Been doing some searching on its history. It was bought by my local dealer at auction at one year old, and sold to the previous owner.

I got a full service printout - its been done every 6 months - with the non-standard services being "oil and filter only".

No warranty work has been needed, but it has had a pair of tyres (

Looks good Tom - I had a Focus in that colour. As has been said, it's a great handling the car, the best I've had so far but my 1.8 petrol sure liked the taste of petrol :eek: - the reason I sold it on TBH. Was going to get a TDCi Sport, same wheels as yours, but was converted to the Skoda cause first

The headlamp issue may well have been due to water ingress. IIRC there was a bit of a problem with this on some facelift Mk1s.

Enjoy it - a much better choice than the Corsa. Hope to see it at the C&F meet, with a bit of luck.

Steve

Although that said about Ford having the patent, i drove the mk 1 v6 laguna for a couple of weeks back in 2000, and that had a quick clear windscreen of some description, so maybe they got permission.:confuse: Hopefully someone will know more about this.

Is the 115 as laggy as the 100? I hated that engine...

The 115 isn't at all laggy.

It drive too much like a petrol car but as long as you remember that it goes like stink. A remap would cure that petrol driving behavior too according to a 'friend'.

As for the headlight, yep they do mist up and have mater in them and then a bit of green algae or similar.

Probably what the replacement was for.

It drive too much like a petrol car but as long as you remember that it goes like stink. A remap would cure that petrol driving behavior too according to a 'friend'.

Why would you want to cure it?! The best thing about my TDCI engine is that it drives like a nice torquey petrol N/A car

Chris

The power delivery is lovely, its lovely and smooth, linear delivery yet torquey too. Like a very toquey n/a engine. Lovely.

The brutal delivery of the PD130 is great when driving like a hooligan, but the other 95% of the time when you want to drive smoothly its irritating.

I wanted to cure the almost zero torque down low rather than the curve, the linar delivery is nice i agree for relaxed driving.

The low initial torque means you can't trundle around in higher gears like you could in an XUDT, XUD or even a TDI. Also means it is very very easy to stall.

That was the only complaint I had when I drove a TDCi Focus - a TDCi 115 Zetec Estate last year. For a diesel, very easy to stall...

Steve

I'm sorry but I fail to see why being able to "trundle" READ: labour the engine, is a good thing.

And easy to stall? Eh? Have I missed the point?

:confused: also.

Quite simple in any old derv and the TDIs you can go around town at 30/35 in 4th, the focus struggles like this and often required 3rd. In the focus ther is sometimes need to change down into 4th going up an incline where the other dervs would just pull eaily in 5th with no problem.

eg the focus is labouring the engine where other diesels are not by a good margin.

Also the focus is rediculously eay to stall. My father, mother and myself have pretty much driven dervs for the last at least 10 years and all hate the way the focus has nothing down low with the 1.8 tdci. You stall it every time you try and drive off if you are used to a diesel and not a petrol car.

Older diesel cars adjusts fueling so the the thing doesn't stall and you could just lift of the gas peddle in first and have the car drive itself in slow traffic. You can't do that in the tdci.

I would never have a 1.8tdci myself as i don't like that characteristic, however the 2.0 is a totally different matter.

But surely you just use the appropriate gear? You wouldnt try and move off in 5th because you know its the wrong gear. If you know you cant crawl at 30 in 5th then you use 4th.

Simple.

5th gear in mine at 30mph is fine and smooth. The PD130 engine does seem to pull very well at tickover, as long as its not forced. Tend to need 4th for inclines and making good from 30mph progress. Never driven a TDCI so can't comment on how it compares.

Yes use the appropriate gear, but it means more cabin noise, higher revs and lower fuel economy.

If i had to sum the TDCI in its natural form up it would be:

Around town a bugger to drive, on the motorway excellent and very fuel efficient.

EDIT: I was talking about having to change down from 5th in traffic on the motorway then you are doing say 45 up an incline. Trust me on this having driven both extensively I will say it's annoying as would my father and mother.

buy an automatic then

Are you sure its the 115bhp incarnation you have driven, and not the 100? I found the Focus very eager from low revs...

