Hi folks,

Looking for a bit of advice for my wife’s next car. She originally wanted a Puma, but decent ones are looking like they are a bit out of our currently price range. 
She has spotted a Ecosport she likes. 71 plate 2021 with the 1.0 ecoboost engine with just over 14000 miles on the clock. 
 

I’ve seen plenty of stories about the 1.0 ecoboost but the majority of these seem to be pre-2019 models, as well as the recent recall/Ford letter saying they will replace the engines under good faith.

Will a 2021 model be safe? Or am I best walking away from this? She’s currently got a 2013 Ford Fiesta with a 1.6 diesel and it’s been basically bullet proof, apart from the clutch is now on its way out, hence the look to replace it. 
 

Thanks for the advice in advance. 

Is there an under bonnet picture on the ad?

I don't think the EcoSport got the new chain driven engine but would need to see under the bonnet to confirm.

The latest recall says pre-2019 engines only.  Although we know the old wetbelt engine was still used in the Fiesta and EcoSport after then.  That may just be poor wording on the memo though.

Less than 5k a year in mileage would concern me on any 1.0 EcoBoost as they all have a wetbelt for the oil pump, even the revised one with a chain for the cams.

Unfortunately the advert has been taken down as I’ve reserved the car to view tomorrow. As far as I know it was a motobility car, hence the lower mileage on it. Same as the Focus I bought earlier this year for myself. 
 

I will be viewing the car tomorrow so I will have a good look in the engine bay and take some photos to help determine. 

18 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

I don't think the EcoSport got the new chain driven engine but would need to see under the bonnet to confirm.

Perhaps we should now always add that proviso when discussing 1.0 Ecoboosts. Afaik the Ecosport never got the revised chain cam engine, but then we thought the same about the C-Max until a new member turned up with one!😀

Went to see the car at the weekend. I was very nice, loved the colour and it was pretty immaculate. Unfortunately it definitely had the Ecoboom engine in it. Despite the sales guy trying his best to convince me that it would be fine if I kept up with the service schedule. 
 

So we are now onto looking at Pumas as the next option as that’s what the Wife really wanted. Best find some more change behind the sofa. 

3 hours ago, Passman86 said:

So we are now onto looking at Pumas as the next option as that’s what the Wife really wanted.

But bear in mind, if you're looking at long term ownership, it still has the "wet" oil pump drive belt which requires changing at 10 years and is an expensive job.

I.have a 2018 fiesta titanium b and o play edition,with the wetbelt engine ,it's on 62000 miles now,it's been totally reliable in the 5 years I have owned it,looking at buying a puma next year,I'm not sure if the 1.0 litre non hybrid still has the wetbelt or if it got the same chain update as the hybrid models?

1 hour ago, Ali748 said:

I'm not sure if the 1.0 litre non hybrid still has the wetbelt or if it got the same chain update as the hybrid models?

All current petrol Pumas  (except the 1.5 ST) have been MHEV since introduction. So chain cam, wet belt oil pump drive.

The 1.5ST is non-MHEV but still has the same arrangement.

The very first puma,s introduced had the basic ecoboost 125 bhp as the basic power unit,however I'm.not if that was  wet belt or chain?

19 minutes ago, Ali748 said:

The very first puma,s introduced

You are of course not actually meaning the "first Puma's" as they were back around 1997 🤣

From Wikipedia: Ford Puma is a small car that was produced by Ford Europe from September 1997 to July 2002. The Puma is a three-door coupé that is based on the Mark IV Ford Fiesta and was built at Ford's Niehl plant in Cologne, Germany.

11 hours ago, Ali748 said:

The very first puma,s introduced had the basic ecoboost 125 bhp as the basic power unit,however I'm.not if that was  wet belt or chain?

I'd be interested to see your reference for that. From the first price list and launch reviews in 2020 all current 1.0 petrol Pumas for the UK market have been MHEV.

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/ford/puma/108821/new-ford-puma-2020-review

BRO-New_Puma.pdf

29 minutes ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

I'd be interested to see your reference for that. From the first price list and launch reviews in 2020 all current 1.0 petrol Pumas for the UK market have been MHEV.

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/ford/puma/108821/new-ford-puma-2020-review

BRO-New_Puma.pdf 5.58 MB · 0 downloads

That is interesting.  Must admit I thought the early auto's were 125 non-MHEV.  I can't see auto mentioned at all in that brochure?

They were all chain though, as with Mk4 Focus.

8 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

That is interesting.  Must admit I thought the early auto's were 125 non-MHEV.  I can't see auto mentioned at all in that brochure?

I was working on the assumption from mention of "basic" we were talking manuals. The launch brochure mentioned manuals only, when the price list came out the auto was indeed initially shown as 125 with no mention of MHEV. I don't think any of the magazine launch articles mentioned that at the time, it was "all MHEV" etc. From the price lists I have, all were MHEV by late 2021 anyway, manual or auto.

All chain cam as far as we know**, though. 

(**The more time  I spend on here the more I doubt you can be 100% sure of anything with Ford, for example we thought all revised Fiesta engines were MHEV, then we found they'd slipped a few revised non-MHEV 125s in, then found the short lived 95 version was also revised but non-MHEV, then they brought back the 100 but with wet belt!

Similarly a recent exhaustive (or should it be exhausting) thread where we found Ford had, for a while, sold the Puma with a 1.5 EcoBlue in ROI and the odd one had found its way into the UK.)

PS Added the earliest Puma price list I could find - manuals only.

 

PL-Puma.pdf

Edited December 22, 20241 yr by Eric Bloodaxe
Price List added

On 12/7/2024 at 7:48 PM, Passman86 said:

Hi folks,

Looking for a bit of advice for my wife’s next car. She originally wanted a Puma, but decent ones are looking like they are a bit out of our currently price range. 
She has spotted a Ecosport she likes. 71 plate 2021 with the 1.0 ecoboost engine with just over 14000 miles on the clock. 
 

I’ve seen plenty of stories about the 1.0 ecoboost but the majority of these seem to be pre-2019 models, as well as the recent recall/Ford letter saying they will replace the engines under good faith.

Will a 2021 model be safe? Or am I best walking away from this? She’s currently got a 2013 Ford Fiesta with a 1.6 diesel and it’s been basically bullet proof, apart from the clutch is now on its way out, hence the look to replace it. 
 

Thanks for the advice in advance. 

Hi John,

Is it the MHEV model? If so, I have just bought pretty much the same car (2021 on 27,000 miles).

There's a lot to like about them, e.g. the engine is lively, you get plenty of gadgets and it's a very pleasant drive for a small car. The brakes are a bit sharp and if it's an MHEV the 'Regenerative braking' takes some getting used to. We haven't had ours that long, so i'm still getting used to it myself. I would definitely consider one but do have a good long test drive first. As they are very different from the bog standard Fiestas - I've been used to over the years.          

Hi Graham,

We found a Ford Puma Titanium which is the MHEV model. I went and test drove it, and it was a very very good drive. Although its amazing how clunky you get at manual gears when you've been driving an automatic for the last 6 months or so.

Went for this one as it was the colour she wanted. She had had her eye on an ST-Line X in Ruby Red as well, but a combination of the price and the fact this mileage was way too high (Trade Centre UK, need I say more) this was the best option.

Wife likes it as well, but the engine is definitely different to what she has been used to for the last 7 years with a rather agricultural diesel so it will take some getting used to.