Ford Focus Zetec 1.6 VS Hyundai i30 1.6

dutopia

I'm thinking about getting one of the above and am looking for some advice. I'm getting the auto gearbox version, and have a choice of either a 1.6 petrol engine in the Focus or a 1.6 TDI (Diesel) engine in the i30. The Focus is going to be a better car to drive and is about 10k, 3-4k cheaper than the i30. The problem with the focus is milage will be worse and tax is a whopping €750 a year! The i30's tax is €480 (if I'm not mistaken).

So the Focus is cheaper to buy but has higher running costs with its petrol engine and higher tax, but the i30 is a good bit more expensive to buy upfront.

Any personal experience with these cars, especially the auto version?

Redisle

What kind of mileage are you doing? That will help determine if you should be going for Petrol / Diesel at least. If it's mostly short trips the Petrol would be preferable. I don't think that difference in tax should sway your decision either way tbh.

dutopia

Redisle wrote: »

What kind of mileage are you doing? That will help determine if you should be going for Petrol / Diesel at least. If it's mostly short trips the Petrol would be preferable. I don't think that difference in tax should sway your decision either way tbh.

Thanks for that. Most of my driving is in town with some motorway, but I don't commute using any motorways and don't take that many trips across the country. Seems like a point for the Focus.

EDIT: Milage - About 10,000 kilometres a year.

bazz26

At 10k km per year do the maths on how long it will take you to get the €3k-€4k price difference back by buying the diesel car.

BTW the auto boxes in both cars are not exactly state of the art, have you considered anything else?

dutopia

bazz26 wrote: »

At 10k km per year do the maths on how long it will take you to get the €3k-€4k price difference back by buying the diesel car.

BTW the auto boxes in both cars are not exactly state of the art, have you considered anything else?

Yup I suppose you're right on making that money back with the diesel.

There isn't a huge choice in the 1.6 Auto division (Focus, Corsa, i30, A3, C4...) Can you be more specific about the boxes not being state of the art? What kind of issues could I expect? Which cars have better auto boxes?

bazz26

By state of the art I mean they are not very modern or advanced. VAG's DSG box is probably the best out there. Why are you limiting yourself to 1.6 litre when motor tax on cars you are looking at is based on emmissions, not engine size?

bazz26

Maybe a hybrid is worth considering:

Honda Civic IMA:

http://www.driving.ie/used-cars/Honda/Civic/HYBRID-AUTO/34213626707307150/

Honda Insight:

http://www.driving.ie/used-cars/Honda/Insight/AUTOMATIC-HIGHBRID/31113516086411430/

Toyota Prius:

http://www.driving.ie/used-cars/Toyota/Prius/1.8-VVT/34213600840516070/

dutopia

bazz26 wrote: »

Maybe a hybrid is worth considering:

Honda Civic IMA:

http://www.driving.ie/used-cars/Honda/Civic/HYBRID-AUTO/34213626707307150/

Honda Insight:

http://www.driving.ie/used-cars/Honda/Insight/AUTOMATIC-HIGHBRID/31113516086411430/

Toyota Prius:

http://www.driving.ie/used-cars/Toyota/Prius/1.8-VVT/34213600840516070/

Ahh, I see. Sorry I should have mentioned but all Japanese cars are out for reasons too complicated to explain. I think my choices really are from the above cars I mentioned. Thanks for your help.

JohnBoy26

Id have the i30, they are a better built car than the focus imo.

huggs2

+1 for the i30.I hired a car in London recently and they gave me an i30.One of the best cars i have ever driven. A most enjoyable week visiting all the relatives.
The manual diesel was really responsive.I have a focus 1.6 Zetec 04 and its showing its age.

Stallingrad

dutopia wrote: »

Sorry I should have mentioned but all Japanese cars are out for reasons too complicated to explain.

Fascinating.

kerten

Both car will be thirsty in town due to torque converter autoboxes.

Especially i30 diesel may surprise you in heavy traffic, if you think you will save from fuel a lot by paying extra for diesel.

1.6 diesel+automatic is more fun to drive than 1.6 petrol+autobox due to higher torque.

On the other hand if I would go for a diesel+automatic(means more possible issues in future) car, I would go for hyundai/kia for longer factory warranties.

Stay away from the DSG or Stronic box, they are one of the most unreliable boxes out there and the 6 speed needs oil change every 40,000 miles which nobody does here.

They are so bad that VAG were forced in U.S and Chinese courts to offer a 10 year 100,000 mile warranty, something that is not available in Europe, (as usual )

Prius automatic is one of the most reliable cars in the world and ideal for your driving.

Depending on what you want to spend the MK III 2009+ would be better.

dutopia

Deleted User wrote: »

Stay away from the DSG or Stronic box, they are one of the most unreliable boxes out there and the 6 speed needs oil change every 40,000 miles which nobody does here.

They are so bad that VAG were forced in U.S and Chinese courts to offer a 10 year 100,000 mile warranty, something that is not available in Europe, (as usual )

Prius automatic is one of the most reliable cars in the world and ideal for your driving.

Depending on what you want to spend the MK III 2009+ would be better.

Thanks for the reply. The above makes me more confused though (didn't know about these different types of autoboxes). The Prius isn't an option though because I can't buy a Japanese car, so my choices are limited. I want to spend about 10k max... the second hand i30s start at about 12,500 upwards. If the i30's diesel engine and auto box were really much better than the Focus, maybe it is worth holding off for a bit.

colm_mcm

Not wanting Japanese cars will rule out the best options, is it political or what?

Torque converter boxes are very reliable, but thirsty.

Ford have a DSG type box called powershift, not sure what year you could get it in the focus though. I think it's only available in the diesels. But it seems to be far more reliable than the DSG/Stronic box.

10,000 kms a year is way too low mileage to even think about a diesel, I wouldn't even think about it. I'd have a nice Vtec or GTI if I did that low mileage. I certainly wouldn't have a diesel.

If you must have an auto then check out the CVT box, they are the smoothest box available but need to be paired with the right engine, they hold high revs and stay there until you pick up speed and back off the throttle. Its called the rubber band effect. It's not bad if you got the power as then it won't have to hold such high revs.

But I can't understand how the focus auto diesel has such high tax is it a post 2008 ?

I thought they were Powershift or dual clutch ? the I30 has an old skool torque converter so should have higher tax ?