[Closed] Car options - do I want a diesel estate?

I would say a modern diesel would do you fine for that. THey used to sell at a premium which made the maths more complex but after diesel-gate the prices have swung in their favour.

I don't think I'd go for a diesel when you're doing so many short hops.

I've always steered clear of diesels with a similar sort of suggested use as I gathered lots of short journeys were not good for them. Not sure whether that's still the case though.

its the 2-3 miles twice a day that'll kill DPF. barely gets warmed up before you turn it off again.

Doesn't look like enough regular longer journeys to offset it.

First and foremost, a diesel isn't best suited to short trips, they can be a more more efficient than petrol cars, but they do that best at a constant speed. They're okay to drive in town, but older ones can cause a lot of local air quality issues.

So, the school run and shopping run won't be great. The commute is okay and of course on the longer runs it'll be great. That said, comparing my diesel with my wife's petrol, the MPG will be similar at worst, but my diesel is way better most of the time.

Modern diesels with DEF / Adblue and stop-start are far better at being less toxic in town, but I don't think they're as 'less bad' as petrol.

As for running costs, older gen turbo diesels had lots of problems when they got higher mileages, or never taken on a decent run. Injectors leak causing over-fuelling and massive trails of black smoke/soot, DPF clogged, EGR clogged and because of their high torque killed expensive flywheels and clutches, but I guess most of that era have been recycled by now. Modern ones (5 years or less or so) are probally no more complex or prone to giving you massive bills than modern small petrol turbo cars.

I've caused problems in a modern diesel (focus '19 plate) with similar usage. I'd go for petrol or petrol hybrid ideally. I#m trading mine in for a petrol today in fact.

Anyone here run a big petrol estate? Would be interesting to hear real world fuel consumption, my (admittedly never thought of as good) Mondeo estate is bad enough as a diesel

Anyone here run a big petrol estate? Would be interesting to hear real world fuel consumption, my (admittedly never thought of as good) Mondeo estate is bad enough as a diesel

I suppose it depends what you class as big. I had the original Octavia VRS for a while with the ubiquitous VW 1.8T engine, got around 35mpg everywhere.

Now have a Subaru Forester 2.0T and generally get 20 - 25mpg around town, 30ish on long runs.

Oops - can't read.

mashr
Free Member

Anyone here run a big petrol estate? Would be interesting to hear real world fuel consumption, my (admittedly never thought of as good) Mondeo estate is bad enough as a diesel

Not estates but...for the same journeys (2 years on each) i got :

2019 focus 1.5 ecoblue diesel hatch: 47 mpg
2012 octavia vrs 2.0 petrol hatch: 34 mpg

I'm a saddo that tracks fuel with an app not the car's onboard computer, so those are pretty accurate.

However the octavia was 'breathed on' so may have been slightly worse on fuel than the factory map.

By my calculations that's 6500 miles a year maximum.

If the work commute is 15 miles round trip the dpf won't be able to regen in that time, especially not during winter.

So the only chance it might have is your bike trips. You'll likely be running into issues where it'll be trying to do an active regen but can't complete it, which is when you'll run into problems and it'll need a dealer visit.

You're looking at an extra £350 a year based on 6.5k miles a year and going from 45mpg to 33mpg.

I'd say go petrol.

I do a similar style to you, but far less short trips - more 20-50 mile 45min journeys and crucially 5-6 minimum long trips of 150-400+ miles each year.

ta11pau1
Full Member

By my calculations that’s 6500 miles a year maximum.

If the work commute is 15 miles round trip the dpf won’t be able to regen in that time, especially not during winter.

So the only chance it might have is your bike trips. You’ll likely be running into issues where it’ll be trying to do an active regen but can’t complete it, which is when you’ll run into problems and it’ll need a dealer visit.

You’re looking at an extra £350 a year based on 6.5k miles a year and going from 45mpg to 33mpg.

I’d say go petrol.

