Diesel or Petrol

plumb1_2

Had a test drive the other day in a golf 69 plate, 1.5 tsi evo nice drive, was really considering buying it.  But since then I heard nothing but negative reports about this engine.
So I am considering a 1.6 tdi but only do about 10k a year, 5 days local shopping and short trips under 10 miles, then once a week 150 mile journey on motorway.
So a bit concerned that the diesel engine will start to clog up so to speak.

CliveOfIndia

The main issue with short trips in a diesel is that the DPF can get clogged, rather than the engine itself.  But if you're doing a 150 mile motorway trip every week you should have no issues at all as far as that's concerned.

Probably more relevant to your scenario is the cost.  Diesels tend to cost more to buy in the first place than an equivalent petrol.  Plus the fuel itself is more expensive (unlike when I was young when DERV was substantially cheaper than petrol!).  So you'd need to try and work out whether the better fuel consumption would outweigh the increased costs - not an easy one to calculate, admittedly, but it's probably worth trying to work it out as best you can.

plumb1_2

It’s not the car I dislike it’s the 1.5 ‘tsi engine has given mt concern. Been looking around auto trader etc , and can get same spec in diesel for £200 more from main dealer with 2 yrs warranty 

Barkin

CliveOfIndia said:

Plus the fuel itself is more expensive (unlike when I was young when DERV was substantially cheaper than petrol!).  

It's cheaper than petrol again now, in this neck of the woods  

sevenhills

I have had my 1.7 diesel Zafira for over three years, I do less than 4,000 per year, no issues.
I may do a long journey once per month, at the most.

Bigwheels1111

Peugeot 5008 1.6 bluehdi, 66 plate.
A lot of local runs, go it because of price. Almost half price as was old model and pre reg.
I do a 100 mile or 300 mile trip once a month.
I remember it doing a regeneration twice, only because the exhaust was ticking while cooling when I stopped.
Other than that No issues.

My next car is likely to be a Toyota Corolla estate.
Great mpg, EV is not an option.

sevenhills

Bigwheels1111 said:

Peugeot 5008 1.6 bluehdi, 66 plate.
A lot of local runs, go it because of price. Almost half price as was old model and pre reg.
I do a 100 mile or 300 mile trip once a month.
I remember it doing a regeneration twice, only because the exhaust was ticking while cooling when I stopped.
Other than that No issues.

My next car is likely to be a Toyota Corolla estate.
Great mpg, EV is not an option.

My thoughts are that careful drivers will have much fewer trouble with DPFs, someone with a heavy right foot will cause my much more soot to be captured by the DPF.

Goudy

Excess soot in the DPF from failed DPF regenerations is only the start of the problem for modern diesels.

The more soot it traps, the more it will want to regenerate. That is burn the larger particles of soot into small particles of ash.

If the regeneration fails to complete say from short tripping, the post injected fuel introduced to burn the soot to ash passes the piston rings and ends up in the sump with all the engine oil.

This isn't good for the engine as it dilutes the engine oil so it doesn't lubricate properly anymore. It will also cause the level to creep up, which may then get spat out of the crankcase vent into the air intake. Some have even ran away on their own oil/diesel mix until they went bang.

Some modern engines run timing belts in oil and the diesel in the oil rots the belts prematurely leading to total engine failure either by chunks of belt blocking up the oil ways or the belts snapping.

There are also some other relates issues that might not be as bad but do come at a cost.
The excess oil spat out of the crankcase breather will meet hot exhaust gas directed around into the intake by the EGR valve which tend to clog up the EGR valve until it fails.

Most modern diesels will tend to roughly monitor oil and warn the driver it needs attention.
This is really nothing more than a calculation based on how long the oil is been in there, how many completed and uncompleted DPF cycles, miles etc, so it's not fool proof.

In regards to the 1.5 TSi engine, if you look hard enough you will find lots of engine problems reported for nearly every engine.
It's in our nature to complain rather than praise, particularly on web forums but writing that, this engine does have a couple of potential causes for concern.

The timing chain tensioner can become weak, this is usually on higher mileage cars that haven't had the best of love when it comes to servicing.

They have been known to suffer stuttering/juddering, gods knows why.
Not all engines suffer, just some.

They can take a while to fully warm up which has been reported as a cause for them to use a little too much oil.

 

chrisw

sevenhills said:

Bigwheels1111 said:

Peugeot 5008 1.6 bluehdi, 66 plate.
A lot of local runs, go it because of price. Almost half price as was old model and pre reg.
I do a 100 mile or 300 mile trip once a month.
I remember it doing a regeneration twice, only because the exhaust was ticking while cooling when I stopped.
Other than that No issues.

My next car is likely to be a Toyota Corolla estate.
Great mpg, EV is not an option.

My thoughts are that careful drivers will have much fewer trouble with DPFs, someone with a heavy right foot will cause my much more soot to be captured by the DPF.

I had the EGR valves and coolers replaced twice on a Volvo under warranty. The dealership suggested that, despite the long distances covered, it was driven too carefully and needed to be driven much harder.

WellKnownSid

chrisw said:

I had the EGR valves and coolers replaced twice on a Volvo under warranty. The dealership suggested that, despite the long distances covered, it was driven too carefully and needed to be driven much harder.

I will second that.  I was told my careful driving was why my EGR blocked multiple times - 15 years and 500,000 miles in various diesel cars later I've never had an EGR/DPF problem.

Grumpy_chap

Bigwheels1111 said:

My next car is likely to be a Toyota Corolla estate.
Great mpg, 

I had a Toyota Auris hybrid estate and found the fuel efficiency was really dependant upon the type of driving covered.  A high proportion of motorway miles (exactly where a diesel excels) and it would be no better than a regular petrol.
Worth bearing in mind the use profile you will experience before deciding on a hybrid.