Thinking of changing the car

[lloydyyy]

Hey folks. As per the title - I'm thinking of changing the car. I currently have a Ford Fiesta Mk6.5 1.25 Style Climate. I've had it for about 6 years since about 15,000 miles - it's currently on about 75,000 miles and it's almost never set a foot wrong (apart from both window regulators failing). I'm after something with a bit more power and better looks (the Fiesta is mauve, so I get ripped into a lot by my friends ). My current commute is 50 miles round trip 3 times a week which is mostly motorway and dual carriageways, and it can sometimes feel like a bit of an ache with the 1.25 Fiesta. My estimated annual mileage is roughly 12k a year. I like my Fiesta because it costs peanuts to run but change is good. Just trying to work out if perhaps the novelty of a different car would wear off.

I've got 3 cars in mind: Audi A3 2.0 TDI Black Edition, Ford Fiesta Zetec S 1.6 TDCi or Ford Fiesta Zetec S 1.0 EcoEoost. Would be grateful for opinions and especially thoughts from owners of these cars - comfort, economy, running costs, etc.

[Incontro]

Whichever car you go for, go for a petrol - the government will be clamping down sooner or later on diesel cars, plus far less likely to go wrong. The 1.0 EcoBoost will be nothing like your previous 1.25, take a test drive to see for yourself.

[lloydyyy]

6 minutes ago, Incontro said:

Whichever car you go for, go for a petrol - the government will be clamping down sooner or later on diesel cars, plus far less likely to go wrong. The 1.0 EcoBoost will be nothing like your previous 1.25, take a test drive to see for yourself.

Thanks for the advice. My ex had a Fiesta 1.0 EcoBoost (99bhp) which was fairly nippy. I had a Fiesta Zetec S 1.0 EcoBoost (123bhp) as a courtesy car about a year ago and that was a flying machine compared to the lesser-powered 99bhp engine - it pulled uphill really well and was great fun to drive.

My step dad, being a lifelong Audi owner, is rooting me on to get the A3 but I'm reserving judgement. I have seen a Fiesta 1.6 EcoBoost ST for sale - tempting but may be overkill.

[Incontro]

21 minutes ago, lloydyyy said:

Thanks for the advice. My ex had a Fiesta 1.0 EcoBoost (99bhp) which was fairly nippy. I had a Fiesta Zetec S 1.0 EcoBoost (123bhp) as a courtesy car about a year ago and that was a flying machine compared to the lesser-powered 99bhp engine - it pulled uphill really well and was great fun to drive.

My step dad, being a lifelong Audi owner, is rooting me on to get the A3 but I'm reserving judgement. I have seen a Fiesta 1.6 EcoBoost ST for sale - tempting but may be overkill.

I'd expect the Audi A3 to be more refined than the Fiesta (especially in terms of road noise), though I could be wrong, this is only my best guess!

I drive a heavy Focus with a 99PS engine, and even in that it's adequate, so it must do great in the Fiesta. That said, life is short, so if getting an ST makes you happy, then go for it ;) At the end of the day, cars are not investments, so go for something that makes you happy, so long as you won't break the bank in doing so.

My advice is to test-drive at least a few different petrol vehicles you're interested in, and see how they feel. Often one has a perception of a car being super-amazing in their head, but sometimes the moment you have the test-drive, you realize that it's actually mediocre lol.

[lloydyyy]

Thought to revive my old topic instead of starting a new one.

Just changed jobs and so my mileage has changed a bit. It's now a 70-mile round trip to/from my new office and I'll be there 5 days a week. Although I'll be car-sharing with a friend and we'll be doing a week-on and week-off approach.

As a rough guess, my mileage would be 400 miles each week I'm driving to/from the office, and including some weekend mileage. So for 26 weeks of the year, my estimated mileage would be 10,400. And for the other 26 weeks of the year where my friend will be driving us to/from the office, I suppose my estimated mileage would be 1,300 if I base that on purely 50 miles per weekend. So my estimated total annual mileage would be 11,700 miles minimum. You could probably add a few hundred miles on to factor in some extra mileage to pick him up and drop him off on my driving weeks.

