Petrol or Diesel ST?

[Sliveredge]

So guys what's everyone got?

Im looking at a ST focus (would love the RS but not got the funds I did price up new the other day at it was cheaper by a few £ to own a RS over a ST3 with some options over 2 years!) those that have the diesel do you wish you had the petrol?

What's you average daily MPG with a bit of right foot and normal driving

Anyone gone from the 1.0 125 focus to a ST? My last tank full got me 380 miles with one motorway trip (160 miles) in the rest was town driving so around the 40 mpg. sometimes it drops to 330 a tank so around 34 mpg

I'm looking for a 2nd hand one ( year or so old if i can find one) so what are the common things to look out for?

Also looking for car cams what have you got attached to your focus?

[james_60]

Hi Peter

You should try the Carwow website.

after 2500 miles im getting on average 47 miles per gallon.

that is a mixture of motorway and country roads.

I have Fully Loaded my ST3 

With a Ecoboost petrol ST you will be lucky to get 35 miles per gallon.

The sound of the engine/exhaust is addictive at the best of times hehehe

Jamie

p.s I'm happy with the TDCI ST I'm Glad I Chose it over the Petrol Version. If You are asking the MPG question then you obviously cannot afford to run a Petrol ST or even a Diesel ST let alone an RS

[alexp999]

I'm getting 25 MPG from my petrol Focus ST. Would probably get 30 if I did longer journeys though.

What length and type of journeys do you do?

 

[Sliveredge]

10 hours ago, james_60 said:

 

p.s I'm happy with the TDCI ST I'm Glad I Chose it over the Petrol Version. If You are asking the MPG question then you obviously cannot afford to run a Petrol ST or even a Diesel ST let alone an RS

 Bit hash there mate! I was just enquiring of what the real life values are for MPG.

I was running around a a loan 1.6 auto that was getting 20 to 25 mpg at best lol

cheers for you advise tho will look in to carwow.

[Sliveredge]

2 hours ago, alexp999 said:

I'm getting 25 MPG from my petrol Focus ST. Would probably get 30 if I did longer journeys though.

What length and type of journeys do you do?

 

To be honest i only really pop to work now so only a 10 mile drive each way in the week days mainly country roads and then at weekend to the shops or out with the kids to so i would say a petrol is the one for me as i only do a long run (150 to 200 miles) once or twice a month now. and total a average for 700 to 900 miles a month in general

If i drive like a daisy to work i will get mid 40s but normally settle around 37-38 on the average tank

Thinking the petrol would leave me grinning more each morning as the diesel would just not be right for my trips i do. I will try and get a test drive of both and see what i like

[chrisroberson99]

Diesel hate short trips. Go for the Petrol, the extra few £ to fuel it a year (tbh, it's not going to be much more) must be worth it!

[mjt]

There was an item on the news the other night about the nitrogen dioxide levels in towns and cities being at twice the legal level due mainly to diesel engines. There's going to be a big political push to get diesels out of urban areas and my guess is that's likely to take the form of some kind of charge that'll make them less economically viable. That will in turn impact residual prices which is one reason why I've replaced our elderly 1.8TDCi with a 1.0L EcoBoost.

I think the problems with trying to control emissions in diesels are so difficult that it won't be possible, if at all, without seriously compromising performance and economy and adding to the initial cost. Look at the issues around DPFs for example, and they still don't take out the smallest particles that gan get straight into the bloodstream through the lungs.

I expect the diesel lovers will all be jumping in to defend them now . I ran ours for 7 years and found it a really nice car to drive. I loved the torquey character and economy of the (DPF-free) diesel but I think their days are numbered.

[james_60]

3 hours ago, mjt said:

There was an item on the news the other night about the nitrogen dioxide levels in towns and cities being at twice the legal level due mainly to diesel engines. There's going to be a big political push to get diesels out of urban areas and my guess is that's likely to take the form of some kind of charge that'll make them less economically viable. That will in turn impact residual prices which is one reason why I've replaced our elderly 1.8TDCi with a 1.0L EcoBoost.

I think the problems with trying to control emissions in diesels are so difficult that it won't be possible, if at all, without seriously compromising performance and economy and adding to the initial cost. Look at the issues around DPFs for example, and they still don't take out the smallest particles that gan get straight into the bloodstream through the lungs.

I expect the diesel lovers will all be jumping in to defend them now . I ran ours for 7 years and found it a really nice car to drive. I loved the torquey character and economy of the (DPF-free) diesel but I think their days are numbered

This Will Be Referring to Older Archaic Diesel Engine Designs without Catalysts and Diesel Particulate Filters. not current models

I touch wood. (knocks on head) have had no issues with DPF's Or Catalytic Convertors on The Cars I have owned that contain Diesel Engines.

Jamie

[james_60]

10 hours ago, Sliveredge said:

 Bit hash there mate! I was just enquiring of what the real life values are for MPG.

I was running around a a loan 1.6 auto that was getting 20 to 25 mpg at best lol

cheers for you advise tho will look in to carwow.

