Back To A Ford Again

[chris-x1]

I posted this question in the Focus club forum but as it includes my introduction I thought I'd copy it here - hopefully it doesn't infringe the rules too much. I have greyed out the question part. Perhaps I should also add, many years ago I also had a Fiesta XR2 but I sold that because the leading edge of the doors used to peel back while driving briskly on the motorway. :) :o

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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.

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... B)

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 ..."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" ) :P

originally posted here

[2011fiesta]

Welcome :)

Unlucky about the focus :o

[jmurray01]

Welcome to the Ford-Owners-Club! B)

[alfie t]

welcome to the forum my dads got a c max 2.0 tdci that has a dpf on and although he has had problems with it they seem to have been resolved under warrenty and he loves the car its very sharp and economical for such a big car plus its quite cheap to tax for a family car compared to some of my friends cars