I do a similar style to you, but far less short trips – more 20-50 mile 45min journeys and crucially 5-6 minimum long trips of 150-400+ miles each year.

Yes exactly. My regular 'long' journey was only 20 miles, and it wasn't enough. Approx once a month my Focus would start saying something like "FILTER FULL - LONG DRIVE TO CLEAN NOW" and I'd have to take it for a long drive (40 mins) onto the motorway. Waste of fuel and my time.

It will cost you more in maintenance of a diesel than in the extra MPG on such short journeys.

I had been doing 20-25k a year in a people carrier, often loaded with 'stuff'. A diesel was a good tool for the job.

I now do 15k a year, in a (large) estate but smaller than the cars I have had before. I would change to petrol if our current car died tomorrow.

IMO, the extra maintenance of a diesel is about even to the extra MPG, particularly when urban MPG in a diesel is so much lower than the headline, appealing figure that you are reading.

You are doing less than 10k per year - perfect for one of the smaller, turbo'd petrols IMO, possibly even a hybrid...

2012 octavia vrs 2.0 petrol hatch: 34 mpg

Sounds about right. 2014 Octavia VRS Petrol estate I would say 35 mpg for me. I can get more like 40 mpg on long journeys. But most long ones the car tends to be fully loaded and often bikes on top, which brings it back down to ~35.

EDIT; I'd also say after my experiences with a modern-ish diesel (2010 2.0 VAG group TDI engine - pre-Adblue, but modern enough to have stop/start etc), I wouldn't touch it for your use. I was only ever doing long journeys, and had no issues with the DFP, but did have expensive issues with EGR cooler. The DMF was also beginning to make very expensive noises when I got rid.

1.8 Avensis petrol, get about 42mpg wherever I go at whatever speed. I had a diesel Peugeot estate and short journeys killed it, ended up replacing the engine. I spent a fair bit of time trying to find a petrol estate that was good on fuel and there didn't seem that many.

When buying my current car, the dealer said to avoid diesels for short journeys. They had lots of diesels available and struggled to find me a petrol version which made me believe them.

I've just switched to a 2l CR-V and I'm finding 25mpg pretty upsetting (maybe 35 on motorway). I wish I had gone hybrid.

My preference would always be for petrol but I ended up in a diesel as looking for large estate cars around 3 years old the petrol choice was minimal without spending significantly more. A Seat Leon was the only car that seemed reasonably common as a petrol but was a bit small.

3.0L Naturally aspirated BMW petrol touring with an auto gearbox gets 35-38 on a run at 65-75, and 26-30 everywhere else.

Newer cars with the 6 and 8 speed autos get better results.

Anyone here run a big petrol estate? Would be interesting to hear real world fuel consumption, my (admittedly never thought of as good) Mondeo estate is bad enough as a diesel

Used to have an MG ZTT with the 2.5 V6, averaged around 25 mpg absolute tops but that was mainly local pottering with a monthly trip to Aberdeen and back.

I know it's not an estate but we had a Honda Civic 1.8 Si for a while and that was very reasonable as a family car. 42-ish mpg average and with a decent sized boot. Depends how much load space you need though.

PHEV all-day is the answer, you may see a diesel hybrid in the not too distant future..

Skoda Superb estate 1.4 petrol. 47mpg on the motorway. 52mpg A roads like Glasgow - Skye. 42mpg last time I checked brim to brim with a mix of short local and longer journeys.

3 liter BMW 335d touring here.

I had the trip computer on for a 4 mile commute to work on Friday. 17mpg.

Normally I ride to work. Fuel is only part of the reason.

The other thing is where can you use a diesel now and in the future. Mine is 2014 and euro 6. It is acceptable in London and the other clean air zones.

Will it be in 5 years? 10? Im not so sure. It depends on how long you keep cars if that's something to take into consideration.

My Berlingo petrol gets 50mpg on a long run. 40's for towns and dual carriageways.