I dont see it as harsh. It was the truth. it sometimes hurts en all, bit like sticks and stones (saying)

Speaking from experiance with the running costs

Jamie

[iantt]

if you can afford to buy an st of either variant then you can afford the fuel to go in it!!

[chrisroberson99]

48 minutes ago, james_60 said:

This Will Be Referring to Older Archaic Diesel Engine Designs without Catalysts and Diesel Particulate Filters. not current models

I touch wood. (knocks on head) have had no issues with DPF's Or Catalytic Convertors on The Cars I have owned that contain Diesel Engines.

Jamie

No I don't think so...haven't you seen all the VW dieselgate scandal? This has brought up a variety of questions to what they really pollute. It's be proven that modern diesels pollute harmful levels of NOx!

[james_60]

16 minutes ago, chrisroberson99 said:

No I don't think so...haven't you seen all the VW dieselgate scandal? This has brought up a variety of questions to what they really pollute. It's be proven that modern diesels pollute harmful levels of NOx!

Wrong. The Engine in my car and other modern ford diesel engines have NOX traps in the exhaust systems, 

Jamie

[iantt]

james is right, the st diesel does indeed have a nox trap

[chrisroberson99]

Well good for Ford, is this done by the use of AdBlue? However tests have shown that modern diesels emit far more NOx than they say, which in turn results in thousands of deaths per year...

So no, it's not just old diesels that are the issue (although they are worse).

[iantt]

ford dont use adblue so no emmisions cheating software required.

[alexp999]

All cars release more Co2, Nox, etc than they do in real world driving, for the same reason they use more fuel than stated.

 

That's why they are changing the tests.

[tazzman600]

For those of you who are bothered about nox emissions and any other harmful deposits from motor vehicles please please please sell your car's and get a bicycle. You lot make me sick. So bleedin what if an engine kicks out what ever it does. There are other forms of powered things that kick out krap.

Just for that I'm getting my 1.6 diesel tuned to the hilt so it kicks out tons of the black stuff and stuff the mpg or maybe I'll go back to a Rover V8 mmmmmmmmm niiiiiiiiice

[mjt]

I knew that'd get 'em going.

[TomsFocus]

You realise modern petrols chuck out loads of NOx as well right?

It's caused by running lean, which we all want to save fuel and CO2 (for cheaper tax) lol...  It's also much worse on a motorway cruise than stop-start traffic so shouldn't be a huge issue in town.  Particulates are the issue in town, and most of them come from the busses and delivery trucks that you can't remove and definitely can't use petrol engines in.

I'm not a diesel fan, but these programmes saying how horrific diesels are were the same programmes saying how horrific petrols were in the early 00s...  Fact is there isn't a mode of transport that's safe for the environment unless you walk everywhere.

[alexp999]

Even walking produces CO2 and (small amounts, lol) of methane, haha.

[iantt]

Breathing does to, so hold your breath alex .

[Sliveredge]

thank you for all your posts, im not to worried about emissions TBH i work on diesel genorators/engines with up to 4000 HP (2983kw)  so what my car pumps out in its life time will not be as much as one of those bad boys on a full chat 8 hour load run lol

[mjt]

3 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

You realise modern petrols chuck out loads of NOx as well right?

Of course. If you read my original post you'll see I chose my words carefully. I said "due mainly to diesel engines" i.e. not exclusively. Although I don't have figures to quote I think it's accepted that diesels are worse than petrols in this respect. They also put out far higher levels of particulates which are a known carcinogen, and if the measures to control these emissions are so good and effective why do so many people on this forum remove them by, for example, blanking EGRs and gutting DPFs?

Also those who jumped on my comments (as I expected) are missing the point I was making, that there is a gathering political bandwagon against diesels and although there are undoubtedly other types of diesel vehicles that are far more polluting than cars (**see below) the private car is, politically, a soft target.

**I've just been reading another report by a commuter who monitored his NOX and particulate exposure using different forms of transport from Bedford into London. The two highest readings were travelling in an air-conditioned diesel train and a London cab. The highest of the two was in the cab

[TomsFocus]

The important part there is modern petrols, older petrols didn't really produce much NOx due to their inefficiency.  Problem now is that with direct injection petrols you can have stratified injection.  This makes them run really lean when cruising which is great for motorway MPG and of course the low CO2 for cheap tax.  But running lean causes then to pump out loads of NOx while cruising, far more than any old V8 petrol did.  Of course they are fitted with EGR but that's in no way 'perfect' and as we all know EGR valves only work well for the first couple of years if that, they soon get carbonised and either stick or leak, which then causes further emission problems.

I agree with you, I wouldn't buy a brand new diesel myself, but they can't just ban them from city centres (except maybe London), the shops need the trade and are already losing that through parking charges making it cheaper to shop online.  With the new flat rate of tax and diesel costing the same as petrol I don't see how they'll phase them out any time soon.  Most people couldn't care less about the environment (I know you do and that's certainly not a bad thing) so the only way you'll phase them out is raising costs somewhere...

[ippy]

Buy an electric car   so when you charge it up your electric bill goes up then the power stations have to burn more coal and pump more crap into the enviorment but at least you can say 'It was't me'