Am I not doing my Alpine any favours?

[nickpan]

Life circumstances dictate that despite having an opportunity to use my Alpine 5 days per week, Mon to Fri, my commute each day is only 10 miles return and 20mph speed limit zones.

So the car isn’t exceeding this speed or about 2-3k rpm - for weeks on end!

Am I better off just not using it and saving it for the odd driving trip, or is the engine unit OK operating at a fraction of its potential?

Thanks

[domrusty]

I’d be going out for a longer drive at weekends…

I doubt you’re doing it any real harm, but you are seriously missing out!

[Miserablegit]

I don’t know too much about the GPF but those kinds of journeys are bad for diesels with DPF.
Can you not take the long way home the odd evening just to let the car clear its throat?

[k_m]

Such short trips are a killer to diesel engines as the engine oil gets contaminated with diesel fuel and condensed water. For a petrol engine it's not as bad, as they reach a higher oil temperature in much shorter distance, but the particle filter might get clogged over time. So once in a while you should trash the hell out of it. ;-)

[biggles330d]

It's not how I'd be using mine as things just never really warm up. Perfect use profile for an EV... We use our i3s basically all the time for that sort of routine local stuff, with the alp only coming out at weekends or longer trips. The i3s is huge fun as a point and squirt car.

If you're almost always in a 20 zone for 5 mile trips, you're into ebike territory... It's probably quicker.

[nickpan]

Thanks chaps.

Strengthens the case for my A290 order! Think it’s being exhibited at Le Mans later this week?

[bcr5784]

While there is no doubt that an engine suffers a disproportionate amount of wear in the first few miles from cold, that is true of any car that is used as a daily - whatever the subsequent journey might be. So there's no need to get too stressed about it on an engine in the state of tune the Alpine's is.

[Terminator X]

nickpan said:

Thanks chaps.

Strengthens the case for my A290 order! Think it’s being exhibited at Le Mans later this week?

TX.