My wife’s after a “new” car and she likes focuses/i. She’s found a nice looking year-old one but is a diesel

Is a 10mile commute (about 2 of which is on motorway) enough to stop everything fouling up ?

owt else I need to know about these things ?

100 miles a week / 4800 miles per year commuting.
Unless you do serious miles outside of work I wouldn’t be buying a diesel. Too much liability for expensive repair bills, IMO. DMF, DPF, Turbo, injectors etc.

have a look at this

Get the petrol.

i dont reckon its worth it, the extra cost of a diesel will take a looong time to pay back if thats the mileage.
and thats ignoring any of the potential problems AND the fact that modern diesels really dont like short journeys where they dont get properly warmed up.
my advice, as a diesel mondeo owner (**** great car btw) is buy the petrol.
i have driven umpteen focuses btw, great cars, my next one will probably be a focus.

she does about 10 thousand a year all in – I don’t think it’s enough

nice pretty colour though, you see ? that’s what I’m up against 😐

She’s found a nice looking year-old one but is a diesel

If that’s the car she likes at the right price, then do it. The ‘it costs more to buy’ argument only really stacks up if you have another identical petrol car next door on the forecourt, so to speak.

If you hate shopping for cars, this one is in your price range and ticks all other boxes it will be fine with 10k a year. a 10 mile commute won’t be an issue if you do other longer trips as well occasionally which you must do if your sums add up. Just make sure it gets a run occasionally and make sure you boot it from time to time.

Also try adding redex from time to time, that helps to counteract the coking up. AND MAKE SURE YOU CHECK IF IT NEEDS FUEL ADDITIVE FOR THE DPF! I think Fords do but for some reason Ford don’t like telling people about it.

For 10k PA don’t even consider a diesel. Buying the same price petrol car (I’m assuming this is a 2nd hand purchase) will get you a newer/lower mileage model.

TBH I don’t think it’ll take you long to find a focus in a colour she likes…..they’re not exactly rocking horse sh1t 😀

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=81959

Good reading for prospective and current ford diesel owners.

10kpa is not low mileage. It will be fine as long as you follow the DPF instructions.

EDIT seems the newest batch of Fords don’t need additive..

she’s been offered an audi 😳 s3 “estate” thing at one place – I’d be willing to take that and boot it from time to time 😉

(too powerful for what she wants and I assume it’s been ragged for every miloe it was ever driven but, even so, …)

S3 are bullet proof and are fairly reasonable on fuel if driven “normally”

No no no. Get the petrol. 10k is not enough miles a year to justify the extra purchase cost and the downside risks on dpf and dmf. In the winter it can take 5miles+ for my diesel mondeo to come up to temp. Our petrol one is proper warmed up in 2-3miles.

If you spend some time in traffic then the lighter petrol clutch and gear shift is worthwhile.

the extra purchase cost

Not sure you are quite understanding the purchase process of some people.

In the winter it can take 5miles+ for my diesel mondeo to come up to temp

That’s the coolant. The oil and DPF/cat get hot much more quickly.

It’ll be fine!

My old C5 done mostly 5 mile journeys at a time and I took it from 60000 to 90000 in 3 years 10000 per year (same engine as ford) plus I have just bought another at a year old and it will be doing the same. Just keep it well serviced and it should be fine.

Avoid a diesel for that sort of use. The money argument is true. However a bigger issue is likely to be reliability. Modern diesels need need long journeys and a good speed. Otherwise the injectors and particulate filters get blocked. Blocked injectors on a modern diesel means new injectors because of the pressure they run at. On a golf the injectors are £750 each! Not sure what they cost on focus but they will be expensive. Not sure about the exhaust systems but it will likely be pricy.

95% sure that the C5 has a Citroen/Pegeout engine and not a ford. The French diesels tend to be very good. Just a shame the rest of the car is poor.

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=51193

Think you will find it is the same engine and any Citroen I have had has held its own regards reliability with colleagues german cars.