Would I still be better off buying a petrol? Was looking at the Fiesta 1.0 EcoBoost, Fiesta 1.5 TDCi or the Toyota Yaris (doesn't seem to be as economical as the Fiesta 1.0 EcoBoost).

[Ryan_Tango]

17 minutes ago, lloydyyy said:

Thought to revive my old topic instead of starting a new one.

Just changed jobs and so my mileage has changed a bit. It's now a 70-mile round trip to/from my new office and I'll be there 5 days a week. Although I'll be car-sharing with a friend and we'll be doing a week-on and week-off approach.

As a rough guess, my mileage would be 400 miles each week I'm driving to/from the office, and including some weekend mileage. So for 26 weeks of the year, my estimated mileage would be 10,400. And for the other 26 weeks of the year where my friend will be driving us to/from the office, I suppose my estimated mileage would be 1,300 if I base that on purely 50 miles per weekend. So my estimated total annual mileage would be 11,700 miles minimum. You could probably add a few hundred miles on to factor in some extra mileage to pick him up and drop him off on my driving weeks.

Would I still be better off buying a petrol? Was looking at the Fiesta 1.0 EcoBoost, Fiesta 1.5 TDCi or the Toyota Yaris (doesn't seem to be as economical as the Fiesta 1.0 EcoBoost).

To be honest at that mileage I'd say petrol but it won't do much harm having a diesel either I've done very little miles this year compared to last but not caused any issues, sure my DPF will need cleaning soon but I knew what I was getting in for buying a diesel.

[lloydyyy]

4 minutes ago, Ryan_Tango said:

To be honest at that mileage I'd say petrol but it won't do much harm having a diesel either I've done very little miles this year compared to last but not caused any issues, sure my DPF will need cleaning soon but I knew what I was getting in for buying a diesel.

I forgot to mention that the journey will be mostly dual carriageway and then a blast through the mountains, so should be sufficient to keep any DPF issues at bay.

[Ryan_Tango]

10 minutes ago, lloydyyy said:

I forgot to mention that the journey will be mostly dual carriageway and then a blast through the mountains, so should be sufficient to keep any DPF issues at bay.

I'd say diesel then, you'll never keep DPF issues at bay xD unless you buy a car without one or get it removed which will soon be detectable.

[BOF]

43 minutes ago, lloydyyy said:

Would I still be better off buying a petrol? Was looking at the Fiesta 1.0 EcoBoost, Fiesta 1.5 TDCi or the Toyota Yaris (doesn't seem to be as economical as the Fiesta 1.0 EcoBoost).

I have had a Yaris (briefly) as a hire car and while it was quite nice to drive (quiet comfortable) the 1337 petrol engine didn't have much guts and it wasn't very economical. And you really want the top model to get the reversing camera/infotainment/sat nav touch screen affair.

Maybe the Diesel Is better....

Ecoboost sounds good to me.
 

[lloydyyy]

Just some figures for comparison between the Yaris diesel and Fiesta diesel:

Yaris:

Urban mpg: 58.9 mpg

Extra urban mpg: 80.7 mpg

Average mpg: 72.4 mpg

Annual tax: £0

Engine power: 90 bhp

 

Fiesta:

Urban mpg: 65.7 mpg

Extra urban mpg: 88.3 mpg

Average mpg: 78.5 mpg

Annual tax: £0

Engine power: 94 bhp

[JamesMalin]

Figures smigures!!!

You'll never know 100% what mpg you'll get until you drive one.

My Mk2 1.8 TDCI Focus got 50mpg

My current Mk3 1.0 EcoBoost Focus petrol (125ps) gets 45mpg

Those are accurate figures [emoji6]


As to choice it'll all be on personal preference.

I presume you'd get similar spec on either engine type and the insurance will be similar too?

Diesel for mpg
Petrol for performance

Although like any car changes can be made to standard.


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