Gasoline vs. Diesel: Which Engine Lasts Longer and Breaks Down Less Often

According to new studies, the differences in the reliability of gasoline and diesel engines were minimal — only 0.5%, which fits within the statistical error. Modern cars in both categories demonstrate a high level of reliability even with mileage up to 200 thousand km.

How the Leader Was Determined

The analysis was prepared by Rolf's experts, who studied the statistics of malfunctions in more than 175 thousand cars that underwent diagnostics over the past five years.

The check included 112 unified points, covering key components, including the gearbox and internal combustion engine. The study was conducted on cars with mileage from 100 to 200 thousand km, which allowed us to assess the reliability and resource of units under active operation.

What Breakdowns Are More Common

The most common problem in cars with this mileage is leaks and fogging of engine and transmission oil. They were recorded with a similar frequency on both engines and gearboxes. The probability of a malfunction in gasoline cars was about 60%, while in diesel cars it was 52%.

Thus, diesel power plants showed a slightly higher level of reliability. The second most frequent are failures in the exhaust system, in particular, malfunctions of catalytic converters and particulate filters.

Here, gasoline cars already have a tiny advantage — the failure rate was 25.9% versus 29.4% for diesel cars.

Friendship Won

According to the combined data, modern cars have shown a noticeable increase in reliability. Even with mileage that was previously considered critical, the proportion of serious failures does not exceed 17%.

In the overall standings, diesel engines turned out to be only 0.5% more reliable than gasoline engines — the difference is statistically insignificant. This allows us to talk about the approximate equality of both technologies in terms of durability and performance.

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