Hi, I'm currently looking to get a newer focus, my car at the moment is 2008 focus auto.

But have heard there are problems with the ecoboost engines, with wet belts etc. So not sure to avoid them or not. 

I would be looking for 2015 or later if possible, with a budget of ~£10k, and need it to be automatic and 1.6L.

So, my question is, do all focus's now come with ecoboost engines, for the years that I'm looking at?

If not, how can I tell which ones are not ecoboost engines when looking on used car websites. Are there any wording indications I need to look out for other than it not stating ecoboost. Or are the specific models that are not ecoboost engines?

Also, I've noticed the word 'powershift' on some of the cars, are these ecoboost engines?

Thanks in advance, any help or pointers would be appreciated.

Powershift autos (dual clutch) , on Petrol engines, went at about 2015ish, replaced by a conventional auto that really isn't very good

To be honest I would never touch a Ford auto again, they're really not very good at all.

Nearly all Fiesta and Focus from 2012 are 1.0 Ecoboosts and they are renowned for wet cam belt issues

There are plenty of other manufacturers that make quite decent autos and engines

At the age you are looking at I would consider a Golf or Skoda with the DSG or a 1 series BMW that has the wonderful 8 speed ZF automatic gearbox

 

Hello Mark. You can get a 2015 1.6 powershift with lowish mileage for around £8.5k.

All you have to make sure with regards the gearbox is to make sure it had had its oil changed at the specified times. That is every 37.5k miles. It's not cheap. 8 years ago it cost me £350ish to do the oil service on my Mk4.5 Mondeo titanium x sport ecoboost. (That wa such a ruddy good car).

Please Do Not get a VW DSG because they're rubbish contrary to belief (same bad reputation as the 1.0 litre ecoboost with the wet cam belt)

I personally have a 65 plate 1.5 ecoboost and it's surprisingly excellent. Yes it's approaching 120k miles but you wouldn't think so looking at it or driving it.

As with Any used car. Make sure its got service history and better still One owner from new, as mine is hence not bothered with the mileage. 

So to answer your questions. No. Not all, later than your car, focus are ecoboost. Some are naturally aspirated and the others are diesel. The newer 1.0 lite ecoboost engine now has a cam chain but wet oil pump belt.

After 2015 the 1.6 became 1.5, tax reasons, and the 1.5 is a very reliable car even more so in the 3 cylinder version but that version is out of your price bracket. 

Look in autotrader for Ford Focus 2015-2016 1.4-1.6 £8-10k powershift. There are lots to chose from and low mileage. 

Good luck in your search.

Ecoboost is simply a marketing thing by Ford. The term "Ecoboost" is used on all Petrol engines fitted with a Turbo, from the 1.0 through to the 3.0

The term "Ecoblue" is used on Fords Diesel engines fitted with a Turbo.

It is important to realise that the design of Ecoboost engines are all very different and that most of the 'bad press' is to do with the 1.0 Ecoboost. That's not to say there isn't different issues affecting other sizes of engines but no more or less than most modern engines.

Avoid the 1.0 Ecoboost unless it is one of the very latest design with the timing chain.

1 hour ago, tazzman600 said:

Please Do Not get a VW DSG because they're rubbish contrary to belief (same bad reputation as the 1.0 litre ecoboost with the wet cam belt)

Lol, I think that's another case of "it depends". There were certainly a lot of issues early on (I think the first DSG was about 2003), but improvements were made and it's probably a case of the newer the better.

Also, there are 2 varieties - wet and dry clutch, the latter being generally found in lower power engines and tend to be most problematic. The wet clutch versions seem to have a much better reputation.

That said, a friend of mine has had a 6 speed dry clutch box in an Audi A1 from new and she's had absolutely zero issues in 12 years.

4 hours ago, tazzman600 said:

Hello Mark. You can get a 2015 1.6 powershift with lowish mileage for around £8.5k.

All you have to make sure with regards the gearbox is to make sure it had had its oil changed at the specified times. That is every 37.5k miles. It's not cheap. 8 years ago it cost me £350ish to do the oil service on my Mk4.5 Mondeo titanium x sport ecoboost. (That wa such a ruddy good car).

Please Do Not get a VW DSG because they're rubbish contrary to belief (same bad reputation as the 1.0 litre ecoboost with the wet cam belt)

Without starting a row:

Yes oil changes are important, but on a Diesel Powershift, it makes no difference at all on a Petrol Powershift as they have a dry clutch.

