Hello Lads and Lasses!

I'm Dave, a 'newbie' here, currently driving a 2006 Ford Focus Zetec Climate 1.6 Ti-VCT. I love driving it, although it's a bit thirsty. The performance is fine though, and it's comfortable and spacious.

I bought it when it was 11 months old as a replacement for a 2004 Fiesta 1.25 LX. I loved the Fiesta, although it was a bit gutless. It was a lot of fun to drive though, with outstanding handling, much like the Focus.

The thing is, I've always liked smaller cars, for their efficiency and fun-factor. My Focus is great, but I now live closer to work and i'm only doing something like 9000 miles per year, when I was previously covering 12-15,000 miles. As a result, my 3 year old Focus has just covered 28,000 miles.

I'm definitely considering replacing it within the next 6-9 months with the following -

5 Door Fiesta Titanium

Titanium X Pack

Tech Pack

Rear parking sensor

I also want it in White, as i'm tired of Tonic Blue metallic, as it's such a complete nightmare to touch-up any scratches.

So my dilemma is this - first, is the Fiesta really a viable alternative to a Focus? Has anyone here already taken that step?

Considering money isn't an issue, should I go for the Ti-VCT petrol, or the 1.6 TDCI engine? What about the new forced-induction engines that Ford is planning? Should I wait for those? A 1.4 litre petrol with a Turbocharger could be a lot of fun!

Also, with regard to the Titanium X pack, do the 17' alloys really hurt the ride quality?

What are your thoughts and opinions, please?

Cheers, Dave

Take a test drive - at the end of the day, only you can decide if it is the right car for you.

One thing I can say is that it is the right car for me . . .

. . .but then I did have a Smart For Two before so anything is an improvement! LOL

Hello Lads and Lasses!

I'm Dave, a 'newbie' here, currently driving a 2006 Ford Focus Zetec Climate 1.6 Ti-VCT. I love driving it, although it's a bit thirsty. The performance is fine though, and it's comfortable and spacious.

I bought it when it was 11 months old as a replacement for a 2004 Fiesta 1.25 LX. I loved the Fiesta, although it was a bit gutless. It was a lot of fun to drive though, with outstanding handling, much like the Focus.

The thing is, I've always liked smaller cars, for their efficiency and fun-factor. My Focus is great, but I now live closer to work and i'm only doing something like 9000 miles per year, when I was previously covering 12-15,000 miles. As a result, my 3 year old Focus has just covered 28,000 miles.

I'm definitely considering replacing it within the next 6-9 months with the following -

5 Door Fiesta Titanium

Titanium X Pack

Tech Pack

Rear parking sensor

I also want it in White, as i'm tired of Tonic Blue metallic, as it's such a complete nightmare to touch-up any scratches.

So my dilemma is this - first, is the Fiesta really a viable alternative to a Focus? Has anyone here already taken that step?

Considering money isn't an issue, should I go for the Ti-VCT petrol, or the 1.6 TDCI engine? What about the new forced-induction engines that Ford is planning? Should I wait for those? A 1.4 litre petrol with a Turbocharger could be a lot of fun!

Also, with regard to the Titanium X pack, do the 17' alloys really hurt the ride quality?

What are your thoughts and opinions, please?

Cheers, Dave

hi dave,ive done a similar thing ive gone from a st3 to a zetec s ti-vct,it took abit of getting used to not having so much power but now the engine has loosened up its a cracking unit,ive got a 2.5 year old and space hasn't been an issue,ive also got the same 17' alloys and i couldnt tell the difference between refinement and road noise from the zetec i test drove,for me its very refined.i do around 7000 miles a year and in my st i used to get around 19mpg,in the fiesta i get 36mpg but thats urban,i wenton a 600 mile journey to cornwall afew weeks ago and got 46mpg,ive had afew stonechips aswell and frozen white is a doddle to touch up.so in all i am very impressed with the car just need them to make these "ecoboost" engines and stick the 168bhp 1.6 one in a fiesta!!!!!!.hope this helps :D

The thing is, I've always liked smaller cars, for their efficiency and fun-factor. My Focus is great, but I now live closer to work and i'm only doing something like 9000 miles per year, when I was previously covering 12-15,000 miles. As a result, my 3 year old Focus has just covered 28,000 miles.

