Death of diesel cars?

[squeaker]

The size of Jukes and Qashqais too, pretty pointless ugly designs, but it gave a blind person a job which I suppose is a positive to take away from it.

[Bonefishblues]

I was pleased to see the Vauxhall Ampera when it was released but fainted at the price. That was in 2012 now it seems they are in the 2nd hand market though still quite pricey but a possible alternative to a 2nd hand mondeo or insignia. Depends on reliability etc. The adverts were stating a 380 mile range if my memory serves me correctly. I'm eaking each MOT out to put off the inevitable purchase of next vehicle, last year came very close to mechanically having no choice but have had an extra year. Next due in June.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/used-cars/vauxhall/ampera

I noticed one review put as a con, "only 4 seats". Are we all running mini-bus companies. I think this upsizing/inflating of everything is getting ridiculous. Cars like fiat 500 then gets a 500L version. I struggle to find mens trousers in 30" waist, yet theres large amounts of 40". We are definitely becoming americans, but not the best attributes of such. The size of Jukes and Qashqais too, pretty pointless ugly designs, but it gave a blind person a job which I suppose is a positive to take away from it.

I tested the Ampera over a week. I didn't order one because it didn't work in my circumstances. It is seriously uneconomical when the battery range is exhausted, so you really need to make sure that it suits your journey profile (I couldn't get close to the 35 mile claimed range either).

I ordered a Plug in Prius as even though the range is much less I could actually achieve it, and the economy of the ICE was very good indeed when the battery was exhausted.

[Mark1978]

Although have to say I have issues with my turbo petrol Fiesta and might trade it in. One of the option I'm looking at is a Hyundai i30, Diesel.

[old_windbag]

I ordered a Plug in Prius as even though the range is much less I could actually achieve it, and the economy of the ICE was very good indeed when the battery was exhausted.

Just took a look at how they've changed this and its by larger battery capacity to give a short journey all electric drive( a typical uk commute ). I knew the original prius's battery had tiny range as its use as for reducing emmision on stop start driving. I worked on a hybrid project and they'd tested the prius to see its battery capacity compared to the one they were using.

One of the option I'm looking at is a Hyundai i30, Diesel.

It is hard to not find diesel attractive but beware of dpf if on regular short journeys.My commute was to team valley every day, so I had a 1.5 hour journey suiting a diesel. Anyway if you trade in you must announce your registration so we can all avoid a fiesta 1.0l with issues . The kia ceed( also rio ) both look quite nice. Kia and Hyundai share technology ( think hyundai own kia or some connection between them ).

[Mark1978]

It is hard to not find diesel attractive but beware of dpf if on regular short journeys.My commute was to team valley every day, so I had a 1.5 hour journey suiting a diesel.

My commute is from Chester-le-Street to Stockton down the A1(M) every day. So pretty ideally suited for diesel.

Anyway if you trade in you must announce your registration so we can all avoid a fiesta 1.0l with issues . The kia ceed( also rio ) both look quite nice. Kia and Hyundai share technology ( think hyundai own kia or some connection between them ).

Interesting. My wife is looking for a new car and is as yet undecided. She shows she doesn't want a Ford but that's about all

[Mark1978]

My Fiesta got 51MPG on the way to work today, mix of motorway, twisty S2 and dual.

[geocycle]

So far I'm liking the 1.0L ford c max. Only done 1200 miles (more on my bike!) but a nice drive, lots of space, enough power and an overall average of 42 mpg. Before that we had diesels for 15 years but our 9k per year mileage only just about broke even after 5 years on the initial purchase expense over a similar petrol engine.

[pwa]

As the owner of a diesel engined car, I think the MPG advantage is more apparent on longer journeys when the engine spends most of the time fully warmed up. The MPG for the first few miles ( and therefore for short trips of, say, 10 miles) is similar to that of a petrol engined car. So it depends how you use you car.

[old_windbag]

Regarding Hyundai and Kia, its good to see that they now have a 1.0l turbo in their range too. I test drove a kia rio 1.4crdi back in 2013, a nice cabin with sensible instrument layout and understated rather than boring. This petrol engine option didn't exist so a good step forward and excellent warranty terms for both. One negative I found with the fiesta( test drove a ecoboost diesel at the same time ) as that the dash and console were modelled on a 90's mobile phone I feel. They updated the exterior a couple of times and it looks beautiful but all they did to the interior was change the plastic and trim colour rather than restyle. Ho Hum, I think the focus felt more of a mature product in that respect.

It would be nice to have dashboards with a standard electrical interface whereby you could simply swap out the dash to one from a range of styles. So the "yoof" could have a wysiwyg in your face garish look and the more mature hush puppy and beige elasticated pants clientele could choose the walnut veneered vanden plas edition with obligatory image of a spitfire and union jack on the pipe stand/ash tray. More seriously though with modern electronics/Software all dashes could easily be configurable to show different combinations of dials and info to suit the users needs, in whatever "look and feel" too, given that we can implement all as LCD panels. Then everyone could get worked up into a frenzy of "Oh my god", "its amazing" and "awesome" over their dashboard choice, as they do with their smartphone apps. What a shallow society we have created .

[Vorpal]

More seriously though with modern electronics/Software all dashes could easily be configurable to show different combinations of dials and info to suit the users needs, in whatever "look and feel" too, given that we can implement all as LCD panels.

Like http://www.allpar.com/corporate/chrysle ... auges.html

[meic]

You can do this yourself with a mobile phone and a bluetooth device in the diagnostic port.

Quite cheap with a free App and chinese ELM 327 copy, if you dare risk it.

[old_windbag]

Like http://www.allpar.com/corporate/chrysle ... auges.html

That is top dollar. I haven't seen that on uk cars as yet but it'll come eventually.... well if the public want it. I had an astra GTE in the early nineties, it had a digital LCD dash, the speedo as in digits as per below:-



The early models( non 16v ) were as here:-

http://www.migweb.co.uk/gallery/parts/p1429-astra-gte-digital-dash.html

Both were criticised by press and public, to myself it was the ay forward...... we're slowly getting there .

Interestingly vauxhall did a nice touch on the GTE 8v display in that the rev counter was in the shape of the engine torque curve. Unfortunately this was used in early 16v dashboards too where the curve did not reflect the different engine characteristic..... cost savings to use stock. They replaced this with the top version that I had on my car, a simple quadrant design. For 1988 it was cutting edge, good on GM for introducing it.