You need to change the oil on a Diesel because the wet clutch particles contaminate the oil.

The Petrol & Diesel powershifts are chalk & cheese. The diesels actually became very good after 2014

The petrol (DCT250) has a dry clutch and can take torque up to 250NM

The diesel (DCT450) has a wet clutch and can take torque up to 450NM

The reason there are so many 1.0 or 1.6 Powershifts for sale is because nobody will touch them with a barge pole

The dry clutch is inherently poor, overheats and glazes, which causes juddering and, more importantly, is operated with plastic parts which shatter to pieces and collapse.

That's if the Transmission Control Module lasts long enough to keep it running or the wiring hasn't broken

Yes, the very early Petrol VW DSGs had issues, but they sorted it years ago. Years and years and years ago

Ford pulled the DCT250 from production in 2014 as they could not get it to perform without spending millions in redesigning parts, plus the lawsuits started

The DCT450 became quite good and performs well PROVIDING oil changes were kept up to date and ran with good voltage

So then Ford changed the auto gearboxes for the petrols.

The 1.5 4cylinder (as Tazzman mentions) gained the appalling 6F35, whilst the 1.0 Ecoboost gained the, even worse, 6F15

When the 6F35 is running correctly, it suits the 1.5 quite well and can take the, up to, 180BHP easily, but it has an inherent problem of cooking the fluid, which then causes it to slip, thud and bang

The 6F15 is a variant of the 6F35, so has all those issues, plus it's massively over-geared.

Final drive ratio on the 6F35 is 4.22:1, the 6F15 is 3.22:1, so it's trying to pull a heavy Focus body shell, with a turbo-lag heavy 1.0 Ecoboost.

The manual 1.0 owners will tell you you have to rev them to get them to perform, the auto won't let you rev.

It's really quite appalling and drinks fuel like it's going out of fashion

MK4 Focus went to the 8-speed versions of the 6f35 and, from reading, now seem to be playing up a bit.

So, my advice still stands, don't touch one with a barge pole, unless you have deep pockets

Thank you all for taking time to reply, much appreciated.

It looks like I may be better off looking at a different car in lieu of all the comments.

Well be careful what you go for. 10k won't get you a better car than a focus. Any German car that cheap will have been got rid of because of major faults or has astronomical mileage.

Why you've been put off getting a Mk3.5 1.6 powershift is beyond me but be warned and advised.

Just a quick clarification; do the 1.5L / 1.6L (petrol) engines have the same problem as the 1.0L Ecoboost engines with wet belts etc.
Or do these larger engines not have wet belts so the problem does not exist? Sorry, just want to get a more clearer understanding.

Or does it depend on; year, model, auto or manual, and if diesel or petrol version of 1.5 / 1.6L engine?
 

37 minutes ago, solorize said:

Or do these larger engines not have wet belts so the problem does not exist?

No, they don't have wet belts. There have been other issues with the 1.6/1.5 (4cylinder), example thread here:

 

Thanks for the info Eric, I will take a look 👍

Bear in mind forums are 95% full of horror stories and that's why most join forums. 

My car is a 65 plate 1.5 4 pot ecoboost with 120k miles on it. It runs sweet as a nut. No overheating issues. It's a ruddy good car. Best mileage I got was 51mpg going from Leeds to Oxford and fully laiden with stuff. I'm averaging 38 but I do have a heavy foot lol. 

It's ok to read horror story posts but one thing. When I was looking for a focus I was looking for the 1.0. I asked actual owners I saw in car parks what issues they had. Guess what. They all said none. Just look at how many Fiesta and focus 1.0 there are on the road. Thousands upon thousands. 

The 1.5 ecoboost is a cracking engine and likecall others if looked after from new they'll last and last. I'm the 2nd owner of my car and it's 1st looked after it. 

20 hours ago, tazzman600 said:

Why you've been put off getting a Mk3.5 1.6 powershift is beyond me but be warned and advised.

Because they're woefully unreliable

13 hours ago, solorize said:

Just a quick clarification; do the 1.5L / 1.6L (petrol) engines have the same problem as the 1.0L Ecoboost engines with wet belts etc.
Or do these larger engines not have wet belts so the problem does not exist? Sorry, just want to get a more clearer understanding.

Or does it depend on; year, model, auto or manual, and if diesel or petrol version of 1.5 / 1.6L engine?
 

