Hey guys so at the moment I have had my Audi A3 1.6 petrol for 8 years and it’s finally time to get something better been looking at a mk3 focus st line x for some time now and finally have the money to get one I’m not sure what engine to get I only do 7 miles a day that’s to work and back but sometimes I like to give a car a bit of a thrashing from time to time what engine do you recommend I was thinking 1.0 with 140bhp or do I go for one of the 1.5 ecoboost variants I have 12,000 saved for this car or would some of you say wait and see what happens to the mk4 prices once this pandemic is over I’d be interested to hear your thoughts. Thankyou 

£12,000 saved? Buy a £2000 car and spend the rest on enjoying life. Cars are an inherent waste of money, but you'll only learn that when you get old, like me 🤣

I know where Stephenford is coming from. My car was£10k but I do a lot of miles so I can justify it more due to the superb fuel economy saving money. But if I did very low miles I would have bought a cheaper car otherwise the depreciation would be very high per mile. I’m old also. I think prices will come down after this pandemic including houses etc also. Most people won’t have money to go out looking for things to buy, economic recovery will probably take years. That’s my pessimistic but probably realistic view.

For that mileage get an electric car if you can charge it. It'll probably still accelerate faster than a ST and save you money. 

46 minutes ago, Ennvoqation said:

For that mileage get an electric car if you can charge it. It'll probably still accelerate faster than a ST and save you money. 

Not in the long run when it depreciates like a stone, and the battery reaches the end of its short useless life

13 minutes ago, The Finance Guy said:

Not in the long run when it depreciates like a stone, and the battery reaches the end of its short useless life

If you buy a second hand one such as a 3 year old Zoé or a Leaf you can pick them up for around 6-8k, and long term usage of Leaf batteries usually should about 5-15% drop in range over 10 years from experience around the world (there's over 500k Leaf cars been sold). Range is around 80-100 miles depending on the model and how you drive, and there's quite a large scene devoted to modding the hell out of Leafs! If you want more range get an i3 which is around 200 miles if I remember rightly but you pay more for that brand but even after 3 years the battery life is barely showing any degradation. Also with Leaf, you can get third party replacement packs fairly cheaply due to them being so popular. 

None of the cars I mentioned I'd recommend if you're a petrol head and push the car, but some electric cars can be easily modded to give more performance, but for puttering around to and from work you'll save yourself a small fortune in petrol. The Leaf would cost you about £70-90 for the whole year if you charge at home (assuming 40 miles per week and 17p p/kWh) or virtually nothing if you have solar.  From memory Leaf is about 4-5p mile and a Zoé is around 6-7p per mile averaged out for 'fuel'.

I'm not going into an argument but ICE cars also degrade over time, becoming less efficient due to wear and tear on the various components, and for sportier cars like an ST or an RS can be just as expensive over it's life as it's to replace a battery pack if it's needed.

 

 

2 minutes ago, Ennvoqation said:

 you'll save yourself a small fortune in petrol....

 

 

Petrol is now 99p/liter LOL

w

14 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

Petrol is now 99p/liter LOL

w

True, but it'll go back up again. My focus is pulling about 25p per mile in costs (all running costs figured in), my friends iPace is about 12-14p all costs figured in. It'll be closer now with the price drops, but we're not in a position to take advantage of that petrol price any time soon :D

I don’t know a lot about electric cars. someone I know had a leaf and I think he told me the charger cost over a thousand. Sounded a lot to me

Don’t want electric thanks guys I want a focus for sure my dads had them since they first came out and I just know I want one just not sure on the engine 1.0 140bhp or 1.5 150-180 BHP what you recommend Iam scared of the horror stories on the 1.0 turbo but I’ll be getting a 17 plate or newer 

If your budget can stretch to a mk4 , I’d recommend an automatic. I’ve only driven the 182 auto that I own but the 1L auto has some good reviews. All that faffing about changing gear is unnecessary. 

The Focus doesn’t have the 140 version of the 1.0, only 100 and 125 variants. The 150 version of the 1.5 fills that gap, which is what I have in mine (well the older 1.6 version) and is the one I’d probably go for. I think the 1.0 is a very good engine though in 125 tune.

1 hour ago, dtulip8 said:

The Focus doesn’t have the 140 version of the 1.0, only 100 and 125 variants. 

There was a 1.0 140ps ST-Line towards the end of the run of the Mk 3.5 Focus.😀

13 hours ago, Ennvoqation said:

True, but it'll go back up again. My focus is pulling about 25p per mile in costs (all running costs figured in), my friends iPace is about 12-14p all costs figured in. It'll be closer now with the price drops, but we're not in a position to take advantage of that petrol price any time soon 😄

Which engine do you have and what running costs are you including in that?  25p/mile sounds an awful lot for a newish Focus!  

11 hours ago, Hendo91 said:

Don’t want electric thanks guys I want a focus for sure my dads had them since they first came out and I just know I want one just not sure on the engine 1.0 140bhp or 1.5 150-180 BHP what you recommend Iam scared of the horror stories on the 1.0 turbo but I’ll be getting a 17 plate or newer 

The 1.0 is much more reliable in the later models, it's pre-facelift where you really have to avoid.  But it's a pretty disappointing engine in the heavy Focus.  Plus the tax is no cheaper as everything's the same after 2017 and the average fuel costs aren't massively different either. I certainly wouldn't spend £12k on a 1.0EB, felt cheated by spending £4.5k on mine! If you're set on a Focus and want some 'fun' (presumably you wouldn't be spending so much on it if you didn't like cars/driving) then it would have to be the 1.5 for me.  The 150ps will be fine, the 180 is only better at high rpm which you'll rarely be able to use in all honesty.

