The fuel argument is back in the spotlight. And we drive the Discovery Sport HSE Petrol
So should you buy a diesel or a petrol carIJ After all, the National Green Tribunal had recently banned the sale of diesel cars with big engines. And then there was a move to deregister diesel cars more than ten years old. And all this stemmed from the massive pollution problem that the capital and its neighbouring cities suffered last winter and has already suffered following Diwali this year. Delhi and its surrounding cities are still surrounded in a haze of dust and pollution levels, while better than before, are still horrible.
Even as a car writer, one cannot escape the conclusion that vehicular traffic is partially to blame for this. Yes, statistics do prove that other factors such as industrial pollution and construction dust have a greater role to paly in particulate pollution. But let us not beat around the bush. As much as development is rapidly taking place on electric and hybrid vehicles, these remain expensive and are not an alternative, at least from a mass-sales point of view.
Diesel is cheaper than petrol and diesel cars are more economical. But diesel is also more polluting and liable to more government regulations going forward let alone being more expensive to buy in the first place. However, the math on buying a diesel version is still fairly complicated. Most diesel variants cost around a lakh of rupees more than a petrol variant with the same amount of features as a petrol variant. Speaking to car manufacturers in the aftermath of the sales ban and deregistration issue surrounding diesel, we found that the sales of petrol variants went up considerably. This is because people who drive less than 50-60 km a day, and mainly inside cities, found the arguments for spending the extra money on a diesel engine for greater fuel efficiency thin. And again, many people discovered that they actually commute far less than 50 km a day on average where the extra on a diesel made no sense at all.
Diesel was previously subsidised and is still kept cheaper than petrol because it powers India’s transportation sector. Thousands of trucks that are the lifeline of India’s economy use diesel power. However, those who thought up the policy back in the day never foresaw the emergence of the luxury car market. Ideas such as differential pricing have been thought up to prevent the “misuse” in a manner of speaking of the cheaper fuel by people who were never supposed to benefit. However, differential pricing will not do much but create a black market for the cheaper fuel.
In this segment of the market, the sale of petrol cars while increasing, remains quite small even if commutes are lower. That said, the actions of the Supreme Court and the National Green Tribunal did force several manufacturers to launch petrol versions of their vehicles. Some such as Jaguar land-Rover (JlR) launched the XE sedan which was available only as a petrol (and still is). But that is not the JlR product that we are interested in this week, we are looking at the Discovery Sport HSE Si4.
Now this variant at just above Rs 56 lakh is actually not that much cheaper than the diesel variant, being less than a lakh cheaper ex-showroom. Despite new duties on diesel vehicles, the price differential does not change much when you drive one out onto the road.
However, the petrol version has one major advantage over its diesel sibling, it comes with a lot more power. In fact it comes with 237 horsepower versus 177 horsepower. And that shows on the road. Unlike some of its German rivals, this car can move. And because the Germans don’t have a petrol option among their SUVs, this one can actually even qualify as a baby “performance” SUV.
But the best thing about the Discovery Sport is no matter which version you buy, it smothers the roughness on the roads. And on this car, you charge through rougher roads with no issues at all. It is actually quite surprising to drive a car like this at a decent speed and without the clattering of a diesel engine. While diesel engines have become quieter and more refined, they still lose out to petrol engines in the noise, vibration and the harshness department.
But there is a problem with the HSE Si Disco Sport. The car does not deliver great fuel economy. No matter how gently I drove the car in the city and on the highway, with the occasionally spurt of excitement, it delivered at best around 6-6.5 km per litre. The diesel-engined Disco Sport isn’t this fast or fun to drive, but it does give much better fuel economy. And at this price segment, the on-road price differential as a total percentage is minimal. Yes, if you like a spot of fun and like your cars to be exciting, go for the Si, but most of the time, the Discovery Sport TD does the job just as well. So there you have it, the argument between petrol and diesel remains a confusing one. And in this case, the brain and this writer have to say that you should get the diesel option.