I've bought a 59 plate sport diesel and love it. Its only done 10k so was very happy. The only problem is we only do very low short journeys so the dpf light keeps coming on. The dealer has offered us a 61 plate lounge petrol for £500 its done 14k and is nice.
Only thing is we love the spec / looks of the black sport and feel its a bit of a downgrade? Are the diesels really that bad? Only hear horror stories about them?
Thanks

The diesel does need long runs, yup

We never had a diesel ever and because this was the right price / good looking car we bought it. But a day later the light comes on. A 20 mile blast cleared it but it keeps coming on. Go for the swap then?

Swap

Swap while you can, your diesel will cost most than £500 to sort when the DPF fails due to the low mileage you're doing.

Out of interest why did you consider a DERV in the first place when doing such low mileage

Yes for the love of god swap

I bought a 2008 500 Sport Diesel last year and was not even told about the DPF from the dealers and how short journeys would knacker it up

Within 2 months I god rid of it, I ended up with a Brand new 1.2 POP which was basically a straight swap.

I know going from a Sport to a POP was a down grade, but I got a brand new car and no DPF nightmares.

Get rid before the really cold weather arrives else you will find the car will never get hot enough to do a regen properly :bang: You could end up doing the engine some serious damage too.

The day I took my my car in for the exchange it was a freezing cold day and it was trying to do a regen, it was down to 16 MPG

Tidus72 said:

Yes for the love of god swap

I bought a 2008 500 Sport Diesel last year and was not even told about the DPF from the dealers and how short journeys would knacker it up

Within 2 months I god rid of it, I ended up with a Brand new 1.2 POP which was basically a straight swap.

I know going from a Sport to a POP was a down grade, but I got a brand new car and no DPF nightmares.

Get rid before the really cold weather arrives else you will find the car will never get hot enough to do a regen properly :bang: You could end up doing the engine some serious damage too.

The day I took my my car in for the exchange it was a freezing cold day and it was trying to do a regen, it was down to 16 MPG

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you should have told me to 'heat the car up'!
By the way I just came to the Uk for a few days to look at unis for my brother so drove from London to Leichester and Essex, and I got a BMW 116d efficient dynamics! Even with my driving style and even drifting the rears in sport + mode with driving on the fast lane of the motorway and the relevant speed and driving in London traffic (wow has it gotten worse with all those roadworks!?) I have averaged so far 5.4 l/100 km in about 600 miles! My Fiat 500 1.4 would have probably done around 8.2l/100 km in that time.


I love how the diesels have the torque when you need it, but it always feels faster than it actually is, I mean its actually depressing when you run out of steam once the torque goes maximum, the car stops going faster = )


So yes relevantly, the diesel is definitely a motorway cruiser and takes a while to get warm. In traffic its actually very annoying!

If you have a future problem with the DPF, you could always remove it and have the engine remapped accordingly. Would cost about £5-600. It will still fast pass at MOT time no problem.

We had a diesel 500C for just over three years, 33K miles and no issues. Averaged 60-65mpg throughout. The engine is noisier, longer to warm up in winter like all diesels, but otherwise it is a good engine.

Cheers

Steve

stevehg said:

If you have a future problem with the DPF, you could always remove it and have the engine remapped accordingly. Would cost about £5-600. It will still fast pass at MOT time no problem.

We had a diesel 500C for just over three years, 33K miles and no issues. Averaged 60-65mpg throughout. The engine is noisier, longer to warm up in winter like all diesels, but otherwise it is a good engine.

Cheers

Steve

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IMO deliberately removing a DPF is an environmental crime on a level with flytipping asbestos.

Willfully exposing innocent third parties to the potential of a slow, painful death from lung cancer to save a few quid is to my way of thinking completely unacceptable in a civilised society.

stevehg said:

If you have a future problem with the DPF, you could always remove it and have the engine remapped accordingly. Would cost about £5-600. It will still fast pass at MOT time no problem.

