[robin61]

Ok everyone seems to agree that the diesel has better performance and fuel economy than the 1.8 petrol. What's worrying me about the diesel are the DPF issues. I don't travel anywhwere near as much as I used to and our car spends most of it's life driving around town i.e. school runs, taking the family to their various activities etc.
I've had 2 diesel Citroen C4's and have not had a single DPF issue but the guy at my company fleet workshop tells me they don't get DPF issues with the Citroens. So this leads me to conclude that there is more of a DPF issue with some manufacturers than others. I really wouldn't want to take the chance when buying my own car to be honest.

So I might consider the 1.8 petrol. The lack of grunt doesn't bother me that much as I wouldn't be able to use it 95% of the time around town. What does concern me slightly is the fuel economy, the literature says urban mpg of 29.1 for the manual and only 25.2 for the automatic. Do you guys who have petrol modelsthink this is about right or could it be even worse ?

On the plus side it looks like you can pick up a 1.8 petrol car 12 months old from dealers for about £10K which is a lot of car for the money whilst it's about £2-3K more for a diesel. Our mileage isn't high atmaybe about 7K per annum so it might be worth it

 

[cravensmythe]

I think the reason the citroen and peugot don't suffer the dpf issues is that the filters are cleaned by a chemical provided from a bladder rather than diesel injected in the exhaust cycle. Hence you do not end up with the diesel in the sump issue.

I went through exactly the same dilema as you but ended up with the diesel after test driving a petrol. The petrol was very unrefined on the A road and motorway I tested it but seemed ok in the town situation as the clutch and steering is very light and the engine noise isnt as bad. The petrol is underwhelming compared to the 163 diesel but as you say if you look you can get a petrol for even as low as 8.5K so good value for money.

The petrol is the same engine as fitted to a number of other vauxhalls including the current zafira b, so should be low cost in terms of parts even if you do have to change cambelt fairly early on its life to be safe.

 

[robin61]

Seems a better arrangement. Honestly I'd never even heard of DPF issues before reading about them on here and I've had a few diesel cars,Mercedes E Class 220 (2002), Ford Mondeo 2.0 (2005), Citroes C4 Picasso 2.0(2008) and a 1.6 (2009). Never had any issues with any of them and they've mainly been used around town. Seems incredible that there is this apparent issue with these cars and not very acceptable, if I'm honest it's probably enough to put me off owning one which is a shame because I think they have a lot going for them.

 

[cravensmythe]

DPF filters started to appear on cars around 2005 thanks to eu emission regulations, you will find complaints about DPF filters on nearly all recent diesels even French cars with the bladder as the filters still block. The main problem is DPF filters and short stop start trips do not make good bed fellows, a good blast on a motorway every couple of weeks seems to clear them through. I have an 05 520d and have done 100k and never had the DPF light come on but if you look on the Internet all you find is complaints, so it is not all bad.

P.s. There is even a website dedicated to complaining about the DPF on Mazda 5's.