"Diesel = Plenty of torque (although not emission friendly), cheaper to maintain as the engine has less moving parts."
Diesels have to have an injection pump while for petrol cars that is only necessary if they are fuel injected many cars especially older cars are not fuel injected so diesels probably have more moving parts.
Diesels do not have spark plugs so no ignition maintenance although that is almost irelevent with modern irridium spark plugs
However diesel engines are build heavier , and the diesel is a natural lubricant to the cylinder bore so diesels tend to last longer before needing an upper engine rebuild