Thanks for the feedback, pretty much confirms what I suspected - that I don't do enough miles to make the diesel work properly. Back to waiting for the right petrol version to come along.
Thanks all.

I've an 07 octavia vrs 2.0 TFSI. About 38mpg "on a run" but typically 20 - 30mpg on shorter trips. Quite hilly around here, plus it's an old car, neither of which help.

I've noticed estates are in short supply so maybe that's an issue as well.
SUVs have been much more fashionable, so 2nd hand they seem to be much more readily available.

Last time I checked Car Giant they had about 100 estates, but 1200 SUVs.

By my calculations that’s 6500 miles a year maximum.

Pretty much bu99er all - fuel economy wouldn't be high on my 'preference' list.

45mpg and £1.50 per litre = £975
30mpg and £1.50 per litre = £1462

About £10 per week difference...

18 plate 2.0l diesel Audi A6 Quattro Auto averaged 41 mpg over 62,000 miles
64 plate 2.0l diesel BMW 320d xDrive Auto averaged 44 mpg over 68,000 miles

Whats peoples distance to trigger a regen on the dpf then? I know there will be variables like ambient air temperature, throttle loading etc
I would have thought 12 plus miles of driving to be enough to get the car to operating temp, then a sustained min or so of 2000rpm or higher and it meets parameters for starting regen
I would imagine switching off mid way or never letting it complete would also be bad.

Went from an 04 2.5l V50 5 pot atmo petrol estate (would not do 40mpg on the motorway, even at truck speeds) to a 66 plate 1.6 Astra CDTi estate that'll break 65mpg sitting around 65mph on motorway runs. It doesn't get used often but the Astra's a peach for long runs. 🙂

I've run a few big estates/SUVs over the years and with a not too dissimilar usage as the OP and I'd go petrol over diesel any day.

The petrols have averaged between 25-35mpg with more modern stuff like Octavia and Mondeo's being towards the top of that range.

Diesels are dirty, shit for local air pollution, sound like tractors, only really get efficient once up to temperature, and don't like short journeys.

Engines themselves are generally pretty reliable, it's all the stuff that's bolted on like turbos, DPFs, EGR valves and the like that tends to break. And diesel engines tend to have more of these extras than petrol engines. And a lot of those extra bits don't like short journeys.

singletrackmind
Full Member

Whats peoples distance to trigger a regen on the dpf then? I know there will be variables like ambient air temperature, throttle loading etc
I would have thought 12 plus miles of driving to be enough to get the car to operating temp, then a sustained min or so of 2000rpm or higher and it meets parameters for starting regen
I would imagine switching off mid way or never letting it complete would also be bad.

Depends on the weather and the speed of the road, but on a 50 limit DC, it takes about 25 minutes in mine at the moment to get the engine to the right temperature and start the regen. Then the regen took 10-15 mins.

In summer it gets up to temp a lot faster though. And also if you've got a nice bit of motorway you can hoof up to 70 on.

Whats peoples distance to trigger a regen on the dpf then? I know there will be variables like ambient air temperature, throttle loading etc

Mine just regens every 200miles, once up to normal engine temp- c 10mins. It then takes 15mins to run the regen cycle. Horrible, stinky and harder to drive if in stop-start town traffic. Fine on a quick A road/ motorway etc.

Whats peoples distance to trigger a regen on the dpf then? I know there will be variables like ambient air temperature, throttle loading etc
I would have thought 12 plus miles of driving to be enough to get the car to operating temp, then a sustained min or so of 2000rpm or higher and it meets parameters for starting regen
I would imagine switching off mid way or never letting it complete would also be bad.

There's generally 2 types of dpf regen, for any regen to happen the engine and exhaust has to be fully up to temperature, the system uses the high exhaust temps to burn off the soot in the filter.

So, passive regen would take place on a normal long drive with the car up to temperature.

