The six year old mk8 has delivered me to Lille this evening with no fuss, air conditioned comfort, perfect navigation even through the Rouen rush hour roadworks and very frugally too. Just over 64.5 MPG. 66 when I brimmed it again. Yes, the stop start works. Just as I like it and yes, I usually turn the traction control off. It only takes one of us to drive it.

Are you a “by the book” car maintenance person or a “do it yourself” type? 
The Ecoboost engines are not a low maintenance engine. They can be low maintenance for the first three years or so. But after that they will punish you for not paying close attention to them. The Ecoboost engine runs rather hot. The coolant reservoir is the weakest link followed by the plastic lines that deliver and return coolant to the turbo. I like my mk7 Fiesta. But, I am constantly aware of what the coolant and oil levels are. Any failure to monitor and maintain these levels along with inspections of potential leaks could be absolutely catastrophic to the engine because if coolant suddenly goes away, and it will at higher speeds, it would be a matter of a couple of minutes of continuing to not shut down the engine before things start to go very, very badly for the engine.

 These rules of operation also apply to the non turbocharged engines. I have both basic 1.6 and ST Fiesta’s.Successful Long term ownership will depend heavily upon how well these engines are maintained. A long term owner will be a person who understands their Fiesta and isn’t afraid to lift the bonnet and keep a critical eye on what is developing in there.

I service it myself. I am well qualified to do so and change oil and filter at 50% life remaining. I am well aware of its reputation and ran mine in parallel with that other paragon of reliability, an MGF VVC which was usually on the rev limiter. Both of these engines have one thing in common. I used to operate and service my own aeroplane. Those who don't warm up their engines carefully are lucky to get away with just big bills. Usually they get seriously killed. Both the VVC and the Ecoboost are close tolerance machines. Warm them up right and they will last. Fail to do so and they go bang, no matter who services them. My pal who now owns the F has got it to 150,000 miles on the original head gasket, by the way but he doesn't thrash it the way I used to!

Heard and acknowledged! If you want to be “entertained” install a digital readout temperature gauge with a fast acting thermocouple in the coolant hose coming out of the cylinder head. You will quickly see how much the factory buffers the water temperature reading! Once I did that on my 2011 Fiesta and saw the actual temperatures, I moved quickly to aquire another bonnet panel and got to work creating a ducted bonnet with an additional pusher cooling fan to keep the air moving through the coolers.

I tend to rely on careful servicing but later Ecoboosts are somewhat better and by now better understood, than they were. It is for example a thousand pound job to be done at 100,000 that was going to send them all to the scrappy but the tools are out there and there are now plenty of people who can. An Ecoboost isn't a prophecy of doom any more because the car wrapped round it is worth keeping what with modern cars being so expensive and many of us dreading an EV, the old Ecoboost will be around for a long time yet. A degree of and sometimes in mechanical sympathy is, I agree, necessary to get the best out of one but keeping within safe operating limits does them no harm. If you are paranoid about the cooling then a pressure transducer is an excellent early warning system because what you really want to know is that it isn't suddenly leaking a lot while it is up to temperature.

The bonnet intrigues me but being more Frank Costin in my approach, I would be moulding a thin plywood under tray, tuned for maximum extraction under the car to pull more through. The engine temperature must be very prone to heat soak under stop start conditions I would have thought but mine handles hot weather very well and I bet it wouldn't work if it got too hot. To hear some speak of it, you'd think it was affected by the colour of the sky but in Antwerp traffic this afternoon it behaved impeccably and I am back in my hotel at 4..2litres /100km having spent part of the day enjoying a fine collection of very early electric clocks, some dating back to the nineteenth Century and all in working order.

I did some measuring for an under tray but realized that it would seriously slow down my ability to do oil and filter changes. Then I even considered using a pair of misting nozzles and a windscreen washer reservoir to allow me to spray the cooler with water, but that seemed like it would be a distraction from my main goal of turning in a good autocross time if I had to fidget with that during a run. Any of these modifications is not unlike using a sledgehammer to make problems go away in terms of the effort involved to accomplish a specific goal. I intend to keep my 2011 Fiesta. The 2016 Fiesta ST will not be in my garage for much longer. I like it , But the insurance and upkeep is dangerously close to Mustang levels cost wise. I prefer the Mustang at that price point.

 

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