Sluggish 2006 Fiesta (1.25 Zetec Climate)

[Fiestar78]

Dear foum members,

I am new to this site (in fact this is my first post)so hoping that this is the correct place to ask my question?...

As someone who has owned quite a few Fiestas over the years, I would be interested to hear any comments form others who may have a similar experience.

I still own an older (2000 model, MK4, 1.25 Zetec) with 50k miles on the clock, and having driven it again this week, I realised just how much better that car performs, whenn compared to my newer (2006)version.

Ther is simply no comparison!

The older car has a real spring in its step: It acdcelerates off the mark and pulls fantasticly through all of the gears.

My newer car (whihch I thought had the same engine, and hence my reason for buying it) has lower mileage, and runs fine, but it feels like it has a mini 850 engine in it :-)

The 2006 version has absolutely no spark. It will (eventually)get up to speed, but the driving experience is no fun at all. I did feel this a bit whenI bought it, but just accepted that it was a newer car, and some kind of fuel economy tweak had been made or something.

But as mentioned, having driven them both this week, I am startled by the difference in performance.

I have read that the ECU has different modes(?)but the car will rev through the full range, but not with any real torque when on the road.

Thecar has been very well looked after (one lady owner before me) and has been serviced etc.

Any thoughts, comments or suggestions, gratefully received.

Many thanks in advance.

Best Regards,

Paul

[rojariggs]

My initial thought would be that this is down to emissions changes that happened between 2000-2006. The additional emissions controls (both electronic and physical) are pretty good at sapping energy from engines.

Cheers

Rog

[iNath]

Also I'm pretty sure the MK6 is heavier than the MK4?

[poshpawsfiesta]

its all down to wieght !!

[Fiestar78]

Many thanks for your replies.

I had never thought about what emissions control might do to an engine - and weight is also an interesting consideration.

If you drove both of these cars one after the opther you would not beleive the difference!!

If I sit and rev the engine, it does seem that the older car is far more responsive though, so perhaps it is a mixture of wight and down-tununig for emissions.

I certainly would not buy another fiesta with this engine in though!!

Many thanks agin for your comments. It seems like a great place to learn lots of useful things about my fiesta(s) :-)

All the best to all on here!

Regards,

Paul

[grin factor]

All this emissions stuff is in my view a backward step.

The news cars have less power, weight isn't that much more, and are slower. So to get a move on, we have to use more throttle/revs, which uses more fuel. Aren't modern cars supposed to be more fuel efficient? I used to have a 79 Scirocco which was quick, and always gave at least 40 mog.

Something wrong somewhere me thinks.