An active regen, when this happens the car will stop the stop start function, increase the revs slightly, and if it's occurring when you stop you'll hear the fans stay on for a time after, and the car well be 'hot' even after turning off, as it's trying to increase the exhaust temps to do the dpf regen.

In winter, the car won't even be fully warmed up by 3-4 miles in, so no 12 miles ain't enough. I've done an 11 mile commute from work and the car has been doing an active regen when I got home.

You need a proper run out, 45 mins or more for a passive regen. Less for an active regen but the car still needs to be fully warmed up which when it's 5 degrees outside is going to be only after 5-6 miles.

Also you can't choose when it does an active regen. The car will attempt an active regen if the dpf filter reaches a certain level and other criteria are met, things like fuel light not on, going over 40mph and car oil up to temp.

Ok, that's good to know. 17 mile commute, 30 to 40mins with the majority on nsl dc. Current engine is up to operating temp at start of dc, so 6miles in then its probable regen would start maybe 2 or 3 miles after that and be completed by switch off.

Also I think most cars now will give a warning light and ask you to follow specific instructions to perform a manual dpf regen, basically giving it a hoon on the motorway in 4th gear... Before it tells you to go and see a dealer.

If the fans stay in and it's hot and smelly when you turn the car off that's generally an inturrupted active regen and it'll try again there next time you drive it. Something to be aware of.

Oo,that's interesting - noticed the fan running on the Astra on touchdown occassionally, wondered what it was. 😉

I drive a mixture of school run (2-3 miles twice a day), supermarket (3-5 miles one or twice a week ), work (15 miles when back in office), bike trips (20-100 miles once a fortnight) and holidays (100 miles + once or twice a year).

As others have said, you'll maybe have issues with the DPF, I have a 2015 diesel Passat, I do 8 short trips in the week and then usually longer dual or motorway miles on the weekend which keeps the DPF at bay.

When the car doesnt get used on the weekend and I do a second or third week of short journeys only, the engine will do something that sounds like a jet engine when I turn it off, if I dont do a 4th gear 70mph for 10mins once at temp the DPF light will come on.

You need a proper run out, 45 mins or more for a passive regen. Less for an active regen but the car still needs to be fully warmed up which when it’s 5 degrees outside is going to be only after 5-6 miles.

Right, but you don't need to do a regen every journey. Just every so often when the filter gets full.

In 5 years of driving modern diesels, I've never noticed the car doing a regen. Maybe it's because it was mostly motorway / A road driving.

A 30 min commute is enough to full regen depending on the car, but could be much higher than that. Not all cars will want/need to completely empty the DPF,some will retain soot on the filter to provide enough load to work efficiently. The following articel by a well respected testing house in Poland is a nice easy read

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1755-1315/214/1/012114/pdf

But as others have stated - lots of short journeys will over-load to the point where a manual may be needed, ideally you'r looking for a car that will accumulate and regen over the longest period.

HOWEVER EVERYONE -

DPF's are not only a diesel thing, you now also have GPF's in alot of new gasoline vehicles. It's not thought they will cause as much an issue as the particle size is smaller, but herin is the issue. A DPF is >80% efficient often well upto 90% for some - (diesels are actually very good - so dieselgate hunters you're all a bunch of t055ers). Gasolines on the other hand are ~50-60%, and when cold under load are not efficient in the slightest. Some brands (cant say who) have expereinced school run issues with their little cars over-accumulating soot and manual is then carried out at a garage (the owners are seldom aware of what to do)

If it were me personlly - lets say my car could onyl last 3-400 miles for soot load to full regen, then if i knew within that 300-400 miles i would do at least a 30-40 min journey at a steady ish state, i'd be going diesel..

Depending on your budget it might actually be quite hard to find a decent petrol estate.

In 5 years of driving modern diesels, I’ve never noticed the car doing a regen. Maybe it’s because it was mostly motorway / A road driving.