Having said that, I also wouldn't spend that much on an old model, might as well wait until the Mk4's drop into your budget now.

7 miles a day is very low mileage, and a modern car is probably more likely to have problems with it than your old Audi - particulate filters, battery issues etc.

Dealerships are physically shut at present, but I see that some are trading "virtually" - doing everything on line and delivering to your door, presumably running away before they catch anything!😀 Could be deals to be done if they're desperate for cash, but like Tom and Isetta I'd be inclined to hold off until things subside and hopefully bag a Mk 4.

The 1.0 is a great little engine in the Fiesta, but if I personally was looking at a Focus, particularly if I wanted an occasional "blast", I'd be looking for the bigger engine.

10 hours ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

There was a 1.0 140ps ST-Line towards the end of the run of the Mk 3.5 Focus.😀

Every day’s a school day! 

6 minutes ago, dtulip8 said:

Every day’s a school day! 

It certainly is! I've been finding out loads on here lately - for example about modern batteries/chargers on other threads - it all helps lockdown pass more quickly!😀

I've got the older 1.6 Ecoboost Titanium 150bhp and it's great fun while still getting decent mpg on long runs.

I think the new 1.0 Ecoboost are a totally different build to the first versions so probably don't suffer form the same issues. 

I've come from an Audi (A4 rebadged as a SEAT Exeo) to a Mk4 Focus and despite the Focus being German built and apparently an improvement over the Mk3 in terms of cabin quality, I'd say it still has a way to go to be equal to what I had become used to and what you may be used to with the A3. Give it a good test drive first - try a variety of road surfaces and speeds and if possible try to stretch it out over a decent amount of time to make sure you're comfortable in the driver's seat, and happy with the overall driving experience. Don't get me wrong, my Mk4 (1.0 EcoBoost 125ps by the way) is OK - it's got a decent amount of space inside (more than the Exeo) and a lot of tech in the higher spec'd models but it's not quite as refined as some of the reviews would lead you to believe.

19 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

Which engine do you have and what running costs are you including in that?  25p/mile sounds an awful lot for a newish Focus!  

That's all costs for that vehicle that's part and parcel of ownership such purchase price, repairs, fuel and so on but excludes things like cleaning materials/tools, I own a the 1.5 Diesel 120 and the average figures for a standard family hatchback is around that margin, if anything my friends own rates are higher that the average but that's reflected in the higher cost of purchase but offset by the fact he runs it off solar most of the time. A guideline for the Tesla 3 is about 3p per mile depending on how it's charged.

For my own car that's based on 8,000 miles, over a one year period and I capped my friends iPace at the same mileage (he's done nearly 20k). My old Mk 2 1.8 Diesel was 33p per mile over it's 4 year life with nearly 60k on the clock. The new Focus is about 30% more fuel efficient over my old one, and I expect the cost to drop over time as I own it.

On 3/31/2020 at 1:10 AM, Hendo91 said:

Hey guys so at the moment I have had my Audi A3 1.6 petrol for 8 years and it’s finally time to get something better been looking at a mk3 focus st line x for some time now and finally have the money to get one I’m not sure what engine to get I only do 7 miles a day that’s to work and back but sometimes I like to give a car a bit of a thrashing from time to time what engine do you recommend I was thinking 1.0 with 140bhp or do I go for one of the 1.5 ecoboost variants I have 12,000 saved for this car or would some of you say wait and see what happens to the mk4 prices once this pandemic is over I’d be interested to hear your thoughts. Thankyou 

Don't know too much about the Focus or the engines (other than a MK1 which my dad had) but from a quick search the MK4's are a bit out of reach for you at the moment. However, given the current situation I would wait (assuming your current car is problem free) and carry on saving and hope the prices drop a bit more (maybe wait until next year?). From what I can see on Autotrader, a MK4 ST Line X start from about £15K for a 125ps, though there is a 182ps for just under £16K but with higher mileage (though that shouldn't worry you).

As others have suggested you could buy a cheaper car and use the money elsewhere, though it sounds like you want a Focus and you intend to keep it for a while (maybe?) so depreciation is not a massive concern. I bought my car for £15K (£32K new) when it was 2 and 1/2 years old and now it's 9 years old (and probably not worth much more than £5-6K at a push), but I intend to keep it for at least another 4 years or until it dies. I chose my current car based on what I wanted when compared to my last car (ST24 on LPG) and wasn't too worried about running costs other than fuel, which at the time diesel was 7-8p per litre more than petrol (which then matched or was less than petrol over the years)...tyres aren't cheap though, but I was prepared for that (approx £700-£800 for a set 😂)

I'm in a similar position in that I was going to buy a Tourneo Custom (In addition to the Mondeo and to convert to a campervan...I'm old too) this year but have now decided to save for a bit longer and get one next year as the prices will drop a little more by then and obviously I will have saved up more.

Good luck with the car hunt 🙂