Hello folks, I'm a 22 year old lad from the Scottish Borders and currently drive a 16 year old Ibiza 6L.

She has done me well as a first car since 2019 and I have done extensive work to it, keeping it as best as it mechanically can be and adding useful features along the way. She is just a 1.2 with 70 horse though so the time is approaching for maybe a change, probably in the next year or so.

I have always had an interest in cars, but the market today seems awful dull and have found myself drawn to Ford through the history and general fondess for the brand and their past products.

There is one problem though... the wet belt. After researching, it appears the whole range is now ecoboost or ecoblue and being a mechanically minded sort of guy who is sht hot on maintenance, my instinct is that Ford arent making a good enough engine.

I looked into how hard it would be to change them and it seems to be a hell of a job which needs specialist tools and would therefore cost a lot of money at the main dealer.

Would probably be more interested in the Focus, maybe not a full on ST due to insurance (ST line?), but something that still looks good and does not come with a sorry 1 litre turbo. Would be looking to keep for a long time and look after.

Is the wet belt not so much of a big deal providing service intervals are kept on the conservative side using the correct oil or will it end in expensive tears and I should buy another VAG vehicle over what Ford offers now?

Cheers

7 hours ago, killie_cowboy said:

... my instinct is that Ford arent making a good enough engine.

Idk, but I doubt that Ford would have won the Engine of the Year award in 2012, 2013 and 2014, if that were the case...

Ford 1.0-litre EcoBoost (2012)

‘No one has ever built a three-cylinder engine quite like this. It’s one of the most technically advanced and efficient engines we’ve ever designed,’ Joe Bakaj, Ford’s global powertrain engineering chief said in 2012. ‘The new engine introduces many new technologies that could be part of the DNA of future Ford engines.’ The B-Max was the first car to get Ford’s smallest ever engine.

Ford

 

Ford 1.0-litre EcoBoost (2013)

Ford’s EcoBoost engine won again in 2013. The 1.0-litre three-cylinder petrol engine, which was designed and engineered in the UK, achieved the highest score in the history of the International Engine of the Year awards. At the time, Ford said it was set to double production of the engine to keep up with demand. We called it a “game-changer” as it showed how much life remains in the petrol engine.

Ford

 

Ford 1.0-litre EcoBoost (2014)

Ford won again in 2014, with Dean Slavnich, co-chairman of the International Engine of the Year awards, saying: ‘The 1.0-litre EcoBoost engine is one of the finest examples of powertrain engineering.’ Years later, Ford was giving full refunds to thousands of customers affected by sudden failures of the EcoBoost engines. This followed a BBC investigation, which found that hundreds of engines had overheated.

Ford

Keep well away from any of those 1.0 Ecoboost engines listed above.

In fact keep well away from all 1.0 ecoboost engines. If you have any doubts about there reliability just search this forum for 'wetbelt'

What do you want the car to do?

The 2.0 Ecoblue is wet belt, the 1.5 is not

7 hours ago, killie_cowboy said:

Would probably be more interested in the Focus, maybe not a full on ST due to insurance (ST line?), but something that still looks good and does not come with a sorry 1 litre turbo. Would be looking to keep for a long time and look after.

118i? 120i??

The Leon is also a good car

7 hours ago, killie_cowboy said:

it appears the whole range is now ecoboost or ecoblue

While it is not bullet proof, probably the most reliable and safest engine to buy is the 1.5 Ecoblue.

22 minutes ago, Rob101 said:

Idk, but I doubt that Ford would have won the Engine of the Year award in 2012, 2013 and 2014, if that were the case...

In 1979 the Talbot/Chrysler Horizon won Car of the year

1982 Renault 9

1989 Fiat Tipo

1996 Fiat Bravo

2009 Vauxhall Insignia

2012 Chevrolet Volt!!!!

These all turned out to be, after a few years in service, absolutely awful, most falling to bits

 

19 minutes ago, DaveT70 said:

What do you want the car to do?

The 2.0 Ecoblue is wet belt, the 1.5 is not

118i? 120i??

The Leon is also a good car

Medium size journeys, have a reasonable amount of oompf as have a reasonably heavy right foot, will probably fit a towbar for some lightweight towing much like the Ibiza. Can't be ridiculously low with tiny profile tyres as going up rough farm road ends.

I see, I presumed they were all wet belt, good to know. It will still have the belt driving the oil pump though will it?

True, I should look into the Leon as well, the new one looks quite nice where the models before didn't.

44 minutes ago, killie_cowboy said:

It will still have the belt driving the oil pump though will it?

Not 1.5 Ecoblue Diesel, no

50 minutes ago, DaveT70 said:

In 1979 the Talbot/Chrysler Horizon won Car of the year

1982 Renault 9

1989 Fiat Tipo

1996 Fiat Bravo

2009 Vauxhall Insignia

2012 Chevrolet Volt!!!!

These all turned out to be, after a few years in service, absolutely awful, most falling to bits

 

I don't know that it's entirely fair to compare technology, from 30 years ago, to what we have, post Y2K, but, okay, point taken.

All I can say (and I'm sure I've already said, in another thread) is that if I encounter the issues that others have reported on, with the 1.0L engine, I'll be back on here and post about it.

Maybe I've been fortunate to have found a relatively low millage motor, with a FSH, and of which I'm the second owner, and I'm in a position to be able to preserve the service schedule.

I also know to do regular checks, myself, which is not something that I feel less experienced car owners fully appreciate, let alone know how to do.

9 hours ago, killie_cowboy said:

Would probably be more interested in the Focus, maybe not a full on ST due to insurance (ST line?), but something that still looks good and does not come with a sorry 1 litre turbo. Would be looking to keep for a long time and look after.

ST-Line is a pretty poor spec in all honesty.  If you like a bit of lux to go with the looks, it needs to be the ST-Line X.  But then you end up with big wheels and firm suspension, which is not suited to farm tracks.

The only engine in Mk4 without any wetbelts is the 1.5 EcoBlue.  However, for absolutely no reason whatsoever, they decided to add a second cam back in, compared to the 8v 1.5 TDCI in Mk3.  The second cam is run by a chain, and that chain is known to fail, generally taking out the whole engine when it does.  So that's no better than the wetbelt engines really.  So far, we have seen fewer chain failures than wetbelt failures, but as Unofix says, it's not bulletproof.

40 minutes ago, Rob101 said:

I don't know that it's entirely fair to compare technology, from 30 years ago, to what we have, post Y2K, but, okay, point taken.

All I can say (and I'm sure I've already said, in another thread) is that if I encounter the issues that others have reported on, with the 1.0L engine, I'll be back on here and post about it.

Maybe I've been fortunate to have found a relatively low millage motor, with a FSH, and of which I'm the second owner, and I'm in a position to be able to preserve the service schedule.

I also know to do regular checks, myself, which is not something that I feel less experienced car owners fully appreciate, let alone know how to do.

They were new at the time, like when Ecoboost was, but as soon as someone put the key in the ignition all the issues came through.

Ecoboost is only OK if you absolutely pamper it, change the oil really often, don't use stop start much AND are lucky

Hi.

If you need any help with insurance at all for whatever vehicle you're looking at then please feel free to drop me a line.

Regards,

Dan.