Am I asking for DPF trouble?
Discussion
I'm contemplating a new car. I tried to find an XK8 a while back but got bored after looking at eight of them and having a choice of imminent gearbox failure, imminent tensioner failure, or more rust than a Soviet submarine. Since then life has moved on, and I need more of a boot...
My driving profile is motorways. I do about 10 miles a week, which is usually three trips about three miles down the road to Tesco's or similar. I then do an average of 200 miles each weekend to various bits of the UK for sport - some are close at only 70 mile round trip, some are up to 300 miles each way. This comes to about 13,000 miles a year, with lots of motorway in that. My main requirement is that I can do 80mph for up to four hours at a stretch with a large amount of kit, I won't feel exhausted and like I've tried to hold my own against a Tigers scrum, and it stands a chance of being over 50 mpg.
This leads me to an E91 3 series or an E61 5 series. For example, I can pick up this within budget of £8-9k and it looks OK. 330d or 530d would be nice, but the mpg difference between manual and automatic is not pleasant and I can't find a manual one of these in budget that isn't ex-Plod or highly probably clocked - oh, sorry, "subject to milage correction".
Question (finally!) - is my regular short trip going to destroy the DPF on one of these cars, despite the weekend stuff? How long does an engine need to be running at "operating" revs to trigger a regen? And is there anything I need to know about buying one of these cars - post facelift/LCI (i.e. 2008ish onwards) x20d estates?
(PH disclaimer: I've looked at a 545i E60, and the man-maths does not stack up given the potential for a coolant leak that is £1k plus to fix and the mpg number meaning I need a lower purchase price to hit budget and that means having to look seriously at a Barried one...)
My driving profile is motorways. I do about 10 miles a week, which is usually three trips about three miles down the road to Tesco's or similar. I then do an average of 200 miles each weekend to various bits of the UK for sport - some are close at only 70 mile round trip, some are up to 300 miles each way. This comes to about 13,000 miles a year, with lots of motorway in that. My main requirement is that I can do 80mph for up to four hours at a stretch with a large amount of kit, I won't feel exhausted and like I've tried to hold my own against a Tigers scrum, and it stands a chance of being over 50 mpg.
This leads me to an E91 3 series or an E61 5 series. For example, I can pick up this within budget of £8-9k and it looks OK. 330d or 530d would be nice, but the mpg difference between manual and automatic is not pleasant and I can't find a manual one of these in budget that isn't ex-Plod or highly probably clocked - oh, sorry, "subject to milage correction".
Question (finally!) - is my regular short trip going to destroy the DPF on one of these cars, despite the weekend stuff? How long does an engine need to be running at "operating" revs to trigger a regen? And is there anything I need to know about buying one of these cars - post facelift/LCI (i.e. 2008ish onwards) x20d estates?
(PH disclaimer: I've looked at a 545i E60, and the man-maths does not stack up given the potential for a coolant leak that is £1k plus to fix and the mpg number meaning I need a lower purchase price to hit budget and that means having to look seriously at a Barried one...)
Thanks all, I'll go and start browsing the classifieds properly... question of 5er vs 3er remains but think I'm leaning towards a 5.
The petrol/diesel debate is something I've thought about. Problem is I can get seconded to other bits of the company I work for at relatively short notice and that tends to rack up the miles. Some times it's fine, some times it's 18,000 miles in six months (Croydon is a hole). Diesel is preferable for those circumstances (and it's more a question of when than if!) unless there's a real reason to go petrol besides cheaper to buy and slightly lower bork factor?
The petrol/diesel debate is something I've thought about. Problem is I can get seconded to other bits of the company I work for at relatively short notice and that tends to rack up the miles. Some times it's fine, some times it's 18,000 miles in six months (Croydon is a hole). Diesel is preferable for those circumstances (and it's more a question of when than if!) unless there's a real reason to go petrol besides cheaper to buy and slightly lower bork factor?
Auto only, it's a 545 not a 550.
The mental process went:
- look at 58 plate 520d, hear rattly as hell timing chain, mentally earmark £1k to fix that on top of cost of car (£9k)
- look at 59 plate 520d, similar but slightly more pricey "cos it's newer, mate".
- consider range of 530d options at that price range (and much more leggy).
- go and see 545i (05 plate, auto-only) for £6k because it's 10 miles away. £600 fixes the two big problems likely to happen with this car.
£3400 buys a lot of petrol and you're a long time dead. Considered the other petrol options for all of 30 seconds before thinking "520 is pointless, 530 does 30 mpg if you're lucky, may as well go big or go home."
The mental process went:
- look at 58 plate 520d, hear rattly as hell timing chain, mentally earmark £1k to fix that on top of cost of car (£9k)
- look at 59 plate 520d, similar but slightly more pricey "cos it's newer, mate".
- consider range of 530d options at that price range (and much more leggy).
- go and see 545i (05 plate, auto-only) for £6k because it's 10 miles away. £600 fixes the two big problems likely to happen with this car.
£3400 buys a lot of petrol and you're a long time dead. Considered the other petrol options for all of 30 seconds before thinking "520 is pointless, 530 does 30 mpg if you're lucky, may as well go big or go home."
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