Buying Advice - Petrol or Diesel

[mattpitts74]

Hi Guys, 

I would appreciate some impartial advice.  I have owned a fiesta 1.4 Zetec for over 6 years and I'm now looking to replace with a Focus, as I need more room, plus I'm doing more motorway driving these days around 13,000 miles a year.  I was originally thinking I would definitely get the 1.6 diesel Zetec, as I have always assumed that diesels are better for longer journyes and more economical.  

However my local mechanic said I would be better with the 1.0 petrol as they are more reliable.  Having driven both cars, there seems little difference in performance, but the diesel obviously seemed to have more torque.  I looking at 2013 plates. 

I just want something thats got a little more performance than my current fiesta, but both the focus's I have test driven felt very similar in performance to the fiesta.  

I would appreciate views from owners of either of these focus's. Cheers Matt 

 

[alexp999]

How long are your journeys. That's more important than mileage with diesels nowadays 

[drsdriver]

I would say go diesel route. The 1.6 diesel is a great engine economical and performance not to bad. 

Get it remapped and it totally transformes the car. It will achieve 60mpg average and make it into a rapid sprinter. 

The 1.0 petrol are very thirsty cars once on the motorway. 

[mattpitts74]

43 minutes ago, alexp999 said:

How long are your journeys. That's more important than mileage with diesels nowadays 

Motorway journeys are 200 - 300 miles 

[mattpitts74]

26 minutes ago, drsdriver said:

I would say go diesel route. The 1.6 diesel is a great engine economical and performance not to bad. 

Get it remapped and it totally transformes the car. It will achieve 60mpg average and make it into a rapid sprinter. 

The 1.0 petrol are very thirsty cars once on the motorway. 

Someone mentioned remapping to me the other day, doesn't this impact on insurance costs?  how much roughly can it cost to remap at focus? cheers

[TomsFocus]

Remaps are a pain to insure tbh, I've had several lol.  Learnt my lesson though and won't be napping the current Focus.

With that sort of mileage you'll be best off with a diesel.  Neither the 1.6 diesel or 1.0 petrol are totally reliable.  Just have to hope you get a good one!

[pragmatix]

the 1 litre is a great engine, but it doesn't like motorway speeds gets very thirsty, for local use great, if you can drive like a granny, the engine doesn't encourage frugal driving, it likes to rev great fun but bad for the wallet, I've had a 125 bhp focus down to 28 mpg. The1.5tdci is a better engine

[mattpitts74]

I've never got that great economy from my fiesta, but I'm sure its the way I drive, so I imagine that would be exaactky the same for the petrol focus.  OK, so it sounds like the diesel is the best bet, I'm assuming the more recent 1.5 is a better engine?  

There also seem to be various variants of the 1.6?  is it best to go for the highest bhp or is there little difference in performance between them? 

 

[drsdriver]

The Mk3 1.6 diesel is a 8 valve 115bhp . It is a good engine, just change the oil every 5k and fuel filter every 2 years.

The newer 1.5 diesel is 120 bhp which is a very good engine , we have them at our work and every person drives rags them. 20 k in a year and the average says 55 mpg on the trip computer, and they are not driven slowly. 

Easily achieve 60+ if driven sensibly. 

[rhyds]

Diesels are best for continuous long distance running. As long as you're not spending lots of time pottering around town you should be OK.

[Azz899]

Iv had a 1.6 zetec S diesel mk3 for 3 1/2 years covering 80k in that time, i can honestly say it never put a foot wrong, its done hundreds of Newcastle to Glasgow / Aberdeen trips and  ive done all the things you shouldn't, ragged it from cold, only serviced it when it wing'd at me on the screen (every 12.5k ish) and in that time its never really dropped below 50 mpg.  if i hit a motorway and cruise at 70 it will do 600mile to a tank with some to spare.

the 1.6 sounds like a bit of a tractor (well at 80k) compared to these 1.5's now but its a sturdy old beasty! itll be hard to send her on her way come march.

[drsdriver]

Remap cost about £350 , worth every penny. 

[Furio101]

2.0 Diesel recommended 

[Rumblestrip]

Unsure what mpg you’d get from a petrol engine, but my 1.6 diesel is currently 56.4mpg. Mainly motorways. 

[avi]

On 2/18/2018 at 6:55 PM, mattpitts74 said:

Hi Guys, 

I would appreciate some impartial advice.  I have owned a fiesta 1.4 Zetec for over 6 years and I'm now looking to replace with a Focus, as I need more room, plus I'm doing more motorway driving these days around 13,000 miles a year.  I was originally thinking I would definitely get the 1.6 diesel Zetec, as I have always assumed that diesels are better for longer journyes and more economical.  

However my local mechanic said I would be better with the 1.0 petrol as they are more reliable.  Having driven both cars, there seems little difference in performance, but the diesel obviously seemed to have more torque.  I looking at 2013 plates. 

I just want something thats got a little more performance than my current fiesta, but both the focus's I have test driven felt very similar in performance to the fiesta.  

I would appreciate views from owners of either of these focus's. Cheers Matt 

 

 

I'm not sure about the one is more reliable than the other, but I found the 1.0 125 Focus very thirsty, especially at motorway speeds.  It was also pretty gutless when loaded up and used in hilly terrain (I visit the Highland and Cornwall). I think it probably better in a Fiesta size car than a Focus and MPG suffers because the engine needs to be worked very hard in a Focus size car. I found the MGP not much better than my old 1.6 petrol but performance wasn't as good.

In my experience the 1.0 petrol Focus is better suited to town/city/short trip driving, but I find the 1.5 TDCI 125 great for motorway and touring use. Combined MPG is north of 52 (my driving style is not Eco focused) and it's been problem free over that past 12k miles.

  

 

[James]

The great thing about the 1.5 tdci diesel is that the car overall is not much heavier than the 1 litre Ecoboost so the handling of the car is fairly good and its also helps with fuel economy which is good as well. Was going to go for the 1litre Ecoboost but got to used to diesel fuel economy with my last car.