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Help With Engine Choice Please


barble23
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we are looking at buying a diesel engine vehicle for my 60mile daily trip to work.....need to get this right as we have just had a nightmare with a renault megane diesel.(dont buy 1)....we have owned a focus petrol and loved it so another would be good.....we have read so many bad things so would appreciate a straight honest opinion...which is best the 1.6tdci or the 1.8tdci???....also a bit worried about dpf and fuel additive system ...we know very little about these or the costs or which vehicles these are fitted on...we would be buying 08 onwards............which should i buy???or not!!!!

or is the vauxhall / peugeot engines any better???

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Well the diesel engines in 1.6/1.8 2008 onwards focus are Peugeot engines anyway, and they are found in a lot of cars

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Duratorq_engine

I have a 2008 1.6 109ps Focus, and I've done almost 20K since February with no problems, and fuel efficiency has been great.

£35 for the year's road tax too.

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I have the 1.8 tdci and love it getting around 34 mpg around town and 48 mpg on a run that could be better depending on your driving style personally i would not touch the 1.6 tdci with the proverbial barge pole to many horror stories with the dpf for my likeing mate at work had one and was nothing but trouble got shut as soon as he could dont suppose it would be to bad in itself if it didnt have the dreaded dpf the 1.8 doesent dont know why but whatever car i,ve had always seem to go for a 1.8 nice mid range engine and the ford diesel 1.8 is supposed to be a very robust engine if seriviced correctly first one i,ve had and i cant fault it.

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I have the 1.8 tdci and love it getting around 34 mpg around town and 48 mpg on a run that could be better depending on your driving style personally i would not touch the 1.6 tdci with the proverbial barge pole to many horror stories with the dpf for my likeing mate at work had one and was nothing but trouble got shut as soon as he could dont suppose it would be to bad in itself if it didnt have the dreaded dpf the 1.8 doesent dont know why but whatever car i,ve had always seem to go for a 1.8 nice mid range engine and the ford diesel 1.8 is supposed to be a very robust engine if seriviced correctly first one i,ve had and i cant fault it.

Care to explain a little more about this DPF problem you refer to? I've had no issues with my car and its a 1.6 and done 63,000 miles.

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well i suppose its how you drive them i.e if your doing a lot of motorway mileage dont see a problem i think most are or seem to happen with a clogged dpf on town mileage i stand to be corrected but do they not suffer with turbo probs as well this was the prob my mate had got fed up with having it in the dealership .as i say stand to be corrected just everyones personal choice .

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The MK2 Focus Peugeot engines did indeed have trouble with oil starvation to the turbo resulting in failure, a redesigned oil pick-up cured it.

Personal choice is the 1.8, bombproof, sturdy and pulls like a train.

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2008 1.6 TDCi here, car has done 34,000 miles. I have the dreaded DPF and have had no issues so far. £35/year road tax is a bargain, and I get 50MPG with a mix of motorway and 'normal' miles. High 50's on long motorway runs (e.g. Manchester - Barnsley). 110 felt quick enough to begin with, but wish I'd gone for the 2L 140 now! Tempted to get mine re-mapped, not sure though yet! I'll probably just get used to that then want something quicker!

Girlfriend's Dad has a 06 plate 1.6TDCi (non DPF). Done almost 80,000 miles without any hiccups. Keep telling him to get the cambelt changed, he's gonna do it next service.

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Having looked at a 1.6, I ended up going for the 2.0 TDCi, I found there wasn't a huge amount of difference in the insurance cost, just tax slightly more expensive. There are alot more cars to choose from if you go for the 1.6 or 1.8 though. For me the computer shows the mpg at approx 45 so far, but I'm not sure how accurate this is.

I'd be more concerned for the DPF issues if the car has done low mileage for its age or is approaching 100k and hasn't yet had it replaced.

I'd also be watching out for symptoms of dual mass flywheel failure, again depending on the mileage of the cars you're looking at.

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Having looked at a 1.6, I ended up going for the 2.0 TDCi, I found there wasn't a huge amount of difference in the insurance cost, just tax slightly more expensive. There are alot more cars to choose from if you go for the 1.6 or 1.8 though. For me the computer shows the mpg at approx 45 so far, but I'm not sure how accurate this is.

I'd be more concerned for the DPF issues if the car has done low mileage for its age or is approaching 100k and hasn't yet had it replaced.

I'd agree totally with this. Wish I'd got something more powerful now - anyone wanna swap?! As stated though, a lot more 1.6/1.8s to choose from.

Regarding the DPF, a friend has a DPF Zafira with around 50,000 miles on it, mostly done by the previous owner with short trips. He's had no end of trouble with it. He does similar driving in an similar mileage Insignia that presumably got lots of motorway use, as that has no DPF issues so far. Mine, which gets a lot of motorway use has never given me an issue, so the previous owner's treatment is very important. My car was an ex fleet car, so chances are it got a lot of motorway miles before I had it.

You any further with your choice barble?

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thanks for the help everyone...i am looking at a 59 plate 1.8tdci focus this weekend.....like everyone says just worried about dpf..we will be doing 60 miles a day so fingerscrossed we will have minimum issues....dont fancy the 1.6 just too many turbo problems around...and not that much difference in mpg..yes i know tax is cheaper....wish me luck...!!!unless anyone thinks its a bad idea..

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thanks for the help everyone...i am looking at a 59 plate 1.8tdci focus this weekend.....like everyone says just worried about dpf..we will be doing 60 miles a day so fingerscrossed we will have minimum issues....dont fancy the 1.6 just too many turbo problems around...and not that much difference in mpg..yes i know tax is cheaper....wish me luck...!!!unless anyone thinks its a bad idea..

No DPF on the 1.8 TDCi, it's only on newer 1.6 models and (most) 2.0s. Heard good things about this engine so you should be fine!

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2008 Mk2.5 1.8 TDCi owner here and I can't complain.

Almost 12 months of ownership and the engine is great. Yes, it's an older design but has already been mentioned 'bombproof' - tried and tested.

It's returns good MPG on my daily 50 + mile commute on A roads (50mpg on average) and is nippy enough to get around a multitude of countryside obstacles (tractors, lorries etc) with ease but will also sit at 70 all day long.

Test drive a few engine options and weigh up the pro's and cons of each.

Stu

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Couple of things I just wanted to mention:

  1. The 1.8 TDCi is not a PSA/Ford (Same as Peugeot/Citroen) Engine. It is an old Ford developed engine that has seen a few refreshes, but has now been dropped from the MK3 line up.
  2. The 1.6 TDCi and 2.0 TDCi are the newer PSA/Ford engines, hence being the only diesel options on the Mk3 Focus now.
  3. 60 mile trip in one go, or even round trip, 30 each way should be fine to keep a DPF clear. If you notice when you pull up the fan is running though, it might be worth giving it a bit of a boot on the next trip, or keep it out of top gear on the motorway. The engine basically tries to do a DPF clearing cycle and deliberately overheats the engine to burn the deposits off.

I've driven the 1.8TDCi in a Mk1, and 1.6 TDCi in a Mk2.5 and I'm looking at part-exing my Fiesta 1.6 TDCi in for a MK3 2.0 TDCi.

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