Hi

My son is looking to buy a Zetec S, and is wondering if he should buy an older model with lower mileage, or a newer model with high mileage (around 70k).  A friend has told us that the higher mileage cars have a chance of something going wrong (Can't for the life of me remember what he said), and I wondered what everyone's views were ?

 

Many Thanks

 

Gill

 

High mileage cars may have a very serious problem with the cam belt snapping if it hasn't been changed at the service interval.   If this happens it can write the engine off.

Cambelts degrade over time as well as mileage.  So that's something to check whichever way you choose to go.  The recommended intervals are different between engines though so we'd need to know which year and engine your son is looking at.

As for everything else, some things are more likely to break with little use over time (rust, rubber, battery, tyres, clutch, etc).  Others are more likely to break over high motorway mileage (paintwork, windscreen, bearings, turbo's, interior parts etc).

There's no simple answer to your question unfortunately, it's one that most of us ask when buying used!

Reliability aside, the older, lower mileage car is likely to depreciate in value less than the newer, higher mileage vehicle, so that's something to consider.  But newer cars are often cheaper to insure for younger drivers.  

Hi Gill,

Not sure which engine you were looking at - the earlier 1.6 non turbo, or the 1.0 ecoboost from 2013 on? Assuming it's the latter, the Zetec S was rebranded as ST-Line in 2016 so even the newest Zetec S will be 4 years old by now.

My company cars used to clock 90,000 miles plus in a 3 year lease with no problem, so high mileage of itself need not be an issue, provided that servicing and age /mileage related component replacements have been carried out. 

There have been several reports on here of oil pressure issues/cambelt failure on Ecoboosts after around 60,000 miles. Theory is that if oil changes are neglected and/or the incorrect oil grade is used, the belt can degrade and particles block the oil pump.

The good thing about the Fiesta is that there are a lot about and if you are not satisfied with the condition, service history and warranty of one you're looking at, you can just walk away and look elsewhere.

 

2 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

Cambelts degrade over time as well as mileage.  So that's something to check whichever way you choose to go.  The recommended intervals are different between engines though so we'd need to know which year and engine your son is looking at.

As for everything else, some things are more likely to break with little use over time (rust, rubber, battery, tyres, clutch, etc).  Others are more likely to break over high motorway mileage (paintwork, windscreen, bearings, turbo's, interior parts etc).

There's no simple answer to your question unfortunately, it's one that most of us ask when buying used!

Reliability aside, the older, lower mileage car is likely to depreciate in value less than the newer, higher mileage vehicle, so that's something to consider.  But newer cars are often cheaper to insure for younger drivers.  

Thanks ever so much for your reply.  Such a pickle, we really don't know what way to go.  I think whatever way we go we need to make sure we get Full service history.  I didn't realise buying second hand was such a mine field.  Also as soon as we see them advertised, they go in a day - arrrgghhh !

2 hours ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Hi Gill,

Not sure which engine you were looking at - the earlier 1.6 non turbo, or the 1.0 ecoboost from 2013 on? Assuming it's the latter, the Zetec S was rebranded as ST-Line in 2016 so even the newest Zetec S will be 4 years old by now.

My company cars used to clock 90,000 miles plus in a 3 year lease with no problem, so high mileage of itself need not be an issue, provided that servicing and age /mileage related component replacements have been carried out. 

There have been several reports on here of oil pressure issues/cambelt failure on Ecoboosts after around 60,000 miles. Theory is that if oil changes are neglected and/or the incorrect oil grade is used, the belt can degrade and particles block the oil pump.

The good thing about the Fiesta is that there are a lot about and if you are not satisfied with the condition, service history and warranty of one you're looking at, you can just walk away and look elsewhere.

 

Hi Eric, thanks ever so much for taking the time to reply.  We are looking at a 1.0 EcoBoost, and hopefully the 124bhp as it seems to be the cheapest on Insurance.  I'm just worried that this sort of car might have been thrashed a bit.  Sounds like FSH is a must.  I'll make sure we ask the questions you mentioned.  Do you think it would be work having an RAC or AA check done before buying ?  Who knew buying a car for a 17 yr old would be such a nightmare !! Thanks again Gill

10 minutes ago, Gill Owen said:

Hi Eric, thanks ever so much for taking the time to reply.  We are looking at a 1.0 EcoBoost, and hopefully the 124bhp as it seems to be the cheapest on Insurance.  I'm just worried that this sort of car might have been thrashed a bit.  Sounds like FSH is a must.  I'll make sure we ask the questions you mentioned.  Do you think it would be work having an RAC or AA check done before buying ?  Who knew buying a car for a 17 yr old would be such a nightmare !! Thanks again Gill

It might be worth looking at the naturally aspirated ford engines as well because from experience, turbo engine vehicles usually have a much more expensive insurance than the same insurance on a non turbo car, also if you can, jack up the car just to check wheel bearing, and knuckle play, my aunt's fiesta had wheel bearing issues not to long after she purchased it second hand

What mileage he will do must be a factor. If he will do a lot it would be better to go for lower mileage so it’s less likely to be worn out in the time he wants to keep it. I do about 16-17k per year in my car, my wife does about 2k in hers so for her car buying a higher mileage one would not worry me so much. But don’t forget mileage can be falsified. Eg new car doing 90k in first three years, just before first mot alter mileage/ replace speedo unit so it shows much lower. And forge service history to support lower mileage. How will you know? Yes it is a mine field. And a lot of luck. Cars can suffer disasterous faults at any time. Some do and some dont. 

My previous car was ex hire car. Everyone said don’t buy ex hire car it will have been mistreated by every hirer. It was like new and I did over 140k miles in it with no problems apparent from its past use. You just can’t tell how lucky or not you will be.

49 minutes ago, Gill Owen said:

 Do you think it would be work having an RAC or AA check done before buying ? 

A lot of reputable dealers seem to provide these anyway. I've never had one myself in many years of car buying so can't comment from personal  experience, unfortunately.

 

 

4 hours ago, Neb_engineer said:

It might be worth looking at the naturally aspirated ford engines as well because from experience, turbo engine vehicles usually have a much more expensive insurance than the same insurance on a non turbo car, also if you can, jack up the car just to check wheel bearing, and knuckle play, my aunt's fiesta had wheel bearing issues not to long after she purchased it second hand

Personally I found that for my first year of driving the 1.0 ecoboost 100ps was only around £40 more than the 1.0 80ps non-turbo.