Well - for me it is one year down the road - and a parting of the ways. You will get no bitter recriminations from me, as for the most part I have thoroughly enjoyed owning and driving the Antara. I well remember the excitement of waiting for the delivery, and tracking its voyage all the way from Korea on the good ship Fidelio, in the company of Antarius and others. I have enjoyed sharing experiences and stories, firstly on the "dark side" forum and latterly on this one! I have covered 14,000 miles safely and in comfort, loving the high seating position and the feeling of being planted securely on the road, whatever the weather, and the heated seats have been most welcome on several occasions! Certainly, the mpg (showing on trip B which I have left running throughout as 31.3) is not the best in this age of modern diesel engines, even allowing for the size and weight of the car, but I could live with that.
Why then am I leaving the Antara? The answer is that, for me, the DPF regeneration process has gone from being a minor annoyance to a real bugbear, to the extent that I find myself watching as the mileage ticks round with something approaching dread! As regular as clockwork, at 500-520 mile intervals it does what it has been programmed to do, and irritates the hell out of me! An example - 2 weeks ago I made a trip to Leicestershire, a distance, as luck would have it of some 510 miles. A regen occurred just as I left , which was fine, but then another one began just as I arrived! Having just driven 500 miles over A roads and motorways there was no way I was taking it for another little jaunt, so I switched off. Having only taken a few short trips whilst I was there it did not complete a regen until I started on the road home a few days later, and - guess what - I was just pulling into my drive after my 500+ mile trip when of course it started another one! All perfectly correct as per the way it is programmed, but an imperfect, clunky pain in the bum!
The truth is I have never really got used to this rigid 500 mile ritual, having previously owned a diesel smax for three years and never noticed a regen taking place. I guess I have just got tired of making pointless journeys to allow regens to finish. So this last week I made the decision, and have taken lengthy road tests in a Honda CRV ( petrol), an Audi Q3 2.0 diesel, and a BMW X1, also 2.0 diesel. The petrol CRV felt underpowered and reported mpg not great. I loved driving the Audi, but boot size and access not the best for Yogi (those who remember from the early days will know that dogs do not get much bigger!). So today I have placed an order for the BMW - not perfect but a good all round compromise. Delivery not till the end of April, so a few more weeks of Antara ownership left, and I will still hang around the forum if you'll have me!