What to buy - petrol or diesel

[Brycie]

As I now drive a van for work, my A6 is kind of redundant & is just sitting there gathering rust & dust. So I'm going to sell my 56 plate 2.0TDI SE A6 and also the Wife's 60 plate Mondeo, then we'll buy a shared car between us.

The Wife will be the main user of our next car & generally does a commute of 6 miles each way, daily. Then every month or two we do a journey of a couple of hundred miles.

Common sense tells me that the vast majority of usage is short journeys to the Wife's work & therefore petrol would be best. However, every month or two we do long journeys, so a diesel would be good. Plus, I'm concerned that petrol cars have much shorter lifespans than diesel, which is a worry.

I quite fancied going for the A6 3.0 BiTDi, around a 13/14 plate, but I wondered what opinions you guys might have?

[Nemo78]

I'm concerned that petrol cars have much shorter lifespans than diesel, which is a worry.

How long are you planning on keeping the car?

To be honest both our cars are diesels as like yourself has probably more short journeys but then also a monthly long motorway run.

However have been through the Diesel/petrol debate recently as sister is buying a car. Opted for petrol as at the time of ordering the diesel / petrol debate was high in the press. We are here in a 'dirty air' city and diesels will at some point need to pay to access the city - granted more likely to be older diesels and not EU6.

What I also found was that there are so many opposing views but each one of them rightly so - I know my current car is only available as a diesel and my next will more than likely be a petrol (if I don't go hybrid etc)

Anyway don't forget manufactures have started diesel scrappage schemes but on new car purchases for diesel cars registered before 2010 - just in case that helps in getting more money for your outgoing cars (granted may mean paying more than originally planned)

Anyway good luck whichever way you go and the BiTDi is a great engine

[Gazwould]

Oh yes that C7 BiTDI is some machine producing oodles of torque from 1500 rpm .

If your worried about dpf , make it disappear .

[Brycie]

Yes, the DPF is one of the main concerns. We don't have anyone that can 'overlook' something missing on the car while MOT'ing it. I guess we could just be disciplined in looking after it, but I really don't see the wife listening to check that the DPF isn't mid-cycle everytime she finishes a journey - never gonna happen.

Good point about the scrappage scheme, but we can't afford the type of car we want from new, not even close.
I think maybe a test drive would help seal the deal on a BiTDI. Maybe that's what we need.

[Gazwould]

No , innards missing leaving casing not a dpf delete pipe .

Once you drive it , that will be that...

[Olio]

6 miles, return, 5 days a week = 60 miles per week
Times 52 weeks = 3120 miles
Add a 200 miles trip every month = 5520 miles.

Nowehere near worth buying a diesel... Get a petrol car and enjoy it. It will be cheaper and more reliable for your use.
And no need to risk having an illegal car with DPF removal.

[Brycie]

My big concern with a petrol car, is how long will it last? What sort of lifespan does a modern Audi petrol engine have?

[Olio]

Go on Autotrader and have a look at the mileage of petrol Audis...

Note that Diesel cars are forbidden in Beijing.
Their taxis (Hyundai) are also petrol and from discussing with them, they can run to 800,000 km. (500k miles+). Granted, a simpler engine, but there are also ots of Audis, Beemers etc. It can't be that bad

[belly buster]

On a practical point aside from the DPF stuff, the 3.0 is a big old lump and takes a while to get warmed up. You're not going to get "diesel-like" fuel efficiency during those short journeys. I don't know how long the 6 mile commute takes, but on cold days the cabin will take a good 10 minutes to get up to a toasty temperature.

[Gazwould]

I'm sure a car of that calibre will have heated seats .