Help me with logic for the Mrs please (diesel v petrol)

-Mike-

-Mike-

-Mike-

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Hey all,

Unfortunately the Mrs had a run in (well an old chap ran into her) with a Vauxhall Insignia.

She was happily driving a 2003 laguna dci. I believe from the deformation at the back its going to be written off so she's looking at replacement cars. She's taken a shine to another diesel (2008 fitted with dpf) but only does 11000 miles a year.

I believe, that the short (11 mile) trips to work won't be enough for the car to clear its DPF and give a reliable service life. She prefers the drive of a diesel, but my argument is that its likely to go wrong with her usage pattern and factoring in the increased cost of diesel over petrol the cost for the mileage she does isn't that great.

Help please? I'm fairly certain I'm not wrong but wanted to make double sure before her old man comes over to scrutinise my thoughts :o:(
 
depends what her 11 miles are like really... if it's through town and start stop, then I imagine the DPF would become an issue as would rarely get up to temp (neighbours sold their 2.0tdi a4 after about 2 months as they used it for town driving and had to go to audi twice.... with expensive dpf clearing/replacement) . if it's more open road where she can get the engine up to temp (and rpms) and stay there for most of the journey then it shouldn't be a problem :)

of course you could always take it out for a longer hoon for her once a month just to really get the DPF temps buring those particles ;)

*prepares to be shouted at for justifying a diesel for low mileage*


I drive a diesel and do less mileage but I don't have a dpf and the engine gets up to temp about 4/5ths of my way into work in the mornings :p father has a diesel and will do about 13 miles on a trip to town which is mostly country roads so it gets up to temp and stays there for a good portion of the trip and he's never had any issues, and pretty sure he has a dpf.
 
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Two ways to approach this:

1) Go with her diesel idea and if the DPF gives her trouble then dont say "I told you so". Explain what will go wrong and why short trips might be an issue for it. But as said above it does depend where she is driving it.

2) Find out why she doesnt like petrols and try and persuade her to go down the petrol route. The age of car your buying a petrol will also have less things to go wrong. However if your suggestion goes wrong you will live to regret it.
 
She might like a smallish petrol engine with a turbo. It's not going to drive like a diesel she might prefer it to a larger NA engine.


I'm thinking a 1.4 Turbo vs 1.8 NA for instance.
 
Ah, the old "women vs logic" chestnut.

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It's a very sensitive topic for me. I could be driving around in a lovely comfy practical car with some performance and economy to boot, but she wants something small and cute which I don't want as I want to do road trips in it.

I use an Oyster card at the moment.
 
matthab said:
Two ways to approach this:

1) Go with her diesel idea and if the DPF gives her trouble then dont say "I told you so". Explain what will go wrong and why short trips might be an issue for it. But as said above it does depend where she is driving it.

2) Find out why she doesnt like petrols and try and persuade her to go down the petrol route. The age of car your buying a petrol will also have less things to go wrong. However if your suggestion goes wrong you will live to regret it.
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The problem with the I told you so when it does go wrong - is that I'll land up contributing a large portion to it. I'm fed up of paying for DMF and clutch issues as it is!

Scottland said:
She might like a smallish petrol engine with a turbo. It's not going to drive like a diesel she might prefer it to a larger NA engine.


I'm thinking a 1.4 Turbo vs 1.8 NA for instance.
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There aren't really any cars around 7k with a nice little 1.4 turbo lump she likes. There is however a PD engine Jetta at the local garage (agricultural, and very smokey engine) with a nice DPF!

Diddums said:
Ah, the old "women vs logic" chestnut.



I use an Oyster card at the moment.
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It does more miles per gallon :( Its a tiring argument!
 
My logic is not flawed though is it - Petrol does 40mg, diesel will do 50. The cost difference over a week is sod all? Especially given the cost difference of petrol vs diesel.
 
Can you not get a pretty new Polo with those engines for this sort of budget too, or does it need to be bigger?
 
Telll her to ring a dealer of the same make (being the absolute authority of car knowledge of course) and to ask them which engine they would recommend for 11000 miles per year of short journeys.

Trying to persuade her/her dad yourself will be too painful.
 
NooBish AbbZ said:
Don't go for the DPF
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The salesman told her it'd be fine ;) He absolutely knows and why would he tell her otherwise was her response. If it was the CR engine I'd be inclined to let her get on with it!

I however, have owned a PD engine and they are smokey lumps at the best of times so I can see disaster.
 
-Mike- said:
There aren't really any cars around 7k with a nice little 1.4 turbo lump she likes. There is however a PD engine Jetta at the local garage (agricultural, and very smokey engine) with a nice DPF!
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I guess she doesn't like VW Golfs? You might find the odd Seat Leon or Skoda Octavia with the 1.4 TSi engine in your budget.

Or maybe the Suzuki Swift? They come with a 92bhp 1.2 petrol and you'd get a reasonably new one for your budget.
 
Was going to say a Golf/Leon with 1.4TSI should be available, I'm sure there are others about with a small cc but turbo to up the torque.

I'd at least get her to consider something like that, and take one out at a stealer for a test drive - even if it's out of budget, it's worth a go to try to convert her :p
 
-Mike- said:
The salesman told her it'd be fine ;) He absolutely knows and why would he tell her otherwise was her response. If it was the CR engine I'd be inclined to let her get on with it!

I however, have owned a PD engine and they are smokey lumps at the best of times so I can see disaster.
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And this is why salesman scumbags get away with it half the time. They just prey on consumer ignorance (no offence to your girlfriend!)
 
Part of their role should be to advise the customer on what is best for their needs but what tends to happen is salesman #1 says "To be honest you'd be better off financially over 3 years with an equivalent petrol and you run the risk of DPF issues." Salesman #2 at another garage say "You'll be fine love." ... salesman #2 gets the sale because people go in with a pre conceived idea of whether they want a petrol or diesel.

It is part of the reason why I didn't last very long in electrical sales when customers used to ask if there were any issues with early generation plasma TV's :o
 
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