Following much procrastination a new(ish) car purchase is imminent. Yesterday the wife and I took a 1.0 Ecoboost focus (100bhp) and a 1.6 TDCi focus for a test drive and we were both pleasantly surprised at just how good the petrol felt, so it appears a Focus or C-Max with this engine will be high up the list (preferably in 125bhp).

I’m still keen to drive a 1.4 Leon TSI or Golf, but knowing the wife she’ll see this a a pointless waste of time and not worth the premium the VAG cars will doubtless command.

If anyone has any experience of this engine (good or bad) I’d certainly like to hear it, thanks.

hire focus with that 1litre engine – fuel consumption worse than the subsequent 2litre focus i had.

engine revving its tits off at cruising speed but surprisingly torquy low down for such a small engine thanks to the 3 cylinder design and small turbo kicking in.

lucky to see 30mpg out of it on a drive from aberdeen to edinburgh and back – and that was speedlimit driving(work related) – I got 54mpg out of a 2 litre petrol focus on similar journey and more (1600 miles in the 2litre) later in the year.

Ok i only did one out and back trip in it but it was enough to convince me that unless all the driving i did was town driving with the very occasional trip onto big roads – i wouldnt bother.

Id rather have my colleagues lexus CT400 hybrid – seems like a much better all round vehicle while still being good around town.

Thanks trail_rat. Driving would be short trips into town fairly regularly, with probably one or two big trips a week (80 160 mile round trip).

I didn’t experience any tit revving at 60mph on the dual carriageway. I doubt if the engine was above 2500rpm with four adults in it. Interesting to hear though, maybe an extended test drive is in order. Lexus would be too much money I think. Budget would be 10k max and looking for something as fresh as possible. Personally I’d like the 1.6 turbo 180bhp Focus but they are like hens teeth and it’d be a hard sell to her.

I’ve got a Fiesta with the 125hp 1.0T ecoboost. It’s certainly more thirsty than Ford’s figures would suggest, perhaps they got some VW software cheap 🙂

None of trailrat’s experience on engine RPM at cruising speeds, more like you were finding. On balance I like it.

Go take it to a hill at 2500rpm with 4 adults in it ….,

Youll be stirring that box to get it into the torquy bit, the roads i was on have a fair few prolonged hills on.

Thats my experiance anyway and where the revving its nuts comes from… Im used to low power diesel lumps that ok sit at 3500rpm @70 but dont need to drop gears much if any regardless of load – except going over shap – i do have to drop there on the motorway 🙂

Have had two now, live in hilly Wales more than enough power if you ask me, have had a zetec first a standard then a zetec s. Both were 125 versions. Have a tuning box that takes it to about 163 bhp, and also the tuning box has an eco setting controlled by bluetooth. easily get over 50mpg on my 15mile commute to work..It really is an amazing engine. If I wanted more powerrrr I’d get a ST.

Got a fiesta titanium with that engine…125bhp. When new I was getting 52mpg, then I stuck a roof rack with 3 racks on it…I’m getting 45mpg now. Quite happy with that.
Mainly just me in car and has plenty poke for what I want – I’d like a lot more power but I don’t want rid of my mpg and really don’t do enough miles to warrant a diesel.
Nice engine that seems to be lower revving that the Suzuki Swift it replaced.
I’m happy with it.
Drove to Nottingham and Lakes over summer with 2 adults and a kid plus 10 days kit. Didn’t notice any real difference in output.
Was in Germany last December and hired a focus estate Economist, that had 4 adults, toddler plus all kit for the 5 of us…that wasn’t as nippy by any stretch but it did sit at 120mph on the autobahn…
I like the engine and I’m liking the Fiesta. It is a lease car so apart from fuel it is a single monthly payment so running costs for me are small…about £100 on fuel…plus the monthly lease payment.

Thanks guys that’s good to know and quite encouraging. I’m still a bit wary of what trail rat has said though so a good motorway run might be in order.

I have a 1.0 eco boost fiesta. Absolutely love it, fun to drive and cruises fine in 5th on motorway. Free car tax is a bonus as well.

My wife has the 100bhp model, gets around 50mpg on her short commute (back roads). You can see the mpg tick up when cruising along at 60, I reckon I’d see close to Ford’s figures on a good run.

Drives like a much bigger car IMO.

breadcrumb – Member

My wife has the 100bhp model, gets around 50mpg on her short commute (back roads). You can see the mpg tick up when cruising along at 60, I reckon I’d see close to Ford’s figures on a good run.

Drives like a much bigger car IMO.

Is that a Fiesta or Focus Breadcrumb?

Have a search over at pistonheads. Quite a few reports of these engines going bang before they hit 20k

If they go bang before 20k then ford would surely replace under warranty.

My parents have a 125 Focus. Getting decent mpg is all about driving them very very carefully. The engine is small with a big turbo, if you get the turbo spinning mpg just goes. My parents get very low 40’s from there’s, but they rev it too high.

Thanks on and on. Looks like there were a few failures and a subsequent recall of a coolant hose. Something to look out for. Considering the numbers of these in circulation though 1 or two failing isn’t too alarming.

It seems a lot of people expect them to be fragile as it’s a 1ltr making 125bhp but nobody bats an eyelid when a 2ltr makes 250-300bhp.

I had a hire Fiesta with that engine. Driving like a vicar, I coaxed 50mpg out of it, but was down to 35mpg round town. That’s worse economy than the 1.6l Fiesta I owned 15 years ago.

