XSeries-forum

I am thinking of letting go of my E53 3.0D for something slightly newer mainly due to ulez charge.

I thought about the E70 but most of the cars about are diesels which are not ULEZ compliant and I have heard so many stories about the Petrol versions of E70 having los of issues.

Now I am considering F15 between 2013 and 2015. Again lots of diesels about rather than petrol.

I doubt I'll cover more that 8k miles yearly which will be mostly short journeys. Should I stick to looking for petrol engines or its safe to use diesels? I am assuming all F15's are Ulez compliant.....


Thanks

Modern diesels are a fantastic pieces of kit and usually very reliable. The emissions equipment are neither and will give you problems if you do lots of short journeys. And it will be expensive.

As above. The issue with diesels is that in order for the particulate filter to burn off soot (regen cycle), the car has to be fully warmed up and then run above 40mph for at least 20 minutes every 300 miles or so. Short journeys don’t allow the system to fully warm up for the regen cycle to start (or complete) meaning you end up with a clogged DPF and they are expensive to replace. Excess fuel is issued by the injection system at the same time, and if the cycle doesn’t run, that ends up in the oil. That means more frequent (annual) changes should be done. Similar issues are beginning to appear on larger petrol engines from about 2019 onwards as they may be fitted with the petrol equivalent (Gasoline Particulate Filter).

It’s fine if you are regularly doing long enough journeys but otherwise things can get expensive. A DPF if properly looked after should last about 100,000 miles. Some go longer.

Looks like I am going to have a big problem getting an X5 petrol car then

I just did a blanket search on autotrader for X5 between 2013 and 2016. There are only 4 petrols, 580 diesels and 32 hybrids.

Any other place to check?

Pistonheads or ebay

The vast majority of SUV type cars sold in the UK have been diesel because of running costs/fuel economy. It really only recently began to change. I have recently been seeing only the petrol versions in my main dealer - with 4.4V8 twin turbo mills (the 50i). Diesel was unfairly demonised as the latest versions (Euro 6c or better) are very clean.

The number of badly maintained diesels that I don’t think will pass an MOT on the road just defies logic - or they are being run illegally.

How short are the journeys? As long as once a week it gets a good run it should be fine my e70 has done many 4 mile runs every week but also weekly 20 mile runs in sport mode to get the DPF cleared out, now on 170k and going fine but those weekly runs of 20 mile are crutial.

2.5mile round trip 2 or 3 times a week at about 25mph max. I do that now in the mrs car so I don't get ulez charge unless I am doing lots of driving for the day which I don't mind the ulez charge
Saying that I have not had issues with my E53 3.0D With this type of driving since 2020 unless that is built to take abuse

Has the e53 got a DPF mine didn't.
Going to get shot for my next.
I have a bmw and a n mb that have dpf's and both of us are retired now so they only do short trips.
A once a month trip of 24 miles ew keeps the dpf happy and if i don't do that run and levels are looking high i will request a regen don't shoot.
I know we don't need a car each but old habits and all that lol.

The E53 was the last X5 without either swirl flaps or a DPF. Be grateful. Both of the aforementioned devices are the spawn of Satan to most motorists who care about their rides. The F15 onwards also has AdBlue too.

A lot of problems with the emissions systems are also caused by failure of the myriad sensors. This will prevent the dpf regeneration cycle and if you leave it long enough it's turbo time. (Or two..)
And take a look inside the intake manifolds if you get a chance and see what egr recirculation does.
Mind you direct injection petrol engines can suffer from intake manifold fouling as well.
A diesel engine on good condition will not fail the present MOT emissions test with a missing DPF as the systems are intended to pass the relevant Euro limits for the vehicle age and our present MOT is not as strict.
Obviously removing or modifying the emissions systems is not legal....

You choice is very limited as you say as they are nearly all diesels and for good reasons , are f15's ulez compliant ? Id imagine they may not be probably not the earlier ones anyway