Diesel car on 26k in 7 years, should I b concerned?

Sparky55

Sparky55

Sparky55

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scotland
Hi,
Im looking for some advice.
Im in the market for a BMW 20d X1 auto.
a lot of deals I’m finding are cheaper with diesel, but from past experience with diesel cars I’ve had dpf issues and cost me a fair price (both previous cars done over 100k when issue occurred, not sure if that’s the reason).

I’ve seen a deal I like but it’s 2018 plate and only done 26k on the clock, is this a concern as I’m aware you need to try and do high mileage/moterway runs often to reach a temperature to burn the clog away. It seems very low mileage for a diesel car and not wanting to spend a lot on a car that’s potential to be unreliable

Any advice would be appreciated.
 
I'd be amazed if someone has genuinely only managed to do 26,000 miles in seven years unless they were very old and just never used the car. I'd be more concerned the milage isn't legitimate over the DPF being blocked.
 
look at the condition and mot history, no doubt someone looking at our 2017 would say with just over 40k it not right but with hospital and other vehicles mileage doesnt just get piled on. our last mondeo we had for 9 years ,some mots only registereda few 100 miles between , best was 28 miles:) but i was in hospital and wife had other car :)
 
It may be possible to work out if it's done a lot of short journeys by looking for wear and tear, is the steering wheel worn/shiny, is the seat bolster worn on the driver's side especially.

Also look at the MOT history, chances are if it's had a hard life it might have thrown up stuff that were picked up on the MOT; bushes and emissions etc. Sticking brakes could indicate that it's sat around and not been used.
 
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Antony101 said:
I'd be amazed if someone has genuinely only managed to do 26,000 miles in seven years unless they were very old and just never used the car. I'd be more concerned the milage isn't legitimate over the DPF being blocked.
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Also a valid point, could be clocked! Surely the MOT history will clairfy this though?
 
Checked MOT history averages around 3k a year steady, not had any advisories apart from brakes last year and it’s passed this years so imagine they’ve been changed.

I’m clueless about cars, so still unsure if that little mileage in that space of time will effect the dpf if I drive the car at a maintainable rate for diesel, or will the damage be done,

This is pickling my brain, might just pay the extra for petrol haha
 
Plenty of cars do tiny mileages, i know people who live really close to work, like 2 or 3 miles so they could easily only rack up that kind of distance over a few years. Could also be a retired person who just pops to the shops.

Can't help with DPF stuff but i personally wouldn't want to touch it but then i wouldn't touch any modern diesel with a barge pole with how complicated they've become :(
 
Are there any tests you can do for DPF? Get it scanned to see when it last did a regen? I'm not so clued up on diesels.
 
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Antony101 said:
I'd be amazed if someone has genuinely only managed to do 26,000 miles in seven years unless they were very old and just never used the car. I'd be more concerned the milage isn't legitimate over the DPF being blocked.
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Could be that someone switched to homeworking rather than commuting post pandemic. My annual mileage now is 25% of what it was before 2020.
 
Antony101 said:
I'd be amazed if someone has genuinely only managed to do 26,000 miles in seven years unless they were very old and just never used the car. I'd be more concerned the milage isn't legitimate over the DPF being blocked.
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Depends on the use of the car, I generally have a runaround along side other vehicle(s) which only gets about 4K miles a year.

dave28 said:
Your paranoid from past bad experience, most of my family drive a diesel since the 1990`s and every time they have an issue its something other than the DPF
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This has been my experience - usually EGR get gunked up. Though it is still a good idea to get in a long run now and again with a diesel.
 
Probably ok, but from experience you might find things like wheel bearings and other exposed moving parts suddenly start to fail when you start using it properly. Probably because they have sat for ages and the lubricant has dried up or things have started to seize.

I have an old, rust free car which I bought with only 35k miles on it. I did 2k miles in it and a bearing failed. Not big bills because it's a Toyota and they build cars with maintenance in mind (£35 and 20 minute work with a hammer). But a more recent BMW is a whole different story once that starts to spawn bills :P

I'd avoid modern diesels, the emissions control stuff kills them way early. A blocked or partly blocked DPF puts more stress on the engine and turbo, forces more and more exhaust gases back in to the engine until it all clogs up and goes bang. GPFs (petrol) aren't nearly as bad, but it's just another tihng to go wrong expensively.
 
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I bought a diesel VW DSG MPV with 20k or so on it I dunno 7-8yrs old. Basically was used in the city. Like new inside. I wanted manual petrol but couldn't get one. We also mainly drive in the city. But did the usual hot runs to clear the dpf.

Fuel pump left it stranded at 6 months. Then dpf, egr valve problems and then slipping clutch. Did a long trip in it. Then at 2.5-3yrs started going into limp mode left us stuck a few times and the mechanic couldn't fix it without a lot of work. We lost faith in it and moved it on. We've switched to an EV.

Obviously it didn't suit our usage. But diesels seem to have less issues with big miles than low miles. Would be my thinking.
 
BMW usually have very good DPF management, Carly also allow DPF inspection/control so you can check ash levels and see how much life is left, so that or bummer code if really worried.

We had a Nissan x-trail diesel, and although we do >12k miles a year, due to high frequency small commutes during the week, the DPF needed workshop forced regen twice.. so we switched to a BMW (40d engine) because I already had Carly so could inspect and manage the DPF doing the same driving patterns, however, the car just managed the DPF and regents perfectly, so ironically I never needed to ever trigger a regen or go on any special journey to maintain it..

I know a few low mileage 40d engine’d BMWs with low miles and have inspected with Carly and found very low ash values which makes me think it’s just dealing with things as it should.
 
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Antony101 said:
I'd be amazed if someone has genuinely only managed to do 26,000 miles in seven years unless they were very old and just never used the car. I'd be more concerned the milage isn't legitimate over the DPF being blocked.
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I have owned my car for 9 years and it has 26,600miles on the clock and i use it almost everyday
 
You are right to query the mileage. If the MOT and service history match up you could be ok. I would recommend asking the owner what kind of driving they do etc, is it all sort local trip or do they use the car for few but longish drives? I know one gentleman who owns a x5 doesn’t use it very often, but when he does it’s for long road trips and towing his caravan. Personally I wouldn’t buy a diesel if it’s been used for short local trips, to many potential issues as they like longer steady runs.

My current car is 20 year old Corolla, under 50k miles, had one old lady owner who done very few miles specially the last few years she owned it. I have put 10k on the car myself in the last year with no issues whatsoever. My wife’s Mazda 6, we have owned 9 years she has only put 40k on it in that time. She does mostly short trips etc. so some people do genuinely do low miles.
 
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