Diesel vs Petrol school runs in Midi MPV?

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Mon 12 May 2008 15:43
Diesel vs Petrol school runs in Midi MPV? - RufusA
I know the normal arguements about Diesel vs Petrol. i.e. Diesel will give better economy, torque is useful and it will pay for itself if you do more than 15k / year.

We are looking at a Midi MPV, and having test driven a few (Mazda5, Verso etc.) the Diesel engines seem to suit my wife's driving style / car weight better (low end grunt, meaning less gear changes in stop/start traffic, and plenty of torque for motorway overtaking).

The concern I have is that 95%+ of her journeys are going to be short ones, less than 5 miles from a cold start, plenty of it stop / start traffic.

What would the real world fuel economy of a Diesel engine vs Petrol from a cold start over a short distance be (I presume the Petrol would warm up quicker)?

I've also heard a number of horror stories of particulate filters clogging and severe fuel dilution of oil after only 3k when a car has been subjected to such short journey abuse.
Should I be concerned?

Is a modern Diesel still a sensible(ish) choice for a school run car?

TIA - Rufus.
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Mon 12 May 2008 16:12
Diesel vs Petrol school runs in Midi MPV? - daveyjp
The concern I have is that 95%+ of her journeys are going to be short
ones less than 5 miles from a cold start plenty of it stop / start
traffic.


What will the other 5% be? How much mileage in total?
What would the real world fuel economy of a Diesel engine vs Petrol from a
cold start over a short distance be (I presume the Petrol would warm up quicker)?


Diesel Audi A3 - 35-40mpg on a 7 mile commute, Focus 1.8 25-30.
I've also heard a number of horror stories of particulate filters clogging and severe fuel
dilution of oil after only 3k when a car has been subjected to such short
journey abuse.
Should I be concerned?


This depends on your other 5% answer. I do predominantly shortish urban journeys during the week, but the car has a two mile 70mph blast everyday as part of the commute and at weekends it often has a motorway trip. With this use the DPF warning system has never activated.

If it has a DPF and only does short journeys I would avoid as I too have heard of problems for those who use one for pootling around congested cities most of the time.
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Mon 12 May 2008 17:16
Diesel vs Petrol school runs in Midi MPV? - adverse camber
my experience is that diesel mpg holds up better to short journeys than petrol. We've gone from doing long commutes in both cars to doing standard runs of about 5-10 miles (public transport non-existent and I'm not doing 5 miles up and down hills with a child on the back of my bike).

The A4 1.9tdi is currently doing 8 mile journeys and showing 43mpg (down from 49 when doing 50mile high speed commutes). The Volvo 2.4tdi doesn't have a decent trip computer but I estimate is doing a little better than 35mpg on 5 mile journeys whereas I never managed better than mid 40's on longer runs.

The DPF thing is a worry though when I really could do with replacing both cars.
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Mon 12 May 2008 17:30
Diesel vs Petrol school runs in Midi MPV? - oldnotbold
My own experience is that my 405 TD drops by 10% (44 down to 39-40 mpg) on short runs, while the Mk1 Focus auto drops by 20% or a bit more (37 down to 29mpg)
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Mon 12 May 2008 17:46
Diesel vs Petrol school runs in Midi MPV? - RufusA
Thanks everyone - so looks like Diesel won't be too stupid a choice, provided it gets a weekly blat!

All I need to do now is convince SWMBO that I *HAVE* to rag the nuts off the thing to keep it running sweetly!

Rufus.
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