Is it REALLY worth having a Diesel?

[Welly]

Forgive me on this one, but aside from the usual high mileage/low fuel consumption argument I am beginning to wonder about the modern Diesel engine, hear me out.......

I have been searching around on a BMW forum about the modern BMW common rail units and found to my surprise that MANY owners have suffered:

• Turbo failure £1500.00 (harmonic vibrations damaging compressor wheel)
  Turbo failure (actuator allowing over boost)
  MAF problems (owners have to strip and clean regularly)
  EGR problems (ditto)
  Blocked Crankcase ventilation (filter unit blocks)
  Excessive black smoke due to some of the above
  Low 30's fuel consumption on the bigger units

It seems if you buy a second hand modern Diesel even if it has a full dealer history (for what that's worth) then you never really know if your motor is performing as it should or whether it is down on performance due to some fault.

My point is that a Diesel is supposed to be a reliable trouble free workhorse but it seems there is so many controls connected to the thing for emissions and performance etc that it becomes probably more troublesome than the now (fairly simple in comparison) Petrol unit.

Add to this the higher purchase price of a Diesel (even second hand) and it makes me wonder, a lot.

On a personal note if I consider my next job, the Clutch and Flywheel replacement, because it's a Diesel and has a Dual Mass Flywheel the job will cost me in the region of £600.00, a petrol engine's clutch would be, say, £200.00? That means I could have had £400.00's worth of Petrol instead which would buy me 3500 miles of motoring.

[jameslxdt]

these are the reason's i would never buy common rail diesel, i would only buy another indirect mechanical injection diesel, i had a 306 and my previous 406 were the 1.9 dt non hdi unit and both proved bullet proof and had starship mileage

[turbolag]

No, not at all.

I've just spent a weekend with a new 1.2 Micra at work (sneaky beaky under cover op). I was bored poopless so I drove like a nun to get the best fuel cons possible, and still only managed 47 mpg, but toe it once or twice to overtake and it drops to 43mpg. the HDi gives low 50's in normal driving, no sweat, but does it with 5 decent seats and a mahoosive boot. And the HDi has some usable thrust, but the sparker was sloooooowwwwwwwww beyond belief.

MAF issues affect sparkers too (VW, Vauxhall and MB are badly afflicted on some models), turbos more likely to go AWOL on a sparker (no detonation or poor mixture damage issues on a diesel, 60k miles is good going on a Skyline blower), nickasil bore wear on some bimmers (badly afflicted big bore 6 pot motors in the mid '90s, but bimmer were good and replaced whole motors under warranty) and there's no HT system to throw a strop on cold, damp mornings as the car ages. As an average, a sparker will have a shorter service life/mileage than a sparker (diesel suffers lower bore wear due to lower revs, lower rotational reciprocating stresses, and higher tensile materials to withstand higher compression).

Many sparkers have DMFs to keep the noise down (some 5 pot VWs again), and they also suffer delamination issues. Indeed, the myth of VW and MB reliabilty is just that - a myth. The supposedly dreadful rover 45 scored higher than the Golf or C class in the last JD power in which it featured, and the 75 beat every single MB model. A lot of poop is talked about brands and reliability, which get inextricably confused with myth generated by glossy advertising.

Indeed, one of the toughest sparker units ever, the Jag AJ6, was originally concieved and designed as a diesel...

and seeing as my even my 7 year old HDi has 12k mile/1 year service intervals, it doesn't cost any more to keep either.

[turbolag]

On a personal note if I consider my next job, the Clutch and Flywheel replacement, because it's a Diesel and has a Dual Mass Flywheel the job will cost me in the region of £600.00, a petrol engine's clutch would be, say, £200.00? That means I could have had £400.00's worth of Petrol instead which would buy me 3500 miles of motoring.

£330 for an LuK clutch, fitted. Pug ones a rip off price and appallingly weak.

Last car before the Pug I owned which needed a new clutch was an Astra SRi, and it cost £350. Doh!

[Captain Jack]

After driving diesels for over 4 years, I will never buy a petrol. I love its torque figures and the pull factor. Hell, I can move off from a standing start in 2nd gear without touching a gas pedal. And then there's the turbo boost. I know it's nowhere near as fast as a turbo charged petrol equivalent but you can actually feel the turbo kicking in at those low revs just aching to accelerate. A 150bhp with nearly 300lb of torque Golf TDI is lurvely! Even in my boss's Skyline GTR with twin stage turbo doesn't have the 'kick' when the turbo does kick in at 3500rpm. I am far too bored by then

Perhaps a nice V8 American muscle gas guzzler will change my mind though.....

Oh, yes. I agree with james there about the mechanical diesels being far more reliable that today's examples. But that's simply because of all the wizzy electronics you get in most cars today are just aching to go wrong...

[Welly]

£330 for an LuK clutch, fitted. Pug ones a rip off price and appallingly weak

The £600.00 is made up of this:

An LUK clutch plate kit 96.00
A Dual Mass Fly (OE) 150.00
8 hours lab (indie @ 35.00) 280.00
Vodka And Tonic 92.05
Total Damage £618.05

Maybe labour a bit OTT, but thats what my mechanic quoted as the 'listed' time for the job, and he will do it properly, if I got one of these 'speedy clutch' type places to do it I would be forever plugging stuff back in and tightening brackets back up that they missed in their 'rush'.

[turbolag]

Phone Clutchmaster in Milton keynes (Bletchley). Guaranteed it'll save you plenty.