So my dilemma is this - first, is the Fiesta really a viable alternative to a Focus? Has anyone here already taken that step?

Considering money isn't an issue, should I go for the Ti-VCT petrol, or the 1.6 TDCI engine? What about the new forced-induction engines that Ford is planning? Should I wait for those? A 1.4 litre petrol with a Turbocharger could be a lot of fun!

Also, with regard to the Titanium X pack, do the 17' alloys really hurt the ride quality?

What are your thoughts and opinions, please?

Cheers, Dave

Good afternoon Dave and welcome to the crowd!

I had an Astra before my Fiesta and I don't notice very much difference in size but then there's only myself and Mrs Hedgepig to worry about!

I'd recommend the 1.6 petrol as it's more suited to the character of the car but it's a purely personal choice.

As you can see from my spec below I've got 17" alloys and the ride quality is great so no worries there either!

Economy--well I'm getting 40+ to the gallon and, whilst I'm not redlining it in every gear, it's still being driven if you know what I mean......it will get better as the miles mount up.

You're also in the fun stage--take a few models out and see what you think--I'll think you'll find it perkier than the Focus.

White's a good colour but I love my "pink" car although now I might consider squeeze too----as you can see I'm well into these subtle colours!!!!!!!

Some good feedback there guys, thank you.

It's good to see that people are 'downsizing' from Focus and Astra-sized vehicles into the Fiesta, with no real issues.

I am concerned about fuel economy, having owned the Ti-VCT for the last two years, I don't do any better than 30mpg around town, and it drops to as low as 24mpg in the winter, which is pretty poor really. The TDCI should do more than that, I would hope.

I'm off this weekend, and I have a mate in town from Canada, so I plan on taking a little test drive tomorrow.....

I'm liking this forum - it seems to be a very friendly place!

Some good feedback there guys, thank you.

It's good to see that people are 'downsizing' from Focus and Astra-sized vehicles into the Fiesta, with no real issues.

I am concerned about fuel economy, having owned the Ti-VCT for the last two years, I don't do any better than 30mpg around town, and it drops to as low as 24mpg in the winter, which is pretty poor really. The TDCI should do more than that, I would hope.

I'm off this weekend, and I have a mate in town from Canada, so I plan on taking a little test drive tomorrow.....

I'm liking this forum - it seems to be a very friendly place!

Don't panic about the economy, mine's only done 3700 and I'm getting 40-42 on short 11 mile journeys.

On a run (without aircon being on) I've had 45mpg already and the car's still quite tight.......

Think carefully before dismissing the 1.6 Ti-VCT---it's a cracking engine; read all the road tests and you'll see that I'm not telling porkies.......... ;)

Think carefully before dismissing the 1.6 Ti-VCT---it's a cracking engine; read all the road tests and you'll see that I'm not telling porkies.......... ;)

Oh, i'm not dismissing it, in fact, I love the Ti-VCT, just not it's thirst. Of course, the Focus is also heavier, which could also explain the economy, or lackthereof. In the Focus it has 116PS, I believe it's up to 120PS in the Fiesta?

Oh I dont see it as downsizing at all I see it as upgrading lol, I came down in size from a Merc 4x4 4.5ltr to the fiesta ZS and have no regrets whatsoever, obviously for us we are saving on petrol lol, I get low 40s mpg most days and I have the Mountune upgrade engine, recently on a long M25 journey I was rewarded with just under 50mpg.

I too have frozen white - love it!

I changed down from a 1.8 Focus Zetec to the 1.6TDCI Fiesta and have no regrets.

The car itself is not much smaller than the Focus and i've gone from 32mpg in the Focus to an average of 50mpg in the Fiesta over the last 6 months (lowest i've had is 45MPG when really going for it, highest has been 53MPG)

I've just changed from a Passat to a Focus 1.6 TDCI, I did consider the Fiesta and as Mrs TT has one, I've been able to drive it for over 1k miles I was aware of what I wanted, the only think that stopped me getting myself a Fiesta (bar the pre-reg deal on the Focus!!) was the arm room on the drivers side other than that Fiesta would have been spot on but I just wanted that little bit of extra space.

The moral being have a good long test drive.

We now both have 1.6 TDCI's think there is a little more BHP on the Focus but even though it isn't run in I am winning on MPG :)

Don't think you could go wrong with either both great handling and driving cars.