Thanks spruce. I was hoping to get something around 2010 without, I'm pretty sure the transits only went Euro 5 in 2011, I don't do any city driving so it's not an issue.
I had a custom as a courtesy van, it did a regent in the way home from picking it up, within a week it needed another regen, that is the sort of driving I do, I can foresee problems when I eventually have to get a van with a DPF.
Do you know what the 2.0 hdi is like for reliability?
Your comment about the short time between regen on that van was a surprise to me. But my 2.0 hdi exhaust pipe is full of soot so it does make sense when I think about it. My engine doesn't produce any visible smoke on hard acceleration either.
Every van registered after September 2009 will have a dfp filter. If it didn't and was still in new stock, then those vans would have all been registered by the dealerships or manufacturers before September and sold as pre registered vans after Sept 2009.
The 2.0 hdi is a very good engine. I believe it to be the best out there. (This also includes the Ford Tdci as they are basically the same engines.)
I've added the 1.6 into this as its been the most popular engine sold in these vans. I would be careful of the early 1.6 hdi TBH. If a seller is boasting that its just had a new turbo fitted then this is a cause for concern. Has the job been done properly? If it hasn't then you will be doing it again very shortly. Those early 1.6 hdi Dispatches, Experts and Scudo's all used the same engine and had turbo issues if they weren't serviced correctly using the right sump draining methods and correct replacement oil. They were know as very dirty engines in the industry.
Initially, the 2.0hdi engine in the Berlingo/Partner vans were going to be replaced with 1.4 hdi engines. The mechanics were all sent on repair courses down to Slough for training on this development. In the end it never happened and the 1.6 hdi was the engine that was fitted. Citroen would never tell us why the 1.6 was fitted over the 1.4. Renault had the 1.5 diesel, so the competition probably forced their hand into another decision.
The last of the production line of Citroen Xsaras were fitted with 1.4 hdi engines replacing the 2.0hdi but the 1.4 wasn't well received, even although it performed better than the 1.4 petrol engine in the same car and was more economical. Its all about customer perception.
1.6 hdi engines in later vans don't seem to be as troublesome as the earlier ones did. I've seen some examples of vans with high mileages which have been trouble free. I still wouldn't buy a used high mileage van though. I've seen so many trouble free high milers turn into a maintenance nightmare for the new owner.
A customer of ours worked in a Peugeot workshop as a trouble shooter until just recently. He did say that the dfp management software had been dramatically improved since dpf was first fitted, but Peugeot were charging for a software upgrade as it wasn't classed as a warranty job that PSA paid for. Ford played the same game. The first variants to have dfp fitted were a workshop headache according to him. So if you are looking at around 2010 then a good service history is very important.
I'm like you doing only short trips which aren't long enough to get engine temperatures much above cold in winter, let alone regenerate a dfp filter. I have to drive a long way to find a motorway or stretch of bypass long enough and traffic free to get a dfp filter to regenerate. The latest vans will also have an Adblue tank to fill as well.
I'm not sure where we go for here long term tbh. The commercial market is still driven by diesel engines. A couple of years ago I could see smaller vans heading back to turbo petrol engines. I based that on the small ECO engines being fitted to the Focus as an example.
My feeling is that they just haven't got the torque to compete with a diesel engine though. We saw an example of that with the Citroen C5. The 2.0 hdi fitted to that car got towcar of the year award on at least one occasion. The engine was better than the 2.2 in the same car. Then they replaced the 2.0 hdi with the 1.6 hdi mapped to the same 110 hp. The engine performed OK in the car alone but as far as towing anything, wouldn't pull the proverbial skin off a milk pudding. The diesel manufacturers have also spent vast fortunes developing the engine to meet Euro emissions over the years, so they are going to promote the diesel engine to ensure a return on their investment.
So it looks as though the van market will just have to bear the higher diesel running costs and pass them onto the customer until another development hits the market.