I’m still keen to drive a 1.4 Leon TSI or Golf, but knowing the wife she’ll see this a a pointless waste of time and not worth the premium the VAG cars will doubtless command

Not long back from a week’s holiday to Switz, Austria, Italy. Our hire car was the new Fabia 1.2 TSI, just the 90hp version and it coped no probs with proper hills/passes. Granted there was just two of us and not much luggage but still impressed. Was getting 5L/100km according to the dash display which works out about 56mpg even on those roads.

125 Focus here, lovely engine, plenty of power low down, 45mpg easly achieved keeping up with traffic. Got 48mpg on a trip to France keeping around the speed limits. Fuel consuption gets worse if you use more revs, but you don’t really need to. It’s doing less than 3000prm @ 70mpg & its quiet. Would definitley get another.

Its the smallest production turbo

is the renault/dacia 900cc three cylinder not in production then?

trail_rat – Member

Its the smallest production turbo

I thought Smart was the smallest production turbo?

Well if you drive it in a fruity manner then it shouldn’t be a surprise that it sups the fuel. The engine is clearly optimised in it’s design for gentle driving, so driving it out of that window of optimisation means its not going to be running at it’s most efficient and will sup more fuel relative to its performance/power output. TG demonstrated that a BMW M3 got better MPG around their track than a Prius when both were hooned around by the Stig.

You’ve got to get the right tool for the job, if you want a motorway mile muncher, you don’t get a small 3 cylinder engined car – in the same way that if you want a fuel efficient car you don’t buy a V8 American Muscle car.

i cant find the quote now – but it was one of the smallest production turbos (the physical size of the turbo) and it compensates for its small size by having significantly less mass so can spin at speeds of up to twice that of a normal turbo…… its small size reducing lag and its high speed letting it emulate the gains of a much bigger turbo…..

I have to admit the tech thats gone into the engine is pretty ingenius but as wobbliscott says – different strokes for different folks and the car did not suit my use -Autoexpress seemed to agree at the time saying 4 up in the focus would have you dropping 1 or 2 gears anytime you came to a sustained gradiant and the 30 second boost of power had tailed off…. which was my experiance.

It was less noisy than the 1.2 TCE dacia logan i test drove – that got out onto the a90 – and off at the next turning and back to the showroom. It sounded like my land rover at 70*

* an exageration…….but it was loud.

We tried out a 1 ecoboost Fiesta and 1.2tsi. Both were nice engines – but a steady hill out of Stirling and five on board = changing down. 😕

I also heard a few rumors of iffy engines/issues on both VAG and Ford units.

We now have Old Skool 1.4 VAG petrol. No turbo. No intercooler. Simples.

I don’t change down up the same hill with the five of us on board, even though at first feel it is less preppy than the TSI or ecoboost…

Jimjam- Fiesta. They’re even putting the 1l ecoboost in the transit connect now.

Evenin’. Our next door neighbours have two. One Fiesta, one Focus.

They knocked last week and asked if I could look at the Focus. Its coolant pipe had split and pissed coolant everywhere so they taped it up and refilled the tank. She was going to commute to work like that. Thankfully she listened and took the next day off work. The hose was braded and the Fiestas smooth rubber- I googled the Focus was under recall etmis(?) Ford was where you enter the reg to find out.

Anyway- thats its only achilles heal IMO. Fantastic engines. Lack of torque? Use to diesels are we?!!!

What annoyed me was my neighbour bought the car from a main dealer and wasnt written to or informed of the potential engine wrecker.

Thanks for the info and opinions. Took the plunge, pulled the trigger etc and got a Focus 125 ecoboost 6 speed. We’ve only had it a couple of days (180 miles) but initial impressions are overwhelmingly positive. The engine really is a revelation, power and torque that far belie the stats.

I can see why trail rat may have have felt the need to constantly change gear, as I think what happens is that the engine goes off boost when it doesn’t need the power so when you reach an incline the instinct is to shift down (as you don’t feel any torque), however all you need to do is apply a bit of throttle, the turbo spools up and it just goes. In nearly any gear or revs. It takes a bit of getting used to.

hora

What annoyed me was my neighbour bought the car from a main dealer and wasnt written to or informed of the potential engine wrecker.

Thanks Hora. I read about that on Pistonheads. Checked my car on etis and got nothing. I might take it to the dealers anyway, just to double check.

80k Service = New Block!!

(Seriously)

http://jalopnik.com/fords-ecoboost-is-just-a-really-good-marketing-scheme-1733576779

…but none of that is a criticism of the engine.

We had a 1.0 100bhp focus estate at work for 3 years. It averaged 37 mpg over the 13k of miles it did with mixed journeys. Easily enough power for general driving.

The design lifespan for the engine is 150,000 miles.

I can see why trail rat may have have felt the need to constantly change gear, as I think what happens is that the engine goes off boost when it doesn’t need the power so when you reach an incline the instinct is to shift down (as you don’t feel any torque), however all you need to do is apply a bit of throttle, the turbo spools up and it just goes. In nearly any gear or revs. It takes a bit of getting used to

After reading the article in Konabunnys link I’ll just say that my 120d behaves in exactly the same way albeit with 2 X turbos. The ‘puter / shift indicator has you changing right before the big turbo comes on boost, so now I know how 62mpg happened this morning, on a slow / 50mph average motorway.

Op, enjoy the car!

150k from an engine? **** me, I’d want more than 5 years out of it.

Not much of an article that KB linked to.

The point about ecoboost isn’t direct injection or turbo, it’s the particuarly small engine with lots of boost to achieve the same max power as a larger less efficient engine. The theory being that when you don’t use the boost it’s a small engine with a wider open throttle, which is the most efficient configuration.

So keep your foot out of it if you want good MPG.