Same here. 20k miles in 4.5yrs in van with euro6 diesel with all the adblue/DPF stuff and I've never noticed it doing a regen. I avoid local/short driving in it which might help. I also give it a traditional Italian tune-up at least once a journey once warmed - no idea if it helps, but I had sticky turbo vanes on my last van so hopefully using the full rev range helps.

you may see a diesel hybrid in the not too distant future..

diesel hybrids have been around a while, volvo, vw, pug and merc all make one, but they're extremely expensive and so have never sold well. I don't know if any of them are still on sale.

diesel hybrids have been around a while, volvo, vw, pug and merc all make one, but they’re extremely expensive and so have never sold well.

They aren't that bad used, I am getting loads of ads for them. Still a possible option for us in the future.

But as others have stated – lots of short journeys will over-load to the point where a manual may be needed

*Only* short journeys

Depending on your budget it might actually be quite hard to find a decent petrol estate.

You're not wrong, which is why I was (briefly) entertaining a diesel.
Budget is 8k, 10k absolute max. Very little decent in that price range at the moment.
Hoping prices start to come down soon but doubt they will

4 years ago we bought a diesel estate with similar journey pattern, no issues so far (touches as many pieces of wood as possible).

Occasionally need to do a regen when the light comes in, 3 times a year max

My new car has a DPF. It hasn't done many long journeys in a while, and the gears are so long it rarely goes above the 2krpm which supposedly it needs to to regen the DPF. I've done one long trip (about 4hrs total over Christmas in two 1.5hr chunks and some ad-hoc) since ooh, October, the rest being 20 minute town trundles, and it hasn't shown me a light yet and it hasn't changed its behaviour.

I think a petrol is better fit. We had an Audi A4 estate 2.0 and it end up.at 37mpg when handed back. Manual so auto maybe better. 37k in 4 years so not a lot of miles. 50/50 on short trips and longer miles. Rather spirited driving from oh dented the mpg.

I had a diesel Avensis saloon for my last car. It was fine, and had a huge boot. Usage case was 11 miles each way to work three days a week, plus holidays and 500 mile round trips to see my parents.

When the kids got bigger I wanted a Passat estate to take bikes. Ideally wanted petrol given short journeys and concerns about CAZ but ended up buying new as I couldn’t find one a year old.

Might be a bit easier now?

Obviously I don’t know anything about the context of your journeys, family setup, state of local roads and you and your family’s health so this may be a naive observation but your shorter journeys sound like reasonable candidates for cycling rather than using a diesel estate car?

As long as you're not always in traffic I can't see the DPF being an issue. The missus is chopping her Golf TDI in due an 18 plate mini this weekend and that has a GPF!

We both run 16/17 plate GTDs ( mine's an estate) they both average 49mpg and manage 60+ easy if you try and unless you get an R there's not really a swift petrol estate. I had a 15 plate Octavia vRS before that and it's mechanically the same. This later EA288 diesel is pretty smooth and bother free. Don't think ive noticed it regenerate??

If anyone wants a diesel saloon my Passat never had a DPF 🙂

Old school Volvo 2.4 simple bulletproof non turbo petrol - owned from nearly new now with 200k miles. Heavy car with auto box so averages 25mpg knocking about 30 on a run. Never had any engine issues.

your shorter journeys sound like reasonable candidates for cycling rather than using a diesel estate car?

Or a cargo bike. 15 miles is about an hour.

People mentioning their cars not seeming to do regens. My old Citroen C5 2011 did not seem to regen whereas my now Octavia definately does (much more noticeable) and same journeys. Do not noticed regen on van 2014 citroen relay camper (so generally longer runs) but as an aside a workmate has had a new DPF on an Evoque with sub 10,000 miles (warranty) which from what I understand rarely goes outwith his local town.

My Jaguar XF Sportbrake is a 2 litre petrol auto (zf 8 speed). Averages 24mpg. Long journeys are a bit better but not much.

Comparatively I was getting nearer 40mpg on a 2 litre diesel Jaguar XE I think.

