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kia spprtage 1.7 crdi diesel - Will short journeys from col damage diesel engine - Golden321
Son has above car on lease. No longer needs car but still has to pay lease. I need new car and am looking at amongst others sportage 1.6 gdi petrol. I do lots of short journeys of 2 miles from cold urban then a longer 50 miles of mixed conditions approx every 3 weeks. Aside from dpf possible clogging but by all means air your views on that, would these short journeys damage the diesel engine anyway without a dpf. Not thinking of removing dpf by the way! It would obviously help my son's finances if I took the diesel car off him.
kia spprtage 1.7 crdi diesel - Will short journeys from col damage diesel engine - skidpan

Seriously, if your journeys are mostly less than 2 miles from cold walk. Will not damage the engine and its good for you.

2 miles form cold will not be good for the DPF. 50 miles every 3 weeks will help but if the DPF gets blocked due to this inappropiate useage you will get a very large bill to sort it.

In your position I would only buy a petrol and a good pair of shoes.

kia spprtage 1.7 crdi diesel - Will short journeys from col damage diesel engine - gordonbennet

Without getting into suggesting who does, and doesn't, need more exercise, and i'm certainly not in a position to lecture anyone, i wouldn't expect a modern DPF'd Diesel to take too kindly to this treament.

Perfect (especially plug-in) hybrid motoring though (full electric if you're three weekly trip allowes?), the only time you'd ever use the engine would be once every three weeks or when you demanded slightly more power than the electric motor could provide.

Edited by gordonbennet on 28/11/2014 at 17:01

kia spprtage 1.7 crdi diesel - Will short journeys from col damage diesel engine - Cyd

That kind of motoring will kill any kind of engine in short order, I'd say. It's simply never gonna get warmed up properly.

A small capacity petrol will take it best (C1 / Aygo type), these warm up real quick with their tiny engines. Change oil frequently (at least twice a year). My missuses C1 chucks warm out the heater within a mile. And run it on Shell VPower to avoid coking excessively. You could have an electric engine prewarmer fitted.

All electric or hybrid if you can (preferably plug in).

kia spprtage 1.7 crdi diesel - Will short journeys from col damage diesel engine - madf

As a family we have driven short journeys for teh past 40 years. or rather my wife has: a weekly diet of 1 miles somewhere. Park for 2 hours drive back home again. Severa; days/week


We have had NO engine failures as a result - mixture of petrols and diesels.

The secret: Annual oil and filter changes with OE specifictaion filters and the best quality oil.

Monthly Italian tune ups.

Monthly check of oil, water and tyres.

Antifreeze changed as specicified.

Air filters regulary changed.

I repeat : no engine problems at all (lot of new exhausts tho on petrols).

Of course, those who don't have such a regime as descibed will ruin an engine.

Of course, the use of a highly trained engineer to carry out maintenance helps.. (me:-)

Edited by madf on 29/11/2014 at 10:40

kia spprtage 1.7 crdi diesel - Will short journeys from col damage diesel engine - Avant

Let's move this to motoring as it's a general discussion deserving a wider audience.

Why not combine the suggestions here, Golden? With the fuel cost you're saving by taking on the diesel, take the car out into the country at weekends and enjoy both a drive and a walk.

Not enough people drive for enjoyment nowadays. I suppose it's the cost of motoring that puts thm off - but most other forms of entertainment are more expensive.

kia spprtage 1.7 crdi diesel - Will short journeys from col damage diesel engine - Gibbo_Wirral

I was looking at a Peugeot service manual on Friday. The recommended oil change interval was 20,000 miles, except in "arduous conditions".

I'd once considered arduous to be somewhere hot or desert-like, but in the small print it also said "short or regular stop-start journeys ". The interval was 10,000 miles.

And its this kind of ownership and driving that won't show up when you come to buy a second hand car.

Edited by Gibbo_Wirral on 01/12/2014 at 13:51

kia spprtage 1.7 crdi diesel - Will short journeys from col damage diesel engine - catsdad
I'm in the madf camp.
Not sure about current diesels but my wife ran an 88 petrol Astra to 50,000 in 10 years with Monday to Friday use of a mile each way per day. There are good reasons for the short trips that I won't go into here. Odd longer run at weekends. Sold as a good runner at 11 years old. Her current petrol Astra is a 99 petrol (ex-hire car) that she's run on similar basis since it was six months old and is now just over 50,000. Gets an annual service at MOT time. Changed the exhaust this year for the second time in the 14 years we've had it. It's on it's second battery. Engine still very quiet at tickover. For the last couple of years we have awaited a terminal diagnosis at MOT but it's kept going. No doubt it will fail in next year or so and we'll be on the lookout for another petrol Astra (good local dealer) or possibly Fiesta which I recall reading somewhere is quick to warm up. Whatever we get I doubt it will last as long or as cheaply as the current one.
kia sportage 1.7 crdi diesel - Will short journeys from col damage diesel engine - Avant

"Whatever we get I doubt it will last as long or as cheaply as the current one."

Sad but almost certainly true, despite the annual service that you will so rightly treat it to. There are more electronic components than there used to be, even on petrol cars, which will doubtless fail, expensively, as the car gets older.

It's possible that emissions legislation is more to blame than the manufacturers.

kia spprtage 1.7 crdi diesel - Will short journeys from col damage diesel engine - S40 Man

How long is the lease for? Dpf asside you'd be unlucky for this sort of use to cause terminal decline in the lease time left.

Get best use of the car. Let next owner worry about it.