While following the threads in here I get an occasional feel about the preferences of owners for certain types of fuel - usually the obvious one about fuel economy (although quite surprisingly, to me, some owners say that their petrol vehicle gives better fuel economy than some other diesel vehicle).

So, my question is, what is your preferred fuel for overlanding/travelling distance?
If there is some kind of reasoning for your choice, which does not have to be entirely logical of course, then so much the better.

Personally, as a bike rider, I would always prefer to come across a petrol vehicle while travelling, for the opportunity to cadge some "essence" when my tank is low.

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Dave

perhaps if you rode a diesel bike your perspective might change.

I prefer diesel as a fuel, as petrol is much more flammable and dangerous. I would never have petrol on the boats I built. Diesel is also much more frugal on fuel. A petrol engine always runs at about 14:1 fuel air ratio, but a diesel idling can go to 200:1

Again until the advent of electronics , there was very little that could go wrong with a diesel, usually if it started it would complete your journey and is completely impervious to damp.

Nice reply oldbmw. Never be afraid to run out of fuel with diesel, the Worlds economy runs on trucks...powered by diesel, the chances of scrounging a bit of diesel are far greater than petrol.
alot of small diesel bikes(400cc ish) are from stationary plant used for pumping/generating etc so also if you incured a problem 'fixers' in 3rd world countries would be more abundant than a mechanic who knows anything about a xtxrgxrr1 etc. With my 22litre tank on my Robin I either fill once per continent or every christmas!

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'He who laughs last, was too slow to get the joke'
Never confuse the map with the journey.

"Never be afraid to run out of fuel with diesel" The problem with that is the bleeding bleeding to get it started again!
The petrol v diesel debate could go on and on but in practical terms, for me it only comes down to several factors.
Initial cost, servicing intervals, economy, availability of fuel and level of complexity.
Generally a newer diesel costs more than a newer petrol, you have to service a diesel more often, diesels are more economical, diesel fuel is more available that a high octane petrol, diesels are less complex.

I tend to prefer diesels as I can get further on a tank full, I can get diesel all over the place, I can more easily diagnose and fix the engine problem and there seems less to go wrong.
To live with those advantages I tend to swallow the fact that it might have cost me more to buy the vehicle in the first place and that I have to plan where/when I do the servicing more often.

In practical terms it doesn't bother me that petrol is more inflammable, that a diesel is more noisy, has less power and is not as smooth.
What does bother me is if I can't get the right grade of fuel for it, I can't go as far before I have to look for fuel and it's too complex for me to fix (or at least know what needs fixing).

Something I noticed in Libya, where fuel deliveries were sporadic and huge queues formed at the filling stations, was that virtually every car was petrol. As they were waiting in queues 30 deep, and everyone would obviously fill thier car to the brim as well as any container they could find, it could be a day out topping up your tank.
If you were after diesel you could usually go straight to the seperate diesel pumps though with no queue.
The downside was that diesel was more expensive there, around a whopping 7p a litre, against only 5p for petrol.

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www.simba4x4.com

I don't know why and I'm not sure of the facts, but I think some countries, like Egypt, banned the import of diesel cars for a long while (?) I'm told that is why there are so few of them here even though diesel is about half the price of petrol (diesel 7pence/litre, petrol 13pence/litre).