Is my commute enough for a DPF to work?

I am looking for a fuel efficient and low tax family car. I am looking at 2008+ diesel cars. I drive into and out of the city centre from Adamstown every day along the N4 taking 30 mins + each way. Should I be concerned about diesel particulate filters clogging up or should that be sufficient to regenerate? I'm looking at Passats, Mazda6s and Audi A4s.

Love the website.

Thanks in advance!

Ollie Sinnott (Dublin)

Dec 2012 Filed under: DPF issues

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Expert answer

Hi Ollie,

Generally speaking, you should be OK, as that 30-min run each day should be enough to keep a DPF hot enough to clean it out, but that’s if and only if that 30 mins is all run at high-ish speeds, say above 80km/h most of the time and in a lower gear. If you’re spending a lot of time in stop-start traffic, I think a petrol option might still be the better one. Mazda’s 2.0-litre petrol engine can be a bit thirsty, but the 1.4 TSI option in the Passat and A4 is a very frugal engine, and still has peppy performance.

Neil Briscoe - Complete Car Advisor
@neilmbriscoe