Ford Fiesta engine

RedcarYellowcar

Hi,
my 16 year old Ford Fiesta which I've had for 14yrs-1.2l engine, 75bhp, fiesta SE- needs £650 repairs so looking at a newer fiesta-3-4 yrs old, preferably below £8000 (hoped for less but for 3-4 year fiestas in Surrey, its around £8000). With no mechanical experience, purchasing from a dealership-TrustFord, ThinkFord etc is preferable versus a private sale and aware prices are higher. My daily commute is a roundtrip of 15 miles with an annual mileage of around 7000-8000ish last year.
 
So I need help with-
1. should I purchase an Eco boost fiesta? so many horror stories from buyers regarding them, although the benefits of lower petrol usage and road tax are positives.
2. If yes to Eco boost fiesta, would buying from 2016 be ok? or from 2017 onwards only, given the reported engine issues.
3. If no to the Eco boost, should I stay with a 1.2l engine? or go lower, would 1 litre be significantly different to drive? in performance, petrol consumption etc. Aware road tax would be much higher than Eco boost, probably around current annual of £160ish.
4. finally, as a side-any tips on negotiating with dealership when purchasing as it'll just be me on my own(unless I can haul my friend with, but he's not mechanically minded either)

I'd really appreciate some input, and thanks for your time.

treeroy

The ecoboost engines are strong and reliable, give good performance and good fuel economy. The issues with them catching fire should be fixed as all cars with those fire hazard engines will (or, should) have had the recall work done and fixed. 

The 1.2 is very sluggish, can't think of any reasons why anyone should buy it over the 1.0 turbo.

Just check that the car in question has paperwork proving the recall work was done and you should be fine.

Ditzy_Mitzy

What needs doing to the old car?  I'd be tempted just to spend the £650 on that if it'll keep the thing going for another few years.  You know it's a good car and it's been reliable up to now, I assume, otherwise you wouldn't have kept it.  £650 isn't that much in the scheme of things, especially not if you divide it by the number of years of driving you've had.  I've spent a few hundred recently on my old Focus for the same reasons - she's a decent old car and worth hanging on to for as long as possible.

treeroy

Ditzy_Mitzy said:

What needs doing to the old car?  I'd be tempted just to spend the £650 on that if it'll keep the thing going for another few years.  You know it's a good car and it's been reliable up to now, I assume, otherwise you wouldn't have kept it.  £650 isn't that much in the scheme of things, especially not if you divide it by the number of years of driving you've had.  I've spent a few hundred recently on my old Focus for the same reasons - she's a decent old car and worth hanging on to for as long as possible.

That would be very uneconomical given that you could buy another 16 year old Fiesta for less than £650. 

daveyjp

Turbos have been great at reducing emissions whilst increasing power from lower capacity engines, but it comes at the cost of having lots of extra very expensive and complicated components fitted to the engine.

The 1.0 Ecoboost has a very well documented troubled past and no one knows if they will be good for 16 years use without expensive repairs.  A failed turbo at 10 years would certainly be enough to write the car off.

My philosophy is to keep it simple.  There are other manufacturers which use normally aspirated engines which have excellent mpg, will be around in 20 years with minimal major work and I'd be looking at those.

fred246

I would happily spend £650 on tyres, exhaust, brake pads etc if the car is sound and rust free. If it's for a new ECU because some guy at a garage thinks that might be a problem and once he's done that it hasn't helped and maybe changing something else will fix it etc etc. then I wouldn't. The 1.25 engine has got a fantastic reputation for reliability. Only coil packs ever need replacing which is cheap and easy. The 1.0 ecoboost engine has got a fantastic reputation for unreliability. Fires, head gaskets, replacement engines, Facebook campaigns. If you want another Fiesta to last 16 years I know which engine I would choose.

molerat

I had a 2014 built ecoboost 125 for 4.5 years without any being a victim of the horror stories. I now have an ecoboost 1.5 150.

AdrianC

As far as road tax goes, remember everything 2017-onwards is £150/yr.

Tiexen

daveyjp said:

The 1.0 Ecoboost has a very well documented troubled past and no one knows if they will be good for 16 years use without expensive repairs.  A failed turbo at 10 years would certainly be enough to write the car off.

From Carbuyer:

Are there any known EcoBoost problems?

The EcoBoost tech has now been fitted to millions of engines, and is really pretty mainstream technology, which means it’s well run-in – there’s certainly no reason to fear undue breakdown or reliability issues.

A couple of high profile recalls for EcoBoost cars issued in 2018 may sound alarm bells, but the truth is the faults were not specifically related to the EcoBoost tech. A Focus 1.0-litre EcoBoost recall referred to a nylon pipe potentially overheating in the cooling system, while a potentially more serious fault in the cylinder head of 1.6-litre EcoBoost engines again isn’t directly related to EcoBoost tech.

One potential issue facing buyers looking at EcoBoost cars for sale is that fuel economy figures in the real world can be some way off those quoted. The turbochargers deliver punchy performance, but if you’re tempted to use that performance often it’s understandable that the EcoBoost fuel economy advantages start to disappear.

daveyjp

Carbuyer is aimed at new car buyers.

The ecoboost is still a young design,  The oil bathed cambelt is unusual and designed to last the life of the engine.  In Ford terms 'life' means 10 years or 150,000 miles as the belt will degrade over time, in reality 'life' is until the belt fails.

If the cambelt lets go at 7 years and 35,000 miles that's the end of the car and its probably on the scrap heap. 

noclaf

treeroy said:

Ditzy_Mitzy said:

What needs doing to the old car?  I'd be tempted just to spend the £650 on that if it'll keep the thing going for another few years.  You know it's a good car and it's been reliable up to now, I assume, otherwise you wouldn't have kept it.  £650 isn't that much in the scheme of things, especially not if you divide it by the number of years of driving you've had.  I've spent a few hundred recently on my old Focus for the same reasons - she's a decent old car and worth hanging on to for as long as possible.

That would be very uneconomical given that you could buy another 16 year old Fiesta for less than £650. 

Agreed, I think in this case it's better to cut your losses and move on. My 16 yr old focus is suffering from Ford-itus a.k.a rust and I've decided that rather than spend money and time trying to salvage it, getting a newer car would be the more economical option taking a long term view.
I'm not an Ecoboost fan either...I'd be concerned that the type of driving I do (mainly town stop start and low miles) over a long period would stress small 1.0 engine. They maybe efficient for power and more greener but IMO they cannot compete with the proven n/a Duratec/Zetec/Yamaha design engines that Ford used in the past. Those engines just take abuse and keep going.