I was reading the Roadtestreports.co.uk entry for the Volvo V50, in which the testimony of diesel-engined V50-owners made it abundantly clear that if you own a V50 with a diesel engine and only undertake short journeys for the most part, you'll end up with repeated engine problems due to issues with the particulate filter. Apparently the diesel engines are only suitable for regular long-distance driving - and if you'll mainly be doing only short trips (to work and back in your hometown etc.), the petrol engine is the only one that makes sense.

As someone who's on the brink of buying a diesel Qubo, I'm now worried that the same might just possibly be true of Fiat's 1248 cc diesel engine. Can anyone put me straight on this?

A few times a year I'll be driving up to Scotland and back, but for the most part I'll just be pootling around town. Would I do better to buy a petrol Qubo? Or are there no flies at all on the diesel unit (as long as you do a 20-minute run at 60mph+ every so often to clear the particulate filter's throat for it)? I don't want my head to be turned by the diesel's amazing mpg figures if actually my lifestyle isn't the right match for the engine.

Many thanks.

Hello. The Qubo engine won't be any more immune from the only short journey issue that would not be recommended. The engine does not tell you when a long run is required or when the dpf needs clearing. Short journeys are ok as a combined cycle so Unless you are sure to do a couple steady runs at A road speeds for more than 30 miles or so every week as well with a brisk attitude then don't get the diesel.
Oh and most get 50 mpg or so in real life with the diesel, ignore the manufacturers claim

Do not get a diesel your lifestyle is petrol.

Driving petrol will be more economical and better for the environment given everything in your post.

I think you summed it all up very nicely by the way , well done.

I agree with Andy and Jack, your needs are not suited to a modern emissions equipped diesel engine. Get the petrol engine version. Another issue with small diesels is they don't warm up very quickly. It also looks like there might be restrictions, or increased duty on diesels in the future so diesel resale values may not be as good as they were historically.
And I'm generally pro diesel, my second car back in 1984 was a diesel Astra and current car is a Multijet Croma.

Robert G8RPI.

Thanks for your thoughts so far, guys. Much appreciated. But I confess I'm going to find it very hard to tear myself away from the idea of buying a diesel, especially when I think how cheap it'd be to run up to Edinburgh and back.

I'd be really interested to hear from any diesel Qubo drivers who drive their cars almost exclusively as town cars. Do you develop regular problems as a result of it? Do your cars cough, splutter, wheeze and slip into limp mode? Or can a once-weekly spank down the nearest dual carriageway keep those problems at bay?

Or does almost every diesel Qubo owner run their Qubo as a van, cruising around town all day in the name of work just like a taxi driver or a driving instructor?

See, I really don't fancy the petrol engine's 73 bhp or 77 bhp on a motorway; likewise the 75 bhp of the less powerful diesel. I'm currently driving a 69 bhp Corsa and its lack of strategic oomph can give me the jitters on a busy multi-lane highway, so I'm definitely looking for something with more wallop, which seems to translate as a 95 bhp diesel Qubo.

Am I being a complete fantasist, believing that I might just about get away with driving a diesel as a 95% town car? Will the engine seize up, the dpf explode and the entire bottom of the vehicle drop out onto the road? And will I spend half my life handing wads of banknotes to a Fiat dealer?

It's hell being an optimist in the face of common sense.

Be less concerned with bhp and more concerned with torque if acceleration is the name of the game. The Corsa is woefully anaemic when it comes to torque, but Fiat engines despite having lower bhp are generally better torque-wise and can get up speed much quicker than you'd expect.

Short answer 'No'........longer answer, depends on how old the Qubo your looking at is. Mine is a 2009 reg, had it from new, no DPF.........used a lot for little local runs of only a few mile, and no problems at all..........
Cheers Qube O.

If you ignore the great advice you have been given, freely ,by people with years of experience and buy a diesel that has a dpf then yes you will be regularly handing over huge sums of money to have new dpfs fitted.
Or your will be handing money to snake oil sellers who say they can "fix " your blocked dpf on the cheap.
In the meantime you won't get the published mpg figure and it will just get worse as your dpf clogs up.

