Is this a bad time to buy a used diesel?

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  • GunJack
    GunJack Posts: 11,678 Forumite
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    Looking at your driving, I'd either get an older diesel or a newer petrol tbh...older diesel normally no DPF to worry about, and you could still benefit (but not much) on tax and fuel. For example, my Fusion is a 53 plate, so similar to your fiesta, but I'll bet a diesel of that era will be cheaper than the equivalent petrol, but not so different to a newer petrol.

    Oh, and my Fusion has electric windows and power steering, and was under £300 to buy ;)
    ......Gettin' There, Wherever There is......

    I have a dodgy "i" key, so ignore spelling errors due to "i" issues, ...I blame Apple :D
  • Nasqueron
    Nasqueron Posts: 8,933 Forumite
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    Saving £100 a year for say 5 years won't pay for the cost of up to £2000 when the DPF fails from such "misuse" of a diesel. They aren't designed for 6k a year short journeys and you won't get the high MPG from driving 10 miles to the shops in urban areas. Get a petrol and pay the higher VED - that is what is ideal for your journey type
  • svain
    svain Posts: 516 Forumite
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    edited 10 February 2018 at 12:39AM
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    Ignore the scaremongers ..... Its a great time to buy a diesel. You can get serious value for money as their values have dropped considerably.
    If doing a 40mile motorway/dual carriageway blast once or twice a week then the DPF shouldn't be an issue.
    Keep a diesel regularly maintained with good quality parts and oil, use good quality fuel (avoid supermarket fuel) and they can run for year after year with little trouble.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 7,175 Forumite
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    uknick wrote: »
    and it used to be you need to do about 10k miles per year to make any financial savings.

    Back in the day when diesels were touted as the must have car and if you were buying brand new.

    Not so much price difference now that everyone is dropping diesels like it's hot + the second hand market are similar prices to petrol.

    Also since I got my first diesel car in 2016 I've never looked back. So much better drive.
  • AnotherJoe
    AnotherJoe Posts: 19,622 Forumite
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    Piggywinkle wrote: »
    School run, 3 x weekly trips to work and back (10 mile round trip) and 1-2 weekly motorway/dual carriageway journeys to parent's house (40 mile round trip). I only cover around 6k per year to be honest, but I've heard the petrol engines are a lot thirstier than their diesel counterparts. VED is also currently cheaper on the diesel too.

    No idea what your budget is but you could easily do that in a new Kia Soul EV for £200/month.
    Fuel (electricity) cost about 1/4 that of diesel.
    No VED.
    Never visit a garage again.
    No issues with DPF, no poisoning kids with fumes.
  • motorguy
    motorguy Posts: 22,479 Forumite
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    svain wrote: »
    Ignore the scaremongers ..... Its a great time to buy a diesel. You can get serious value for money as their values have dropped considerably.
    If doing a 40mile motorway/dual carriageway blast once or twice a week then the DPF shouldn't be an issue.
    Keep a diesel regularly maintained with good quality parts and oil, use good quality fuel (avoid supermarket fuel) and they can run for year after year with little trouble.

    Used values havent dropped considerably. There were a couple of newspaper reports of massive diesel car value drops but they were from an unreliable source. The SMMT and Glass's Guide, etc are all reporting normal depreciation on them
  • daveyjp
    daveyjp Posts: 12,571 Forumite
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    edited 10 February 2018 at 10:37AM
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    When the DPF begins a regeneration just as you are about to arrive home are you prepared to carry on and drive for another 10-20 minutes until the regeneration finishes?

    If you dont understand any of that or the potential long term implications and costs of stopping the engine mid regeneration buy a petrol.
  • IanMSpencer
    IanMSpencer Posts: 1,517 Forumite
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    The driving profile sounds fine for a modern diesel - the only mileage constraint is the argument that the cost to buy a diesel is more than an equivalent petrol (especially with the technology that a modern diesel has to be loaded with) so on 6000 miles a year you have to decide over how long to spread the extra cost of a diesel. Unfortunately, it is hard to know whether one particular car has a good Euro 6 implementation. The problems on DPFs are more due to some manufacturers doing a bodged implementation, but a well designed engine will not have any problems with DPF. I do a lot of short journeys interspersed with longer runs at motorway speeds, perhaps only once a week, and have never had the hint of an issue with the DPF.

    So say the diesel costs £2000 more and you decide that you are going to keep the car 5 years - by then the difference in petrol and diesel models will be more or less lost anyway.

    £400/year extra cost of a diesel.

    Say you get 50mpg out of a diesel and 35mpg out of a petrol.

    50mpg 6000 miles = 120 gallons a year

    35mpg 6000 miles = 170 gallons a year

    Let's assume petrol and diesel are about the same price and will remain so.

    So petrol will use 50 gallons more, at the moment say, £1.15 * 4.45 * 50 = £255

    So on that apparently massively poorer mpg, you would still be £150 a year better off with a petrol engine. You'd have to be getting less than 30mpg from a petrol engine to make a diesel more economic, or defray the cost of the diesel over 10 years rather than 5 to make it worthwhile.

    Of course, if the premium for the diesel is only £1000 then it is going to be better to have the diesel.

    You shouldn't dismiss a hybrid with that driving profile, they work best on shorter journeys.
  • Piggywinkle
    Piggywinkle Posts: 134 Forumite
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    I test drove a diesel on Saturday and it was lovely, but I decided not to go ahead with it as I know in my heart of hearts that it's unsuitable. I spoke to the really helpful dealer who advised me against a diesel when I told him how many miles I covered annually.

    Thanks to all of the useful advice I had here, I wasn't clueless when he was talking about the DPF so thank you for that! I test drove a petrol version of the Kia Soul yesterday and although it was a pleasure to drive, it wasn't quite as nice as the diesel but I've accepted that I shouldn't really have one now. Petrol was lovely to handle but had one too many issues for a 3 year old car that made me step back and decide to keep on looking and widen my horizons. I've test driven a Renault Captur (hated it) and am down to test drive a Dacia Sandero Stepway and a Vauxhall Mokka tomorrow. All petrol, you'll be pleased to know :)
  • Head_The_Ball
    Head_The_Ball Posts: 4,067 Forumite
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    Only if there is a Monday in the month.
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