Does engine size matter?

WellKnownSid

facade wrote: »

Don't they need ferociously expensive fluids blended from rare oils, plus some sort of special tool to fill them up, so the owner of a 40,000 miler would never pay that much money as it is a significant proportion of the value of the car?

It can be changed without a tool, they are filled upside down as the filler is also the drain plug at the bottom (brilliant design!)

facade wrote: »

Never ceases to amaze me how manufacturers can "improve" something that has worked perfectly well for years, and make it break quicker, yet somehow sell us the idea that the "improvements" have made it "better"

Mostly in aid of efficiency. Once you can lock a TC up so tight it transmits more torque, it then needs similar damping to a clutch/flywheel arrangement. And if you need a stop/start arrangement you also need a secondary oil pump and added complexity.

perfume_waggon

Thanks everyone, that's been (mostly) reassuring. I'll arrange some test drives.

agrinnall

I would check what power output the Focus has, I haven't driven one but I have a Fiesta with a 125 bhp 1.0 ecoboost, it's got easily enough power for my car, but I would suspect that the standard 100 bhp engine in a heavier car might be an issue.

WellKnownSid

agrinnall wrote: »

I would check what power output the Focus has, I haven't driven one but I have a Fiesta with a 125 bhp 1.0 ecoboost, it's got easily enough power for my car, but I would suspect that the standard 100 bhp engine in a heavier car might be an issue.

My Mk IV Cortina estate was absolutely fine with the standard 1.6 engine - producing a whopping 73bhp. It would do 60 in a little over a quarter of a minute and with luck and a hill behind you, it would hit an indicated 100 miles per hour. Apparently...

forgotmyname

The Cortina was not geared to do 130 - 150mph though, my book says 94mph top speed on the 1.6. So the lower power and weight was matched to lower gearing which required less torque.

It was also fairly light compared to a modern Fiesta, Lighter than the 1.2 petrol and even the 1L ecoboost which claims to have a tiny lightweight engine but weighs much the same as the 1.2 petrol.
Maybe they forgot the weight of the turbo etc?