You will not know how either fueled car drives unless you drive them.
So arrange so test drives.

So the earlier diesel Qubos had no DPF? Izzat what you're saying, O learned Qube O? If so, I had no idea.

So if I dump my prejudices and get me a 75 bhp diesel model, I should be able to use it as a (mainly) town car with impunity?

Hot dog.

So when did the miserable life-complicating DPF come in?

Or have I misunderstood everything, from beginning to end?

https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/driving-advice/diesel-particulate-filters-what-you-need-to-know/

Read that from RAC

Be very aware that a lot of diesels before 2009 had dpfs fitted.
Prior to 2009, some cars had dpf other otherwise identical cars didn't have dpf.
You would have to check each individual car you are interested in to see if it had dpf or not.
You cannot legally have a dpf removed.

The 1.3 fiat diesel is not regarded as being fiats high point of reliability.

Have you driven both petrol and diesel versions?

I'm afraid the petrol option has never been in the running. I've read too many reports online about how the average mpg falls way below what it's alleged to be (unless you're freakishly lucky), which means other petrol cars represent a more solid proposition.

Maybe I should just get a diesel 95 with a DPF and spend two evenings a week driving 20 miles at 60 mph. It'd be an annoying time-waste, but relatively inexpensive compared with repeatedly buying new DPFs, I'm guessing.

So, when I see an eight-year-old diesel Qubo advertised as having had five previous owners, do I assume that not one of 'em understood what DPFs are and therefore all of 'em kept having choked filter problems and low mpg issues until they simply couldn't stand it any more?

And Qube O, how much road tax do you pay on a DPF-less Qubo 75? Presumably not the same as on one with a DPF?

The ECU chooses when to run a clean of the dpf.

It is extremely unlikely that clean cycle would coincide with your planned biweekly drive. So you would waste your time and money and still have a blocked dpf.

You are better off buying a petrol engined vehicle of any make and model that suits you rather than any diesel with a dpf.

The fiat 1.3 diesel also falls way below manufacturer's figures. Plus its not one of fiats best efforts at making a good engine.

hi i have had doblo 1.3 diesel 2006 and now got 1.3 quobo diesel 2011do local runs ie collect paper every morning last week 175 mile round trip NO PROBLEMS every 3rd fuel fill add an diesel additve very relible in every way

No, you read it correct. In 2009 the only way you could have a DPF fitted is if you spec'd and paid for it as a extra when ordering your car. I already suspected they would cause problems, so elected to not spec/pay for one as a extra. From 2010 they all have DPFs fitted, and there is a change over period at the end of 2009..........my 75hp is great, 75/85 on motorway up & down, with 4 people and luggage in car no problem. MPG never drops below 50, just be aware, mine is the Dualogic Gearbox.......they are better on MPG than manuals.
Cheers Qube O.

Following from ,qube o s excellent post .
fiat qubo pre 2009/2010 you would have to check each individual car to see if dpf fitted or not.

All very interesting indeed, including MowerMender70's rather mould-breaking contribution (What's the additive you use, by the way?). Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

So it appears I need to nose out a 2008 or 2009 diesel Qubo and make dang sure no psycho has had a DPF fitted to it. Glancing through the pre-2010 diesels listed on AutoTrader, all of 'em are listed as £30 a year for Road Tax (115g/km); I was expecting a few to be £135 a year or similar. This makes me wonder whether AutoTrader simply supplies a clickable standard-format technical description for all 75 bhp diesel Qubos which completely ignores the existence of pre-DPF cars. I'd like to believe that all sellers, whether private or trade, will easily be able to answer the question 'Does this car have a particulate filter?' - but what with most human beings being ignorant dumbasses, there'll probably be a percentage (including dealers) who either don't have a clue or who automatically assume that there's a filter fitted even when there isn't.

Which begs the question How visible is the DPF?

(Yes, I'm an ignorant dumbass too.)

Road tax cost based on co2 emissions which have nothing to do with dpf

Dpf is a filter that traps particulates.
Particulates in this meaning = soot