, assuming that the car is not driven for about 5-6 days a month on account of weekends or 33 km a day if the car is driven every day.