All the comments I see online suggest the Skoda 1.4/1.5 petrol turbos putting out 150bhp are pretty fuel efficient in the Skoda Octavia / Superb.

@tall_martin, How many miles are you getting out of a full tank on the BMW? I'm presuming it's an xDrive?

I've got a 2017 Audi S4 Avant 3.0 V6 Turbo. Doing about 15k miles a year. Short term mpg is sitting about 27-28mpg. Can get mid 30's easy on a run of I stick to the speed limit. Range. Had 40mpg once. On a full tank is normally 370-380 miles. Thinking about swapping imminently for the 335 xdrive touring. Driving is a mixture of long and short runs. Quite spirited driving style.

I can't believe people are talking about 35mpg un 2022 as if it's acceptable!

I can’t believe people are talking about 35mpg un 2022 as if it’s acceptable!

Because it's not really the main cost in motoring these days; so many folk seem happy paying £450 a month with a 7 grand final payment for something flash so another 10mpg is a drop in the ocean for their monthly motoring spend.

I think he's referring to the environmental cost rather than the financial.

(55 mpg euro 6 here, no ad-blue and never noticed a regen)

About 50mpg or more from my Toyota auris hybrid estate. Not the most exciting car in the world but seems happy to do lots of short runs when a bike won't cut it.

molgrips
Full Member

I can’t believe people are talking about 35mpg un 2022 as if it’s acceptable

Scrapping the, no DPF, Passat?

Scrapping the, no DPF, Passat?

Not sure what you're suggesting here but no, it's on sale because of the reuse part of reduce reuse recycle. And it does 60mpg.

About 50mpg or more from my Toyota auris hybrid estate. Not the most exciting car in the world but seems happy to do lots of short runs when a bike won’t cut it.

I seems that almost every taxi in my area is an Auris hybrid estate, and multiple (only?) short runs doesn't seem to be doing them any harm. Fair enough the engines are warm the entire time I guess, so not all drives are from cold.

I’ve got a 2017 Audi S4 Avant 3.0 V6 Turbo. Doing about 15k miles a year. Short term mpg is sitting about 27-28mpg. Can get mid 30’s easy on a run of I stick to the speed limit. Range. Had 40mpg once. On a full tank is normally 370-380 miles. Thinking about swapping imminently for the 335 xdrive touring. Driving is a mixture of long and short runs. Quite spirited driving style.

Sometimes I think it will be great for the planet and other vulnerable road users if they hurried up with the introduction of satellite tracking and road pricing

The only thing that makes smart motorways safer is the abject fear of the speed cameras exhibited by spirited drivers

I miss the load space & effortless 55mpg of my company diesel mondeo but I wouldn't miss the cost of the dmf self distructing, in the end opted for smaller private petrol car using a roof rack for the occasional times we need to take the tandem on board.

Thinking about swapping imminently for the 335 xdrive touring. Driving is a mixture of long and short runs. Quite spirited driving style.

I had a 435d, so same engine (auto & xDrive).

With no concern over economy mine averaged 40.2mpg over 30k miles. I do though live in the country and most journeys were longer distance (100 mile round trip commute) and at reasonable speeds. When around town/urban the average would drop to 35mpg.

Fantastic engine, handling less so.

Moved to a 320d (auto & xDrive), averages 50mpg with the same usage.

molgrips
Full Member
Not sure what you’re suggesting here but no, it’s on sale because of the reuse part of reduce reuse recycle. And it does 60mpg.

I'm suggesting that your old Passat is pumped out all kinds of lovely particulates because of its lack of DPF. A 35mpg petrol is just as worthy of you're reuse mantra, without blowing out soot

Honda Civic 1.8

Aye we've had 2 of those. Both get/got around 42mpg.

