I recently got a job delivering pizzas so my Octavia vRS is pretty unsuitable. I've been offered a 2011 Mazda 2 1.6 diesel sport for £4k which seems like a decent price to me. Just wondering since the engine will be warmed up on these short runs (because they're one after the other) is it ok? I was considering the 1.5 petrol, but they're more expensive.
Diesel cars + consistent short journeys?
- Thread starter mccarf
- Start date
How short is short? Diesels need to warm up due to their DPFs. Not enough heat in the DPF means it won't regenerate and will need to be replaced, which is often quite pricey.
For £4k and delivering pizzas I'd be looking at a Micra, Yaris, Colt, pretty much anything Japanese and fuel efficient.
For £4k and delivering pizzas I'd be looking at a Micra, Yaris, Colt, pretty much anything Japanese and fuel efficient.
This.
Ideally you need to be doing motorway speeds at about 2.5K revs for a good 15 minutes plus for it to work properly. If you're round town all the time you'll rarely be going above 1.5k, not to mention all the time spent stationary and in neutral, so eventually problems will occur.
Agreed, a little fiesta or something like that
OK so the consensus is no DPF cars. I was actually thinking how to taxi drivers get away with it? The newest taxis must have DPF cars by now. Do they just have them removed?
Haha yeah I have been trying to work in the shop a little more but there's only so much I can do in there most of the time because it's fully staffed already.
I was quite annoyed as someone stuck a glass bottle under my rear wheel when I was in the shop tonight, got very lucky however with the way my car ran it over and broke it, the giant shard didn't rip my tyre up (whew!)
I did pizza deliveries some time ago, you are better off working in the shop instead of driving, any earnings are lost on brake pads and tyres
Haha yeah I have been trying to work in the shop a little more but there's only so much I can do in there most of the time because it's fully staffed already.
I was quite annoyed as someone stuck a glass bottle under my rear wheel when I was in the shop tonight, got very lucky however with the way my car ran it over and broke it, the giant shard didn't rip my tyre up (whew!)
Pretty much, yes. They don't check whether it's there or not for the MOT, and it's usually covered by things they aren't allowed to remove to check.
Aha ok! That makes sense why they don't constantly break down
A friend said apparently they don't allow mopeds + motorbikes because they're to unsafe. I suppose they must have lost to many pizzas with people falling off them
I don't see how, unless it's a dodgy MOT station as it's now an offence to remove the dpf filter and an automatic MOT fail
+1 Micra.
But don't get a modern one.
Look for and track down a good K11 (1992-2000) They may be a bit boring, but they are utterly reliable, economical and cheap to maintain.
Avoid the later K12 models! (They eat timing chains faster than a fat bloke eats Pizzas. there are no warning signs, and they are very expensive to repair)
But don't get a modern one.
Look for and track down a good K11 (1992-2000) They may be a bit boring, but they are utterly reliable, economical and cheap to maintain.
Avoid the later K12 models! (They eat timing chains faster than a fat bloke eats Pizzas. there are no warning signs, and they are very expensive to repair)
Well the MOT is a visual only check. If you removed the DPF and replaced it with a straight through pipe then that's obviously not there with a visual inspection. If you had the metal part cut open and the DPF removed then welded back up again, it would still appear to be there on a visual inspection. Or indeed if you had a plastic undertray covering the car they wouldn't be able to see anything.
Still, it's a bit of a risk and I doubt every taxi driver does it so I don't know how they do it.
The typical method is to gut the DPF internally and fit a steel pipe stright through. On visual inspection, the DPF is still there so it passes the MOT.
Does driving around in your own car and delivering pizza really make it worth while??
How much do you clear after costs?
Pizza companies round here have their own fleet of vehicles, wonder if that is because they struggled keeping staff in their own cars?
How much do you clear after costs?
Pizza companies round here have their own fleet of vehicles, wonder if that is because they struggled keeping staff in their own cars?
I had mine removed when it got blocked (@165k miles
) as it was a 1600 quid part (plus fitting ). If its fitted then your MOT should fail if you have it removed. Fortunately they don't check if there's anything inside the box.The company I used removed it, cut a square out the top and removed the material inside. They then weld it back up and re-fit it. Cost me about 400 quid
Plus - 10% more grunt and 10% better fuel efficiency
No massive bill
Minus - Exhaust smoke, especially at startup
If you have the car anyway, then it's not so bad, as insurance/tax/depreciation don't factor in so much - I used to a few evenings while i was studying - driving a 2l petrol Galant!, I just about broke even on petrol with the mileage payment.
Later I changed to a 1.8 tddi focus, and was able to cover my costs quite easily.
If you had to buy the car, tax and insure it, purely for the job, then it probably wouldn't be worthwhile... (especially as your insurance would need to cover fast food delivery, which many don't, or charge extra for - OP, have you checked you're covered for this?!)
Wouldn't a small electric/petrol hybrid be ideal for this kind of use?