Hi all - first time for me on this forum so I hope I'm posting this topic in the right place

I'm hoping to leave the Skoda Fabia VRS forums and go back to the Ford Focus forums after a break of a few years. I originally had an 03 Focus 1.6L petrol which gave me several years of trouble free motoring despite driving fairly unsympathetically on poorly made and unmade roads. Unfortunately though it was unable to take the abuse given to it by a Mercedes ML driver and it suffered a very sad end.

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I needed a car fairly quickly after that and having decided on a diesel I went on the hunt - not being able to find a diesel focus at the time (relatively close to home) I ended up buying a Skoda Fabia VRS. It seemed solidly built with mainly if not all VW mechanics and gave me 1 year of trouble free very economical motoring but some black ice, a curb and a very solid brick wall put an end to that.

The car was repaired but from then on, although it appeared to be a fairly minor incident, problems started appearing that were probably attributable to the brick wall incident. Now the DMF clutch looks like it is on its way out so it is time for the car to go and i've decided to go back to Fords as these days, if anything they seem to be better built than VW/Audi and Skodas - plus I thought my original Focus was great...

Anyway - after all that waffle, I'm seeking advice on which Focus to buy.

After talking to a mechanic who said he regularly sees modern Ford diesels (but also all makes of modern car) suffering with injector problems at around 50K miles I'm a little wary of buying a diesel and I've also been reading about problems with DMFs and DPFs on Ford diesels too, although for reasons of economy I would ideally still like one.

Which diesel engines if any should I look for (or avoid) if I want many years of low maintenance trouble free motoring and which models and or years of car will I find them in, or are those days gone ? Should I take the hit in the wallet every week and go for a 1.6L petrol engine again ?

All advice is appreciated, thanks in advance.

(oh - btw, fwiw I found this advice from the AA on DPFs in case anyone hasn't already seen it http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/fuels-and-environment/diesel-particulate-filters.html ...[i]"yes your honour I was caught doing 40 mph in a 30 zone because I had to regenerate my DPF - I was trying to prevent global warming" [/i])

Why not go for the 1.4 Zetec-SE engine ?

You could get 40+ MPG out of that easily!

Plus, the 1.4 is the big brother of the 1.25 Zetec-SE engine in my Fiesta, and both engines are basically the same, except one is slightly bigger. And trust me, the 1.25 is the most reliable petrol engine you will ever find, so I'm sure the 1.4 will be the same!

The 1.4 was always considered to be under powered in the Focus. Just done a 30 mile radius search on Auto trader, 5 door hatch, manual, petrol Focus 1.6 engine choice of 360.....1.4 engine choice of 16 and only 5 of them were Mk2's

on the back end of the Mk2.5 production run the are only quoting 1.6 engines. And the 1.4 engine is not available on the Mk3 offerings. So I reckon it tells you all you need to know about the suitability of having a 1.4 engined Focus.

If your looking at diesel and want to avoid the DPF, it's got to be a 1.8, somebody elsewhere on another thread said they were DPF less on 1.8's up to and including 2009. 116 PS 118mph 0-62 in 10.8. Urban 42.1 Urban extra 65.6 Combined 54.2

yeah basically if your looking at buying a diesel focus mk2, the 1.6tdci has a DPF (a user did mention it didnt, but more users have said it does), the 1.8tdci does not have a DPF (i own this one), the 2.0TDCI had optional DPF when brand new, so will need to do more checks on the vehicle.

apparantly from 2007 the DPF is a legal requirement for Euro 4/5 engines. (again told but unsure of how genuine)

regarding the engine petrol or diesel, are you a motorway/dual carrageway hogger a diesel is for you a town driver a petrol is better.

like i say i have th 1.8tdci 2006 5 door. the only problem i got was the dreaded smart charge fault another fault, but i caused was a fuel filter issue. and there is a website what has stats on reliabilities (from warranty companies) of cars and the focus mk2 has a good score on reliablity 50% of the faults on them are electrical in nature. also i average out at 42mpg - 57mpg (the latter being started on a motorway and travelling at 70mph)

i looked at your pic of your focus. it looks like a car went in the back of you and shoved you into another in front! thats hard luck mate. but on the up you walked away from it.

i hope some of this helps you in your quest

Thanks all. It looks like I need to buy a pre 2007 1.8 TDCI although I was hoping for something a bit newer as I'm trading in a 56 reg Fabia VRS. My day to day driving is neither town or motorway though, it's usually on quiet roads at 40-50 mph. My diesel Fabia gets 55+ mpg so I'm pretty sure a diesel is the way to go again. If I can get 50+ mpg i'll be happy.

I'll look out for that website of faults, it sounds very useful. It seems as though car manufacturers are being held to ransom with ridiculous EU emission targets which can only be achieved using technology which isn't completely reliable. As long as the majority of cars can make it through the warranty period though it's not a problem, it just means that the public are also held to ransom and have to buy the unreliable parts from than manufacturer when they fail. Ain't the EU great! I wonder which MEPs have connections with the car industry

Regarding the accident, yes I was shove into the car in front, the ML driver didn't see the cars stopped in front of him and I was hit at a fair old speed. Me and my dog walked away unscathed - luckily it happened opposite a pub so we all sorted things out over a pint.

I have a 1.8 tdci on a 09 plate love it went for the zetec s model for the sports looks, highly recommended.
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[quote name='johnH' timestamp='1301762964' post='121270']

regarding the engine petrol or diesel, are you a motorway/dual carrageway hogger a diesel is for you a [b]town driver a petrol is better. [/b]


[/quote]

I do have to disagree with this. I am a postman who does purely town driving (apart from 1 or 2 trips to Scotland a year) and up until a month ago I had a 1.8 (125 bhp) petrol SRI Vectra. I used it not only to commute, but also for my deliveries, so lots of stopping/starting. I had it for 6 years and always got 300 miles to a tank from full to almost empty. I've had my 1.8 Tdci for nearly a month now and doing exactly the same as in the SRI, I have easily got an extra 150 out of a tank. Infact, I have been pushing it a lot harder than the vectra because I have been enjoying driving it (love putting my foot down in 2nd and 3rd ;-), so I could probably get a few miles more driving the way I drove the vectra

the only reason i say this is in general, newer diesels come with the DPF (from 2007) and if your just doing town driving (stop start and slow speed) you will most definately get issues with the dpf as it will not be able to carry out a regeneration and you end up spending money for the dealer to do a forced regen for you.

the reason your ok with diesel for town driving is simply you have a 1.8tdci (like myself) and this engine does not have a dpf.

sorry if it sounding like i was snapping back, i wasnt, thats the problem with text.

on another note, my mates a postman aswell, works in the sorting office at darlington lol

No worries mate, didn't think you were snapping at all

I've got the 1.6 tdci, 09 plate with DPF. As several people have said, it depends on what sort of driving you do.

Apparently, the DPF hates town driving and will almost certainly give you problems, but as long as you have a reasonablly open roads and can go fast enough to keep the revs up, you should be fine. Obviously motorways are great too.

My comute is about 15 miles each way, first couple of miles in town then open country roads. Keep the revs around 1800-2000 and every things fine. So far I've done about 1500 miles and no issues at all with the DPF (If the DPF gets partly clogged apparently it tells you to go for a run with high revs.... i've never seen that...)

My first 1000 miles was on supermarket fuel and I averaged 49-50 mpg.... my last tank was Shell and that gives me 54 mpg.

Another bonus is the £30 a year road tax

hope that helps