advice re diesels for short journeys

[fengirl]

Hello, I am new to this forum and am about to purchase a 2006 Berlingo Multispace 1.6 Diesel.  I am buying it for my small gardening business and as a second car for our family as I have got into trouble using our Honda Accord estate for short journeys around the village to gardening customers.. the DPF has needed to be unblocked with a static recharge (twice this year) and we are now on our last life with that... my question is to you experts out there, should I be worried about buying another diesel if I am going to be using it predominantly for short journeys? (often 1-2 miles) and local shopping (up to about 10 miles), or should it be ok because there is no DPF? I have only very limited experience of diesels and would appreciate any pearls of wisdom...
Thank you in advance.
BTW I have found this forum very useful in doing my research and choosing a car so thank you for that.

[cancunia]

I expect there will be a few more thoughts in addition to mine, so to start the ball rolling...

Diesels are best for cruising, they don't out perform petrol engines on short distances or town use. As far as petrol engines are concerned, I have a friend who had a petrol Mini which was only driven short distances and that was constantly needing the oxygen sensor (or something similar) cleaned due to soot build up, I expect the CAT would be in the same ballpark.
In short, I would not buy a diesel for short runs and expect it to be more economical than a petrol engine & any engine will need an occasional Italian Tune Up.

[jj9]

Diesels do perform better on longer runs, it is vital to give a diesel fitted with a DPF a long run reasonably often to let the DPF do a regeneration so it burns off the collected soot.

However.... A 2006 1.6 hdi won't have a DPF so you don't need to worry about that.

We have two 1.6hdi's both 2006 versions and they are both mainly used around the doors and we haven't had any problems.

Make sure to change the oil and filter more often than the Citroen recommended interval, I change mine twice per year despite the low mileage (4000 per year) and because of the early changes I use the cheapest 5w-30 / 5w-40  fully synthetic oil I can get...... no point in paying for expensive oil that is specified because of the long service interval if you are changing it a lot earlier!


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[fengirl]

Diesels do perform better on longer runs, it is vital to give a diesel fitted with a DPF a long run reasonably often to let the DPF do a regeneration so it burns off the collected soot.

However.... A 2006 1.6 hdi won't have a DPF so you don't need to worry about that.

We have two 1.6hdi's both 2006 versions and they are both mainly used around the doors and we haven't had any problems.

Make sure to change the oil and filter more often than the Citroen recommended interval, I change mine twice per year despite the low mileage (4000 per year) and because of the early changes I use the cheapest 5w-30 / 5w-40  fully synthetic oil I can get...... no point in paying for expensive oil that is specified because of the long service interval if you are changing it a lot earlier!


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[polar]

i have an 08 1.6hdi without a DPF and its used as is jj's round the houses and have had no trouble. I also get 48/49 to the gallon regular, sticking to the speed limits.

Any diesel without a dpf will be fine on local work as will most petrol models - its obviously not ideal work for any vehicle but they will tolerate it well.

[jj9]

@ fengirl, 

Just around the doors, one of the trips is 5 miles there 5 miles back with a few hours in-between on normal busy roads with traffic lights etc.,  start stop sort of motoring so to speak. Often the trip is only a couple of miles in total....still get over 50mpg.

I've had a few diesels of different makes, none have had a DPF and I've never had any problems using them around the doors as described. and that's how they are used almost all of the time.



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[Tree]

Petrol versus Diesel running costs would be more of a factor for me.

Ideally you need to see the thick end of 12,000 miles a year before the running costs of a diesel break even against a petrol. Diesel engines are efficient and because of that they will take longer to get hotter - it is when they are up to temperature they become more efficient than the petrol equivalent.

If you are literally doing just door to door with lots of stop starting - petrol would be the only way for me.

[jj9]

.... Ideally you need to see the thick end of 12,000 miles a year before the running costs of a diesel break even against a petrol.

I disagree.

Do remember this is all based on the vehicle fengirl is considering buying, a 2006 1.6 hdi and not a brand new car.

I've seen studies where they have compared buying a new diesel car compared to its petrol equivalent, and when everything is taken into account you do have to be clocking up a few miles to offset the extra purchase price of the diesel version, however we are talking 2nd hand here so it's worlds apart.

Buy two second hand berlingos, one diesel (1.6 hdi) one petrol (1.6) and the running cost difference will be evident almost straight away, you may pay a few quid more for the diesel but often with vehicles over a certain age this is negligible.

The diesel version will average 50+ mpg around the doors on short trips where as the petrol will be lucky to get close to 30 for the same trips.

The road tax on the diesel is also £75 per year cheaper.  (diesel - £155 . . petrol - £230)

So a quick calculation based on 4000 miles per year, the diesel averaging 55mpg and the petrol averaging 35mpg and using the UK's average fuel prices (£1.307 diesel  &  £1.276 for petrol)

.... you would be better off by £230 with the diesel, add to this the £75 saved on road tax and you have £305


Nah.... as long as you aren't paying £100's extra for a diesel version they are currently cheaper to run than a petrol.



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[polar]

I think it is also easier to find a diesel in a multispace circa 2006

[cancunia]

Interesting stuff, I'm impressed by the 1.6d mpg figures reported here. Are these figures as reported via the trip computer? I've added a trip computer to my 2.0 HDi and can see a definite drop in mpg when in town or stop / start traffic. It would be interesting to know the 1.6 mpg figures for motorway cruises at 50 , 60 & 70 mph.
I think my next Berlingo will be a 1.6, pre DPF if possible as the road tax & insurance differences between the 2.0 & 1.6d are quite noticeable. As noted above the petrol versions of the Berlingo do not really do well for road tax so I would not go there.