S Max petrol or diesel for school run

yimpster

yimpster

yimpster

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So we are moving to a bigger car from our much loved crv. I'd imagined we would buy a diesel next as they seem very popular. I spoke to sales today he suggested a petrol engine would be more suitable for shorter runs.

Our run is about 6 miles each way. A round journey of about 45 mins.

We tend to hit the a406 every couple of weeks and do about half a dozen trips from London to Bournemouth per year.

Looking around petrol seems less popular for resale.

I'm worried that with our current driving pattern we may kill the diesel filter.

I've really no ideas about cars and don't want to be persuaded by a salesman.

Cheers in advance
Adam
 
That really doesn't warrant a diesel, it works out to be about 6000 miles per year, and it sounds like you're going to be in pretty slow traffic, so you'll probably not get very good fuel economy from either engine.

Also depends on if you're buying new or used. The resale value will be a little lower, but it's likely you'll be able to buy the car cheaper in the first place.

You will definitely be risking DPF life with such short trips, especially at an average of 16mph!
 
We have a 2010 Smax Titanium 2.0 Diesel 160ps and use it for much shorter journeys than you are describing on a daily basis for school runs and Tescos etc. We've had no issues so far - touch wood and all that!

Suits our needs with 3 young children brilliantly, so much space for everyone and also very pleasant to drive.
 
The problem if your budget only allows for an older one without the newer Ecoboost engines is that you're stuck with either a wheezy 2.0 petrol, a pointlessly thirsty 2.3 petrol, or the good but thirsty and perhaps unnecessary 2.5T petrol, if you don't pick a diesel.

If you're going for a newer one then the 2.0T ecoboost is probably your best bet - it'll be smoother and generally nicer to drive than a diesel.
 
my budget allows something around 3 years old with around 30-40k. still confused as to why some people have a diesel and are using it the same as me but running ok.

I'm guessing the most important factor is the engine. I know the 1.6 is underpowered for the vehicle. I think the 2.0 will be fine - just need to understand either petrol or diesel.

My wife wants a titanium x as it has a much nicer interior.
 
yimpster said:
still confused as to why some people have a diesel and are using it the same as me but running ok.
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Because people read the headline economy figures only. They don't bother to research where diesel makes sense.

The issue with diesel is that the engines are vastly more complicated than petrol engines and so have much more scope for expensive repairs being needed. The diesel particulate filter is a prime example of an item that is unique to a diesel car but costs an eye-watering amount of money to replace when it fails. Short trips where the engine never gets up to temperature is proven to be damaging to the DPF which will eventually degrade and require replacement.

I'm sure that there are hundreds of thousands of people using diesel cars for your exact use case with no issues but it's all about potential. A nice, simple petrol engine will go on forever. A turbo diesel WILL eventually need a replacement turbo, DPF, dual-mass flywheel (if a manual) etc. This isn't so much of an issue if you're buying a brand new car though as it will all be covered under warranty.
 
Rilot said:
I'm sure that there are hundreds of thousands of people using diesel cars for your exact use case with no issues but it's all about potential. A nice, simple petrol engine will go on forever. A turbo diesel WILL eventually need a replacement turbo, DPF, dual-mass flywheel (if a manual) etc. This isn't so much of an issue if you're buying a brand new car though as it will all be covered under warranty.
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Diesels aren't unreliable as long as you use it correctly. My driving is quite varied but I do enough long journeys at the weekend up and down the motorway often enough that it makes more sense. A turbo in a diesel is no more prone to failing then a turbo in a petrol (obviously depending on car/engine specific issues.

Haven't had any issues with the DPF either as long as you let it regenerate when it wants too. Is DPF covered under warrenty btw? Or is it classed as a consumble? :o
 
I have driven an S-Max with the 2L NA petrol engine and it is not great you need to use plenty of revs to get it down a motorway slip road and upto 70mph. Full up at 70 it will not make it up a steep hill without dropping a gear or two which results in an annoying drive. The diesel engines are much better in this regard due to the low down torque.

The OPs regular round trip of 45 mins despite only being 6 miles would still allow the DPF to regen on the diesel model, with our Zafira a 20 minute journey from cold will allow the DPF to fully regen regardless of speed as it will carry on doing a regen at idle. I think the majority of diesel horror stories are due to the number of diesel models compared to petrol, on autotrader it has 1200 diesel S-Maxs and only 76 petrol ones. Take in to account on this forum alone we have already had an owner with a total engine failure on the 1.6 petrol model and I bet the % of failures are very similar.
 
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yimpster said:
just to clarify it's 6.2 miles each way. 12.4 miles total. Around 3 times a week.
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It is not really the distance that is the issue, it is if the engine gets up to temperature to allow the DPF to regen as you are talking 45 minutes this will allow a regen with out issue. Even if you do multiple short journeys you only need to have the engine running for 20-30minutes every 600-800 miles to allow a regen of the DPF which for most people is not an issue.
 
Ours is a 61 plate titanium in black. Its a 1.6 ecoboost 160 bhp. Gets 35mpg on average and we use it everyday for the school run in the morning and afternoon which is only 4 miles in total a day.

The other thread will tell you of the terrible time we have had with the car though but we have put it down to gremlins as anything and everything has gone wrong with it so we think it was the first off the line haha
 
Depends if you buy a car that even has a DPF in the first place... Look for an older car, not sure what sort of year, sorry.. That doesn't have one, my old MK1 Focus 1.8 TDCi didn't have one, never had an issue with that car..
 
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