TBC - Diesel or Petrol - The eternal question (DPF) | Motoring discussion | Back Room Forum

Mon 15 Oct 2018 17:36

TBC - Diesel or Petrol - The eternal question (DPF) - sx200n

Hello,

No doubt this is a question asked every 5 minutes, not just on this forum, but on most.

I am looking for a car with a bit of Power, something to have a bit of fun with mainly at the weekends, but it will have the occassional trip into work on a weekday.

The Cars I have really enjoyed test driving are unfortunately rarer than the Pope when looking for a petrol version.

I have driven a BMW 330i and 335i, along with a Mercedes e350 CGI, yet looking for a Petrol version in a specific price bracket means travelling 200 miles to find one. For instance, the e350 Coupe petrol aged between 2009 and 2013 - Autotrader has 4 in the whole country!!!

My question is, can I get aware with a diesel equivalent (to help my search for a car) yet not have to worry about DPF issues??

It is likely to be sat around for 3 or 4 days a week not moving, but a trip into work is only 15 Miles and only includes a short 5 minute dual carriage way drive followed by another 30 minutes of heavy traffic that generally moves, but not always. At the weekends I am likely to be able to get out in it one of the two days for a bit of a drive for a few hours.

Am I a candidate for PDF issues or not? Or should I really be sticking to Petrol to be safe?

Any assistance will be greatly appreciated.

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Mon 15 Oct 2018 17:49

TBC - Diesel or Petrol - The eternal question (DPF) - skidpan

Simple answer.

If you are buying used and more than about 3 years old buy petrol.

If its new or very nearly new and you are prepared to learn when the regens occur and drive accordingly a diesel might just be OK.

If you want a car with a bit of power have you actually tried a Seat Leon 1.4 TSI 140 (or the newer 150) from mid 2103 onwards. They are more than quick enough in most driving.

Try one before you say the engine is too small, I would be shocked if it did not surprise you.

But make sure its the Mk 3 and has the 140 or 150 PS engine.The earlier Leon had the potetially troublesome chain cam engine and a shocking interior and some of the 1.4 TSI Mk 3's have the less powerful 125 PS engine and its not easy to spot. The V5C is the only way to verify it 100%, it will say either 103 Kw for the 140 PS and 110 Kw for the 150 PS.

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Mon 15 Oct 2018 18:45

TBC - Diesel or Petrol - The eternal question (DPF) - Avant

Althouugh most of us on here are amateurs, we like to help people in their search for a car. But like some many others (and I really don't know why), you haven't told us your budget; nor have you told us what size of car you need.

If you're looking for a used car, particularly a medium or large car, until recently people were encouraged to buy diesel, so that most cars now for sale are diesels. But look on Cars for Sale on this site as well as Autotrader: there are some petrol ones around of most makes except Volvo. Petrol power would suit your needs better I think.

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Mon 15 Oct 2018 22:07

TBC - Diesel or Petrol - The eternal question (DPF) - sx200n

Thanks for the replies.

The most I really want to spend is £10k - £11k. The newer the car the better, but given what I am looking at it is likely to be a 2008 / 09 model.

I am pretty set on the cars I have mentioned. The reason for the post was purely to bounce of others in terms of 'can I consider diesel power' given the usage I mentioned.

For instance, the same model Mercedes in Diesel gives me 200 cars on Autotrader, yet the switch to petrol gives me 4, which is most annoying in all honesty.

It has been a while since I changed car and DPF issues were not really a problem last time I had a diesel.

My last car was a 56 plate Honda Accord 2.2d EX and it was a very good car. Bought it with 75k on the clock and just sold it on with 150k on the clock. But I know that the model I had was one of the last without a DPF filter.

But now that my other half has the Family car that will get the bulk of the use (Mazda 2.2d CX-5) I can now afford to have something a bit more fun and less economical.

Yet as we have a little girl of 9 years old, it needs to have use able back seats.

I have always had saloons or coupes where as my wife has always had the smaller hatchbacks. I have never been a huge fan of hatchbacks, although I would never rule it out completely.

For me it is how a car drives, and both the 330i and the Merc E 350 CGI both have a decent amount of power under the hood, yet remain moderately economical. I know a few owners of both that get about 35Mpg out of both which is pretty decent for two almost 300Bhp petrol engines.

I really want a nice new Alfa Giulia. Alfa let me test drive one around brooklands as part of a promo to get me to buy one. Fantastic car, but it is too new for my budget so will be a couple of years until used ones become affordable.

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Mon 15 Oct 2018 23:01

TBC - Diesel or Petrol - The eternal question (DPF) - badbusdriver

If you are that set on the cars you mentioned, i'm not really sure why you are asking as i suspect you will buy one anyway.

For what it is worth though, buying a hugely complex, turbo diesel nearing 10 years old is not really advisable regardless of any potential DPF issues. You probably won't want to hear this, but Merc's really are not that reliable and there has been a few threads recently discussing this along with the brands shameful attitude towards customers who have had problems.

BMW's, at least in terms of reliablity, may be slightly better (6cyl petrol seems best in this regard), but still nowhere near the Japanese brands.

If i had to choose something at that budget with near 300bhp, one of the few which might tempt me is the Lexus GS450h. 292bhp, 5.9s 0-60 and bullet proof reliability that no Merc or Beemer could dream of (plus, your budget would get you into a 2011 model).

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Mon 15 Oct 2018 23:02

TBC - Diesel or Petrol - The eternal question (DPF) - Big John

I wouldn't buy a 2008 diesel as they are now 10 years old and most by then had DPf's -especially powerful ones and on some (not all) the implementation was an add on to a model that didn't originally have a DPF. eg too far down the exhaust pipe and or sensors in prone/difficult to get at positions that can be mechanically damaged or corroded by salt exposure. On the hottest part of the car what could possibly go wrong - and have you ever tried to undue a 10 year old exhaust bolt.

Later designed in from scratch/close coupled DPF implementations are much much better.

Due to dieselgate there are some amazing deals around at the moment - bargain hard and get as new as possible although remember unless it is Euro 6(diesel) you may not be able to drive into some cities and areas in the UK and around Europe.

Edited by Big John on 15/10/2018 at 23:04

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Tue 16 Oct 2018 00:49

TBC - Diesel or Petrol - The eternal question (DPF) - Avant

Thanks for giving us more information.

I'm even more sure that you should go for a petrol. Last year I bought, as a fun car, a 2010 BMW 125i convertible for £11,000. 3-litre straight-six and no turbo to go wrong. A joy to drive, and I can see where you're coming from.

No major problems - only ABS sensors that have given up one at a time.

Whatever you do, insist on a full service history: that's a reasonable thing to ask for given the amount you're intending to pay.

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