We have a 4 birth van weighing around 900kg. We currently tow with a 1.5 dci scenic which does really well but we need to upgrade.
We don't do many miles during the week as I work close to home. I know newer diesel cars have the particulate filter which can clog up if the car doesn't get a good blast.
Who on here tow with a petrol car? What could i get for around 6k?
The choice of over 72,000 cars listed in the autotrader website. All petrol and between £2000 and £6000. Change that from £4000 - £6000 limts you to just over 35,000 cars.
I have towed with petrol and diesel. The extra low down torque of a diesel does make towing more effortless.
Thats with petrol and diesel versions of the same car also, where the petrol has more bhp but the diesel more torque.
We can drive around 30 miles per day and use motorways on weekends. No long commuting or visits away unless in the van.
Ideally I'm looking for an estate, something heavy enough for the van and practical. An mpg of over 25 when towing would also be good. Currently get around 38/40 with the scenic (53+ without tow)
I think you are uneccesarily wary of modern diesel technology. Yur type of motoring will be ok with the filter and you are always going to be unhappy about MPG with a petrol.
Skoda Bob is always going to be pushing his Skodas obviously. I would broaden that a bit to any V.A.G. group tdi. They are much the same with different badges.
To keep dpf clear you only need a few miles down a dual carriageway at 60mph now & again so your style of driving is ok. Most important with any secondhand car is service history. It depends how much towing you do, a 1.6 petrol Focus or Zafira for example will tow caravan ok but diesel version will do it better & use less fuel.
I changed to petrol. I had 2 new diesels and both unreliable, an Audi that had turbo problems and a zafira that had lots of issues at just 2 yes old. Last year on holiday our Zafira dpf let us down and took 6 days to repair. I came to the conclusion that a petrol car that works will tow better than a broken diesel. Now I have a petrol car which has proved reliable but has suspension issues.
I think with any car it needs to be serviced correctly. Whatever one says about main dealers, a used car with full main dealer history will at least ensure correct spec oil & oe filters have been used. If you buy a car with, say 60k miles up cheap with no history then petrol or diesel it may cost you but with service history you should be ok. I think what mostly does for cars is missed oil changes, more critical now than yrs ago.
Quote: Originally posted by GCMS2012 on 10/3/2015
She's getting a Mitzi Outlander PHEV hybrid soon*, so that'll be used for EVERYTHING except towing (obviously) from then on....
Obviously????
The PHEV has a towing limit of 1500kg. Easily tow your caravan.
The vast majority of diesel pollution is from trucks & buses, they will be diesel for the forseeable future & so will diesel cars. The only reason diesel cars are not popular in rest of the world is that they do not have the huge tax burden on motor fuels that we have in Europe making the better economy of diesel worthwhile.
The reason the Yanks don't like diesel cars is because they are too slow, their idea of a small engine is a 3 litre petrol & the cost of fuel to run that will still be less in US than a 1.6litre diesel in UK.
The trend for rest of world is downsizing petrol engines with turbos to maintain output but they will never be as fuel efficient as diesels.
Quote: Originally posted by freeatlast on 11/3/2015
Quote: Originally posted by GCMS2012 on 10/3/2015
She's getting a Mitzi Outlander PHEV hybrid soon*, so that'll be used for EVERYTHING except towing (obviously) from then on....
Obviously????
The PHEV has a towing limit of 1500kg. Easily tow your caravan.
It'll be a lease car through NHS Fleet Solutions.
But we have the Shogun to give us the option of upgrading to near enough anything in the future possibly.....