No, it's the transmission that is junk on these, both with (not 1.5) and after (not 1.6) powershift

6F35 was a joint venture with GM, it's junk for them too, go on some of the GM forums.

If you want an auto go elsewhere (but not GM), you'll thank me for it

6 hours ago, tazzman600 said:

Bear in mind forums are 95% full of horror stories and that's why most join forums. 

That's often true and as @TomsFocus mentioned earlier in the thread you can get problems with anything (though some are worse than others).

I know several people (including myself) who have owned 1.0 wet belt ecoboosts and have had no issues. The "but" in that case is they were all owned from new, correctly serviced etc, and swapped after 5/6 years, with one exception which is now approaching 10 years and the owner is pondering their options (get rid, swap the belt or do nothing and sell for scrap if it goes boom!).

3 hours ago, DaveT70 said:

If you want an auto go elsewhere (but not GM), you'll thank me for it

Just wondering if Mark is thinking of another auto out of preference or necessity? If the latter, no option, but otherwise there would be a better choice of manuals (Ford or otherwise) and it would at least eliminate one possible source of problems.

You know what Dave I sometimes wonder about your comments/posts. I don't know about Your personal experience with the powershift gearbox But I have experience with it. In a titanium x sport mk4.5 mondeo. I had that car a couple of years and for most part drove it like I stole it. The gearbox was sublime and reliable. Also it handled the extra 30 something horsepower with no problems or issues. 

So then Dave. Just what is Your personal experience with this gearbox?

14 minutes ago, tazzman600 said:

But I have experience with it. In a titanium x sport mk4.5 mondeo.

Might not be a powershift or 6F35 but sounds Dieselish, which I said were ok?????

 

14 minutes ago, tazzman600 said:

So then Dave. Just what is Your personal experience with this gearbox?

Warranty data 🤫 and 6F15/35 ownership experience

The Mondeo Was powershift Dave.

Warranty data? That's not personal experience it's just Web browsing. 

As with Any engine/gearbox. If the vehicle is maintained correctly from new then it will last for hundreds of thousands of miles. Trouble is too many owners give up after the warranty period and don't service their cars as they should. Those are the cars which then proceed to have problems. 

2 minutes ago, tazzman600 said:

The Mondeo Was powershift Dave.

And diesel?

Warranty data not available online

 

3 minutes ago, tazzman600 said:

personal experience

6F15 and 35 ownership, new as well and still junk

Just now, DaveT70 said:

And diesel?

Warranty data not available online

 

6F15 and 35 ownership, new as well and still junk

@tazzman600 DCT250 and DCT450 are completely different ball games, just same name

Just a bit more info from me.

My personal preference is an Auto , even though I have manual license, as I spend half my journey to work in stop start traffic so prefer the auto as I don't have to keep going on and off a clutch.

My daily commute is appox 6 miles each way. So as I don't do a lot of miles daily I choose petrol over diesel.

20 minutes ago, solorize said:

Just a bit more info from me.

My personal preference is an Auto , even though I have manual license, as I spend half my journey to work in stop start traffic so prefer the auto as I don't have to keep going on and off a clutch.

My daily commute is appox 6 miles each way. So as I don't do a lot of miles daily I choose petrol over diesel.

I would have a look at a BMW 118i or 320i or a VAG 1.6 Petrol DSG, we've had two of these, they've been quite good

You know what Mark. Since you really want an auto and your commute is short I thoroughly recommend you get a Lexus is250. Why? Coz for the money there isn't a car to touch it. They're OMG ultra reliable. Silky smooth. The 2.5 litre V6 makes a beautiful subtle noise. And as for comfort they're effin brilliant. Just go on the Lexus Owners Club forum. Look in the gen 2 IS section where there is a comprehensive 'what to look out for' thread. And yes that was my last car till it got written off. Yes they're an old car but once you've driven one you'll think you're in a brand new car. And yes I'll be going back to one in the near future. Look for SE-L spec car. Shed load of car for not a lot of money. 

2 hours ago, solorize said:

My personal preference is an Auto 

To stick with Focus size cars, how about a Toyota Auris hybrid? That, and the later Corolla version, seem to have become the taxi/minicab of choice round my way, and those guys usually latch on to something reliable. I always have a chat with the drivers about the car when taking a taxi and a couple of those I've seen have been on 250k plus miles and still going strong.

 

 

Good recommendations Roger but those cars have a CVT gearbox. Not to everyone's liking.