Did 350 Miles in a 59 Plate Focus 1.8 Titanium yesterday

[cheezemonkhai]

Sorry Rick, but MK I and MK II focus, vs MK I and MK II octavia or leon, like for like, the focus is a so much more involving drive.

The only thing really missing is the big kick in the back from the TDCI vs the TDI PD, but with the delivery of the CR TDI that's much of a muchness.

Anyway, that's my view.

[ultra_joel88]

I also didn't like the fact that virtually every 3rd car I saw was the same as mine.

[Skoda-Msport]

Ford's TDCI engines (peugeot) are pants compared to the PD engines. Quite a few of my friends have had these engines be they in Fords or Peugeots and the high pressure pumps are known to fail (**** bleeding expensive) and head gasket failure is common. Il settle for a Fabia vRS anyday, so what if it rides worse or doesnt handle like an F1 car.

Focus maybe good handler and rated higher than a Golf but who cares, its not a Skoda.

[andypandypoos]

and your point is ?

the Focus is and always has been in different class of car to the Ibiza and Fabia, so aren't comparable

the Seat brand have always been the more sporty of VAGs products, so i dare say you Ibiza would out perform a standard Fabia

and i stick by what i said , Fords are boring , end of

the thread is a discussion of the relative merits of a Focus and a Fabia vRS and given that I currently own both (on the basis that the Ibiza is essentially a Fabia) I didn't think it was out of place for me to compare the two..I guess it was also something of a comment on the somewhat bizarre nature of your comments, especially given your current point of reference.

The Focus is a far better drive than a Fabia vRS becuase the Fabia (and Ibiza) is pap. End of

[RichKlink]

My old fella just got himself a brand new 1.8 Titanium TDCI. He loves it! (Even got an understated plate **59 FLY - he's a pilot) He still doesn't understand the gadgetry yet, but at his age it's perfect. He swears by it. He also loves my Octy but says he'd have loved it more - 30 years ago at my age!! LOL

Edited 21 October, 2009 by RichKlink

[cheezemonkhai]

Ford's TDCI engines (peugeot) are pants compared to the PD engines. Quite a few of my friends have had these engines be they in Fords or Peugeots and the high pressure pumps are known to fail (**** bleeding expensive) and head gasket failure is common. Il settle for a Fabia vRS anyday, so what if it rides worse or doesnt handle like an F1 car.

Focus maybe good handler and rated higher than a Golf but who cares, its not a Skoda.

Priceless, a skoda badge snob

It's not a skoda... hardly selling me skoda there.

Head gasket failure... not on any I've seen and the family own a couple and our local dealer is the small and friendly type that will admit issues.

Doesn't handle like an F1 car.. rather a few hundred for a pump (although most are in warranty) than the car on the roof because it can't corner

Sorry but stop obsessing over skoda being great. They are nothing particular special and their build quality is in the same ball park as the other manufacturers at their current price point.

Oh and can you say DMF, EGR, Stutter, injectors that cost the earth to replace?

As I said, just because it's not a skoda it doesn't mean it's not a better car in some or all ways that the fabia.

Edited 21 October, 2009 by cheezemonkhai

[ric04vrs]

the thread is a discussion of the relative merits of a Focus and a Fabia vRS and given that I currently own both (on the basis that the Ibiza is essentially a Fabia) I didn't think it was out of place for me to compare the two..I guess it was also something of a comment on the somewhat bizarre nature of your comments, especially given your current point of reference.

The Focus is a far better drive than a Fabia vRS becuase the Fabia (and Ibiza) is pap. End of

i am not saying the Focus isn't a better drive than the Fabia

and my point of reference is not only the Fabia i drive , i worked 16 years at a Ford main dealer, included in the last 5 years was Mazda also, so have experienced all of the Ford products over that period, and yes the Focus does a very good job , but its still boring and dare i say it ubiquitous

[ric04vrs]

Oh and can you say DMF, EGR, Stutter, injectors that cost the earth to replace?

.

bar the stutter, that sounds like all the things that go wrong on the 2.0 litre diesel engine in the Focus

[cheezemonkhai]

bar the stutter, that sounds like all the things that go wrong on the 2.0 litre diesel engine in the Focus

Pretty much justifies my comment of the fact that they all have similar issues really then and to be fair the faulty parts probably all come from the same manufacturer and probably even the same line.

Some people like the fords handling, some people like whatever it is they think the fabia has. Point I'm making is both have different things for different people and it would be nice if people accepted that people other than VAG can make a good car. (The OP did in fact).

[Bogwoppit]

Ford's TDCI engines (peugeot) are pants compared to the PD engines.

Are you kidding? The Peugeot/Ford HDI engines (1.6 and 2.0, not the 1.8) are in a different league to the ancient 1.9 fitted to the Fabia, they have modern engineering feats like 2 camshafts, four valves per cylinder and even the 1.6 has a front mounted intercooler.

The 1.9 pd engine has 1 camshaft and 8 valves and most of the 150pd engines as fitted to the Golf and Leon (same head as your Fabia 130) are now destroying the followers and camshafts after the warranty has run out.

[Tom_vRS]

I do agree that the modern PSA diesels are leagues ahead of the 4cylinder diesels VAG have to offer.

And for the record, no my Mazda doesn't use a PSA engine (its far better )

EDIT - just to add, I've not had any experience of the 1.6CR or 2.0CR143 engines yet, so perhaps my first comment is a tad hasty.

[Skoda-Msport]

Are you kidding? The Peugeot/Ford HDI engines (1.6 and 2.0, not the 1.8) are in a different league to the ancient 1.9 fitted to the Fabia, they have modern engineering feats like 2 camshafts, four valves per cylinder and even the 1.6 has a front mounted intercooler.

