Car Not Performing As Good As I Think It Should!

[jd ford]

Hi. My mk6 fiesta zetec blue 1.4 is only a little faster than my mates 1.1 106! Is there anythink obvious that could be wrong with it? The car seems to use alot of fuel for the size of the car. I have a k&n panel filter in it but that didnt seem to make much difference. many thanks!

[alexp999]

One of the biggest differences is weight, the 106 only weighs around 800kg, the MK6 Fiesta is around 1100kg

[PaulE]

Give it a bottle of fuel injector cleaner - I know it sounds stupid, but I noticed a really big difference after I did this.

I used the STP one and filled my tank with BP fuel.

[Marcr1]

What's the horse powers of the two cars? Just because its a bigger displacement doesn't mean it'll necessarily be faster. Have to take the torque into account to

[Marcr1]

That's weird :/ maybe it needs a good service. The tyre pressures affect it to & any excess weight in the boot

[b1g_dav3]

106 1.1petrol is 60bhp and does a 0 - 60 of 15 seconds (0 - 30 would have been better known though but that's never tested), the 1.4 petrol of a Fiesta has 96bhp and does 60 in 12.2 seconds, but like I said doesn't include up to 30; so chances are to 30 they're similar, it'll be past that the difference kicks in.

[5t3v3]

David the Mk6 1.4 only has a lowley 80bhp, it was one of the lowest powered 1.4 of its time, the only one worse of that springs to mind was the 1.4 Citreon C2 that only had 75bhp.

JDford: Give it a really good service. Run the STP oil cleaner through it before you drain it to help get rid of a lot of rubbish in the engine then fill it back up with Castrol Magnatec 5W30 change the oil filter and the spark plugs and you should notice a big difference. I do mine every 6 months because i do high mileage but when i do it i can keep up with my mates 2l Hyundai Coupe until i go to 4th gear.

[Mariner]

I have owned both a 106 1.1 and a Mk 6 Fiesta 1.4 and there wasn't a lot of difference in performance TBH.

The 106 had 60 HP and was very light and nippy - it did around 50 MPG

The Mk6 1.4 had 80 odd HP and was very heavy - did around 39 MPG

By comparison my current 1.4 Mk7 (petrol) does around 47 MPG

[b1g_dav3]

I was going off the 1.4 mk7, not mk6 >_> oops.

[vinnyvangough]

I hate to say it but those 106's are good nippy little cars for what they are.

[FOCA]

As marcr1 has said, weight makes a big difference, cleaning any exess wieght out of the car helps, if you have more passengers than your mate, that will make a difference, drag on the tyres (big wheels & wide tyres can add drag too)

A k&n panel filter does not add much power possibly 2hp, a new clean stock filter will outperform a dirty, old K&N

New plugs (even NGK platinums) do not add power, worn ones can loose power, if they have not been done in a while, a new set of quatity plugs, properly gapped, may make your car run sweeter/ rev better

A fresh oil (quality - synthetic can reduce friction- its expensive though) change may make your car run/ rev better and help protect it

The spare wheel is heavy so if you can live without it this can make a noticable difference (i run with a can of foam and a pump) - just don't get a puncture

I remember the Fiat uno turbos were 1.4 litres and very fast, the new 1.0L Ford engine is very powerful, - as others have said - it all depends - its all about the power to wieght ratio rather than the ccs - the 1.4 Fiesta was not designed as a performance car

If you really need to go quicker you may be better off saving up for a quicker car, if you just drive slowly and keep out of trouble you can build up your NCD, the lack of performance won't matter then, a small capacity NA would be difficult and expensive to tune, with small gains for the money spent

[FOCA]

YEAH MATES! I gave her a right good service, changed the oil, filled up the windscreen washer etc.... I also took out all the head rests... What a difference!!!! The car is twice as fast and the handeling has improved dramatically! It must just be because the car is lighter??? Thanks for all the help guys!

Happy to help!

Exept the headrests don't weigh very much (about 600 grammes each - just over 1/2 a kilo) - so filling up the widscreen washer probably negates this (1 litre of water = 1 kilo)

A full size spare steel wheel (16" 5-stud - Mondeo/ Focus etc) weighs 17.4 kgs, wiith the jack and brace this brings it up to about 20 kgs - if you remove 20kgs you WILL notice the difference - removing it off the back can help traction (eg taking off from junctions etc)

The MPG is improved (thats why many manufacturers don't supply spare wheels as standard - makes the MPG figures look better/ and saves money/ but mainly for the MPG) - a 5 - stud 16" spacesaver weighs 11kgs

Also increases the payload (starting minus 20kgs means there can be an extra 20kgs before the vehicle is overloaded)

Can make a surprising difference to the handling

thats just the spare wheel, you can go to extremes but sensible options are fitting lighter parts (eg you can save about another 20kgs on a sports exhaust) 6kgs on a lighter battery 8 kgs on lighter wheels - it all adds up

to put it into perspective what if you had a Galaxy duratec HE - how do you make it faster? simple put the engine in a Fiesta ST150 - exept they have exactly the same engine - the ST 150 is a lot quicker because it is lighter (thee is a BIG differens between 10.7seconds to 60mph and 7.9seconds on the road)-

Ford Galaxy duratec HE........ 0-60mph...10.7secs 1697kgs

Ford fiesta..ST150................. 0-60mph... 7.9secs 1137kgs

Taking power to weight ratios to more extremes - a 180kgs motorcycle with 60/70/60 hp would be much quicker than most cars and would probably have a sub - 5 second 0-60mph