DPF (diesel particulate filter) advice

SAM81

SAM81

SAM81

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So we've been looking at Insignias for a little while, they meet are needs for practicality and price but I'm struggling to decide between a petrol or a diesel.

I tried the 2.0 130bhp diesel and quite liked it, there doesn't seem to be much difference in price between the 2.0 130bhp diesel and the 1.8 petrol, and the diesel seems to give better MPG and feels a bit faster.

So I thought my mind was made up but then started reading about the DPF on modern diesel cars.

We will only be doing around 12k miles per year, mostly short journeys with a longer motor way drive every couple of weeks. My concern is that our usage would not be enough to regenerate the DPF which may in turn lead to some big bills in the future.

What are peoples thoughts on modern diesels and DPFs? Are they still considered to be a problem if you're not doing long motorway journeys frequently?
 
They are still an epic pain in the backside, a motorway run every now and then may mitigate the issues, it needs to be a fair run as well a solid 60 for half an hour. You can also get in tank treatments to help the process.
 
SAM81 said:
So we've been looking at Insignias for a little while, they meet are needs for practicality and price but I'm struggling to decide between a petrol or a diesel.

I tried the 2.0 130bhp diesel and quite liked it, there doesn't seem to be much difference in price between the 2.0 130bhp diesel and the 1.8 petrol, and the diesel seems to give better MPG and feels a bit faster.

So I thought my mind was made up but then started reading about the DPF on modern diesel cars.

We will only be doing around 12k miles per year, mostly short journeys with a longer motor way drive every couple of weeks. My concern is that our usage would not be enough to regenerate the DPF which may in turn lead to some big bills in the future.

What are peoples thoughts on modern diesels and DPFs? Are they still considered to be a problem if you're not doing long motorway journeys frequently?
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EVERYONE I have spoken to, online on car forums and mates at garages ahve said that diesels really need big drives for the DPFs to properly to their job. If you're doing short hops, I'd be tempted to take it for a good long sprint now and again.
 
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The 1.8 petrol in these is very economical too, my parents have one which returns high 40's extra urban. Its not very powerful but its certainly fit for purpose with that economy return.
 
Definitely go for the petrol.

Not sure if it's the same DPF they use across the range but someone I work with has a 2012 diesel Corsa, nearly all dual motorway travel as he lives miles away, about 18000 annual mileage. Yet he still has to sit in a layby revving the hell out of the car in neutral to get the DPF warning light off every 3-4 weeks.

I know this is only anecdotal advice and other people's experiences may vary but stay away from diesel is my 2p worth.
 
On a slightly different note, as of Feb 14th all diesels that originally left the showroom with a DPF must now have a DPF to pass the MOT. Same situation with cats too
 
I'd go petrol.

We had the same decision to make on our car with having to blast up the motorway every few weeks the money you save on fuel by having diesel would probably get used up doing that.
 
acemastr said:
On a slightly different note, as of Feb 14th all diesels that originally left the showroom with a DPF must now have a DPF to pass the MOT. Same situation with cats too
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The way round that would be to have the DPF unit to have its gubbins removed and then have the DPF 'deleted' by a remapper
 
Why do people say DPF's need to be driven hard/trashed?

I thought they needed constant speed 60/70 motorway driving for 30 odd minutes to trigger a regen.
 
Bit of derailment from the petrol/diesel debate but how old is the car? I believe the early cars at least, petrol or diesel were terribly built - I'm assuming they sorted this at some point but its worth doing your homework on the general car ( if you haven't already)

Ive only ever had one for a couple of days at a time, always diesel and don't think any older than circa 2010. Bit of a "meh" car - fine as an a to b tool though
 
rodenal said:
Bit of derailment from the petrol/diesel debate but how old is the car? I believe the early cars at least, petrol or diesel were terribly built - I'm assuming they sorted this at some point but its worth doing your homework on the general car ( if you haven't already)

Ive only ever had one for a couple of days at a time, always diesel and don't think any older than circa 2010. Bit of a "meh" car - fine as an a to b tool though
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Hi

Its a 2013 reg. Reading around the internet seems split between people who hate them with a passion and people who love them. I'm coming from a 14 year old Mazda 323 so it 'should' feel like a luxury compared to that.

The one thing I have read is that the 1.8 petrol can feel underpowered, again I'm hoping coming from the above car this wont feel like its an issue.
 
Had to take my 11 plate Skoda Fabia 1.6TDCI for a 30 minute motorway run this morning because the DPF light came on, Cleared within 15 minutes, I have had this car for 6 months and this is the second time i have had to do this, I do at least one over 30minute motorway drive per week but also a lot of small journeys, Still not unhappy i got a diesel as it is good on MPG's when doing long journeys (51MPG's fully laden with luggage and 4 adults) and ok on short journeys (40Mpg's).

I hope i do not regret it in the long run.
 
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