Need a Diesel. Opinions please

gabbleRatchet

I'm probably going to be doing a 100 mile round trip commute in the near future and my Focus TDCi is really not up to it any more. I'm looking at getting a smallish Diesel. Most likely a 3 or 4 year old Focus, i30, C'eed or possibly a Golf.

I'm interested in anyone's views on these choices. I recall the Ford 1.6 was a bit of a ticking time bomb. Have those issues been resolved? Are there any known issues with the Korean cars? The 7 year Kia warranty is very attractive.

WellKnownSid

Korean... Fit and finish e.g. shut lines more like American cars than European. I think they're 'honest' cars overall.

500 miles per week x 52 = 26k minimum p.a.

Bear in mind the 7 year Kia warranty has a 100k limit.

Opt for a Hyundai (the same company) and I think it's a five year / unlimited miles - which may be better.

gabbleRatchet

Yeah I know. 500 miles a week isn't good. It's only a temporary job. The problem is I do contract work so I never know where I'm going to be working. That's about the limit of how far I travel. Any more than that and I'd stay in B & B

RichardD1970

aaron.g wrote: »

100 mile commute 5 days a week? I'd be more concerned about my comfort and health instead of having a sore !!! and lower back pain in a small car.

Small car doesn't necessarily mean a sore !!! and lower back pain.
hat would you recommend (as if we didn't already know :whistle:).

I had a 55 reg Kia Rio from new for seven years and it was fantastic, never any problems at all. In fact when I first had it my brother (the BMW engineer ) was pleasantly surprised at how good it was and how refined the engine was. No problems with fit or finish and I only changed it because I needed a 7 seater.

FreddieFrugal

aaron.g wrote: »

Larger cars are generally more comfortable. Personally if I were travelling 500 miles a week I would want a comfortable, bigger car, something like a Volvo. Not a <1.4 liter engine, small car.

A Focus isn't a small car, nor are the others mentioned. Nor would it be sub 1.4L capacity engine as none of those cars have a Diesel engine under 1.6L currently.

FreddieFrugal

gabbleRatchet wrote: »

I recall the Ford 1.6 was a bit of a ticking time bomb. Have those issues been resolved?

I was trying to find out this information as well. I know they made a small revision in 08 onwards 1.6s, worst clogging pipe replaced. But problems still occurred.

I haven't found many reports at all of similar turbo failures in the post 2011 version. In fact haven't seen any. Although general reviews of Focus and it's position in Driver Survey has slumped in recent years, compared to the mark 2.

From what I've read the i30 and Ceed are decent but in terms of handling and steering are rubbish compared to Focus, the 1.6 diesels, although showing decent 0-60 times, apparently have a funny and uneven distribution of that power. Which means you have to work them quite hard and they can feel sluggish.

If you're not fussed about that, they're good, but actually far pricier used than an equivalent Focus. Those warranties are obviously working!

gabbleRatchet

FreddieFrugal wrote: »

From what I've read the i30 and Ceed are decent but in terms of handling and steering are rubbish compared to Focus, the 1.6 diesels, although showing decent 0-60 times, apparently have a funny and uneven distribution of that power. Which means you have to work them quite hard and they can feel sluggish.

If you're not fussed about that, they're good, but actually far pricier used than an equivalent Focus. Those warranties are obviously working!

Hmm...That's given me something to think about. I've clocked up 170k in my 1.8 TDCi over the last 8 years and have always found it to be good at eating up the miles, having fairly tall gearing and a torquey engine, so I was looking for something similar in terms of performance.

Maybe I should just stick with a Focus

gabbleRatchet

So this one has apparently had a reconditioned engine put in by Ford. Should that be ringing any alarm bells


http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201507275538030?radius=10&sort=default&postcode=po75up&model=focus&price-to=8000&search-target=usedcars&make=ford&page=1&maximum-age=up_to_4_years_old&price-from=6000&fuel-type=diesel&onesearchad=used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew&logcode=p

RichardD1970

Wouldn't put me off personally, particularity as it was done by Ford themselves. I would probably be a bit more diligent with my checks and questions though.

bigjl

WellKnownSid wrote: »

Korean... Fit and finish e.g. shut lines more like American cars than European. I think they're 'honest' cars overall.

500 miles per week x 52 = 26k minimum p.a.

Bear in mind the 7 year Kia warranty has a 100k limit.

Opt for a Hyundai (the same company) and I think it's a five year / unlimited miles - which may be better.

Where do you get the idea that Korean cars are built poorly?

Perhaps in the early days they were a bit iffy.

But any Kia or Hyundai built in the last decade is as well built as anything else, the caveat being they can be a bit plasticky inside

The Hyundai i30 was passed fit for use by the Met Police which means you know it is robust and reliable.

Saw a new shape Met i30 yesterday and it had the 5yr Warranty sticker in the rear window, I wonder if Hyundai are going to honour that with Police.

The 1.6 engine is still considered a hand grenade though the 2.0tdci lump is reliable and economical but not as common as the 1.6tdci on the used market

I had a work colleague that put over 100k on a Kia Picanto driving from Peterborough to East London for work and they had no issues with it in the 4 yrs they had it from new. And that was the old one with a tiny petrol engine.

daveyjp

I was unfortunate to be given a new i30 estate diesel as a hire car for a couple of days.

I'm sure there was an engine as there was an engine noise, but I think they forgot to put any horses in it. Turbo lag was horrendous With absolutely nothing until 1800 rpm, then a huge lump to 2500 then nothing again.

It did mid 40s over 300 miles of largely rural trips, so not that moneysaving. The VAG bluemotion/greenline cars ares the ones to go for if mpg is priority and I'd be looking at something from Skoda.