New Ford focus diesel. Any advice or problems

kala85

Thinking of buying a second hand 2011 ford focus..does anybody have any advice or experience of the new diesel engine. Going to hold onto the car for a good few years

Leonard Hofstadter

Are you sure you need a diesel? In the current model Focus, the petrol engines are very good for mpg and low tax. Plus, diesel engines are not suited (regardless of car) to low speed stop/start urban driving, so depending on the type of driving you're mainly going to do, you could be much better off with a petrol. Also, despite what many people say, I find diesels to be absolutely crap to drive compared to petrols (and yes I have driven a few of the most up to date ones, and I'd still rather the superior refinement of a petrol engine), petrols are still much quieter and don't vibrate through the pedals like a diesel does.

As for the reliability of them, well as diesels go certainly the previous generation car with the 1.6 TDCi would have been ok if people bothered to service them properly at the specified intervals and used the correct oil but the prevailing attitude of many Irish people is that servicing is a complete waste of time and then they wonder why their car gives trouble. So the 1.6 has a reputation for being very unreliable because of neglectful owners. Having said that, it's still not the most reliable engine out there, the turbo can go in them even when they are serviced properly and they can give other issues but most people who have problems with those engines are because they didn't do what the manufacturer asked.

For what it's worth this engine is also found in the diesel Mini (up to 2011 or thereabouts), any 1.6 diesel Peugeot, Volvo, Citroen and now even Toyota with the ProAce van so a lot of cars have this engine!

But the current model uses a revised version of the 1.6 and I haven't heard anything bad about the newer model 1.6 TDCi, then again the current version of the engine is only three years old so you wouldn't be expecting any major problems with the engine to be appearing just yet. I would suggest that if you're set on one to make sure it has a full service history and as long as you own the car, make sure it is serviced bang on schedule and with the correct grade oil - but that applies to any modern car really.

kala85

I am doing 700km a week in a petrol car at the moment and spending 85e per week on petrol.

Do all diesel engines have turbos and how much would it cost if the turbo on the diesel went?

Henry Ford III

kala85 wrote: »

I am doing 700km a week in a petrol car at the moment and spending 85e per week on petrol.

Do all diesel engines have turbos and how much would it cost if the turbo on the diesel went?

All modern ones do.

Buy one with a decent spec. and importantly a full and verifiable service history.
As mentioned they need timely and proper servicing, particularly the oil changes.

Ask the seller what sort of driving the car has done in it's life. It's better to get one that does regular runs of say 10 miles or more, as the engine will have warmed up fully, and the dpf (if fitted) will have had a chance to regenerate.

I've had a series of new Focus diesels 11,12,131, and now a 141 - they're good cars.

kala85

What are they like in terms of fuel economy.

JohnBoy26

captainspeed wrote: »

Are you sure you need a diesel? In the current model Focus, the petrol engines are very good for mpg and low tax. Plus, diesel engines are not suited (regardless of car) to low speed stop/start urban driving, so depending on the type of driving you're mainly going to do, you could be much better off with a petrol. Also, despite what many people say, I find diesels to be absolutely crap to drive compared to petrols (and yes I have driven a few of the most up to date ones, and I'd still rather the superior refinement of a petrol engine), petrols are still much quieter and don't vibrate through the pedals like a diesel does.

As for the reliability of them, well as diesels go certainly the previous generation car with the 1.6 TDCi would have been ok if people bothered to service them properly at the specified intervals and used the correct oil but the prevailing attitude of many Irish people is that servicing is a complete waste of time and then they wonder why their car gives trouble. So the 1.6 has a reputation for being very unreliable because of neglectful owners. Having said that, it's still not the most reliable engine out there, the turbo can go in them even when they are serviced properly and they can give other issues but most people who have problems with those engines are because they didn't do what the manufacturer asked.

For what it's worth this engine is also found in the diesel Mini (up to 2011 or thereabouts), any 1.6 diesel Peugeot, Volvo, Citroen and now even Toyota with the ProAce van so a lot of cars have this engine!

But the current model uses a revised version of the 1.6 and I haven't heard anything bad about the newer model 1.6 TDCi, then again the current version of the engine is only three years old so you wouldn't be expecting any major problems with the engine to be appearing just yet. I would suggest that if you're set on one to make sure it has a full service history and as long as you own the car, make sure it is serviced bang on schedule and with the correct grade oil - but that applies to any modern car really.

The "Irish lack of maintenance" spiel being touted on here and being blamed for everything is getting old at this stage.

There are plenty of 1.6 hdi's giving exactly the same issues in other countries that prove that theory wrong. Countries such as the uk where many FSH cars have suffered the same issues as the Irish ones.

Lack of maintenance is not the main and most common reason why these give issues. It's down to bad design which causes the oil to sludge and the turbo to fail.

Henry Ford III

They are a very popular and good modern engine with a low rate of failure.

Henry Ford III

Fuel consumption on a 115bhp 1.6TDCI is averaging 57mpg.

That could easily be bettered with a bit more restraint!

JohnBoy26

Henry Ford III wrote: »

They are a very popular and good modern engine with a low rate of failure.

A low rate of failure and good aren't attributes of these engines.

Henry Ford III

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

A low rate of failure and good aren't attributes of these engines.

http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/used-reviews/ford/focus/hatchback-2005/safety-reliability/#reliability

http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/used-reviews/ford/focus/hatchback-2005/driving-performance/#performance

Henry Ford III

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/ford/focus-2011/?section=good