Hi all,

I've just been looking at an 09 Fiesta 1.6tdci Titanium for my wife to replace her 206 however I've read some articles that it's not the most reliable engine. She probably only covers a couple thousand miles a year as it's a secondary car to us really.

The 206 has come unreliable as the battery keeps dying if we don't run it for a week and she's always liked Fiesta's and this Titanium looks amazing in the hot magenta but obviously want to make sure it's right.

Many thanks

A diesel is no good if you're only doing short journeys. Will those couple of thousand miles be on the motorway mostly or round town? If its a second car it usually doesn't go on motorway runs often so I think you'll be better with a petrol.

You'll always read articles saying the engine you're currently looking at isn't as reliable as some other engine lol.

4 minutes ago, Luke4efc said:

A diesel is no good if you're only doing short journeys. Will those couple of thousand miles be on the motorway mostly or round town? If its a second car it usually doesn't go on motorway runs often so I think you'll be better with a petrol.

You'll always read articles saying the engine you're currently looking at isn't as reliable as some other engine lol.

Yep that's the problem, if you look hard enough you will always find something.

It would probably be a mixture of both but for longer runs we normally take my A4 TDI, although even with that I only cover about 8k/year. The reliability of the 206 has kind have forced us to use mine all the time but would be nice to use something else at maybe weekends. Shame cos it's a great looking car and can't quite afford to stretch to a newer mk8 ecoboost to keep the cheap tax

I'm just saying a diesel is no good if you're not taking it on those long runs frequently. You'll block up the DPF in no time as it won't have time to do a regen. 

I hate Peugeot with a passion (apart from the 205 GTI) lol.

I'd maybe look at the 1.4 or 1.6 (in the zetec-s) petrol versions of the Fiesta. If you're only doing a couple thousand miles a year, you won't notice that much difference in running costs anyway. The 1.2 is a little slow by todays standards, but is only £30 a year to tax.

Ok thanks. Just noticed the same garage does have a 60 plate version, 1.6 petrol for 1k more albeit without full leather. Would be £150 tax but sure a better fit.

Think I read articles of turbo issues and seals on the tdci engine

5 minutes ago, stuarta99 said:

Yep that's the problem, if you look hard enough you will always find something.

It would probably be a mixture of both but for longer runs we normally take my A4 TDI, although even with that I only cover about 8k/year. The reliability of the 206 has kind have forced us to use mine all the time but would be nice to use something else at maybe weekends. Shame cos it's a great looking car and can't quite afford to stretch to a newer mk8 ecoboost to keep the cheap tax

Mk8 Fiesta's don't have cheap tax.  From April 2017 onwards the tax costs £150 on every car regardless of engine size or emissions.  The EcoBoosts originally came out in the Mk7 facelifts in 2013 which do have cheap tax.  Could you stretch to one of those?  Only trouble is, they're getting towards the age of eye watering bills for cambelt changes now.

As Luke says though, I really don't think a 1.6 TDCi is the right engine for such low mileage.  Being '09 it will also be the older 16v 1.6 TDCi which is the one that you'll read all the horror stories about online...carbon deposits in oil ways, popped turbos, leaking injectors etc.  I ran one for over 3 years in a Focus but was averaging 10k a year at the time...and I ended up having to remove the DPF due to constant issues with it.  Not appropriate or legal these days! 

Ouch ok will stay well away. Trying to tempt her into the 1.6 petrol one.

Ecoboost was what I was thinking of but might be a stretch for her. Doesn't help that looking around, the southwest seems a lot more expensive than other regions for second hand cars

Thanks all

Ok thanks to all for the replies on here. We are now looking at a 2010 1.4 petrol Titanium.

What's this engine like?

Not a bad engine.  Will be overdue a cambelt by now so make sure that's been done.  Thermostat housing and coil packs are fairly common but nothing major.

Excellent thank you. It's got FSH for the first 6 years then every other after that so assume it has. 52k on the clock as well so like to think it has but will check it out