Our focus has costed us a fair bit (new battery, new alternator, fix oil leak) recently. Those weren't too bad and could be classed as general upkeep. However we've now been told it needs a new turbo ... Costing £1500 with labour and associated parts. Our connundrum is whether to keep shelling out on such an old car (125k miles).

Any thoughts? We paid £4k for it about 5 years ago, and had the fuel rail replaced soon after for a few hundred quid.

2 hours ago, hiace_drifter said:

Our focus has costed us a fair bit (new battery, new alternator, fix oil leak) recently. Those weren't too bad and could be classed as general upkeep. However we've now been told it needs a new turbo ... Costing £1500 with labour and associated parts. Our connundrum is whether to keep shelling out on such an old car (125k miles).

Any thoughts? We paid £4k for it about 5 years ago, and had the fuel rail replaced soon after for a few hundred quid.

Im all for keeping older but mechanically solid cars on the road but in your case I'd say bin it.  The 1.6 TDCi engine is a dog (It's actually designed by Peugeot) and has an infamous reputation within the garage industry for premature injector failure and excessive oil carbonisation which progressively starves the turbo of oil before it eventually goes bang.

 

Most garages in my area won't even touch the job because even though Ford released a full TSB covering renewal of the entire oil feed loop (which you would have thought would prevent a recurrence), it can just as easily happen again, and again, and again.  And an angry customer making a scene in your garage when you've not done anything wrong is not a good look.

 

Other than a susceptibility to rust on the bottom leading edges of the body, I'd say they're a pretty good workhorse as well as being good to drive.  (I've got a 13 year old MK2 1.8 TDCi that's still on it's original fuel pump, injectors, clutch, DMF, turbo @ 159K miles and it still does 58 MPG on a decently length motorway run, although the gearbox did just fail this was the 1st major failure in 7 years of ownership).

16 minutes ago, 1979Damian said:

Im all for keeping older but mechanically solid cars on the road but in your case I'd say bin it.  The 1.6 TDCi engine is a dog (It's actually designed by Peugeot) and has an infamous reputation within the garage industry for premature injector failure and excessive oil carbonisation which progressively starves the turbo of oil before it eventually goes bang.

 

Most garages in my area won't even touch the job because even though Ford released a full TSB covering renewal of the entire oil feed loop (which you would have thought would prevent a recurrence), it can just as easily happen again, and again, and again.  And an angry customer making a scene in your garage when you've not done anything wrong is not a good look.

 

Other than a susceptibility to rust on the bottom leading edges of the body, I'd say they're a pretty good workhorse as well as being good to drive.  (I've got a 13 year old MK2 1.8 TDCi that's still on it's original fuel pump, injectors, clutch, DMF, turbo @ 159K miles and it still does 58 MPG on a decently length motorway run, although the gearbox did just fail this was the 1st major failure in 7 years of ownership).

Cheers. Replacement car it is then... Any recommendations for 5yr old diesel estates? 50% short journeys 50% motorway. I've seen an ex fire service focus1.6 TDci econotech. 61 plate, 87k miles. £4k. Is the MK3 engine better than the dog MK2.5?

45 minutes ago, hiace_drifter said:

Cheers. Replacement car it is then... Any recommendations for 5yr old diesel estates? 50% short journeys 50% motorway. I've seen an ex fire service focus1.6 TDci econotech. 61 plate, 87k miles. £4k. Is the MK3 engine better than the dog MK2.5?

From what people have said on here and the lack of posts along the lines of the turbo on my MK3 Focus 1.6 TDCi has gone bang, I'd say so.  The version in the MK3 has been reworked and is now 8v instead of 16v, other than injectors wearing out a bit quicker than on most other modern diesel engines it seems to be pretty solid.

The 8v engine in the Mk3 is more reliable (though has a weird low speed driveability issue), but the cars themselves are utter crap.  You'll be forever chasing water leaks, electrical faults, air con leaks, clutch faults and as they're getting older suspension bushes and snapped springs are becoming more common as well.  Some people get lucky, there are a few good ones, but I'd suggest an ex fire one probably won't be!

50 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

The 8v engine in the Mk3 is more reliable (though has a weird low speed driveability issue), but the cars themselves are utter crap.  You'll be forever chasing water leaks, electrical faults, air con leaks, clutch faults and as they're getting older suspension bushes and snapped springs are becoming more common as well.  Some people get lucky, there are a few good ones, but I'd suggest an ex fire one probably won't be!

Yup, I'd say if you want a newer Focus go for the MK3.5 (which will be outside of the Op's stated budget) or choose something else (sadly).

15 minutes ago, 1979Damian said:

Yup, I'd say if you want a newer Focus go for the MK3.5 (which will be outside of the Op's stated budget) or choose something else (sadly).

I'd go up to £7-8k if I thought I was getting value for money. A Mondeo estate would be even nicer!

2 minutes ago, hiace_drifter said:

I'd go up to £7-8k if I thought I was getting value for money. A Mondeo estate would be even nicer!

Later in the year when I'll be looking to replace my own MK2 Focus, I'm hoping to get a nice 2.2 TDCi Mondeo Titanium X Sport.  A pre-facelift MK4 with service history can be had for less than £5K, with a facelift version fitting comfortably within your revised budget.  Other than the looks, the other major change for the facelift version is the the 2.2 TDCi engine has a bit more power (173 BHP to 197 BHP) and bit more efficiency than before.

 

If you drop to a Titanium X, you still get the nice heated seats but and only really lose some of the cosmetic stuff such as the bodykit, it's make a decent difference to the price though.

A Mondeo is a good shout, my Mum got her 2012 2.0 Ecoboost (the 205ps one with the powershift auto) Titanium X with 65k and a full Ford serivce history for 6.5k back in September to replace her 63 reg C-Max. Such a nice car and seem to be cheaper as big saloons tend to depreciate more here than hatchbacks.

I've found a 2011 Mondeo titanium 2.0 TDci 163 auto estate. 60k miles. Under £6k. FSH and 2 owners.  We can't hang around too long as are without a car and need to do school run/commute to work... So will probably take a punt on that one.

35 minutes ago, hiace_drifter said:

I've found a 2011 Mondeo titanium 2.0 TDci 163 auto estate. 60k miles. Under £6k. FSH and 2 owners.  We can't hang around too long as are without a car and need to do school run/commute to work... So will probably take a punt on that one.

If it's a Powershift gearbox i.e. flappy paddles you absolutely HAVE to make sure the gearbox oil AND filter have been changed at the recommended intervals as dual clutch gearboxes do not like this not being done a full rebuild could be pushing £2K if it fails.