How many miles to justify diesel

JKerova1

I recently moved house and have a much shorter commute. I was doing 20,000 miles a year and this has been reduced to about 12,000. I'm currently driving a 2008 diesel Volvo and am thinking changing but am not sure whether to get another diesel, a petrol , a hybrid or even an EV. Many of the cars I'm interested in (Volvo V40, VW Golf) are diesel but I'm not sure if it's really worth it when only doing 12k miles a year. I'd be tempted by EV but would be put off by the cost of purchasing one and also there's the off chance that I might have to travel up the country I'd be stranded. Just wondering if people think there's any point in buying a diesel with mileage like that.

JKerova1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122955738#Comment_122955738

Thanks. At the moment I'm probably doing 50km daily commuting. Maybe slightly more on my days off.

teediddlyeye

I wouldn't.

How many miles do you do in a typical day rather than yearly?

I do 25/30 thousand km yearly in admittedly one of the worst EVs. Because I only do about 130ish km per day it's very doable.

Gusser09

Milege isnt an issue in modern diesels as long as they are kept serviced.

JKerova1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122955753#Comment_122955753

Commuting I'd probably doing 50km a day, on my days off I'd probably do more but I'm not sure exactly. Mixture of stop-start and dual carriageway driving. The odd time I might have to travel from Cork to Dublin or other parts of the country but v rarely.

MrMusician18

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122955757#Comment_122955757

What? You don't need to drive a diesel that hard to clear out the soot. 20mins at motorway speed or 100km/h in a low gear more than enough to build heat and pressure to regenerate the dpf.

teediddlyeye

Correct, steady sustained speed it's what's important. Cars can moderate EGR flow, DPF regen etc quite effectively once driven steady.

This whole "drive hard, redline, blow out the soot" notion is a load of rubbish.

OP and indeed anyone, if you have to think about taking your car for a decent spin to keep it healthy, it's the wrong car for you.

Gumbo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122955745#Comment_122955745

50km of motorway speeds would be enough to keep the diesel engine happy. But 5@km with mostly city driving and you could start running into problems.

User1998

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122955782#Comment_122955782

This couldn’t be any further from the truth. Changing your oil isn’t going to stop your DPF from getting blocked. Modern diesels are more temperamental than ever before.

OP, I would keep the Volvo if its serving you well. But if you are going to change, depending on your budget, I would be looking at EV’s.

Luna84

Modern diesels are very picky. I watch O'Reilly auto's YouTube channel and all he does is diesels and particularly the DPF's on them. Euro 5 was bad compared to previous but Euro 6 which is the latest and they are on another level for problems. Like really bad and picky. You can need a new DPF as low as 20k miles or even sooner if you are unlucky.

JKerova1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122955940#Comment_122955940

I love my Volvo and would gladly buy a new one if Volvo still made the C30 (or any small car for that matter) but it's starting to become costly to keep on the road. It has over 230,000 miles so I can't knock it. I was looking at V40's but they all seem to be T4/D4 automatic Jap imports. I like the look of the new Renault 5 but not sure I could afford one.

teediddlyeye

While I was still working in the garage I should've taken a photo of a diesel engine stripped to the bare block with all the ancillaries laid on the ground, and similar for petrol. The difference is insane.

I bet that would put more than a few off the diesel.

BrianD3

Seeing as you mention the Renault 5, you are talking about new cars. Many new cars, especially cheaper and smaller ones, are not available in diesel so you may not have a choice.

Anyway, I'd be very reluctant to buy any new diesel now no matter what mileage I was doing and even more so doing 12,000 miles p.a. which isn't very much.

Get yourself a Dacia Sandero petrol or, if it is large enough, a Hyundai Inster EV 49 kWh. if you go for the EV, be aware that @12k miles per year, your fuel savings over the Sandero will be significant but not massive and the Sandero is a few k cheaper to buy with obviously no range issues.

User1998

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122956035#Comment_122956035

So you’ve a decent sized budget then? Brand new Tesla Model 3 is the best value car at the moment for €37k if it interests you?

JKerova1

I have a broad budget, ideally I'd be spending something like 15-17,000 for a second hand car but I could probably stretch the budget to 30-odd for the right car. Half thinking something like a GTE Golf as I like Golf's. I'm not sure I'd be brave enough to try a full EV yet.

