!2 miles! I do 17 each way on cycling  my bike and only just get warm, you can get a PCP on any car not just new, I would get a used TSI and save thousands, the new VRS of any sort are way too expensive, or wait till the discounts come, and trust me they will come  [/url]

I'm not sure "buy a car you don't actually want just because it's cheaper" was the kind of advice the OP was after. If we all followed that then the demand for 15yr old rusty vauxhall corsas would be huge lol!

On a serious note I don't think the OP will have any DPF issues if he drives a 12 mile commute and gives it a good workout every now and then.

It can be a case of the same old 'why are there so many sick people in a hospital?' analogy when it comes to car problems reported on a forum :-)

Buy it and IF the DPF gets clogged before you sell it on (unlikely) just have it cut out / removed for a few hundred quid or replace it completely for a grand. I have seen lots of DPF warning lights, but so far none have required anything other than a cost-of-fuel regen to rectify.

 

My opinion is still that low mileage private owners should steer towards the TSI. Not due to DPF issues but rather because the TSI is a smoother, more powerful car, and with the low miles it should not cost too much more to run than a rattly derv. For me petrol is well worth a ~£10 per week premium, but I do low miles. Some of my mates spend that per day on cigarettes.

At a guess I reckon the PCP payment will be around £40 more a month given the extra depreciation you have to cover. Plus if you consider the difference in fuel tax means its a better monthly cost prospect.

I concede that if I was to keep the car though then the ballon on a petrol would be less to find or refinance than the diesel.

I have just switched from diesel to petrol after many many years of running a diesel car.

 

My commute to work is 4.5 miles and then a lot of time doing 8ish mile runs after work. At the weekend I would travel across country to north Wales and back a 150 mile round trip.

 

The regular run to Wales have gone (as has the family caravan) meaning I am left with doing about 11000  or less miles a year around town with the odd long run.

 

I had a Fabia 1.2TDI Greenline that broke down on average every two months and I hated driving it.  The Fabia was replaced (after proving it was not fit for purpose) with another Fabia 1.6TDI that had minor issues and again the driving was marred.

 

I am getting there.

 

Knowing that my driving style gave an increased risk of DPF failure was the deciding factor, as I wanted a car I could/can take pleasure out of driving it.

 

If you can cope with the thought that the DPF could fail due to your journeys then buy a diesel, if not get the petrol and enjoy - the 1.4 is a blast let alone the VRS.

I've never even seen a DPF light in about 10 years and used to do a similar 13 mile journey. Just make sure you hit 4000 RPM once every week or two, get to about 2000-2250 RPM when cruising on the motorway and don't jump in it for a 2 mile trip from cold unless you're going to use it later or the weather's bad.

Company car drivers will probably not be reading this far...

My commute is just 2.5 miles each way - never had any issues with DPF. I do, however take the car out for a blast every now and then, to keep it 'clean' and to have some fun!

my wife had my mk2 vrs diesel dsg from new and did 1.3 mile trips tp school twice a day and 2 mile trips for shopping for 2 years

plus days out at the weekends and only had one dpf issue when the car feel funny and not running right other than that fine!

You'll be fine, the CR engined cars are nothing like as sensitive as the old PD engined cars with DPFs. I think the rule of thumb is that as long as you take them on a reasonable run now and again, enough for them to warm up and undertake their automated regens (occur every few hundred miles.....higher idle, fans on, may smell of burning) you'll not experience a problem.

ive done 9k in mine in just under a year, have interupted a few regens too and not a problem, no forced regen lights or anything. Ive ran two VAG DPF equipped cars previously for a total of about 4.5 years and no probs with those either.

also agree and sympathise with the diesel over petrol choice too; ultimately id have preferred a petrol vRS but the cheaper finance and running costs outweighed the decision for me. When i bought my mark 2 vRS just under a year ago TDI vs TDi to the same spec the petrol was going to cost 30 quid a month more even though the diesel was about 1k more to buy.

If i dont go back to a company car I might consider chopping the MK2 for a MK3.....ive been trying to pursuade myself to go petrol if I do but the cost differential is such it makes it difficult for the heart to overrule the head; christ anyway a 181hp diesel car has the capability to get you in more than enough trouble anyway; whilst my Mk2 CR doesnt exactly set my world on fire one thing I cant level at it is that its slow!

Edited 1 December, 201312 yr by pipsyp