Is Econetic Any Good?

[thewinelake]

Like the no-tax thing, but how frugal is it really compared to, say, the 1.25 petrol? And how oomfy? This is mostly for city/suburban driving

[b1g_dav3]

A LOT more than the 1.25 in power,face it it's a 90PS engine with 200nm of torque being compared to 60/82PS with 109/114nm of torque, so it's a good deal more powerful, it's a much better cruising vehicle, quicker on the go (yeah it's not the quickest car out there, but not bad really), much better MPG, gearing doesn't kill it like other eco cars out there like the Corsa (downshifting from second gear up a hill is such a great driving experience at 20mph...) and you have to no tax to worry about.

Only problem is, the price tag;

Edge eco is £13,095 compared to £9,995

Zetec eco is £13,695 compared to £11,345

Titanium eco is £14,845 compared to £14,145

So hitting the Titanium model is probably best value compared to the base model of each trim level, but still costy initially, unless you do a lot of running around then I can't see £60 in tax a year being a big selling point really.

[thewinelake]

Thanks! Although I thought the difference in price was less.

From drive the deal:

Zetec 1.25 £10055

Zetec Eco £11855

Titanium 1.4 £12236 (can't get titanium 1.25)

Titanium Eco £12785

Now to find the insurance costs...

[thewinelake]

...not much in it. Surprisingly, the titanium econetic came out about 10% less than the Zetec econetic (this was through the ford owners club link and was with Allianz - price nearly double confused.com's Hastings insurance)

Seems to me that the choice is between Titanium Econetic and Zetec Petrol 1.4. Is titanium considered much nicer than Zetec?

Ps - maybe the cheaper insurance for titanium is due to perimeter alarm?

[dah]

Hi not sure an econetic is for you as you say in your post much of your driving will be in town econetic is a diesel with DPF and are not that good for all town work .

[iNath]

Hi not sure an econetic is for you as you say in your post much of your driving will be in town econetic is a diesal with DPF and are not that good for all town work .

Agreed. Diesels (especially those with DPF's) are not city town cars, they are made for the motorways. When a DPF clogs up (which it will do if not given a blast every now & again) The bill can run in the hundreds.

[thewinelake]

Ah, I didn't know that about DPFs. When I had a diesel before (an old fashioned sort), I was always told that they were good for town driving - and that's why taxis were diesel. Thanks for the heads-up there.

[Brobert99]

Sorry to hijack the thread, but what is the real life mpg like on the Econetics?

[pgm2010]

Diesel with DPF will be absolutely fine if you are doing a journey of 20+ mins once a month at 50+MPH, The only question I would ask is how many miles are you driving? The Diesel cars are more to buy & maintain not forgetting that the price of diesel is higher than petrol, I would say if you aren't doing 15K per year Diesel would work out more expensive. Yes the diesel tax disc is cheaper but it always amazes me how many people spend thousands upgrading their cars to save a hundred quid a year!!

[thewinelake]

I guess you may have a point. Not sure if the depreciation is any different - are petrol engined cars easier/harder to sell?

[MRC89]

Diesels hold their value better due to their longer life expectancy. However, if your still doing less than 15,000 miles per year the petrol works out cheaper over 3-5 years. The petrol engine is more suited for town driving. If you do a lot of motorway driving the diesel will be much more convenient and probably worth the extra cost.

Here's a few figures, official (and by no means realistic in some cases...)

Fiesta Zetec 1.4 (96ps)

OTR: £12,945

Speed: 109mph / 0-60: 12.2 sec

MPG: Urban: 37.2/Extra Urban: 60.1/Combined: 48.7

Theoretical cost of 12k miles fuel: £1,495

Tax: £110 per year (band E)

Insurance group: 8 (new) 4 (old)

Fiesta Titanium Econetic 1.6 TDCI (95ps)

OTR: £15,845

Speed: 111mph / 0-60: 12.9 sec (I didn't realise they'd slowed down the econetic versions!)

MPG: Urban: 64.2/Extra Urban: 88.3/Combined: 78.5

Theoretical cost of 12k miles fuel: £986

Tax: £0 per year (band A)

Insurance group: 12 (new) 5 (old)

More figures: http://www.carpages....iesta-guide.asp

I wouldn't say trust the MPG figures, but to compare the 2 models you'd save about £620 per 12,000 mile/year on tax and fuel. But you'll pay about £3,000 more for the car, which would take 5 years to balance the costs with the petrol model (at 12,000 miles per year), at which point you may be wanting to trade in anyway. This doesn't include depreciation though, my mum's style 1.4 TDCI is worth marginally more to our finance company than my 1.6 petrol zetec s when they reach 30,000 miles.

[rojariggs]

I guess you may have a point. Not sure if the depreciation is any different - are petrol engined cars easier/harder to sell?

Diesels generally do hold their values better than petrols. However, as the % price drops the £ difference between petrol and diesel car values erodes while perceived running costs are lower for the diesel. This normally means diesels tend to be easier to sell used.

Ps - maybe the cheaper insurance for titanium is due to perimeter alarm?

Probably the alarm and also because the Zetec (and Zetec S) are the "sportier" specs - at least as far as marketing and insurance companies are concerned! If you trace it back through the decades - The Zetec spec was orginally derived from the Si spec which in turn was a watered down version of the XR spec. If I can remember this then I'm sure that insurance companies do too!