Ok, I've had a sleepless night working out how to enjoy my incoming RRS on a daily basis. I'm sure there are owners who have to constantly make short trips or live close to their work. At present my Audi A5 V6 3.0TDi is doing 1.5 mile trip to work every day, hardly heats up but hasn't had a problem at all.

With the due TDV8 I could be doing 1 mile trip (one way) which tbh I'll probably walk or bike mostly. However there will be many occasions I will have to drive to work as I will need the car for meetings during the day.

I totally understand the wear and tear on any engine, diesel or petrol for short trips and I will also run on average two trips (25 mile) a week and one long one.

My question though is, for the inevitable short trips, what is the best way to get from A-B? idle for a while, not at all, drive slowly, use different diesel, more regular maintenance, etc?

I'm no expert in diesel engines but have heard they can fare better than petrol for short trips. maybe this is a myth though.

Sorry for starting another thread but hoped it may attract drivers of older models as well as new to see if any are still going strong on short trips.

Thanks

Aff

Fuel consumption will be poor, but would think little effect in the long term.

Longer trips to business meetings etc would enable the engine to warm up and get rid of condensation and carbon build ups. No engine should be thrashed when cold and condensation can build up in engine so more regular oil changes would help.

Park the car at work and bike or walk in so then the car can be used for the longer trips if you are really worried

In Guernsey with a top speed limit of 35mph and small trips has caused me no problems but this has been balanced by longer trips back to UK with mostly dual carriageway and motorway work.

I don't know if the service indicator is triggered by use or if it is only elapsed time/miles but you may find you have it flag up that a service is due more often too with that sort of use. Best thing would be to avoid using the car on really cold days for such a short trip. Honestly you really should consider a used S/C as gasoline engines warm up much more quickly than diesels and, especially in cold weather, the TD will trigger the Fuel Burning Heater which the S/C doesn't need and which uses even more fuel.
The other thing you will totally knacker on such short trips is the catalytic converters, regardless of whether it is a diesel or a gas engine, and if you have one with a DPF you will get lots of problems with that 2020 Pangea Green 1st Edition D240 New Defender 110 is here and loving it
2018 Melting Silver Mini Countryman PHEV - soon to be replaced
2015MY Corris Grey SDv6 HSE Dynamic, the best car I have ever owned, totally reliable only a cou0le of rattles in 3 years, now no longer in my care
Also in my garage is a 1996 TDi300 Defender 90 County HT made into a fake CSW

Fuel consumption is not a major issue as I'm not expecting great things from a V8 and I will also be doing motorway miles at least once a week.

Leaving the car in the car park, uugh, all alone at night. Not round here

All I was looking for was some 'best practice' approach. Hopefully it'll all work out.

As Tim said, if you have DPF it might fill up quickly
But if you do a bit of motorway every week you should be ok. '08 RRS TDV8
I converted my diesel RRS to run on an environmentally friendly mixture of caribou fat and baby seals oil

If your Audi handled the same treatment without any problems then your RRS will too! Fuel consumption on the TDv8 is quite reasonable, town drivers seem to get 20-24mpg on longer trips anything between 26 and 34mpg depending on how you drive and length of trip - I'm getting 26-28 mpg on fast A roads, with no commuting and 32-34 on long haul runs (200 miles + and using the cruise control) on my longest trips (Central Scotland to Southampton 2-3 times a year) I can get 33mpg easily when the car is on it's normal 20" summer tyres, currently I'm on 19" Snow and Ice tyres and it has increased slightly and the mpg is 25 at the moment (by the trip computer) 2020 Pangea Green 1st Edition D240 New Defender 110 is here and loving it
2018 Melting Silver Mini Countryman PHEV - soon to be replaced
2015MY Corris Grey SDv6 HSE Dynamic, the best car I have ever owned, totally reliable only a cou0le of rattles in 3 years, now no longer in my care
Also in my garage is a 1996 TDi300 Defender 90 County HT made into a fake CSW

Mate, there is nothing to worry about. My mum uses her FFRR TDV8 (previously TD6) to drive to office (about 2 miles). In the last 8 years she hadn't had any problems at all. Only advise would be to stay gentle with the throttle whilst the engine is cold. Though if I were you I would give the engine occasional blasts when warmed up

My daily commute is 2 miles each way and I am never gentle on the throttle or worry about the engine being cold.

No problems here.

I used to drive a Mazda RX8. When it was cold the engine was limited to 6000rpm, when it heated up you could take it further 9000+. I am surprised that land rover and other manufacturers haven't fitted similar systems to prevent damage to cold engines. Said RRS is now on order.

The car will be under warranty (will extend at 3 years) so is there anything in it about not making short trips?

the battery is the one weak spot I have on mine and if I done a lot of short trips like that in this cold weather the battery would be dead by the 5th run  Sons of dogs come hither and get flesh
Clan Cameron

Have you thought of fitting a 2nd battery?  2020 Pangea Green 1st Edition D240 New Defender 110 is here and loving it
2018 Melting Silver Mini Countryman PHEV - soon to be replaced
2015MY Corris Grey SDv6 HSE Dynamic, the best car I have ever owned, totally reliable only a cou0le of rattles in 3 years, now no longer in my care
Also in my garage is a 1996 TDi300 Defender 90 County HT made into a fake CSW

Tim in Scotland wrote:

Have you thought of fitting a 2nd battery?

No
And Victor hasn't mentioned it a 1000 times over the last week or so...







 Sons of dogs come hither and get flesh
Clan Cameron

Go Victor!! Go Victor!! Go Victor!!  Current, M135i in Estoril Blue with more extras than the cast of Ben Hur.

535d m-sport Platinum grey and a few extras.... Gone

X5 3.0 sd in Space Grey, 20's, Dynamic Pack, Memory Pack, Media Pack, Tow Pack, Rear DVD, Panoramic Sunroof, Steps, 7 Seat Pack, Reversing Camera with moving lines, programmable park heat, etc etc etc - Gone

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Aff wrote:

The car will be under warranty (will extend at 3 years) so is there anything in it about not making short trips?

Who would know you usage / driving style