Servicing!

[McAndy]

Evening you knowledgable lot!

I need some numbers please! I've spoken to my friendly neighbourhood mechanic on the above matter and he told me that a minor would cost the same no matter what the combination of the thread title, major service is only £10 different (E46 > Mondeo, petrol = diesel).

He also advised the both have timing chains so don't require belt changes, the E46 has no DPF to fail and gave a list of issues for the Mondeo that have passed through his doors. Summary: E46 cheaper to run, no major servicing increase of diesel over petrol.

However this is slightly at odds with so many other things that I've read, at least regarding petrol vs diesel servicing. I've read that you'd need to do ~19,000 miles per year to offset the increased servicing costs against the better economy of a diesel.

Cars in budget and under consideration:

1. E46 320i;
2. E46 320d;
3. Mondeo petrol 2.0;
4. Mondeo diesel (130 or 155);
5. Mazda 6 petrol (1.8 or 2.0, curveball for good measure! I'm well aware of the diesel issues .)

I'll be doing ~12,000 miles per year, town, motorway and country road blasting. Mondeo Mk2 2006/7, E46 facelift 2004/5. Very slim chance of Mondeo Mk3.

Many thanks in advance for your help!

Andy




Oh, and no, an MX-5 won't do the business required!

[McAndy]

MODS! The title's gone skewiff. Please could you fix? Thanks!

[TheEnd]

I didn't think diesels had greater servicing costs, it was the price that was the main difference.

[Deva Link]

The only difference in servicing is diesel's usually need the fuel filter changing (petrols never seem to) and petrol's have spark plugs. I know on Mercs it means the diesel is cheaper as both plugs and diesel filters are usually changed every 4 yrs and the plugs change costs a lot more than the diesel filter.

Edited by Deva Link on Monday 23 July 19:16

[300bhp/ton]

McAndy said:

Evening you knowledgable lot!

I need some numbers please! I've spoken to my friendly neighbourhood mechanic on the above matter and he told me that a minor would cost the same no matter what the combination of the thread title, major service is only £10 different (E46 > Mondeo, petrol = diesel).

He also advised the both have timing chains so don't require belt changes, the E46 has no DPF to fail and gave a list of issues for the Mondeo that have passed through his doors. Summary: E46 cheaper to run, no major servicing increase of diesel over petrol.

However this is slightly at odds with so many other things that I've read, at least regarding petrol vs diesel servicing. I've read that you'd need to do ~19,000 miles per year to offset the increased servicing costs against the better economy of a diesel.

Cars in budget and under consideration:

1. E46 320i;
2. E46 320d;
3. Mondeo petrol 2.0;
4. Mondeo diesel (130 or 155);
5. Mazda 6 petrol (1.8 or 2.0, curveball for good measure! I'm well aware of the diesel issues .)

I'll be doing ~12,000 miles per year, town, motorway and country road blasting. Mondeo Mk2 2006/7, E46 facelift 2004/5. Very slim chance of Mondeo Mk3.

Many thanks in advance for your help!

Andy




Oh, and no, an MX-5 won't do the business required!

Do you actually know what a service is?

Mostly its oil, oil filter and maybe air filter replacement. And that's almost it apart from visually checking items. It's almost the same on all cars no matter make or model.

Ok at some point plugs and leads and other items will need replacing, but these aren't exactly covered under most basic services.

[Deva Link]

McAndy said:

I've read that you'd need to do ~19,000 miles per year to offset the increased servicing costs against the better economy of a diesel.

The figures that are bandied around are to do with the extra cost of buying a diesel car in the first place, not the servicing cost. And I don't think I've seen any of the figures anywhere near 19K anyway.

There are some risks with buying a used diesel - dpf, dmf, turbo, high pressure fuel pump, glow plugs, etc can all be problematical and expensive to put right.

[McAndy]

300bhp/ton said:

Do you actually know what a service is?

Mostly its oil, oil filter and maybe air filter replacement. And that's almost it apart from visually checking items. It's almost the same on all cars no matter make or model.

Ok at some point plugs and leads and other items will need replacing, but these aren't exactly covered under most basic services.

Fair enough. Call it running costs rather than servicing costs.

Deva Link said:

The figures that are bandied around are to do with the extra cost of buying a diesel car in the first place, not the servicing cost. And I don't think I've seen any of the figures anywhere near 19K anyway.

There are some risks with buying a used diesel - dpf, dmf, turbo, high pressure fuel pump, glow plugs, etc can all be problematical and expensive to put right.

Thanks. I obviously appreciate that either type of combustion will have potentially expensive problems and often it's luck of the drawer even within an individual model range. I guess I'm trying to figure out if one really is riskier than the other or if I should just do the mileage maths and try and buy carefully!

The E46 not having a DPF gives it one less thing to go wrong, but is this offset by something else in its stead?

[The Moose]

What about a set of discs and pads front and rear. What's the cost differential for those? (honestly don't know!)

[Deva Link]

McAndy said:

Thanks. I obviously appreciate that either type of combustion will have potentially expensive problems ..

..not really, only a diesel has most of the things I listed.

[GoodDoc]

McAndy said:

I'll be doing ~12,000 miles per year, town, motorway and country road blasting.

The type of miles makes a huge difference. My car spends 95% of its time on the motorway. Apart from service items, in 56,000 miles it's had six new tyres (which should see me to 75,000 on the front and 90,000 on the rear) and one cambelt but it's still wearing its original brake discs and pads, and will do for probably another 20,000 miles

I cover somewhat above average miles but I get 20,000 miles between services which makes it a very cheap car to service. Cover the same miles in town or country blasting and it would get more expensive to run.

[GoodDoc]

Deva Link said:

McAndy said:

Thanks. I obviously appreciate that either type of combustion will have potentially expensive problems ..

..not really, only a diesel has most of the things I listed.

At the age the OP is looking at that is true, but all that diesel technology is working it's way onto petrol engines. You get turbos, dual mass flywheels, high pressure fuel system and particulate filters on petrol engines now.

[Deva Link]

GoodDoc said:

At the age the OP is looking at that is true, but all that diesel technology is working it's way onto petrol engines. You get turbos, dual mass flywheels, high pressure fuel system and particulate filters on petrol engines now.

They all have high pressure fuel pumps, and I know turbos (and even superchargers) are making a comeback, but (so as I know to avoid them) which petrol cars have dmfs and dpfs?

[TheEnd]

A 1992 BMW 325i, for example,has a dual mass flywheel. They've been about for a long time.