A diesel on short milage?

JustAnotherSaver

I know many say you should only have a diesel if you're covering 100 miles per day because they cost more, but is it ok to have one if it's just a cheap second hand?

To explain...

I understand to buy a diesel equivalent brand new costs more than the petrol, but if you're going to buy a £1,000 car then it's a £1,000 car, whether it's petrol or diesel.

So is there anything wrong with using a diesel for short miles, such as 4-6 miles to work?


I'm not talking about modern diesels with that DPF, i'm talking about the older ones (obviously for that price).



My wife owns a 1.6 VW Golf. The MPG on it is terrible. 33mpg on a good day. Parkers reckons around the 40mpg marker & with all the cars i've ever had & other cars i've driven, i've always been able to get each & every one of them around what Parkers quote but not this thing, no matter how hard i try ..... and yes ALL filters have been renewed using genuine VW filters. The tax is quite dear for what it is. If i was getting low 30s mpg then i'd at least want something a little nippy (as would she) but it's really not.

I've had the GT TDI 130 myself & that was a nice enough car. Cheap to run, cheap to tax etc but then i'm doing 10 miles to work whereas my wife is doing about 4-6 tops.

I know short journey's aren't the best for a car, but then i service our cars every year & change the oil every 6 months. Are they any worse for a diesel than they are a petrol or does that not really matter?

usernameisvalid

I get 64mpg from mine

Even better cos it's on the red

mcjordi

The non DFP cars are fine for short trips it just mean you will need to reduced the time/mileage for things like cambelts and oil changes.

FreddieFrugal

Well there's the crap that an old diesel will be pushing out of the exhaust if that bothers you at all.

4 miles to work she might as well bike.

there won't be a huge improvement in mpg if it's only on a short trip. Would probably be better off just getting a smaller car with a 1.2 petrol engine. Like Fiesta size.

that would probably make a bigger difference

onomatopoeia99

Should be pointed out that for that length of journey the car won't be warm for most of it which will reduce fuel efficiency a lot.My commute is 10 miles and while the water is up to temperature half way there, the oil barely makes it to normal operating temperature at the end of the journey.

No problem with using a non-DPF equipped diesel for short journeys, I've been doing the journey above for about three years in an old diesel and any problems I've had have not been related to the short trips.

dogshome

For an older diesel car that doesn't have the pollution controls that can kill the engine if it's only used for short trips, you need to buy one built in 1997 or before.
Their engines will put up with short journeys, but, the road tax is very costly

DoaM

My commute is 15 or 18 miles each way (depending on the route I take; car is a 2012 Golf GT 2.0L 140PS). I consider that as a minimum distance for a diesel engined car to be worthwhile for a daily commute.

Norman_Castle

If you're only doing 8-12 miles per day, in two journeys so with a cold engine for 1/2? of those miles, even if a diesel reduces your fuel costs by 30% the savings will be tiny.
On some cars the thermostat is very cheap and easy to replace. Check yours is working properly as slow engine warm up would use more fuel.

foxy-stoat

The difference between 33 mpg and 45 mpg is around 4p per mile, assuming the petrol price is the same as diesel.

So you will be saving around 50p per day if you want to change the car to "save" money on the fuel.

If you want to change the car then do so, but try not to get hung up on mpg figures for the amount of miles your doing as 33 for a petrol isnt bad at all, I was only getting 41mpg on my PD150 golf on the daily commute.

jimjames

dogshome wrote: »

Their engines will put up with short journeys, but, the road tax is very costly

Not sure how you work out, my road tax on 2001 and 2007 diesel pre DPF are about £130. Guess it's more than £0 but I wouldn't call it very costly.

almillar

I understand to buy a diesel equivalent brand new costs more than the petrol, but if you're going to buy a £1,000 car then it's a £1,000 car, whether it's petrol or diesel.

If we accept that a diesel is worth more than a petrol, on an otherwise like-for-like car, then your hypothetical £1,000 petrol car will be in a better condition, or better equipped, than the £1,000 diesel car.

If you're worried about MPG, you should be. The petrol car is barely getting warmed up to its proper operating temperature, and the diesel will take even longer. So whatever MPG you read for the cars, won't apply. It'll be terrible MPG no matter what car you get.

You seem to be asking 'how can a diesel be worse', but I don't think it can possibly be better.