Tell me what car to buy as I'm totally confused!

redux

Iceweasel wrote: »

For school runs forget a diesel - - it'll never get up to the proper temperature and then you'll have problems with the Diesel Particulate Filter.

Modern autos are great though.

I really don't understand where these myths come from.

For short trips starting from cold a petrol engine has to run rich, whereas a diesel does not, so the petrol car takes a bigger hit on the fuel consumption figures.

Also the exhaust catalyst doesn't get up to temperature and start working properly for several miles, during which time petrol car emissions of carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen, unburnt hydrocarbons etc are significantly (10 times or more) worse than a diesel.

I don't know as much about particulate filter problems though, but again I wonder if these are also built up out of proportion.

easylife73

Okay, official response is not sure! They said they've never had one go so it is uncharted territory, but it would possibly depend on service history. If services have all been completed on schedule and been stamped and it has not been picked up at that point then there would be a case for it being covered. If services weren't done on time or stamped they would most likely count it as wear and tear.

redux

In that situation I'd be a bit tempted by a Seat Exeo diesel

It's a lightly reworked version of the previous Audi A4 model, so is similar to that or a VW Passat, but because it's not as well known it seems to be quite a bit cheaper, e.g. £6-7k vs £10-11k for a 59 or 10 reg with 80000 miles

Iceweasel

redux wrote: »

I really don't understand where these myths come from.

I don't know as much about particulate filter problems though, but again I wonder if these are also built up out of proportion.

It's no myth - why do you think so many folks with diesel LandRovers/Audi/BMW/M-Benz have been removing or gutting the DPFs?

The extra power (if any) gained is not the main reason.

Check on any diesel forum and you'll see it is a major problem for short distance commuters.

New MOT rules - that started yesterday - mean that a missing DPF will be an automatic fail - same goes for a DCat.

My post made no reference to the fuel economy/pollution situation.

I would agree with you on those points.

easylife73

From googling around it seems that the 1.6 UK models are not fitted with a DPF or DMF so am I worrying needlessly?

Iceweasel

easylife73 wrote: »

From googling around it seems that the 1.6 UK models are not fitted with a DPF or DMF so am I worrying needlessly?

If that's really the case then there is no drawback to short runs.

All else being equal - go for it if it suits the other requirements you have.

easylife73

We're going to go and have a look this evening. Thanks for all the help!

jaydeeuk1

How about a brand new Dacia Logan estate?

http://www.dacia.co.uk/vehicles/logan-mcv/

Petrol, none of that diesel nonsense, and no worries about sitting in someone elses piles juices, sperm, mucus, discharge or bogies.

£6995, however with a trade in and some talking down you'd get it for near your £6k budget. Only drawback is its Renault owned, and it has a 1.2 engine, not sure how it would cope fully laden, but value for moneywise its pretty damn good.

easylife73

Had almost decided to go with it (and still might) but our insurance company quoted us £3,000 a year insurance :eek::eek::eek:

This is apparently party due to modifications that have been made, namely a towbar and front parking sensors, and partly because I asked for business cover to be added to deliver chocolate to people and go to their homes to hold chocolate parties. This seems crazy to me, and we have spoken to another company after filling in an online quote form...have included all of this on the form and this time they didn't even ask any further questions.

How worried should I be that this might come back and bite us later?

redux

Most insurers do not add loading for a towbar, and I can't imagine parking sensors being counted as increasing risk.

Driving in connection with business doesn't cost me any extra, though I believe that travelling in a sales capacity might be counted by some as a different class