User1998

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122956597#Comment_122956597

Yeah I had a Golf GTE myself before transitioning to full EV. I loved it at the time but I couldn’t go back to plugging in every day. It is a great car tho especially if you get a mk7.5 2017+ with the digital dash and upgraded media screen. The range is fine during Summer but in the Winter you’d be lucky to get 20km from it. If you bought a mk8 from 2021 that would solve the range issue but they are obviously a bit more expensive

McCrack

If you have any self respect do not buy an electric vehicle.. dull ubiquitous transport.

John_Rambo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122955800#Comment_122955800

Ah, come on, it's 2024, not 2012. Diesel has had its day. The hoops you had to jump through, driving at specific speeds, specific gears, and specific roads to avoid clogging the DPF were ridiculous. Then add AdBlue into the mix to stop **** low grade fuel from wrecking your engine? Nope. Time to move forward, either back to proper petrol engines, petrol hybrids, or electric where the future is clearly heading.

Buddy Bubs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122957470#Comment_122957470

In fairness he responded to a poster saying you need to drive at 160 to 180 kmph which obviously you can't do in Ireland. Most drivers never hit that speed in their life

SeanW

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122957391#Comment_122957391

Are you kidding? I don't have an EV right now but I did rent one and it was great fun - quiet, easy to drive and it accelerated like you would not believe! Nothing dull or ubiquitous about it.

My two cents, diesels used to be great cars before all the Euro regulations got tightened, my last car was a diesel had none of that stuff. But when it died I went petrol because modern diesel engines are so much more complex, so much more to go wrong and potentially so much cost to fix. The main problem being that if you're not regularly doing long distance drives > 50MPH on N or M roads, the DPF might get clogged up.

If you're only doing 12,000 miles a year petrol will be fine in most cases, the newer EVs have much bigger batteries than in previous years. Main thing to consider is whether you are single or have a family, in the latter case you'd need a bigger car in which case diesel MIGHT make sense, but even then it would be borderline.

John_Rambo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122957647#Comment_122957647

Either way, diesel is done. Unsuitable for 95% of the domestic driving Irish population.

Clo-Clo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058384406/how-many-miles-to-justify-diesel

Drive the car you have till it falls off the road. Best for environment and best for your pocket

trindade

People make too much DPF drama 😂

I had a lovely Leon 2.0 TDI, never had any issues with the car. Now I own Toyota hybrids since 2022 and I still miss my Leon (it was very stable, quiet and fun to drive). With my Leon, I used to do a lot of town driving during the week and take longer journeys on the M1 most weekends. I believe my M1 driving and STP dpf cleaner helped me to never face any issues in two years, even when I did a lot of city driving.

Idbatterim

your existing car is nearly worthless if you were to sell it, keep it. There are a serious amount of new electric cars due out and with way lower prices… Id keep what you have and probably go electric, when do you change

Idbatterim

I

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122961056#Comment_122961056

Its a disgusting fuel, I happily pay a premium to drive my petrol over a rotten diesel…

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122955800#Comment_122955800

Wasn't with mine. Just problem after problem. Had to get rid of it. DPF, EGR, DSG just was so unreliable. First and last diesel.

Flinty997

That said if you have an old car that's not giving you trouble diesel or not, drive it till it stops. Unless you've money to spend.

John_Rambo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122964682#Comment_122964682

That's all great in theory but the reality is they don’t just stop out of nowhere. Small problems can creep in, costing lots of money, causing stress, and chipping away at your trust in the vehicle. The last thing anyone wants is monthly breakdowns, especially on motorways or rural roads in the depths of winter, multiple visits to the mechanic, AA callouts and rescue vehicle costs.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122965214#Comment_122965214

What theory? I said thats "not giving you trouble".

A car that's giving you monthly breakdowns requiring rescues is a long way from that.

John_Rambo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122965250#Comment_122965250

Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you. But I'm referring to your theory about driving a car until it simply stops. I just meant that cars don't just usually simply stop. They start to give trouble and cost money where you start asking questions like is it worth the hassle? Should I really put new brakes, tyres and discs on this car if it's going to sit down in a month. Unreliability usually comes before end of life for complicated machinery.

bazz26

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122965214#Comment_122965214

To be fair, that logic applies to any car these days, even ones just driven off the forecourt. Complicated software or technicians who don't have the skillset/tools to fix complex issue is becoming the new norm.