What annual Mileage to you Diesel owners do?

[c15htn]

Anyone using a car for a 3-4 mile commute daily must have a very good excuse to drive (ie loads of work luggage), or they should be cycling!!

I think 'wanting to drive, not cycle' is a perfect excuse.....

 

[johncroydon]

I only do 10 miles each way to work, a few other short journeys with the occasional trip out with the family.
I did look at the petrol option, but saw the mpg return was no where near that of the diesel. And there is only 5 or 6 pence difference per litre.
The c270 also has sensational power when required and i understand is a robust engine, plus has greater resale value maybe.
However when it is time to upgrade i might have to go petrol because modern diesels seem to have the dreaded DPF, which with my short journeys will clog it up. Plus the newer petrols are probably not too far off my diesel return in mpg.
john

 

[obduro]

having always driven petrol for 20 years........ now I have an oil burner, no chance of a reverse.

these Mercedes diesel cars are incredible!

+1

 

[turbopete]

I think 'wanting to drive, not cycle' is a perfect excuse.....

as is arthritis.

and concern for personal safety.

 

[mej]

Like travis and ricardo, where much your mileage is in Europe it's a now brainer even at 12-15k mpa. Cycling is fine for the short trips, and I do a lot in France, but around Sheffield/N Derbys where it rains a lot, there are serious hills, and the motorists don't have the French tolerance for cyclists? Not likely, except on leisure bike trails. This annual mileage obsession is irrelevant if you keep your cars for a long time, as I do. It's period of ownership mileage that counts. I find the pre DPF and certainly pre (say) year 2000 diesels less complex, more reliable and cheaper to keep in good fettle than equivalent petrols. I'm amazed no-one has mentioned the driving experince. I have for years now found an automatic diesel Benz more suitable to my driving style than a similar petrol.

 

[PeterCLK]

In terms of driving experience I preferred the V6 petrol.

The diesel is fine, just wish it was not so noisy at low revs.

 

[st4]

I do 14k miles per year, but they are long tours and used prices for petrol diesel was about the same so went for diesel.

 

[dgbmvb]

Mileage

I've had mine since Sept '12 and done 23k

 

[Carabosse]

I only use mine for going to Tesco and back.

 

[exjag]

Mine's 2.5 years old and done less than 12000 miles, mostly short trips. The DPF is not a problem. It's like any other component on a car, if it's properly maintained it'll properly function.

 

[whitenemesis]

Mine's 2.5 years old and done less than 12000 miles, mostly short trips. The DPF is not a problem. It's like any other component on a car, if it's properly maintained it'll properly function.

How do you maintain the DPF?

 

[Peter De La Mare]

I have two petrol engined cars.

Diesels are for buses and ditch pumps.

 

[exjag]

How do you maintain the DPF?

By taking the steps suggested in the handbook in relation to cars with a DPF which have "been driven mostly on short journeys".

 

[whitenemesis]

By taking the steps suggested in the handbook in relation to cars with a DPF which have "been driven mostly on short journeys".

Which is?

 

[c15htn]

In the Vauxhall book it only tells you what to do once the dpf needs cleaning - drive for a reasonable period in a higher gear than normal...... I've worked this out to be something around 3500rpm for about 10 mins..... oddly enough I had to do it today..... 3rd gear, A1, 3.5k, 10mins, lamp goes out all is fine again.

Mercedes probably have a nice way of doing it, involving star and lots of money :Oops:

 

[Neil H]

I have two diesels. The CLS has done 19k in just over 12 months and the ML has done 17k in 19 months. My daily commute is 80+ miles so aside from the occasional day working from home or when Im travelling, the CLS gets a good thrashing. Usually seeing 35-38mpg on daily commute which for a 2 ton car that can do 0-60 in 6 seconds isnt too bad.
Intestingly, have just got the ML back from a loan spell with my mum who is the original driving miss daisy, it feels slower and more sluggish, even after just 3 weeks. I'll take it for a blast to loosen it up again.
When the contract on the ML expires in Nov 14, I will be on count down to a new motor. It will be petrol!

