I’ve had loads of different cars manual/auto petrol & diesel.
I’ve always preferred diesel just felt easier to drive & more power available. I do t really think there’s ever been much in it mpg wise in all honestly.
Having said that my absolute favourite car was a 2003 Mondeo estate 2.5 V6 that I paid £550 for & it was the best most reliable car I’ve ever owned mint interior, it even drove from Yorkshire to Norfolk towing on 5 cylinders effortlessly. I loved that car so much I’d buy another any time. I’m back to a diesel auto now in a Grand Voyager & that’s a 2.8 with lots of low down grunt & and I much prefer it to the 3.3 petrol version.
I miss the older diesels when I used to run them on veg oil, the old Toyota estima diesel was dead cheap to run on used veg oil used to smell like a chip shop or a doughnut factory depending on the oil.