As for trundling along at say 20mph in traffic, I prefer to use a lower gear (say 2nd) allowing a smoother ride, not labour the engine, more control over speed, better fuel economy etc rather than 3rd which would be silly low revs, lots of use of the clutch if the traffic slows down, not nice on the car etc.

JMTPW.

Anyway, back on topic! Admire my car!

Roll on 2pm tomorrow!!!! :D:D

I was talking about having to change down from 5th in traffic on the motorway then you are doing say 45 up an incline. Trust me on this having driven both extensively I will say it's annoying as would my father and mother.

45th in 5th up an incline is labouring the engine.

Delete this

Unbelievable :confused: :eek: These comments about the "horrendous" aspect of not being able to go up a hill in 5th at 45mph confirms my view about some diesel drivers. Why the hell would you want to? Its easy to change gear and doesn't take very long - what is the problem with changing down appropriately? If you want to be completely lazy and can't find the energy to move your hand then I agree with Goochie - buy an automatic - otherwise most decent cars nowadays have a reasonable level of torque that will react appropriately if you are in a reasonable gear.

Sorry if this sounds a bit aggressive but get a grip on reality - safe driving is about being aware of your surroundings and reacting accordingly and to my mind being in the correct gear is part of that alertness and awareness Try an old school motor with no synchro gearbox and very little torque. Belive me that will teach you to concentrate on your driving or else your progress will be "limited"!

BTW - Tom, nice car ... although its still a mucky soot machine :P

45 up an incline isn't labouring the tdi as the revs are still well within the power band for a derv and it's happily going.

I am 100% sure it is a 1.8 TDCI 115PS estate yes.

The TDCI replaced the awful TDDI. The TDDI was the 100PS tractor engine.

TDCI - Turbo Diesel Common Rail Injection

TDDI - Tubo Diesel Direct Injection

As i said my father has one and yes i have driven it on the day we collected it and many times afterwards. There was a recall or similar whereby they had to reprogramme the ECU with new stock software because it was cutting out due and stalling too much. This improved matters but didn't fix them up to a standard i would be happy with as it is still to easy to stall pulling away.

By the sounds of things you are used to driving petrol cars, which is probably why it wouldn'tbother you. Once again nice car, just I and most drivers of older dervs don't like the lack of low down torque.

EDIT: Look i'm not moaning about having to change gear, more that you have to be in a lower hear for the same speed until you get into top which is unpleasant as you are always at the top of a lower gears range when staying at the speed limits. Also the focus is too eay to stall.

I have driven some really old cars including under 1L fiestas, an old NA BX Diesel and i know how to use my gear box.

By the sounds of things you are used to driving petrol cars, which is probably why it wouldn'tbother you. Once again nice car, just I and most drivers of older dervs don't like the lack of low down torque.

Not at all, I haven't driven a petrol for bloomin ages. Last car was a Corsa CDTI, before that a Fabia vRS, before that a Megane DCI etc.

Likewise I can't remeber the last time I stalled a car... Be it petrol or diesel. I do drive my girlfriends old 1.4 Corsa quite a bit, and occasionally my dads (horrible) Xsara.

Fair enough, well my family and I all hate the missing torque down low. That is probably becuase we got used to XUD & XUDT cars wher eyou could pull away from standing without using the accelerator if you so desired. eg virtually impossible to stall.

Either way when you get it up to speed the thing TDCI is very very rapid

EDIT: Look i'm not moaning about having to change gear, more that you have to be in a lower hear for the same speed until you get into top which is unpleasant as you are always at the top of a lower gears range when staying at the speed limits. Also the focus is too eay to stall.

I have driven some really old cars including under 1L fiestas, an old NA BX Diesel and i know how to use my gear box.

You are not necessarily at the top end of a lower gear. With your example of 45mph up a hill I would be in 2nd gear in my Octy RS - 2nd goes up to 70 mph quite happily.

BTW - your example of "really old cars" wasn't quite what I was referring to as non-synchro boxes relates mainly to cars about the same age as my Morris Minor (1958) or earlier ... I assume you are a bit younger than me

i have heard that the tdci stalls easily, but i'd assumed that relative to the tddi - i can pull away from a standing start in my petrol focus without using the accelerator and bengie's petrol octavia will drive up the slopes in the local multi storey without him using the accelerator.