Diesel car, worth considering?

Goudy

It's not easy these days to decide, technology seems to move quicker the older I get!

Something else to watch out for is that some manufacturers tried different things to reduce friction of their engines in both diesel and petrols. One disastrous trick was to encase the timing/cam belt in a bath of oil.

It causes the belt to break up and send bits of belt around the oil system. Some just ruin the engine when they finally break, others starve the engine of oil and others send the debris into the brake vacuum pump and you lose brake assistance (and get a ruined engine).

Ford had trouble with the 1.0 Ecoboost petrol engine and their 2.0 EcoBlue diesel engine. Stellantis (Vauxhall. Peug, Citroen) had major trouble with their 1.2 Pure-tech engines. Even Honda suffers with their 1.0 Vtec.

As for Low Emission Zones. I don't see any creep related to the newer Euro emissions regulations but I do think there will be a point where all ICE cars will be chargeable to enter these zones.

We've had plenty of carrot to swap to zero emission vehicles, now we're getting a bit of carrot and stick, plus the government are preparing a way to generate more taxation from zero emission vehicles, so it's a safe bet that once that is sorted, ICE owners that are left with just get stick.

adrich

I was in the same boat not long ago after my car got written off. A 2016 diesel can still be a decent shout, especially if you’re doing longer drives for work.

I actually looked at one from Big Motoring World. It was a 2016 VW Tiguan 2.0 TDI (150), around average mileage, proper practical SUV. The 2.0 diesel engines in those are solid for motorway miles and pretty economical for the size, plus you get a decent spec and comfy interior for long trips .

The only thing is the ULEZ/LEZ side of things. Being a 2016, it should be Euro 6, so fine now, but rules do seem to keep tightening, so worth thinking about if you’ll keep it for a few years.