At that kind of mileage you’ll not heat the exaust up enough to clean the DPF in the exhaust. Can be a very expensivething to get sorted out. DPF filter range from 400-800 and the eolys oil adative tank requires to be refilled on major services.

Deffo go petrol

I’m running the 2.0 version but do much higher mileage. The car itself is great. Just avoif euro 4 & 5 engines for deisel across most if not all manufacturers. Emmisions laws made them fit alot of expensive crap on the engines to make them pass the new laws.

Ontop of that diesel cars of that erra are all running Dual mass fly wheels these are at best unreliable. Stick to a petrol.

most ford tdci engines were jointly developed with peugeot/citroen.
you can find them in some mazdas too, as well as the x type jaguar.

most ford tdci engines were jointly developed with peugeot/citroen.
you can find them in some mazdas too, as well as the x type jaguar, some transit vans, and certain models of land rover as well.
(jaguar land rover were owned by ford, mazda is part owned by ford)

For 10k PA don’t even consider a diesel. Buying the same price petrol car (I’m assuming this is a 2nd hand purchase) will get you a newer/lower mileage model.

Am I missing something, but with more expensive VED and increased fuel consumption that just means you’re spending far more money?! Surely the comparison is to spend less on a petrol one which saves you money in the long run…maybe.

At that kind of mileage you’ll not heat the exaust up enough to clean the DPF in the exhaust.

I don’t think so. 2 miles yes, 10 miles no. Exhaust heats up quickly, probably the first thing to get hot.

I don’t think that car will have the eolys system will it?

Am I missing something, but with more expensive VED and increased fuel consumption that just means you’re spending far more money?! Surely the comparison is to spend less on a petrol one which saves you money in the long run…maybe.

Of course you could buy the same age / mileage petrol and save on your capital outlay. The point I was trying to make was that modern diesels are not the bullet proof tractor engines they used to be, and they’re liable for some hefty repair bills if you have to replace a turbo, DPF, DMF, depending on the make any one of them could be close to a £1k.

A petrol will cost your more in MPG, but at 10k PA your not gonna be spending thousands extra on fuel vs a diesel, and there is far less to go wrong.

<Internet anecdote>

My smug boss at work was eulogising at how much he was saving running his diesel 3 series. He didn’t like it to much when I pointed out that the fuel savings were great as they can pay for the DMF to be replaced (£900). Car is less than 40,000, BMW weren’t interested in warranty.

Never buying a diesel again – unless my mileage increases. 7k per year on our Zafira.

DMF, Inlet Manifold-swirl flaps, EGRs, Alternators x3, £2.5k in 18 months.

Since bought a petrol golf TSI – = MPG and petrol is 10p cheaper per litre.

Google (or search this forum) for 1.6TDCi turbo problems.

Do not buy it! Its an expensive failure waitiing to happen. If you’re lucky broken turbos will be picked up on warranty, but Fraud will fight tooth and nail to make it your faulty and invalidate the warranty…

Yep. Those unreliable dmf’s…..mines only managed 205k miles so far. Hateful, unreliable diesel technology.

FWIW though, I would go with the petrol at those miles.

Depends on the drive – my missus has a hilly 14 mile stop start commute and reckons her diesel polo is much nicer in this scenario than her petrol Clio as the torque at low revs lets it crawl up the hills steadily without changing gear. I take the polo out and boot it every weekend.

I reckon it was the hills that killed the Clio

carbon337 – Member
Never buying a diesel vauxhall again – unless my mileage increases. 7k per year on our Zafira.

DMF, Inlet Manifold-swirl flaps, EGRs, Alternators x3, £2.5k in 18 months.

Since bought a petrol golf TSI – = MPG and petrol is 10p cheaper per litre.

FTFY

Wife’s 1.6 TDCi Focus (08 plate) has had no problems whatsoever, first owners (was a deaaler pre reg) and it does no more than 200 miles per week.
We just service it regularly and every now and again when I pop ouit in it I give it an ‘Italian’ tune…..