I’ve been offered a mate’s ’08 focus, with the 1.8 tdci zetec engine.
It’s only done 30,000 miles and looks like a bargain (£3.5k).

Does anyone have any real world experience with these engines/any likely problems to look out for/mpg etc?

They’re reasonably bomb proof from the experience friends have had with them.

Not the first word in refinement or economy compared to modern engines but still very good.

Expect 40’s round town and 50’s mile per gallon on a run and cheap to service and repair.

Not sure 3.5k is the right money even for a low mileage one so check around on the price.

G/f drives one, it’s done 120K so far and has been pretty solid, & bloody economic with her driving. The turbo lag is a bit annoying but not the end of the world, though I think that had been made worse by the Dual mass flywheel started to self-destruct (@80-100K IIRC), & so has been better since the DMF/clutch replaced (£600 IIRC).

I’ve got an 02 version. Done 146,000 miles faultlessly except for usual wear items such as belt and clutch around 100,000 miles. It has only just developed a slight roughness when running and I suspect it may need the injectors looking at.
Nice acceleration from it.

Mine’s a 57 plate now on 88k (i’ve done 62k of that), still on the original clutch/flywheel and there’s no DPF to worry about. It’s based on an old Ford 8v not the Ford/Peugeot 16v like the 1.6 and 2L so it’s a bit rougher. As above low 40s around town and 50+ on longer runs and even 60+ on slow sunday drives. Reliable so far.

Closetroadie, the roughness turned out to be the DMF self-destructing causing the timing to shift. An auto-electrician was able to confirm the issue was DMF related.

Mine’s on 116k here, same model as the 08 plate ones, had it for three years.

It doesn’t have a DPF so that’s one less thing to go wrong.

The power steering and air con pumps went on mine, which was unfortunate, but a couple of/few hundred quid for each meant they weren’t extortionate repairs. Other than that it’s just had normal service stuff done.

Oh yeah, the turbo air hose split when the car was almost 8 years old to the day. The one I replaced had a ‘manufacture date’ that made it almost exactly 4 years old. So it looks like that’ll need replacing once every 4 years. But it was <£40 from the local Ford dealer and a 10 minute job to fit (two jubilee clips, one bolt and a little clip for the airflow sensor IIRC, all right on top of the engine so a real easy DIY job.)

The above doesn’t sound great, but mine’s on a lot of miles so a few problems are going to be expected and in it’s life before I bought it it had only ever had tyres, brakes and the turbo hose changed. It’s nice enough though, enough power for overtaking, decent mpg, always sails through MOTs.

Wow, thats a bloody bargain IMO OP.

Not mine but I drove a fellow STW’ers 58reg from Mancville to Edinburgh and I really liked it. I had to rev it abit more than say a VW 1.9TDI but it was refined/nice place/a good car. Especially for 3.5k. I’d bite his arm off.

I’ve had a 58 plate for 6 months now and I like it. Turns out it handles OK in the snow too. Getting an average of about 52 mpg on mostly rural or motorway driving.

We’ve got an 06 Focus estate from new with that engine, and so far its been ok. Real world 3 years mileage/fuel used = average 53mpg. On long runs it’ll wind up into the low 60s, and round town it’ll do about 42-3.
One painful thing with Ford estates is the rear suspension bushings getting sloppy – that was an expensive, tight lipped MOT where an agreement to carry out work wasn’t based on all the information that might have been helpful.

Mines a1.8 tdci Estate 57 plate. Done about 32000 miles, Service, MOT thats all I do. Never had a problem.
Tow bar for the bikes. Love it. Spend the money on bikes.

Thats a very good price. I sold my 1.6 petrol 57 plate Focus with 50k on the clock to a forumite for not much less.

My girlfriend’s 02 1.8tdci is on 150k miles now,which is amazing given it never gets serviced.

Seem to be less problems with the 1.8 than the later 1.6 tdci.

We sold our 05 model with 167k on the clock having owned it since 9k for 7 years and it was still reliable if a little clattery, but I suspect the DMF was on its way out. Never let us down and I would have another one. Servicing was reasonable and all the economy figures the guys above are quoting are about right. We even towed with it, I’d be surprised if you don’t like it.

Definite bargain assuming service history, clean car etc. Get it before he realises 🙂