Experience So Far Of Fiesta Ecoboost 125 Coming From Seat Ibiza 1.6 Tdi

[Nick2014]

Hi all,

I'm a first time owner of a Ford Fiesta. Never actually had a Ford before. I'm coming from a Seat Ibiza 1.6 TDI. When looking for a new car I was looking to move away from Diesel, possible issues with the DPF did worry me. So I started looking and came across Ford's Ecoboost engine. I thought the pairing of the Fiesta and the 125 Ecoboost would be ideal. Also the fuel economy looked promising to what I'm used to. The Seat Ibiza 1.6 TDI wasn't the most fuel efficent diesel, I was getting about 50mpg out of it.

I've now been driving the Ford Fiesta for 2 days, so still learning, I've bought it second hand, already had 5800 miles on the clock, so it's part worn in. Fuel economy so far seems to be around 46mpg. Considering that petrol is about 4 to 5p cheaper, the Fiesta costs about the same to run as the Ibiza which is what I was looking for.

I'm still getting to grips with the driving so far. It's the power delivery isn't quite the same as the Ibiza which had a far shorter rev range of power, but it was 'bang' and gone. The Fiesta needs a little winding up before it gives you the power.

I will continue to post my findings for others who are thinking of making a similar switch.

[SandyCat]

Thanks it will be useful. The 125 is on my list as a possible next car.

[KenP]

Which? Magazine had an interesting comparison between the Fiesta ecoboost and the diesel on overall running costs, the ecoboost was about £1000 cheaper to run over what I think was a 3 year period.

I'm really pleased with mine and I'm getting between about 45 and 50mpg at the moment which I'm very impressed with.

[Nick2014]

I'm on leave this week so won't be following my usual routine. So it's going to be hard to compare my fuel usage this week. Next week should be back to normal. With the Ibiza I put about £30 a week in, so I'm going to do the same with the Fiesta and see how it lasts.

My first day of driving I was a bit cautious with overtaking. I went to go, and didn't think the car had the power to pass. I'm used to almost instant power from the Ibiza. The difference is, the Ibiza power soon ran out and I had to change gear. The second time I went to overtake I had more road so went for it. The turbo kicked in and although not as instant as the Ibiza the power became available and I past with no trouble. For me, it's just getting used to a slightly different way of driving and overtaking.

[Taeasz]

Nick

I've had mine for a few weeks now, it does take some getting used to especially the high gearing. I'm always going faster than I think I am in 4th gear, have to keep my eye on the speedo in town areas. My previous Focus 1.6 petrol was fairly low geared.

My car has done around 10,000 miles so is well run in, I've just done my first long journey across country, mixture of motorways and A roads. As an experiment I managed to average 51mpg driving fairly gently, keeping to speed limits and changing up early in the rev range. To be honest I was averaging around 44mpg before, driving more enthusiastically, and I don't mind paying the penalty of a few less mpg to exploit the car's potential. I shall drive it harder after the first service which is due soon and see how the economy suffers.

I didn't buy this car for the economy but mainly for the good power to weight ratio of the car and the wide torque band of the 125PS Ecoboost engine.

[Nick2014]

Hi Alan,

I'm fairly happy so far with the MPG. I didn't expect it to be in the 60mpg range. Living in Wales I drive on country roads, and it doesn't take long before I get stuck behind something. On the whole I drive gently, but like to have the power when I need it. That is why I bought the ecoboost. If I wanted a 'mental' car I'd of gone for the ST. It's a similar reason why I had the Ibiza 1.6 diesel, but I was looking for a petrol that gave me similar fuel economy to the ibiza, and a little more power. I spent time doing my research and reading this forums to see how people found the 125 Ecoboost engine. Like you I've found the gearing a bit strange to start with but am now getting used to it.

[Nick2014]

After driving my car for some time now I've discovered the Stop/Start system didn't seem to be working. After a bit of experimenting I discovered that if you have the climate control on, the Stop/Start system doesn't kick in. Something to note if anyone else is wondering why it doesn't turn the engine off when parked up.

I'm back to work this week, so going to see how my fuel usage compares to the Seat Ibiza 1.6 TDI.

[Willy]

If you keep the temperature below 18 the stop start don't work so during the summer months you find it works very little.

[KenP]

With mine on 19 degrees the stop/start works fine once the cabin has cooled down.

Am I right in thinking there was a software update on early cars to fix this issue?

[Nick2014]

I have read that on the forum somewhere about a software update, so I think you are correct.

[Nick2014]

Been driving back and forward to work this week. Finding the computer MPG is more or less, if not a little better than the Seat Ibiza's MPG computer. I've placed £30 in the car, and so far it seems to be slightly better than the Ibiza.

For reference, I've had between 45mpg and 53mpg so far.