If I buy a modern diesel-engined vehicle, will I need to be mindful of allowing the DPF filter to clear?

I have always preferred to use diesel engined vehicles due to their simplicity and reliability. However, now they are a mass-market product I am not sure if this is still the case. I have noticed a number of emails about particulate filters but I suspect my vehicles, a Peugeot 406 estate and a Ford Ranger, are too old to have such a device. Any replacement I buy will now almost certainly have one of these filters. I now do a very much-reduced mileage and wonder if a quick blast down a motorway say once a week will clear the filter?

Asked on 27 July 2013 by PW, Thurnham, Kent

Answered by Honest John

To meet ever more stringent emissions regulations, diesel engines have been forced to become far more complex and more expensive to make than petrol engines, with far more to go wrong. Some manufacturers have managed to catch up with new engine designs incorporating exhaust manifolds into cylinder heads. Generally the least troublesome of the new generation of diesel engines are Renault/Nissan's 1.6DCI 130, Mazda's 2.2 Skyactiv D, BMW's 2.0-litre diesel, KIA and Hyundai's 1.6 CRDIs and Honda's new 1.6iDTEC.

Tags: dpf diesel engines diesels

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