 

[gizze]

By taking the steps suggested in the handbook in relation to cars with a DPF which have "been driven mostly on short journeys".

Which is?

Yeah I would like to know that too?

How many often does it do a regen?

Your thermostat is definitely getting above 90°c? As it will only regen when it is.







I buy what suits the car, I have an ML270cdi at the moment, fine in diesel form, and averaging around 28mpg, which is as low as I would want to go in a waft around car. The petrol version I struggle to get above 22mpg.



But then take the new 1 series, A3, Golf etc., look at the 150bhp (or thereabouts) diesels compared with the 150bhp petrols, both are returning pretty much identical mpg figures..IN THE REAL WORLD!
Yeah on paper the petrol is 48 and the diesel is 58, but take them both out and the petrol hits those figures and the diesel doesn't.

I took the 118d vs 118i out, and the A3 2.0tdi and the 1.4tfsi out and all of them returned between 46 and 49mpg doing the same 100 mile round trip across town and out to the coast and back again.


Diesels 10 years ago were great, but hen 10 years ago we had 1.8 turbo or compressor engines petrols that were doing 25mpg vs 90 or 110bhp 2 litre diesels that were doing 50mpg, it made loads of sense to get the diesel, now though the gap in consumption (when buying like for like) is so small I'm not so sure.
Then when you look at all the people crying over the £1500 they have had to spend on DPF replacement etc. you really do wonder.
The only thing going for a modern diesel as far as I can see is stronger residuals, but that is on new cars only, and if buying new consumption worries are pointless compared with the depreciation you are going to face!!

At the end of the day, buy what you like, if you feel better convincing yourself you are saving money buying the diesel good for you, a bit of man maths never hurt anyone.

 

[exjag]

Yeah I would like to know that too?

Re the handbook recommendation (for my E Class 350 CDI), it says that vehicles which have been driven mostly on short journeys should be driven 'on a motorway' for at least 20 minutes every 500kms.

Clearly the requirement is that the car is run for a continuous period in circumstances (at a speed) sufficient to run the DPF at the 'burn' temperature.

Instruction for my previous Jaguar (sorry to keep harping back to this marque, but it is where my experience of diesel lies) were a little more explicit in that it specified a continuous minimum 20 minutes at a speed not less than (if my memory is not letting me down) 50mph.

My habit, when necessary, is to go up the M62 for a couple of junctions on a Sunday morning to fulfill this requirement. I had only once the DPF warning message come up on the Jag, and such a trip did the trick - permanently. I continue the routine with my Mercedes-Benz, though I haven't had it long enough to determine if this will obviate any DPF problem, but as it's a manufacturer recommendation, I will continue to do it.

In addition, and this may be old fashioned, I like periodically to give the car a blast at high revs, 'to blow off the cobwebs', as my normal usage these days is more sedate. That may be an urban myth, but I subscribe to the notion highlighted by Niel H and his mum's 'Miss daisy' style mentioned above. My wife's (she's 70 next) Corolla seems to benefit from this treatment when I get my hands on it.

 

[Oggyman]

Minimum mileage for used diesel.

Hi,

I drive about 25K miles (40K Km) every year, some times many more, so a new car, while nice, is not viable. I would destroy them too soon with the mileage I put on them.

When I look for a used diesel I will not consider lower mileage diesels. I want to see 75K miles on the clock at least. The thought behind this is simple- more miles means motorway (freeway) driving, so little wear compared to lower mileage cars.

While not guaranteed this has worked for me for the last 5 cars I have had.

I've put at least 100K miles on each of them with no real problems. I expect to maintain them well, but have had no serious problems yet (touch wood).

Horses for courses though, I would not dream of a diesel if I didn't do at least 15K miles per year, or did only short journeys.

Oggyman

 

[Carabosse]

Alternatively just get the DPF de-cored (as opposed to removed).

No more regen and no more issues!