Reduced mileage - bad for my diesel car?

DD265

If our house purchase goes through then my commute is going to reduce from ~500 miles per week to ~100 miles per week (<7 miles each way). It'll still involve a couple of miles of motorway driving each way and I'll likely do a 150 mile round trip (mostly motorway) at least once a month.

I understand that a petrol car would probably be more economical to run for the new commute, but given that I already have the diesel (05 Golf TDI 1.9 with 120k on the clock) and it's in really good nick/a known entity, do I actually need to care? Is there anything I could/should do for the car to take into account the shorter journeys?

Our money is currently going towards the house, so I'm reluctant to change car if I don't need to, and I don't think I need to but I might be missing something.

Typhoon2000

With that particular engine, you don’t need to do anything.

loskie

I don't think that your car has a dpf so will not be an issue.

Jonesya

It's a 13 year old diesel, I'd just keep running it until you need to replace it, but I wouldn't replace it with another diesel.

Nick_C

I only do about 7000 miles a year in my 10 year old Yaris 1.4 diesel.

Never had any problems with it. I get about 55 mpg. It gets a couple of long high speed runs every few weeks.

neilmcl

Nick_C wrote: »

I only do about 7000 miles a year in my 10 year old Yaris 1.4 diesel.

Never had any problems with it. I get about 55 mpg. It gets a couple of long high speed runs every few weeks.

I doubt your Yaris has a DPF and besides it's not the total number of miles that's the issue it's how those journeys are made up.

System

As above the main reason to be concerned with diesels and low mileage is the DPF filter as on short journeys it never gets hot enough to complete a regeneration cycle so over time gets blocked. For a diesel such as yours not fitted with one then its not an issue.

However expect to notice things like brake pads, suspension and steering wearing faster, the possibility of the exhaust rusting sooner and the battery possibly getting low on charge due to the short journeys and mostly urban driving. Service it on time rather than mileage if you're doing low miles.

JP1978

As above, an engine before the dreaded dpf - they are a decent engine, keep it well serviced and it will outlast the rest of the car.

DD265

That's good to know thanks all!

fred246

DD265 wrote: »

I understand that a petrol car would probably be more economical to run for the new commute

Why do you think a petrol car would be more economical? Why do you think people buy diesels?

AdrianC

fred246 wrote: »

Why do you think a petrol car would be more economical?

Because of not having to be fixing blocked DPFs.

Why do you think people buy diesels?

Because they got blinded by low VED and high MPG and didn't think about the other costs.