low mileage diesel ...

[david allcock]

hello

with out starting the petrol v diesel argument can i ask a question

i do 10 miles to work and 10 miles back , a few miles through town then most of the rest at 50mph down B roads and coutry roads ...

i have had my car serviced to day and as normal salesman did normal thing of saying they are looking for petol vrs's bla bla bla, and offered me a new white VRS diesel with some nice options for about £15 a month more then what im playing now , i may be intrested but just worried about the low mileage i do causing DPF issues .....

[FUBAR]

I am a dieselist but but it sounds like youd be better off with the petrol stand by for people to comment ref the DPF side of that sort of usage. I am only using mine to nip to the shops at moment and not doing any long good runs due to an injury but this weekend out of DPF fear I shall be taking it for a good run to treat her right.

[Spudhoolio]

Not sure if you will be able to blow the cr@p out of your DPF in 10 miles B roads. Marginal ?

I do 20 miles each way, mostly dual carriage way and 1 motorway junctions worth with no problem.

[KenONeill]

How quick on a scale of "1 - Driving Miss Daisy" to "10 - Ayrton Senna eat my dust" do you do the B-doubles? This is about how hard you're trying to manage the 50 average, cos I know As and Bs where 50 average is nigh on impossible, and others where any muffin could average 100.

Do you actually want to pay more for your car?

[silver1011]

If the newer higher spec diesel is only £15 more than your petrol ask him for a newer higher spec petrol for the same price as you pay today!

Seriously though stick with petrol!

[Rob JS]

i doubt the engine will warm up enough in 10 miles to be efficient and burn off the crap through the filter. I say that you are better with petrol.

[colsay]

Stick with the petrol. The DPF problem lies in wait for low mileage users (and not only "Watchdog" but recent What Car? magazine is warning against diesel unless you do the miles and really get the DPF up to temperature). I am not a petrolhead as my previous car was diesel but after a very expensive DMF (dual mass flywheel) replacement at 15K miles I have come to the conclusion that diesel technology does not match my short journeys and c.8K pa mileage.

[Chubbs]

hello

with out starting the petrol v diesel argument can i ask a question

i do 10 miles to work and 10 miles back , a few miles through town then most of the rest at 50mph down B roads and coutry roads ...

i have had my car serviced to day and as normal salesman did normal thing of saying they are looking for petol vrs's bla bla bla, and offered me a new white VRS diesel with some nice options for about £15 a month more then what im playing now , i may be intrested but just worried about the low mileage i do causing DPF issues .....

Get the diesel - I worried about the same thing as my commute is an 18 mile round trip, mostly 30 limits. I haven't had an issue with the DPF in terms of lights on and going into limp mode etc but it occasionally goes through the expected re-generation cycle, maybe once every three months or so.

I have now covered just less than 6000 miles and I always make sure I give it a good motorway run or a good blast when I can and this seems to prevent any DPF issue for me.

Regards

Chubbs

[silver1011]

But buying a diesel when you do such low mileage defeats the object?

- A diesel engined vRS is more expensive to buy.

- Diesel fuel is more expensive to buy.

Irrespective of the DPF if you are doing less than 12,000 miles per year it just doesn't make sense.

Unless of course you prefer the way the diesel vRS drives compared to the petrol (agreed that this debate has been done to death though).

[Ecosse_VRs]

I am struggling with this one...

You want to spend £15 pounds a month more on a car with less performance than your existing one...

If it aint broke, don't fix it!

[RainbowFire]

Witchhunt, sorry, I mean Watchdog, were doing something on this the other day about DPFs and not running the car enough to regen them. The conclusion was: if you're doing city/low milage get a petrol.

Watchdog on diesels

Edited 28 October, 2011 by RainbowFore

[PSM]

I have a very similar drive in length to work as you with similar raods/speeds by the sounds of it. I have now had 2 diesel VRSs, one PD and one CR, and never had a problem with the DPF. Hence I would say if you like the car and it is a good price then I would go for it (£15 extra only a month seems a good deal considering the higher resale price diesels command over petrol).

[kerrbryan]

As long as it's £15 a month over the same term and not and extra year or two otherwise that's defo not the right thing to do.

[JonnyS]

I'm fed up with people talking nonsense about diesels not being worth it unless you're doing big miles Please do the maths first:

Doing 9000 miles a year in my PD170, which isn't used for fun as I have a 300bhp/ton kit car for that, these are the savings over 3 years:

Cost over the equivalent petrol at 3 years old: -1000

Money back when sold in 3 years at 60% +600

Fuel saving @9000 miles a year on 44mpg vs 34mpg +900

Insurance- I was quoted £150 more for the petrol vRS +450

Road tax is £155 vs £235 on the petrol +240

Of course, this assumes equal servicing and consumable costs which I think is fair.

Saving over 3 years is nearly £2,000. Easily enough to replace your DPF...

Now to some, driving a diesel may not be worth the extra cost, but I'd rather have the diesel low down grunt for my driving. My other car redlines at 12,000rpm.

[silver1011]

I'm fed up with people talking nonsense about diesels not being worth it unless you're doing big miles Please do the maths first:

And I'm fed up with people who say do the maths first.

There are so many variables to consider then you can make the maths work for either scenario.

The higher cost of diesel cars and diesel fuel needs to be spread out over higher mileage to offset those higher costs.

It's a simple concept but one that's been done to death through analysis by every single motoring organisation / body / vehicle manufacturer for years.

If you do low mileage and want a diesel go for it, my wife does and it works just fine for us - because we keep our cars for life. However if running costs are your number one priority given the choice between petrol and diesel then petrol suits lower mileage every time.