We had a diesel 500C for just over three years, 33K miles and no issues. Averaged 60-65mpg throughout. The engine is noisier, longer to warm up in winter like all diesels, but otherwise it is a good engine.

Cheers

Steve

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Has potential legal implications as it stands at the moment even though it'll pass an MOT. Also needs to be declared as a modification to your insurance company (change to the exhaust and ECU remap) which will cause problems with certain insurers.

Also agreed with the above regarding peoples health!

jrkitching said:

IMO deliberately removing a DPF is an environmental crime on a level with flytipping asbestos.

Willfully exposing innocent third parties to the potential of a slow, painful death from lung cancer to save a few quid is to my way of thinking completely unacceptable in a civilised society.

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Sadly we live in an age full of people who are selfish and wilfully ignorant.

Well we have done it. Picking up the new one on Thursday. Drove really nice although the seats didn't feel quite as good as the sports but happy we have jumped ship.

306maxi said:

Sadly we live in an age full of people who are selfish and wilfully ignorant.

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Fortunately they are still in the minority and there are still plenty of folks (your good self included) who will give freely of their time and experience, asking no more in return than the knowledge that they have made someone else's day a little brighter .

The present MOT test requirements for diesel vehicles are still in the stone age, relatively speaking - the existing smoke test is hopelessly ineffective in ensuring that current cars continue to comply with the emissions standards to which they were type approved. I would expect the situation to change in due course, after which those folks who have wilfully removed their DPF's will either have to scrap their cars or pay out serious money to have them converted back to standard.

I can understand some end users not being aware of the long term implications of DPF removal, but there is no excuse for those in the trade offering this 'service' on fleabay and similar sites .

With the move to Euro6, the exhaust from the latest type approved diesel vehicles operating in Central London likely contains fewer particulates than the air they breathe in. Sadly the technology requires the engine to be at normal operating temperature to work effectively and in practical terms, small diesel engined city cars used infrequently are likely no longer a practical ownership proposition.

IMO the OP has done the right thing in making the swap now, before expensive problems develop.

jrkitching said:

IMO deliberately removing a DPF is an environmental crime on a level with flytipping asbestos.

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You may feel emotive about this subject, but this statement above just makes you look a fool in my opinion. An opinion to which I'm entitled and you are entitled to yours.

Thanks

Steve

stevehg said:

You may feel emotive about this subject, but this statement above just makes you look a fool in my opinion. An opinion to which I'm entitled and you are entitled to yours.

Thanks

Steve

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Thanks for identifying yourself as inconsiderate and selfish

306maxi said:

Thanks for identifying yourself as inconsiderate and selfish

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Your welcome

IJK said:

I've bought a 59 plate sport diesel and love it. Its only done 10k so was very happy. The only problem is we only do very low short journeys so the dpf light keeps coming on. The dealer has offered us a 61 plate lounge petrol for £500 its done 14k and is nice.
Only thing is we love the spec / looks of the black sport and feel its a bit of a downgrade? Are the diesels really that bad? Only hear horror stories about them?
Thanks

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As a humble Aussie contributor to this forum can you explain what a '59 plate' car is. I'm sure it's some registration reference, but a mystery to anyone outside the UK.

PsFiat said:

As a humble Aussie contributor to this forum can you explain what a '59 plate' car is. I'm sure it's some registration reference, but a mystery to anyone outside the UK.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicl...cies_and_overseas_territories#Age_identifiers

That link is confusing and i understand the reg plate system. Basically the 5 means September and the 9 means 2009. So car was first registered in September 2009.

Getting back to the dpf, i understand why they are there and that they do but i just feel they are badly executed. My 1991 mini cooper s had the cat on it from the factory. The first thing i did was rip all that exhaust off as it was highly inefficient and was causing all sort of bad running issues. If i could be bothered i would if removed the dpf and had its ecu remapped.
Fiat certainly should be trying to sort the troublesome cars out as a matter of goodwill but doubt they will.

The dpf's generally function how they're meant to. The issues are caused when the car doesn't suit the driver