Ford Focus Ecoboost 125.... Any owners or experiences out there?

[njee20]

Can't see any issue with the head itself, no inherent reason for that, definitely going to be the turbos blowing on older engines IMO as they're working much harder. Not sure there are enough reaching big mileage to know yet.

The VW 1.4 TSI in the Scirocco from which they eek 170bhp had some bad press, but again no real relevance to other platforms. I recall the dodgy version was both supercharged and turbocharged.

[woodbury22uk]

My aged Focus has an intermittent wipe which is very controllable, and if on regular speed wipe the wipers switch to intermittent when stationary. But I have an extra vigilance device which sits on the front seat and knows much better when the screen needs wiping. An audible squeak produces a quick driver response, if he knows what is good for him.

[njee20]

My old Peugeot 206 had an intermittent wipe which increased depending on the speed you were going at. When stationary they only worked every 4 seconds, every 3 seconds up to 30mph, every 2 seconds up to 70 and every 1 second above 70 (making those numbers up slightly as it was more than 10 years ago). Was very odd, and quite annoying, as there's not really any reason for wanting the wipers to work more quickly at higher speeds if it's only raining very lightly!

[woodbury22uk]

My old Peugeot 206 had an intermittent wipe which increased depending on the speed you were going at. When stationary they only worked every 4 seconds, every 3 seconds up to 30mph, every 2 seconds up to 70 and every 1 second above 70 (making those numbers up slightly as it was more than 10 years ago). Was very odd, and quite annoying, as there's not really any reason for wanting the wipers to work more quickly at higher speeds if it's only raining very lightly!

Reminds me of the vacuum powered wipers on my first car - a Ford 100E Popular. With the engine struggling uphill the wipers could and did reach a standstill! Mind you in the pre- 70mph speed limit days it did manage an indicated 90 - 100 mph downhill on the M2 from Chatham to Strood. Very smooth at that speed though I was happy there was not much traffic around.

[Dr Al]

I've been running a Focus Ecoboost 1.6 182hp for the last 3 1/2 years with no trouble*.

I think you're right to go for the 125hp rather than the 100hp, though having driven the latter in direct comparison to an old 1.6 standard Focus, the Ecoboost was impressively identical - Ford tuned these to match the older non-turbo engines, and very well - you'd never know it was a 1 litre.

I decided to go for some more oomph in the end with the 1.6, which has a decent amount of poke, but is not more expensive in terms of insurance. The current version of that is a 1.5 (which is a derivative of the 1.6 tuned to match the Chinese market where above 1.5 tax is higher).

In terms of buying secondhand, as long as it's had basic servicing there should be no trouble - these engines service schedule comprises virtually nothing - oil and filters every 12k miles, no spark plug changes even until many many miles (100k IIRC) and for the 1.6 no timing belt (chain).

The only strange thing I've ever had occur was to wake up one morning to come out to the car to find all the windows down....I never got to the bottom of why (I tend to sit on the key fob, so not sure if I managed to send a weird combination of bum-button presses inadvertently), and it's never done that again in over a year.

Cheers,
Alan

* Heart FM on the DAB radio is a bit intermittent, but perhaps that's a good thing.... 

[njee20]

Often just holding the unlock button will open all the windows. Never worked out why.

[Dr Al]

Often just holding the unlock button will open all the windows. Never worked out why.

Interesting - you prompted me to google it, and it seems like it was a lucky/unlucky press combo on the key fob:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wl30u3tvdGE

Cheers,
Alan

[Skyline2uk]

@Dr Al

Thanks for that, all noted!

Skyline2uk

[Dalek]

My old Peugeot 206 had an intermittent wipe which increased depending on the speed you were going at. When stationary they only worked every 4 seconds, every 3 seconds up to 30mph, every 2 seconds up to 70 and every 1 second above 70 (making those numbers up slightly as it was more than 10 years ago). Was very odd, and quite annoying, as there's not really any reason for wanting the wipers to work more quickly at higher speeds if it's only raining very lightly!

Reminds me of the vacuum powered wipers on my first car - a Ford 100E Popular. With the engine struggling uphill the wipers could and did reach a standstill! Mind you in the pre- 70mph speed limit days it did manage an indicated 90 - 100 mph downhill on the M2 from Chatham to Strood. Very smooth at that speed though I was happy there was not much traffic around.

Hmm... no it didn't unless you attached a rocket booster to it. 
Max they are capable of is 70mph and you would need to be deaf or mechanically unsympatheticto try and do that speed in one. 

I'd guess the speedo was grossly over reading !

Mine used to sound like it was going to blow up at 55 mph !

105E on the other hand was much better, kent engine was light years ahead of the old side valve, even had 4 gears !   

[njee20]

He did say "indicated" for that very reason one presumes...

[Dalek]

He did say "indicated" for that very reason one presumes...

Yep, i'd guess so, unless its a "pub" 100mph 

[Calnefoxile]

Adam @Skyline2uk , it'll depend on what it's used for I suppose. If it's for commuting around town, then it'll be fine. Cruising up and down the motorways like me, then a big diesel is much more economical. I get 65+ mpg out of my 2.0l 140bhp Insignia all at £30 a year road tax

Admittedly it's not great around town but it's not designed for that, it's a motorway cruiser, which it does brilliantly.

Also, you won't get a very big train set in a Focus, or much camping/ Scouting/Guiding equipment in the boot either 

Cheers

Neal.

[Skyline2uk]

Adam @Skyline2uk , it'll depend on what it's used for I suppose. If it's for commuting around town, then it'll be fine. Cruising up and down the motorways like me, then a big diesel is much more economical. I get 65+ mpg out of my 2.0l 140bhp Insignia all at £30 a year road tax

Admittedly it's not great around town but it's not designed for that, it's a motorway cruiser, which it does brilliantly.

Also, you won't get a very big train set in a Focus, or much camping/ Scouting/Guiding equipment in the boot either 

Cheers

Neal.

Personally I think Diesels are still better than the petrol option for the reason you give but the difference is marginal and only due to the manufactures betting on the wrong tech due to Government incentives.

As this car is going to need to be a workhorse for 7 plus years, I can't afford to be banned from anywhere (as the legislatative wind is blowing) and the road tax incentive isn't there (125 Ecoboost also £30).

I also have a commute that is more stop-start than anything so Diesel isn't for me.

Skyline2uk

[Newportnobby]

The first 2 Mondeos I had I put over 100,000 miles on each, and 30,000 miles on the 3rd one and the gearbox/clutch were always damned good so I never fear anything about that side of Ford engines. The early ones had a timing belt which would have been expensive to service but they were company cars. Then Ford changed to chain so no issue.
I love Dr Al's story about the windows and can only assume it was a pane from the backside

[Skyline2uk]

Well, no going back now....

Picked up my "Deep Impact Blue" Focus this afternoon.

Got me a cracking deal, having walked away a couple of weeks back, the dealer rang me back and said I could have it at my price if I covered the delivery fee.

Big chunk of change off the sticker price (suspect end of year quota comes into play) and buy far the lowest mileage example I have seen for sale.

Thanks for all the info folks :-)

Skyline2uk