On the regen jobbie, are people getting dash alerts that it's in process or deducing it's going on through behaviour? I've a v90 2l diesel that struggled to 40mpg for the first 5k. It's now jumped to ~45mpg, similar driving. I was dissapointed as it's predecessor was the D5 v70 and averaged 42 mpg throughout its 80k life with us. Old tech, biggerer engine but (initially) betterer mpg's...

I’m suggesting that your old Passat is pumped out all kinds of lovely particulates because of its lack of DPF. A 35mpg petrol is just as worthy of you’re reuse mantra, without blowing out soot

Ok then you can be the winner, congratulations.

Sometimes I think it will be great for the planet and other vulnerable road users if they hurried up with the introduction of satellite tracking and road pricing

We would actually be "making progress" then, yep.

The way some people write on these motoring threads, it's like they've eaten a car magazine and they're shitting it out on the internet.

I’ve just switched to a 2l CR-V and I’m finding 25mpg pretty upsetting (maybe 35 on motorway). I wish I had gone hybrid.

I probably have the same engine in my Stepwgn. It's swings and roundabouts, do the average UK 8000 miles a year and it's about £500 saved in fuel to go from 30mpg petrol to 45mpg diesel (which is what I averaged in my derv Civic). Have pretty much any of the common diesel engine issues (turbo, DPF, injectors, etc) and that's the fuel saving wiped out.

I'll take the bulletproof reliability of a NA Honda petrol any day.

your shorter journeys sound like reasonable candidates for cycling rather than using a diesel estate car?
Yep you're right of course, this is cycling forum afterall. But not everyone is a fan of cycling, and my attempts to introduce this have been met with resistance unfortunately.
On my drive to work it's mostly duel carriageway until about 4 miles out of the city. What I often do is have a bike in the back and park up on the outskirts and cycle the rest of the way avoiding the stop start traffic, getting there quicker and avoiding the most polluting part of the drive. I don't fancy day in day out cycling along the duel carriageway - maybe if the limit on e-bikes was upped to say 25mph then it would be more feasible as I'd arrive at a not too dissimilar time and crucially my speed would be closer to that of the passing traffic making me less of a target.

I don’t fancy day in day out cycling along the duel carriageway

Without wishing to be insulting, is there really no other option? I've had this conversation with lots of people who use the DC to get in to Cardiff who don't realise that there are other options, they've never looked at a map of their local town.

@big n daft what I mean by spirited is that I don't mess around sitting behind the people driving at 40-50mph everywhere. I do a fair bit of driving in the country to go biking where you come across people who drive at 30-35mph.

How many times have you came up behind an lorry and there's 10 cars behind it and everyone is doing 40mph and stuck there, despite there having been plenty of overtaking opportunities, because the person directly behind the lorry doesn't overtake? I understand that some people aren't confident drivers so I get myself away from these people as soon as an opportunity presents itself.

Slow drivers are a danger as well.
Smart motorways are brilliant. I actually love average speed cameras. I do fairly decent mileage and what I find is that there are large egos on the road. The amount of people that don't realise that a double lane dual carriageway has a 70mph speed limit is ridiculous. You're cruising in the outside lane and some dawdler pulls out in front of you to overtake something in the inside lane and you've got to haul on the anchors because they've checked their mirrors once, thought you're doing 60 and just went for it.

Average speed cameras all the way. They fitted out nearly the whole A90 and on my drive to Aberdeen I find it actually a lot more pleasant because people just crack on instead of these idiots that don't want to let you past because you're travelling faster than them and they need to be in front.

Checked out the Toyota Auris as I'm not too fussed on make/model but prices are out of my range.
For only 9k I could have this 2016 model with only 224,000 miles on the clock...
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202111129500159

Checked out the Toyota Auris as I’m not too fussed on make/model but prices are out of my range.
For only 9k I could have this 2016 model with only 224,000 miles on the clock…
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202111129500159/blockquote >

That is absolutely hilarious I almost spat my coffee out.

 

That has to be either a typo in the price or mileage surely to goodness.

150,000 miles over average and above market price, (if you believe their data)?