The 1.9 pd engine has 1 camshaft and 8 valves and most of the 150pd engines as fitted to the Golf and Leon (same head as your Fabia 130) are now destroying the followers and camshafts after the warranty has run out.

Yes, but the weakness is the high pressure pumps, dual mass flywheels and injectors. I should know, we have ran 4 Mondeo TDCis both estate and hatch and all have displayed symptoms of the above. One even had to have the engine replaced after only 50k.

Some people like the fords handling, some people like whatever it is they think the fabia has. Point I'm making is both have different things for different people and it would be nice if people accepted that people other than VAG can make a good car. (The OP did in fact).

Yes, we all know the Focus handles better and has a more modern engine than the Fabia, eventhough you cant compare the 2 cars for a fair comparison better the Fiesta 1.6 Zetec TDCi vs Fabia vRS but then this is A Skoda forum and people have made thier choice here, they bought a Skoda, Fabia vRS or whatever, and the guy who wrote the post in the first place said he preffered the Fabia after doing 350miles in a Focus, so he is just saying he prefers his old Fabia to a petrol Focus.

Obviously if we own Skodas here and are enthusiasts we will favour our own car above say Fords as this isnt a Ford forum catering for Ford owners, there are 100s of other Ford forums where 10s of thousands of people discuss owning Fords because thats thier bag, but here we like Skodas, because thats what we own, maintain, modify, have a passion for etc or at least I thought we did? Or am I missing something?

Edited 22 October, 2009 by Skoda-Msport

[ScoobyChris]

Yes, but the weakness is the high pressure pumps, dual mass flywheels and injectors. I should know, we have ran 4 Mondeo TDCis both estate and hatch and all have displayed symptoms of the above. One even had to have the engine replaced after only 50k.

I must have had a good'un then as mine ran to 90k miles before I sold it without any of those symptoms. Admittedly it was used and abused from cold, taken on track, and run on cr@ppy Tesco diesel so it had a much easier life than most company cars

Chris

[Bogwoppit]

Yes, but the weakness is the high pressure pumps, dual mass flywheels and injectors. I should know, we have ran 4 Mondeo TDCis both estate and hatch and all have displayed symptoms of the above. One even had to have the engine replaced after only 50k.

I understand your comments above but unless you have ran 4 of the new shape mondeo TDCi's then we are talking about a different engine. The 2.0 TDCi PSA engine has been fitted to the Focus since 2005 but it has only been fitted to the Mondeo from 2007 onwards(new shape). The engine fitted to the Mondeo previous to 2007 was Fords own 2.0 diesel engine and does suffer from the problems above.

See this link Ford Duratorq engine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[ric04vrs]

I understand your comments above but unless you have ran 4 of the new shape mondeo TDCi's then we are talking about a different engine. The 2.0 TDCi PSA engine has been fitted to the Focus since 2005 but it has only been fitted to the Mondeo from 2007 onwards(new shape). The engine fitted to the Mondeo previous to 2007 was Fords own 2.0 diesel engine and does suffer from the problems above.

See this link Ford Duratorq engine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

you are correct , the Ford duratorq engine, in all its various sizes, is probably the worst engine Ford have ever produced, (ScoobyChris did have the only good one that was produced )

the really odd thing about the new Mondeo was they used the ancient 1.8 Diesel that dates back to the MK2 Fiesta 1.6 version

[Leodhasach]

I had a feeling this thread might descend into a slight slagging match :P

[VWD]

Did someone mention the new Mundaneo - hired on fewweeks back -2L TD- nice and smooth - but at 70 in 6th -where has all the poke gone - at least in my little 1.4 ,I ve still got some feeling of acceleration at 70 -no need to go through the box .Spent the past few years at work with Transits -exactly the same sort of performance .Only good thing about the Mundaneo was the consumption .

We also used to have a few Focus estates (TDCI) -didn't like them - seats uncomfortable , engine not exactly responsive and the consumption not what I'd expect from a modern diesel car - and that's from someone with a 75 BHP Furby TDI- mind you in response ,I think that Ford had reduced the engine to about 1500cc .And to top it all every time we got the breakdown lads out the response was "OH another fixor repair daily"

[cheezemonkhai]

In a lot of fords the top gear on the 6 speed box is an overdrive gear.

This means that you don't get great acceleration at 70 in 5th, but the economy at 70/80/90 (where legal) is better than a car with a lower ratio that accelerated better due to shorter gearing.

As for the Fix or repair daily... I'm not going to even bother.

[Blade404]

Fix Or Repair Daily..

I made the jump to Ford as I was fed up of the visits to Skoda dealers to get things looked at and not fixed.

Yes the Fabia vRS was an interesting drive but I've found that the Focus delivers a far more fulfilling one no matter what type of road it's on.

For all round ownership experience I would choose Ford over Skoda anyday.

To put it simply.. would I buy another Fabia, no. Would I buy another Focus definitely, infact I plan to.

Oh and heated windscreen FTW!!!

[Wardy]

Ah Mr Blade - not seen you on here in a while

ST still going well then? So what's next on the Ford ladder, an RS?!

Steve

[Blade404]

Ah Mr Blade - not seen you on here in a while

ST still going well then? So what's next on the Ford ladder, an RS?!

Steve

For some reason I quite fancy a Kuga, mind you the new fezzy in white looks quite good as well.

[Tom_vRS]

Not even considering the RS then? :(

[andypandypoos]

Oh and heated windscreen FTW!!!

FTMFW

[Tom_vRS]

Indeed, my Mazda has heated front screen too, can't wait til we get some ice!

[Blade404]

Not even considering the RS then? :(

Maybe when some nice used examples start appearing on the market..

FTMFW

:rofl: